A Perfect Stranger

A different type of Shuis fic. Sheridan is 28, and runs her own business. Luis is 26, and is a pilot with the Air Force.
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with JER(k), NBC, or Passions! Unfortunately, Sheridan and Luis belong to them!
Rating: It’s not NC-17! LOL! Close your mouths! I decided to try something different! :P **

Chapter 1:

“Excuse me, but haven’t we met somewhere before?” Oh, puh-leeze. Sheridan couldn’t believe she heard the man correctly. Surely he wouldn’t be dumb enough to use that old pickup line. She slowly turned her head to look at him, aware that her strictly tailored navy suit and short, fantastically styled hair lent dignity to her appearance. “I beg your pardon?” At her well practiced, frosty tone, the man’s cheeks darkened a bit, but her persisted. “You look very familiar. I feel as though we’ve met.”

Shifting her briefcase to her other hand, Sheridan took a moment to elevator companion an unemotional, head-to-toe glance. It wasn’t an unpleasant task. He was most certainly attractive in an athletic way. Tall, well-built, dimples and a blinding smile, hazel eyes, black hair worn in an incredibly sexy spiky way, stylish clothing. No woman with normal vision, which Sheridan most definitely had, or a normal hormone count, which she’d occasionally questioned during the past few years, could meet this man and then completely forget him. “I’m afraid you’re mistaken.” With the air of someone unaccustomed to having her words questioned, Sheridan turned to the front of the elevator and watched the floor numbers light up as the car descended.

She wasn’t feeling guilty about leaving work an hour early, she told herself, the man already out of her mind. Dammit, she deserved an extra hour now and then, even if she was the boss. It really hadn’t been necessary for her secretary to act as though she had grown an extra head just because she’d announced that she’d break away from the office a little earlier than usual on this lovely spring Tuesday afternoon. Couldn’t Julia just understand that even she occasionally felt the walls closing around her, suffocating her? “I really wasn’t trying anything funny,” the man said, interrupting her thoughts yet again. His voice was just as friendly as it had been before her rebuff.

Not a man who was easily discouraged, she though before her caught her completely off-guard by explaining, “It’s just that you remind me of someone I once knew. Her name was Sheridan Crane.” The car bumped to a stop just as Sheridan turned quickly to face him. Stumbling, she put out a hand to steady herself against the cool metal wall at the same time as the man caught her shoulders. “Okay?” he asked, smiling down at her from his superior height. Being five-seven herself, she didn’t often have to look quite so far upward. She cleared her throat. “I’m Sheridan Crane. But I-“

“Just a minute.” Nodding an apology to the people trying to enter the elevator around them, he led Sheridan out of the way, keeping one hand on her shoulder. “Now,” he said when they were standing in the lobby of the upscale office building, “we can talk.” Still adjusting to the fact that he’d known her name, she frowned as she again shifted the heavy briefcase. “I’m sorry, but if we’ve met, I’ve forgotten.” Her hormone count must be in worse condition than she’d thought if she’d ever spent any time with this man and couldn’t remember him, she ruefully mused.

“Luis Lopez Fitzgerald,” he supplied helpfully, watching for her reaction. The name was no more familiar than the face. “Luis Lopez Fitzgerald,” she repeated, uncomfortable with the awkwardness of the exchange. She was a woman who made it a point to always be in control of any situation. Being out of control brought back those old feelings of ineptitude, of vulnerability to her family. She didn’t like being made to feel that way now. “I’m-“ No, she decided abruptly, she wouldn’t apologize again. If the man had any courtesy at all, he’d end the suspense and just tell her who he was and how they’d met. “I’m in a bit of a rush,” she hinted broadly, glancing at her no-nonsense, precise-to-the-second watch. “Was there something you wanted?”

Undeterred by her brusqueness, Luis only continued to smile, making excellent use of the masculine dimples at the corners of his nicely shaped mouth. A man like this would probably be amazed that he’d escaped any woman’s attention, Sheridan thought, but he hid it well if he was. “It’s good to see you, Sher. How’s Ethan? And your mom, does she still make those wonderful apple-raisin pies?” Exasperated, Sheridan resisted the impulse to drop her purse and briefcase and press both hands to her temples, where a dull headache threatened. The man – Luis Lopez Fitzgerald, she reminded herself – spoke with such confident familiarity, calling her by the nickname only family and close friends used, naming her nephew, casually mentioning her mother’s best-known dessert.

Hardly anybody knew about her mother’s pies, considering Alistair had reprimanded Katherine for baking when the house was full of cooks. But, it was something her and Sheridan had shared when she was younger. “Ethan’s fine. My mother died several years ago. How-?” His bright hazel eyes turned warm with sympathy. He had a very expressive face. He’d obviously never bothered to learn to mask his emotions, as Sheridan had learned to do from years of being a Crane. “I’m sorry,” Luis said and he sounded sincere. “She was a lovely woman. You must miss her very much.” Caught off-guard again, Sheridan answered huskily. “Yes, I do.”

His smile returned, making her suspect it was never gone for long. “You’re still not convinced we’ve ever met, are you?” “No. I’m not,” Sheridan answered with total honesty. “I’m crushed,” Luis affected a sigh, though amusement glinted in his eyes and deepened in his voice. It would take a lot more than that to crush this man. He was the embodiment of healthy male ego. The type of man Sheridan had long since learned to avoid. “I’m sorry, but you don’t even look familiar to me. Are you a friend of Ethan’s?” “Not exactly,” Luis replied unhelpfully. His vivid hazel eyes were decidedly mischievous when he asked her, “You honestly do not remember me at all?”

