THE BACHELOR'S BED Read online

  "It's certainly not going to be a hardship to live at your house instead of here," she said finally. "You have air-conditioning."

  That wasn't the hardship he was worried about. This was pretend, this whole crazy scene, and it would be over as soon as he could finish his project. Lani would leave, and in spite of the fact that he was discovering an attraction, he wouldn't hurt her by letting her think there was more involved here.

  "My work won't change," she said, almost as a question, touchingly uncertain.

  "No, I don't want to disrupt your work. Lani … I have to know… Why are you doing this?"

  She tilted her head, a small smile about her lips. "Your project," she said simply. "It's unselfish and hopeful and full of promise. I want you to finish it. If I can help, then it makes me feel useful and a part of it."

  "Is that the only reason?"

  A flicker of unease crossed her face, then disappeared. "Of course."

  He didn't know what to make of her, she wasn't like any woman he'd ever met. And they were going to live together. Her razor in his shower. Her toothbrush on his sink. Her panties in with his whites. His head spun at that last thought.

  He wondered if those panties were as revealing as the teeny, tiny, little top she wore now. And oh boy, sometime in the past minute or so, she'd gotten cold. Her nipples, rosy and mouthwateringly perfect, were pushing at the thin cotton, straining for freedom.

  "So we're on?" she asked innocently.

  He was a dead man, but they were on. "Yes."

  She laughed, dove at him and flung her arms around his neck.

  "What the—"

  She squeezed him close, pressing against him all those warm curves in a spine-breaking hug. Before he could lift his arms to push her away—and he most definitely would have pushed her away no matter what his hormones were screaming—she stepped back.

  "I have work to do," she said with a laugh. "I can't be hugging you all day long."

  He had work, too. Didn't he? He opened his mouth to say so, but Lani shimmied past him to hold open the door, her body and smile rendering him deaf, blind and dumb.

  How in the world had he fooled himself into thinking this was a good idea?

  * * *

  It was a balmy, sticky evening, the kind only midsummer could bring.

  Colin wolfed down a quick bowl of soup for dinner, preoccupied with some critical adjustments he needed to make on his project. Forgotten soup bowl at his elbow, he sat at his kitchen table, furiously scribbling notes. He'd used up nearly the entire tablet when he heard the car.

  It was hard to miss as it backfired, sounding like the fourth of July.

  Then Lani was at his back door with a duffel bag and a smile that lit up the hot Southern California night.

  Something within him warmed to match it.

  He opened the door and she moved in, invading his space with her cheerfulness, her bright eyes, that sexy scent of hers.

  At least she wasn't wet anymore, or cold, thank God.

  But then again, it was hard to tell in the shapeless summer dress she wore. She'd layered it over a loose T-shirt and high-top tennis shoes, and if he hadn't seen her incredible body earlier, he could never have imagined it.

  Before he could move away, she gave him a quick hug, which so startled him he froze.

  At his reaction, she froze, too, and pulled back. "So…" She bit her lip, looking a little unsure of herself. "You did want me to come back tonight, right?"

  His mother wasn't coming for two days. But Lani was looking at him with those unbelievable eyes and he didn't know what to say. And was she always going to touch him for no reason?

  If so, it was going to be a hell of a long engagement.

  He had originally approached this whole fictional fiancée situation as he would anything—management by objectives. It wasn't something he looked forward to, but it had to be done. And how hard could it be? They'd already known each other a full year.

  Except, she was unpredictable. She was also too … happy, a definite personality disorder in his book.

  She tugged at his hand to get his attention, and just that small connection had a current of awareness shooting through him.

  Oh, yeah, he was in big trouble in the hormone department.

  "I thought we should practice," she said. "You know … being a loving couple?"

  Never mind that he'd thought so, too, before; it was no longer a good idea.

  When he didn't say anything, she ran her teeth over her full bottom lip. "I don't know about you," she said, "but it's not something that comes naturally to me." She blushed. "I mean—"

  "I know what you mean." He had to let out a dry laugh. "It doesn't exactly come easy for me, either." lf she only knew he'd been there, done that and bought the T-shirt. But if he was ever stupid enough to marry again, and if his wife had the body of his pretend fiancée, he thought he just might attempt to learn how to be loving.

  "I'm not that great an actress," she admitted. "I think I'll need a couple of days."

  A couple of days would kill him. He had no idea if he could keep his hands to himself that long. "I don't think—"

  "Oh, but I do." She smiled angelically. "We have to be convincing, Colin."

  "Yes." His mother could detect trouble five hundred miles away.

  "We should also put an announcement in the paper."

  Wait. This was becoming far too … real. "Why?"

  She looked at him with that kind smile, the one she seemed to reserve for when she was intent on getting her way. "You want people to stop bothering you. There's no way faster to do that than to put the engagement in print."

  "But…" But what? She was right, she was always right, he was beginning to suspect. And why was she so sweetly disagreeing with him on everything? Dammit. "Okay. Fine. An ad is fine."

  Lani dropped her gaze, looked around at the kitchen she'd seen a thousand times. Almost nervously, she glanced out into the hall and up the stairs.

  She was wondering about the sleeping arrangements.

  "Come on," he said with another heartfelt sigh. "I'll show you where the spare bedrooms are. You can pick one."

  She looked relieved and disappointed at the same time.

  He could understand.

  * * *

  Lani picked the bedroom at the far end of the hallway from Colin's. Not because she found him offensive, but because she didn't trust herself.

  Her natural, easy affection seemed to terrify him. He'd nearly leaped out of his skin when she'd hugged him hello. Just a simple hug, an affectionate hug, but he'd hated it.

  He'd made sure not to come within five feet of her since then. And when they'd climbed the stairs, he'd shown her the bedrooms as far from his as he could get.

  She didn't know what she had expected—that he would have suggested his own bed? That wasn't his style.

  Still, she couldn't help but wish, as she followed his tall, lean, oh-so-watchable frame, that in this one aspect, their engagement was real.

  He dropped her duffel bag on the bed that would be hers. "Let me know if you need anything."

  Did he mean it? She doubted it. He had that expression on his face, the one that assured her he'd rather be at the dentist having a tooth extracted. Without drugs.

  Well he wasn't alone in that. She had so many reservations about this farce they were undertaking! She could tell herself she'd agreed to help because she believed in his project—and she did. But she knew the truth, that it was far more than that. And she was scared.

  Colin West was driven and focused, and if she believed the rumors, he was cold and aloof as well.

  But it wasn't true, she knew this with all her heart. No one with eyes so deep and heated could be cold. All year she'd been drawn to him on some deep, primal level and while she might not understand it, she couldn't ignore it. Any of a million things could have happened to make Colin the very private man he was, and she understood that better than most, because for all her bubbliness, she herself was in