The Hometown Hero Returns (Home to Harbor Town 1)

He grabbed her suitcase and showed her into what was obviously a guest bedroom, given the lack of personal items on the dresser and bedside tables. Despite its relative bareness, it was still a well-appointed room featuring a lake view and brilliant sunshine flooding through floor-to-ceiling windows. She caught Marc’s eye as he turned from setting her suitcase on a low bench. He raised his brows when he saw her amazed, amused expression.

“You didn’t actually expect that I was going to put you in my bedroom, did you?” he asked.

“Honestly? I did,” Mari said with a laugh as she began to unzip her suitcase.

“Does that mean you wouldn’t have minded?”

Mari blinked at the sound of his low voice. He sounded much closer than he had been just a second ago. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him watching her, the hint of a grin on his mouth.

“I would have minded,” she told him with a stern look that was ruined by a smile. She turned back to unzipping her suitcase. “In fact, I appreciate you not pressing me about sharing a bedroom. This room is lovely, thank you.”

“I’ll just let you unpack then,” he murmured.

Mari didn’t look up until she sensed his tall figure exiting the doorway. If he only knew how much she wanted to surrender completely to the sensual promise in his hot, blue eyes.

Chapter Eleven

He was sitting on the L-shaped couch in the li

ving room, sorting through a small mountain of mail, when she joined him. Briefs and memos nearly bursting out of the supple leather, a case sat next to him on the cushions. He glanced up at her when she sat in the corner of the couch.

“You must have a million things to catch up on with work after being away for a week,” she observed.

He carelessly tossed a thick, white envelope onto the wood and glass coffee table.

“To hell with work.” He stood and transferred to the cushion next to Mari. He grabbed her hand. “I’m still on vacation.”

She laughed. “You needn’t feel like you have to entertain me. You woke me up so early this morning, it’s not even lunchtime, yet. Work for a while, if you need to. I can only imagine how demanding your job is.”

He squeezed her hand. “If you think I’m going to work when I’ve finally gotten you all to myself, you’re nuts.”

She started to protest and noticed the way his eyes were fixed on her mouth. She inhaled and caught the hint of his spicy cologne. Heat slowly expanded in her lower belly, a sensation she seemed to always experience in Marc’s presence. She covered the hand that held hers and began to idly stroke his index finger, liking how large and different he felt in comparison to her.

“What are we going to do then?” she asked idly.

When he didn’t immediately respond, her gaze flew to meet his. He’d been studying her averted cheek and exposed neck like he’d been considering taking a bite out of her. She tried to ignore the thrill that went through her at the thought.

“How about if we take a walk, have lunch somewhere and come back for a swim. There’s a nice pool on the roof deck,” he muttered.

Mari couldn’t help but notice he seemed much more interested in her lips than the plan he proposed. “Okay.”

“Mari?”

“Yes?” she asked breathlessly.

“If you keep doing that to my finger, we’re not going anywhere.”

Mari froze. She looked at their hands resting on the cushion. He’d covered her left hand, but she’d curled the fingers of her right hand around his index finger and had been stroking him slowly. It had taken Marc’s heavy-lidded stare and spoken warning to make her realize how suggestive the caress must have seemed.

She released him and stood abruptly.

“I’ll just go change then, for our walk.” She didn’t wait for him to respond before she hurried out of the room.

Mari hadn’t been to Chicago for any extended stays since she was a child. She’d come for performances with the orchestra on several occasions, of course, but was usually too tired from traveling, practices and the performance to see much of anything but the interior of Orchestra Hall and her hotel room. She’d forgotten what a lovely city it was sitting next to the topaz jewel of Lake Michigan. Its towering, glittering high-rises and big-city sophistication blended seamlessly with the Midwestern friendliness of its residents.

They walked north along the lakefront among bikers, skaters, joggers and beach-goers. Such a vast sampling of humanity rolled by Mari’s view that she challenged herself to be objective in her assessment of the man who walked next to her in comparison. That jogger, for instance, had Marc’s height and lean, muscular build, but he didn’t move with the confident, easy grace of a born athlete like Marc did. A dark-haired man with an intense, handsome face held his girlfriend’s hand as they walked in the other direction, but he didn’t look down at his companion with a hot gaze that could make a woman feel like she was the only female on the planet.

“What?” Marc asked when he caught her trying to covertly study him.