A frown ceased Sheridan’s brow. Staring at him, she pursed her lips as she considered, then rejected, various ways she could have known him. She had traveled extensively during her years, and she’d met many people over the years, but she’d also forgotten plenty of them. Most of her time was spent in Harmony or Paris during her youth. She’d moved back to Harmony soon after her divorce from Jean Luc. She would surely remember this man if she’d met him during the past few years, wouldn’t she? His age was hard to guess.

She was 28, she assumed he was close to the same age, judging from the sexy lines at the corners of his eyes and the air of utter, mature confidence. She wondered if they’d attended school together during her years in Harmony, even if Alistair had forced her to attend a private school. But she didn’t remember anyone named Luis Lopez Fitzgerald, or anyone who looked as incredible as this. “No,” Sheridan finally replied and if she felt any regret, she was certain it didn’t show in her voice, “I don’t remember you. Who are you?” Luis grinned. “I told you. I’m Luis Lopez Fitzgerald.” Annoyed, she turned. “I don’t have time for this.” She started to walk away, half-convinced the man had some loose parts rattling around in that very attractive head. “Wait.” He fell quickly into step beside her as she headed for the doors. “Aren’t you even interested in how we met?” She didn’t slow down. “Not enough to play these games to find out.”

“Games can be fun at times,” he suggested. “Yes. For Children.” “Come on, Sher, lighten up. Surely you haven’t changed that much. You used to like to have fun.” She flicked him a glance. “I’m supposed to be having fun now!” “Call it a challenge. I’ll give you three guesses about how we met. Name the stakes,” he grinned. “Sorry, I don’t play guessing games.” Approaching the revolving door, she reached for it. Luis caught her wrist. “What kind of games do you play?” “I don’t.” Sheridan jerked her wrist out of his loose grasp. “Goodbye.” And then she hurried through the door before he could reply.

He was right behind her when she stepped out onto the sidewalk. She was annoyed that it might take a policeman to rid her of her uninvited companion. He slid a pair of aviator-style glasses onto his nose to shield his eyes against the bright sunlight, then smiled down at her. She had the rather whimsical impression that his smile was even brighter than the sunlight. Pushy, but definitely gorgeous, she mused with a touch of wistfulness she refused to acknowledge. “Have dinner with me,” he said. It wasn’t a question. More a demand, she decided irritably, wistfulness gone.

“Sorry.” Head down, she quickly turned toward the parking lot, thinking of the security guard that’d be waiting there. “We’ll have seafood. You still love seafood, don’t you Sher? Fried shrimp, lobster, crab legs?” How did he know these things? Looking wildly for Cal, the security guard, she gripped her purse more tightly and refused to answer. “Sher?” Sheridan turned furiously. “Stop calling me that! Either tell me who you are and how we met, or get lost! I told you, I don’t like playing games.”

He looked at her for a long time and she thought that his expression looked oddly sad. “I think it’s been much too long since you allowed yourself to play at all,” Luis observed perceptibly. “What happened to you, Sher?” That made her chin lift defensively. “I grew up,” she answered, the words clipped. “The hard way. Now if you’ll excuse me…” “We really do know each other, you know,” he said conversationally, his lazy smile returning.

“If that’s true,” she returned, her tone indicating she didn’t really believe him, “then I must have blocked you from my mind because I didn’t like you.” Luis didn’t even wince. Instead, his smile broadened as he spread his arms in a playfully egotistic gesture. “Impossible! What’s not to like?” Sheridan bit hard on the inside of her lip to resist an unexpected urge to smile. Don’t encourage the man, Sheridan. “I’m sure I could think of something,” she murmured instead. Then, turning sharply on one high heel, she walked to her car, head up, never looking back.

He didn’t follow her this time, though she knew he was still there as she climbed behind the wheel and drove out of the let. Only then did she allow herself one last glance into the rearview mirror. Not bad at all, she thought regretfully, memorizing the sight of him in the bright afternoon sun, his dark hair tossed by a mischievous breeze as he stood with legs braced wide and hands on his slender hips. How sad that he was such a fruitcake. **

Sheridan drove home with the car windows down, her radio tuned to a rock station. Again, guilt nagged at her, reminding her that the office was still open, her employees busily working while Sheridan enjoyed the weather. She shoved those thoughts away. Something about the crisp first-week-in-May air, the greening trees and blooming bushes along the roadside, the brilliant blue of the unclouded sky made her feel young and vibrantly alive. And then a tiny voice in her head asked if those feeling were at least partially due to a handsome man’s bright smile, a spark of masculine appreciation in a pair of roguish hazel eyes.

She sternly rejected the idea as soon as it occurred to her. She wasn’t a schoolgirl panting for the campus jock – not anymore. She was a 28 year old divorced career woman with an active, if conservative social life. The men she dated were polite, usually quite a bit older than she was. None of them would have irritated her with that silly guessing game business. Telling herself that she’d been attracted to him only because he was an unusually handsome man, that she’d almost been tempted to play along with his game only because it was hard for her to resist a challenge, she made an effort to put him out of her mind. An effort that failed miserably, she realized when she absently noted that interior of her car was the same color as Luis Lopez Fitzgerald’s eyes.

Oh, what fantasies she could have about the two of them in her car. Perhaps her life had become just a bit too predictable during the past few years. Maybe that explained this sudden fascination with an attractive, mysterious and decidedly odd stranger. ** The duplex in which Sheridan lived was a two-story red brick building with freshly painted white trim and shutters. She had purchased the building over three years earlier, when her father had cut her ties from the family after she announced she was divorcing Jean Luc. She vaguely remembered that day.

”Sheridan, you will NOT divorce Jean Luc, do you understand me?” Alistair’s voice boomed through the Crane mansion. “Father, this is not YOUR decision! He is a lying, cheating, manipulative man, and I refuse to spend the rest of my life with somebody like that! Do you know I actually caught him with the maid last night? What was I to do? Stay in Paris and let him make a fool of me?” “Ah, Sheridan, you are so incredibly naïve! Who cares if Jean Luc sleeps around? Your marriage to him does well for the Crane fortune! I thought you understood that! You must do whatever it takes for the future of this empire!”

