Still the One Read online

  off toward the bar and grill in that dress and those heels, both his greatest fantasy and his biggest nightmare.

  Halfway to the lobby she slowed.

  He had no idea if she wanted to apologize or kill him. It could go either way.

  Still not looking at him, she let out a long, unsteady breath. “AJ?”

  He braced himself and schooled his features. “Yeah?”

  “You really did save my life.”

  That was just about the last thing he’d expected her to say. She flashed him a quick, unreadable look. “But that changes nothing about how little I want to be here with you.”

  He nodded. “Understood.”

  The truce was over. He got that. He was going to just hope for the best. His potential grant partner was Trent Gibson, a genius IT guy who’d sold his software company several years ago for a staggering amount of money, more money than “my grandchildren’s grandchildren could ever spend” as he’d told AJ.

  The guy was fifty-five, self-made, and on top of his world. Or had been until his second wife had been terribly burned in a car accident. Physical therapy had saved her life.

  Trent claimed that without his substantial wealth she never would have gotten the extended care she’d needed. As a result, she’d talked Trent into giving money to help others less fortunate than she. Trent’s only stipulation had been that he got to personally meet and approve the physical therapists he awarded grant money to.

  AJ had contacts throughout the country, good friends in the business, and he’d been mentioned to Trent several times over. He and Trent had spoken on the phone and via e-mail, and though Trent came off a little full of himself, no one could fault the guy’s philanthropic spirit.

  As for whether AJ’s program would get to benefit from it, that all rode on tonight.

  And on Darcy, the woman who’d just given him a hardon in an elevator.

  So his head wasn’t exactly on straight as the three of them ordered drinks and dinner. In fact, his head was seriously fucked up. Darcy had him spinning. For one thing he had no idea what would’ve happened if the elevator doors hadn’t opened when they had.

  And for another, was this a random thing for Darcy, or had she felt it, too?

  And while he sat there half lost in his own remembered lust, something shocking happened. Darcy carried the conversation. She held Trent’s interest and … well, was the opposite of her usual snarky self. She laughed at the guy’s jokes, smiled sweetly when he rambled on and on about how much money he’d made and the expensive colleges he planned on sending his kids from his first marriage. She asked questions as he pulled out his iPhone and flipped through hundreds of pictures of their lives on yachts and exotic islands and the like. In short, she was sweet and charming and wonderfully genuine—all while managing not to look at AJ or address him once.

  Still, she kept her end of the bargain, and on top of that, it was a whole other side to her that she hadn’t let him see before.

  This didn’t help him get his head on straight in the slightest.

  And then dinner was cleared and in a lull of the conversation, Trent said to Darcy, “Tell me about your accident.”

  Oh Jesus. This was it. AJ held his breath because Darcy didn’t talk about her accident, ever. It was a taboo subject and he got that. He really did.

  It wasn’t an easy subject for her.

  Hell, it wasn’t an easy subject for him. He’d been with Wyatt when the call had come in. He’d held a sobbing Zoe at the hospital while they’d waited for news from the trauma team that had worked on Darcy for twelve straight hours.

  He’d watched Wyatt completely lose it in the ER parking lot, and AJ had done his best to pick up the pieces and hold on to them all until both Wyatt and Zoe could get it together.

  Which hadn’t happened until the surgeon had come out and told them she’d survived and that if she woke up in the next twelve hours, her chances were twenty-five percent.

  Darcy had woken up eleven hours and fifty-five minutes later.

  Stubborn as always.

  But shockingly, Darcy didn’t freeze up at Trent’s question. She did however dodge it and skipped right to her physical therapy. She told Trent in great detail how she believed AJ had single-handedly gotten her walking again. How the insurance money had cut off after four months but that she’d still been in a wheelchair at that point. How AJ had continued to work with her on his own dime, and that if he hadn’t, she’d still be in the chair.

  Trent soaked up every single word, clearly fascinated, clearly impressed with her. “Remarkable,” he said, unknowingly using the same word Darcy had flung at AJ earlier.

  For the first time all night, Darcy looked right at AJ.

  And, oh shit, there was a storm of trouble brewing in her eyes.

  “You clearly have a deep bond,” Trent said, clueless to the weather change.

  Darcy nodded and reached for AJ. It was only years of soldiering that kept him from flinching, as he was pretty sure she meant to kill him.

  Instead she squeezed his hand and … leaned in to kiss him gently on the mouth. “You’re right,” she said to Trent. “AJ is remarkable.” Her gaze still locked on AJ, her eyes filled with trouble. “Utterly remarkable.”

  AJ held his breath. Surely Trent could see right through this ridiculous display of made-up affection.

  But Trent seemed surprisingly touched. “Love it,” he said. “You remind me of myself and my wife, the two of you are so obviously connected in spite of all the challenges you’ve faced. Amazing, really.”

  Darcy leaned back with a demure agreement. “Amazing,” she said.

  As if she had a single demure bone in her body.

  The elevator ride back up to Darcy’s room was entirely different than the one on the way down. For one thing, she was in it alone.

  For another, she was exhausted.

  She’d done her best, and yeah, she’d gone over the top, but there’d been a method to her madness. Trent loved only one thing more than himself and his money, and that was his wife. Darcy had gotten the idea to appeal to that softer side of him by using her relationship with AJ.

  Her fantasy relationship with AJ, that is.

  The two men had gone on to talk in great detail about some of AJ’s other patients. By the time the waitress had cleared their plates and offered dessert, Darcy couldn’t keep her eyes open.

  AJ had noticed immediately and had started to excuse them to Trent, but she’d insisted she could go up to the room alone and get herself to bed.

  She figured they were all safest that way. And by all, she meant herself.

  Before the elevator opened she had her heels off and dangling from her fingers as she limped to her room. The second she shut her hotel room door, she dropped the heels to the floor. Halfway to the bathroom, she let the black dress fall as well.

  With a whimper of relief, she picked up the hotel room phone. She hadn’t eaten much at dinner and was still hungry. She ordered her standard comfort food—mac and cheese.

  Then she practically crawled into the shower. She stood there beneath the hot spray until her locked muscles loosened slightly. Then, too tired to stand any longer, she turned off the water, barely managed to dry herself off, and staggered naked out of the bathroom, her only plan to drop into bed and pass out.

  She took one step into the room and stopped short at the sight of AJ sprawled out on her bed, still fully dressed, his arms up behind his head, his feet casually crossed. His tie was gone, his collar open. He’d taken his sexy Mr. CEO look from day to night and her heart took the same leap.

  Swearing, she whirled back to the bathroom, slamming the door, which she barely heard over the thundering of her heart in her own ears.

  Eleven

  AJ had broken into Darcy’s room for a most excellent reason, but hell if he could remember it now as she came out of the bathroom bare-ass naked.

  And Darcy naked was the distraction of a lifetime. Steam from her shower swirled around he