Chapter 11

Over the next two weeks, Rob watched as Aurora settled into the job as his office administrator. The book he’d been stuck on was at the editors and he was working on another one. Every time he started to not be able to think of where a book should go, or a plot just wouldn’t settle, he’d declare that he needed some time alone with Aurora off the clock.

They’d explored his property. Taken horseback rides to the river. Gone to Java Cupid, and made up stories about the people they saw there. They’d also spent time making out. Rob was very careful not to let them get carried away and end up in his bedroom, or consummate that growing desire that he felt.

He overheard Aurora telling Rosa that she had made a promise to her mother not to sleep with him for at least two months. He, himself, had made a similar but harsher promise to Lynn, in that he wouldn’t take her to bed till he’d married her. For the past three years, he had taken pride in being a man of honor and integrity, and honoring his word ... But every day it became a little more difficult. The only way he knew to dampen his amorous thoughts and actions was to focus on the one negative situation in his life; what to do with Angie?

Rob looked at all the evidence Aurora had amassed, and they agreed to investigate further before bringing this stuff up to Angie. He knew Aurora was upset that he was still giving the agent the benefit of the doubt. It was hard not to. They’d been together since he first started catching the attention of more than a few readers.

The problem Rob was having now was; the more he dug into the investigation, the more he found Aurora was right. Not only had Julie admitted that she ran everything past Angie, she thought that was what she was supposed to do. She thought Rob had provided her with the contract she had signed. Julie had run every online post past Angie, and it turned out that most of the work that Rob thought Angie was doing had actually been done by Julie. Angie took all the credit for it. The only thing it turned out that Angie did was take the requests for appearances that Julie received and figured out how to make money off them that lined her pockets without Rob knowing. At the same time, it damaged his reputation.

With all this information, Rob had called his lawyer, and they were meeting today. Since Aurora had done most of the information gathering, he asked her to come along. The only thing Rob had done was talk to Julie.

He needed Aurora, not only to help him lay out all the information for Hamilton Berger, but he needed her. He needed her love and support. Never in his life had a woman been so important to him. He’d dated, not so much after the incident, but he’d never had a woman, other than his mother, become so important to him.

As he watched her putting the files and printouts in the order they’d share them with Hamilton Berger, he suddenly realized he wasn’t just enamored with her. It wasn’t the sexual tension that made her important to him. Neither was it the way she inspired him and acted as a muse to his work, no it went beyond all that. Their connection went beyond the way her eyes captivated him with their two different colors. Beyond how intoxicating her scent of cinnamon, honeysuckle and something he couldn’t name was. There was even more to his need than the pleasure of her lips on his and her body held tight.

If he was honest, and right now it seemed his heart and mind had agreed to be completely honest. He was in love with her. No, it went farther than that. He utterly consumed by love for her. He started as he realized Aurora Rose Wright, the girl he’d met in the coffee shop, was his Happily Ever After. Now he just had to hope she felt the same way.

Before he could dwell on that, Mr. Berger came into the room. Hamilton shook his hand. “Robin, what can we do for you today?”

Rob took a deep breath and explained his problem, letting Aurora lay out the proof of what he was saying. Once they got this problem solved and the book tour finished, he’d concentrate on finding out how serious Aurora was about ‘them.’

*****

Aurora stood in the middle of a mountain of boxes. Had she only been working for Rob for three weeks? It felt like a lifetime ago that they’d sat beside each other at the Java Cupid. Thinking back to that day, she allowed herself to stop for a moment from organizing the shipments she was working on. Robin had caught her attention the moment she sat down. He was at the next table and he was hot and she’d tried almost everything she could think of to get him to notice her. She’d sighed loudly, and dropped things on the side of the table he was sitting at. Nothing had gotten through to him. He sat there, just staring at his computer. Finally she decided to just put herself out there and ask him to watch her things while she went to the restroom, and surprisingly, that had worked better than she’d ever dreamed it would. All she’d wanted was a few minutes of conversation to help her flesh out the character she was planning to pattern after the guy.