Sheridan had enough. “Contrary to what you believe, I do not give a damn about the precious Crane Empire! Especially if it means sacrificing my happiness! I will not be your pawn like Julian is!” “That’s it young lady! I do not care if you are 25 years old! As long as you are a member of this Crane family, you will listen to me and do as I say!” Alistair raged. “Well maybe it’s time that I stop being a member of the Crane family!” Sheridan screamed. She didn’t really mean to blurt it out, but she couldn’t take it. He would not control her life.

“Have it as you wish.” Alistair coolly replied before walking back to his library. Those were the last words her so called father ever spoke to her. The next morning, all of her things had been destroyed, and she was left with nothing but the clothes on her back. Luckily, her mother had left her a generous trust fund which her father had absolutely no control over. It wasn’t nearly as much as the Crane fortune, but it was enough to get her on her feet and start her own business.

Once she had bought the building, she promptly rented the left half to a very nice couple, the Munoz’s, who still lived there with their daughter, Maria. Each side of the duplex contained a living room, kitchen and dining room downstairs, and two bedrooms and a bath upstairs. Large windows and open layout made the snug apartments seem roomy and light. Sheridan loved her home. Maybe because it was the first one she could really call hers. Before she could fit her key into her lock, the door vibrated with the weight of a heavy body hurled against it from the inside, accompanied by a series of frantic, welcome barks. “All right Luke, give me time to get inside,” she called out in amusement.

Inside her living room, she reached down to hug the sleek pug who squirmed and wagged like a puppy in his owner’s arms, his tan body shining, brown ears pointed attentively, brown muzzle rubbing adoringly against her face. “You big marshmallow,” Sheridan accused him fondly. Luke might act like a sweet pet with her, but he was trained to attack if she ordered. He was much better protection than the security system, and much cuter. Stripping out of her business suit, she slipped into a red satin kimono, a present from her nephew Ethan when he’d returned from a business trip in Japan.

Ethan was one of the top lawyers in the country, and the only member of the Crane family to keep in touch with her. Thinking of Ethan made her wish he were home so she could ask about Luis Lopez Fitzgerald. Who was that man and how did he know so much about her? “Luis,” she mused aloud, roaming around her apartment as she straightened a few things she’d left lying around in her rush to leave that morning. “Luis.” She thought back over 15 years of traveling in the wake of her power driven father, a man who’d been incapable of settling for everything he had. No, not Alistair Crane. He had to be the best, to have more.

Always certain the next opportunity would make him richer, he made sure Sheridan was trained to be the perfect multi billionaire’s daughter. Of course, a daughter like that had to see the world. He called it educational. His children, he would say, had seen it all. Her childhood memories slipped through her head like rushing water. The only happy times she could remember where before her mother passed away. After that, she was taught to always seem happy, even when she was dying inside. All she ever wanted was to be like the “normal” children. Yet, all Sheridan ever wanted was a nice home, a friend she could keep for more than a year, the same view of flowers out the same window every morning when she awoke.

She must have encountered hundreds of people during her years. How was she supposed to remember this Luis man? Surely, no woman would be able to forget a face like that, so why her? She couldn’t even name all the places she’d been to before she’d been allowed to settle down in Paris for college. Only once she was settled there, she fell in love with another nomad, Jean Luc Milan, a seemingly interesting businessman who spent the majority of their five years of their marriage on business trips. Much like her father, he couldn’t even commit to one woman. Too bad it had taken her so much time to wise up.

Shaking her head with a scowl, Sheridan forced herself to stop thinking about Jean Luc. The telephone rang just as she sat down on the couch. Reaching for it, she answered curiously. Who, other than Julia and Beth, her two full-time office employees, knew she had come home early today? Surely something hadn’t gone wrong at the office without her already. “Some people have no sense of responsibility at all! How dare you leave the office three whole hours early!” The gently teasing voice made Sheridan smile. “Gwen! How did you know I was here?” “I called your office. Julia’s still in shock that you walked out.” “You’d think the computer had walked out.”

“She probably thinks of you in much the same way as she does the computer,” Gwen answered with a smile in her voice. “You’re not going to deny that you have the slightest tendency toward workaholism, are you Sher?” “Workaholism?” Sheridan chuckled at the word, but didn’t bother to deny it. They knew it applied to both of them. “Actually,” Gwen continued, “I’m just jealous that you have the option of taking off when you’d like. You know I’ve dreamed of being my own boss. So what are you up to with your next few hours of freedom? Something wild and crazy?”

“I have no idea,” Sheridan replied. “Yeah, that’s just what I expected,” Gwen sighed. “I’m not sure you remember how to be wild and crazy. The least you could do is to out and try to pick up a hot guy!” “Actually, a hot man tried to pick me up today in the elevator as I was leaving.” That got Gwen’s attention. “Oh my god! DETAILS!” Sheridan told Gwen what had happened, leaving out nothing except her own confused reactions to Luis’ sexy smile and hazel eyes. “He knew all that about you and you can’t remember him?” Gwen asked. “He didn’t even look vaguely familiar!”

“Why didn’t you take up his offer for dinner? You could have tried to find out what was up. Weren’t you even curious?” “Well of course I was curious, but I couldn’t just agree to have dinner with a stranger, even if he was sexy as hell." “You could have met him somewhere public. You didn’t have to invite him into your home or anything.” “Still too dangerous. Besides, he annoyed me.” Sheridan added for lack of a better verb. She didn’t know how to describe the feelings Luis evoked in her.

“Damn. I wish someone like that would come along to annoy me! I’d know what I’d do with him!” Gwen hinted. “Anyhoo, the reason I called was to ask if you’d have lunch with me Thursday. It’s been weeks since we’ve had a chance to get together.” “I’d love to,” Sheridan answered. “Great! I’ll give you a call that morning to set the time and place, okay?” “Sounds fine! I’ll talk to you then.” “Have a nice afternoon! Even if you did blow your chance with that mystery hunk.”

Sheridan replaced the received with a smile that quickly turned to a frown as she found herself wondering again about the man who’d introduced himself as Luis Lopez Fitzgerald. She’d drive herself crazy this way. And all she’d wanted to do was come home and enjoy a long, lazy afternoon doing nothing. Damn that man for interfering with her first afternoon off in months. Feeling restless, she sat on the sofa, Luke curled at her feet, and tried to decide what to do. Maybe she should stop by the mall for some shopping. No, she didn’t want to go out. Television? That worked for about 10 minutes. What was wrong with daytime TV today?

I think it’s been much too long since you allowed yourself to play at all. What happened to you, Sher? The memory of the quietly spoken observation made her groan. Luke pushed an inquiring nose to her knee. “It’s okay Luke. I was just assaulted by an irritating memory. Something said by a pushy, ridiculous man.” She stood and walked up the stairs into the spare bedroom. Her typewriter sat on a desk, papers face down in a neat pile. She had her hobby, just like everyone else. Be honest, she thought to herself. Writing was hardly a hobby.

It was a way for her to express her passion. She’d been working on this story for nearly two years, in what spare time she had. No one other than Ethan knew about Sheridan’s writing, and even he had never read it. She didn’t seriously imagine being published, because she was unwilling to try. “Just another dream to be broken,” she murmured aloud. Reading over the last few pages she’d written, she frowned as she studied the description of the hero in her story. She’d made him blonde with green eyes. Chewing on her lower lip, she wondered if he’d be more intriguing with dark hair and hazel eyes. Hmm.

Inserting a clean sheet of paper into the typewriter, she began to write, already lost in the joy of creating her own world. Seemingly satisfied with her familiar behavior, Luke rested his head on his front paws and closed his eyes, allowing himself to sleep at her feet as she concentrated on her other work.

To Be Continued...

Chapter 2:

Luis was whistling when he entered his sister’s house, still thinking about the unexpected reunion that afternoon. Sheridan Crane. What were the odds of finding her again – in an elevator in a Harmony office building of all places? He’d thought he was doing a good deed for his sister by delivering some papers to her accountant. He hadn’t expected this little bonus for himself out of the gesture. He found Resa sitting in the den, swollen feet propped on an ottoman as she studied a baby care book she held on the mound that had once been her lap. “Hey, Resa. Guess who I ran into in your accountant’s office building. You’ll never believe it.”

Tilting her dark head, twenty-two-year-old Theresa wrinkled her nose and tapped her chin with one finger, pretending to give serious consideration to his words. “I give up,” she said at length, turning her brown eyes inquiringly at him. “Who did you run into?” “Sheridan Crane.” Luis produced the name with a verbal flourish, dropping into a nearby armchair to watch her reaction. Resa frowned thoughtfully, her memory obviously tugged by the name, then widened her eyes. “Sheridan Crane? I remember her!” “Sure you do. You once thought she was pretty hot stuff. You wanted to be just like her when you became a teenager.”

“I wasn’t the only one who had a major crush on her,” Resa teased in return, grinning wickedly at her older brother. “It was you who used to leave candy bars anonymously on her doorstep. You were the one who once challenged her nephew Ethan, who was quite bigger than you at the time, to a fight for teasing her and making her cry.” Luis shrugged, clearing his throat somewhat uncomfortably. “Yeah, well, that’s been a while.” “No kidding. What – 13 years?” Luis nodded. “At least.” “How’d you know it was her?”

He grinned. “She hasn’t changed a bit. I mean, she’d older of course and there are minor changes, but I still knew her the minute I saw her.” “I don’t suppose she recognized you?” He shook his head. “Not even a glimmer of recognition.” Resa ran her eyes affectionately down his mature, muscular frame. “Gee, what a surprise.” “I suppose I have changed more than she did. I didn’t tell her how we knew each other before. I’m hoping curiosity will encourage her to have dinner with me one evening.” Resa closed her book and set it carefully aside. “You mean, like a date?” “Yeah. Exactly like a date.”

Looking skeptical, she eyed him. “She’d older than you are, isn’t she?” Luis shrugged again. “Not enough to matter. She’s still gorgeous. Classy, too. You’d have killed for the suit she had on.” Resa sighed gustily, patting her protruding stomach. “I’d kill for anything with a waistline right now,” she admitted. “I’m really tired of wearing lace-trimmed parachutes.” “The joys of motherhood,” he teased fondly, glancing at the place where his eagerly awaited niece or nephew rested.

“So you’re really going to ask Sheridan Crane out?” Resa asked, returning to the previous subject with all the determination of a naturally inquisitive younger sister. “Already did. She shot me down. But you know me…” Resa rolled her eyes and groaned. “Uh-huh. Never-say-die Luis. How do you know she’s not married or engaged or something?” “She’d have said if she were, wouldn’t she?” Luis pointed out logically. “So wear your uniform next time you ask her out. Something about Captain Luis Lopez Fitzgerald in dress blues turns normally intelligent woman into drooling admirers. Can’t imagine why, but it’s been happening ever since you left the Air Force Academy.”

Ignoring the faint heat in his cheeks, Luis scowled at Resa’s taunting. “I don’t think I’ll have to resort to the uniform. Although I’ll keep it in mind if all else fails.” “Got another plan, have you?” He lifted his chin in deliberate cockiness. “Don’t I always?” “Oh, Lord. The woman had better run for the hills while she can.” Luis laughed. “I’m not that bad.” Resa only grimaced and shoved herself out of the deep chair, standing with the difficulty resulting from eight months of pregnancy. “I’m going to freshen up before Noah comes home. Help yourself to a drink or whatever, okay?” “Yeah, thanks.”

He watched her waddle across the room, resisting the impulse to tease her about the uncharacteristic gracelessness of her movements. He knew she’d had just about enough of his pregnancy jokes. Resa paused in the doorway and looked back over her shoulder. “So what is this determination of yours to go out with Sheridan? The fulfillment of a boyhood fantasy?” “I guess you could call it that,” he agreed equably.

“That’s what I thought. Oh well, if it gives you something to do besides count the minutes until you’re back at that job you love so much, go for it. I’ve never seen you as restless as you’ve been during the past week, and you still have 3 weeks of your leave time.” With a smile, she left the room. Luis winced. He hadn’t realized his restlessness had shown so clearly to his family. Not that he wasn’t enjoying his visit with them, but he’d never been one to appreciate having empty time on his hands. His thoughts quickly turned back to Sheridan. As Resa had accused him, he’d had a major crush on Sheridan Crane when she had been fifteen. She hadn’t looked twice at him, not that he’d have expected her to at the time.

After all, he hadn’t exactly moved in her social circles, and her father didn’t exactly allow her to mingle with “local” children. But he’d definitely noticed her. She’d been the first person of the opposite sex to ever fully capture his adolescent attention. Remembering the way his breath had caught when she’d looked at him in that elevator, he realized he’d never quite gotten over that crush, though he hadn’t consciously thought of her in years. And, though time had put them on a more equal footing than they’d been before, she couldn’t stand him now. He’d have to do something about that.

Surely fate wouldn’t give him another chance with her only to have it end like this. His smile faded as he pictured her again. What had happened to take all the laughter out of her lovely ocean blue eyes? And what would it take for him to put it back? Typically, he never questioned his ability to do so. Luis rose from the chair and strolled across the room, digging into the small refrigerator behind the wet bar for the orange juice Resa kept there. He just happened to have three weeks to fill before leaving for Spain for a two-year tour of duty.

Three weeks that had stretched endlessly ahead of his impatient nature. It pleased him that he now had something to do during those weeks besides visit his parents, run errands for his sister, and count the days until he was back to work as an air force pilot. He would use that free time to find out if the grown-up Sheridan Crane was as fascinating as the teenager had been. ** Her fingertips pressed against her temples, Sheridan pored over a stack of tax forms at her office the net morning, her brow creased as she tried to understand the complicated figures. Noses from the other offices penetrated the walls – telephones ringing, muffled voices, the copy machine being operated in the next room.

She tried to block out those distractions, her full concentration on the figures in front of her. It all seemed so easy when her accountant went over it with her. So why did it seem hard on her own? “Excuse me, Sheridan, but there’s someone here to see you.” Sheridan glanced up at her open office doorway, where Julia, her secretary-receptionist, stood smiling at her. She really didn’t have time to see anyone, unless it was very important. These papers were due back at her accountant’s office by one o’clock. She was going to have to skip lunch as it was. That’s what she got, she thoughts resignedly, for taking a few hours off the day before. “Please tell whoever it is that I…”

“…Would be delighted to see him,” a man’s voice finished for her just as the owner of that voice stepped past Julia into Sheridan’s office. This time the attractive face with its engagingly cocky smile definitely looked familiar. She’d seen it only yesterday, when she’d left him standing in the parking lot looking after her as she’d driven away. “What are you doing here?” Carrying a brightly colored gift bag, Luis smiled over his shoulder at Julia as he approached Sheridan’s desk. “Thanks Julia. I’ll take it from here.”

Julia looked uncertainly at Sheridan. Whatever Luis had told her to make her usher him so confidently into her employer’s office had obviously been brought into question by Sheridan’s less than enthusiastic welcome. Thought she fully intended to reprimand Julia later for being so gullible to a gorgeous male smile, she decided to be coolly professional in front of her uninvited caller. “Thank you, Julia. I’ll let you know if I need anything.” Biting her lower lip, Julia turned and hurried away. Sheridan pushed her chair back and stood, hands spread on the glossy wood surface of her desk as she glared at Luis.

It wasn’t all that hard to understand why her impressionable young employee would have been willing to believe almost anything from this man. His short, dark hair sexily styled, his tall, fit body clad in a clinging gray sweater and black jeans, he could have stepped off the pages of a male fashion catalog. Hardly the type of man who usually entered the offices of Dial-a-Temp, Inc. “What,” she repeated crisply, “are you doing here?” “I came to see you,” he replied, not noticeably daunted by her tone. “And to bring you a present.” Luis set the bag in front of her.

Sheridan ignored it. “Mr. Lopez Fitzgerald, this is my place of business. I have work to do. I don’t appreciate being interrupted.’ “A temporary help service. Interesting. You own the business?” “Yes I do. And I’m quite busy, so…” “You look lovely today. That suit is rather severe, but the royal blue brings out the color of your eyes.” Becoming more and more angry with his persistence, Sheridan balled her fists when he made himself comfortable on one corner of her desk, looking at her with a blandly innocuous grin that made her long to hit him.

Who did this guy think he was anyway? “Must I call building security to have you removed from my office?” He looked ridiculously wounded. “Sher, would you really do that to an old friend?” “We are not old friends!” she all but shouted in her frustration. And then she took a deep breath and lowered her voice. “I will repeat what I said yesterday. I don’t know you. You do not look familiar to me. I don’t recognize your name. Now why won’t you leave me alone?” “If you’re so sure we’ve never met, how do you explain what’s in that bag you’re trying so hard to ignore?” Sheridan looked suspiciously from him to the bag. “What is it?” “I told you. A gift. Why don’t you look inside?”

Hesitating a moment longer, she finally signed in exasperation and snatched up the bag, opening it with carefully concealed curiosity. She then frowned as she studied the contents. “How in the world..?” The bag held a six-pack of canned root beer and a half dozen Three Musketeer bars. The afternoon sun beat strongly on Sheridan’s neck and back, bared by the skimpy bikini she wore as she sunbathed on a soft blanket, a melting candy bar and a cold can of root beer at her elbow. Lying on her stomach, crossed feet silently beating to a new rock song, she scribbled happily in her ever-present wirebound notebook.

The tip of her ponytail ticked her nape and she tossed her head, then looked up from her notebook when she was distracted by the sound of her nephew making bombing noises as he worked on a model military vehicle. The bushes rattled at the edge of the lawn and she scowled, wondering if the pesky neighborhood kids were spying on her again. But even that didn’t spoil her pleasure in the afternoon. Gazing sightlessly into the distance, she allowed herself to daydream, imagining that she’d never have to leave here, that her father would finally let her stay in Harmony with the rest of the family, that she’d be allowed to attend the public school.

“Well? Aren’t you going to thank me for supplying you with your favorite snack food?” Luis’s smug voice broke into the flash of memory, making Sheridan return to the present with a start. She deliberately converted her surprised expression to one of fierce determination. “Who are you?” she demanded, staring straight into his amused amber eyes. “The man of your dreams,” he quipped, reaching out to run one finger down the soft curve of her cheek. Jerking away from his touch, Sheridan muttered her disgust with the arrogant reply, “You’re not going to tell me the truth, are you?”

He managed to look wounded. “I thought I was telling the truth.” Realizing he still had no intention of explaining how they’d met, or how he just happened to know so much about her, she snatched up the bag and threw it at him. He caught it easily, demonstrating amazingly quick reflexes. “Out,” she told him, pointing to the door. Luis laughed. “Now Sher…” “I’m not joking. I want you out of my office. I have work to do.” “Don’t you want to take the first of those three guesses I offered you? Surely my gift gave you some clue as to when we knew each other.” His tone was tantalizing, challenging.

“I told you, I am not playing this game with you. Either you answer MY questions or you can leave.” He shrugged negligently, placed the gift bag gently back on her desk, and turned on one heel. “Okay. I’ll be seeing you.” He was going? He really intended to leave her in mystified suspense? Dammit, she seethed, glaring at his retreating backside, why was he doing this to her? “Harmony,” she head herself saying impulsively, goaded into a desperate attempt to make sense of a situation that was rapidly turning her into a basket case. Looking over his shoulder, Luis lifted an inquiring eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Sheridan flushed, but continued doggedly. “Did we know each other when I used to live here as a teenager?” His smile made her long to throw something else at him. Something large and heavy. “Could be,” he murmured. “Is that your first guess?” The impulse to clench her fists in her hair and scream was strong, but she resister. Coating her voice with as much ice as she could manage, she replied, “No. I’m not playing your game. It was only a question.” “Okay. Bye then.” He closed her office door behind him when he left.

“Ohhh!!!!” Sheridan whispered furiously, sinking into her chair and glowering at the offending gift bag as if it shared the guilt of its bearer. “That has to be the most obnoxious, aggravating, irritating..” The door opened again. Luis poked his head around the edge. “Oh by the way, your first guess was correct. We did know each other here in Harmony.” He was gone before she could respond. Just as well, she decided. What she’d intended to say had certainly not been appropriate for the office. She contented herself with muttering juicy expletives between clenched teeth as she firmly settled back down to work, making a valiant effort to ignore the gaily decorated bag that seemed to laugh at her from the corner of her desk. **

He had definitely ticked her off. Ignoring the surreptitiously curious looks from the other three occupants of the elevator, Luis chuckled. He didn’t know what exactly had happened to Sheridan Crane during the past thirteen years or so, but he did know that it was long past time someone rattled her cage a bit. Cage. Now where had that come from? Why did he have the odd hunch that Sheridan was a prisoner of hr own daily routine? Maybe she was perfectly happy with the way things were. Maybe she liked being all business, no nonsense, standoffish. If so, she’d changed a great deal more than he would have imagined.

He could still remember her laughter, still remember the funny feeling in his stomach every time he’d heard it when he was a kid. Would he her it again? Luis grinned. Of course he would. He had no intention of conceding defeat at this point in the game. ** The balloons arrived late that afternoon, half a dozen huge, bright yellow balloons tied with green ribbons. Interrupted in the middle of discussing the following week’s schedule with Beth, Sheridan moaned when Julia carried the balloons in both her employees laughed at her expression. “There’s a card,” Julia announced, pointing to the tiny envelope dangling from one of the ribbons.

“As if we don’t know who sent them,” Beth teased. Having worked for Sheridan for nearly 2 years, she’d long sine gotten over her original intimidation of her employer and had joined the ranks of friends who’d expressed concern about Sheridan’s lack of an exciting social life. The ebullient young woman had particularly scorned Sheridan’s most recent escort – sober, sedate Warren. “Surely there are more interesting guys than that,” she’d declared after meeting Warren.

Sheridan warily pulled the card from the envelope. ”Yellow used to be your favorite color,” the bold, decidedly masculine scrawl read. ”These remind me of the way the sunshine glittered in your hair yesterday. Have dinner with me tonight.” Realizing that her hand had lifted to her neatly styled hair, Sheridan bit off a groan and immediately dropped her arm to her side. Damn the man. Didn’t he know how to take no for an answer? And how was she supposed to decline his invitation, anyway? There was no phone number enclosed with the card.

“He’s persistent, you can say that for him,” Beth commented carefully, her eyes alight with amusement as she studied the balloons floating above Sheridan’s desk. Julia had told her all about Luis’s unconventional visit earlier, including the fast-talking he’d done to get himself escorted into Sheridan’s office without being announced. “Good looking too, from the glimpse I caught of him this morning.” “He’s becoming a serious problem,” Sheridan replied.

Julia’s round face creased in puzzled curiosity beneath her fringe of red bangs. “I know he was kind of pushy, but he’s awfully good-looking. And he seemed nice. Great smile! Maybe you should go out with him. It might be fun.” Sheridan shook her head. “No, he’s not my type.” Julia rolled her eyes expressively. “Come on Sheridan. A guy like that is every woman’s type.” “So go after him.” “You don’t think I would if he’d shown any interest at all?” Julia retorted. “That man’s only got eyes for you, boss.”

“Then he’ll just have to start looking in another direction. I’m tired of his silly guessing game, tired of these tantalizing little clues he keeps dropping, tired of..” “What guessing game?” Beth interrupted, visibly intrigued. Catching herself, Sheridan shook her head again. “Never mind. Get Mallory Fisher on the phone for me, will you Julia? I need to confirm with her that I have a clerical assistant lined up for her husband next week. Then call Peggy and tell her that she’ll need to report to Dr. Fisher’s office by 9 Monday morning.

Oh, and Beth, I’d like to see the results of the office competency tests you gave this morning. I’m particularly interested in the first woman I interviewed, Hannah Steinback.” Reluctant to drop the subject of Sheridan’s unconventional suitor, Julia cast one look at the cheerful balloon bouquet and then nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” She turned and left, muttering to herself as she went. Beth wasn’t far behind, though her parting remarks were less subtle.

Sheridan was very aware that her employees were disgusted with her for being immune to Luis Lopez Fitzgerald’s compelling charm. Or at least, Sheridan hoped she appeared to be immune. The truth was, she was having a harder time resisting than even she could believe. Some irritating little voice inside her kept urging her to give in, play along with Luis’s game, go out with him, bask some more in the warmth of his dimpled smile. Thus far, she’d managed to ignore the voice, though she’d failed to eliminate it.

She had very good reasons to continue to resist Luis. She didn’t know him, despite his taunting claims to the contrary. She didn’t rust him, and she didn’t trust her own reaction to him. Something about him made her wary, nervous, and unwillingly agitated. He was the type of man to stir fantasies in any woman, and she’d learned firsthand how painful such fantasies could be in the end. She’d made a decision long ago, after her divorce, to avoid such pain in the future. She wasn’t going to change her mind now. **

Luis was standing beside the elevator when Sheridan left her office for the day. Leaning against the wall, arms crossed comfortably over his broad chest, he looked as if he were prepared to wait quite a while. He looked so handsome her knees weakened, though she made sure nothing more than mild annoyance showed on her face. She already felt foolish with the huge cluster of balloons bobbing above and behind her. She hadn’t quite known what to d with them, and she didn’t want to leave them in her office. They seemed so terribly out of place there, so unprofessional. “Go away,” Sheridan said before he could speak, viciously punching the call button.

Luis only chuckled. “I’ll have to take the elevator to do that. Mind if I share yours?” “Yes, I do mind.” The doors slid open, revealing two unsmiling men in conservative suits staring impassively forward. Her cheeks flaming, Sheridan stepped into the car, navigating the balloons beneath the doorway. Luis was right behind her, as she’d known he would be. Grinning broadly, he batted a balloon away from his face as the car began to descent.

One of the other men sighed impatiently and backed into a corner when a trailing green ribbon tickled his neck. Sheridan’s face burned even hotter. “Here,” she said impulsively, thrusting her handful of balloon strings to Luis. “You do something with them. You’re the one responsible for them.” Luis looked meditatively at the balloons that filled most of the upper half of the elevator, then shrugged and reached into his pocket. Pulling out a small pocketknife, he flipped it open with one hand. “Okay. I’ll get rid of them if you want me to.”

“No!” Without even knowing why she did it, she snatched the strings away from him, clutching them as if to protect them from danger. For some reason, she just couldn’t stand to watch him stab the bobbing yellow balloons. She knew it was foolish, but it almost seemed like murder. His smile broadening, Luis closed his knife and slid it back into his pocket, “What time should I pick you up for dinner?” “When hell freezes over,” Sheridan snapped in return, then wished she’d come up with something more original. “Now, Sher…”

Miserably aware of the interest they were receiving from their two elevator companions, she almost sighed in relief when the doors opened to the lobby. She hurried out, apologizing in a mutter to a woman whose hat was nearly knocked off by a straying balloon. “Sher,” Luis said again, easily keeping up with her as she hurried toward the revolving doors. “What is it about me that you find so annoying?” She threw him a narrow look. “I would think you’d be used to that reaction by now, given your personality.”

Luis winced, but didn’t pause. “Some people think I’ve got a great personality,” he informed her. “I’m charming, witty, very intelligent, kind to animals, children and old people, and I call my mother once a week. What’s not to -?” His words were cut off when she stepped into the revolving door, fighting to squeeze the balloons into the wedge-shaped space with her. Thinking it was a miracle she’d made it trough without popping any of them, she hurried out onto the sidewalk. “You want to know what I think?” The words come from just behind her right shoulder.

“Not particularly.” She kept walking, spotting her car with great relief. He ignored her response, as she should have expected. “I think you’re intrigued by me. I think you might even be just the tiniest bit attracted to me. And that makes you very nervous, because I’m a puzzle to you. I don’t quite fit the safe, dull routine you’ve fallen into. You’ve created this image of a no-nonsense professional businesswoman and you’re afraid to admit that there’s still a part of you that likes games and puzzles and taking risks.”

Appalled by his accusations, Sheridan whirled to face him, back pressed against her car, balloon strings clutched in one fist, purse and briefcase held to her chest like a shield with the other hand. “You’re crazy, do you know that? I am not intrigued by you. I am not attracted to you. And for the last time, I am not playing your stupid…” The last word died in a strangled choke when his mouth covered hers.

Pressed against the car as she was, both hands full, there was little she could do except stand rigidly as she kissed her. Okay, so she’d been lying about not being intrigued by him. And she’d been lying about not being attracted to him. And he’d been absolutely correct about her being afraid to do anything about it. The urge to let the balloons go, drop her purse and briefcase, and throw both arms around his neck and kiss him back terrified her. How did he do this to her?

The kiss was only a brief one, though for all Sheridan knew it could have lasted hours. He just touched her lips with his mouth, yet she was trembling when he stepped back, and her heart was racing in her chest. She tried to tell herself the reaction was caused solely from temper, but she knew she was lying again. “Why did you do that?” “Sorry,” Luis murmured, not looking at all repentant. “I couldn’t resist. You wouldn’t believe how long I’ve wanted to kiss you.” Sheridan only stared at him.

One corner of his mouth quirked upward in a ridiculously wistful smile. “Are you sure you aren’t just the tiniest bit attracted to me?” She straightened to her full height and lifted her chin, refusing to dignify that with a reply. “I’m more than a little attracted to you,” Luis went on conversationally. “Believe me, this isn’t something I do all the time. I know you think I’m crazy, hell maybe I am, but I haven’t’ been able to stop thinking about you since I saw you again yesterday.”

His words stunned her, though she tried to believe they were only a well-worn line. “Why won’t you tell me how we met?” she asked huskily. Luis suddenly looked sheepish. “Maybe I’m not too eager to have you remember.” “I knew it!” Sheridan exclaimed. “You are someone I didn’t like!” “Oh, you liked me, I think,” he answered reflectively. His quick grin then returned. “After all, what’s not…” “To like,” she finished with him, sighing. The man had an ego that just didn’t quit. So why was she suddenly finding it harder to resist him?

He’s not my type, she reminded herself sternly. She didn’t like feeling so out of control, so uncertain, so damned girlish. She was 28 years old, for goodness sake. What was it about Luis Lopez Fitzgerald that made her feel like a blushing teenager again? She really hated that feeling. “Goodbye, Mr. Lopez Fitzgerald.” “Have dinner with me, Sher.” “No.” “I’m prepared to beg.”

She wouldn’t smile, she thought quickly, forcing her lips to cooperate. She wouldn’t give in to that silly, lopsided, drop dead gorgeous grin of his. “It wouldn’t do you any good.” “I’m not going to give up you know.” “Neither am I.” She turned firmly to her car, then swallowed a curse when she found herself juggling keys, briefcase, purse, and balloon strings. “Here.” His voice was warm with amusement. “Let me help.” Reaching around her, he took the keys and opened her door, helping her guide the balloons into the small car.

“Thank you,” she said without looking at him. “You’re welcome.” He stepped back. “See you around, Sher.” “Not if I can help it,” Sheridan muttered, crawling behind the wheel and slamming the car door between them. Pushing the balloons out of the way as best as she could, she backed out of the parking space and left him standing in the same spot she’d left him the day before. Only this time she was fully away that she’d be seeing him again. And to her utter dismay she realized that some foolish part of her was rather looking forward to it.

To Be Continued...

Chapter 3:

“Hi Sheridan.” The squeaky young voice greeted her the moment she stepped out of her car in her driveway. “Wow, neat balloons.” Sheridan looked over to the neighboring apartment of the duplex where a pretty ten-year-old with long tawny braids was sitting in a wheelchair on the tiny front porch. “Hi Maria! What are you doing?” she greeted her young neighbor fondly, walking up the porch and leaning against a post. “I’m waiting for Daddy. He had a meeting this afternoon but he’s ‘sposed to be home soon. I have something real important to tell him.” “You do?” Sheridan asked encouragingly, smiling at the child. Born with cerebral palsy, Maria was a bright, happy little girl whom anyone would love.

After watching her grow for three years, Sheridan adored her. The feeling was quite mutual, though Sheridan sometimes suspected she came second to her dog in Maria’s affections. “Uh-huh. I got an A on my math test today. One hundred percent!” Maria announced proudly, her excitement causing her head to bob dramatically. Maria had limited control of her muscles, which meant she would never walk and she sometimes made unrestrained movements, but her intelligence was well above normal for her age. Her parents made sure her life was as close to normal as possible.

“Oh Maria, I’m so proud of you! Here,” she said impulsively, tying the strips of the balloons to one arm of the wheelchair, “these are for you.” Her head bobbing even more in her excitement, Maria grinned from ear to ear, her voice rising nearly an octave. “Thank you! Oh, they’re so pretty! They look like sunshine.” These remind me of the way the sunshine glittered in your hair. Sheridan found herself blushing for absolutely no reason that she could imagine as the words from the card popped into her mind. The card.

“Oops. Wait just a second,” she told Maria, digging among the green ribbons to detach the card that still dangled from one of them. “I’ll keep this.” Maria giggled. “I bet it’s a love note, isn’t it Sheridan? You’ve got a boyfriend, don’t you?” “Maria,” chided a woman’s voice from the doorway behind them. “Please try not to embarrass our landlady.” “Hi Elaina,” Sheridan looked up with a weak smile as Maria’s mother opened the storm door and stepped out to join them. “How are things at the university?” She asked to make conversation. “As hectic as always during this time of year,” Elaina replied. “Spring fever is near epidemic proportions.”

Sheridan just managed not to wince. Maybe that was her problem, she thought ruefully. Maybe she was suffering from a touch of spring fever herself for the first time in years. “I see your father’s car, Maria,” she said, stepping toward her own porch. “Now you can tell him about your math test. I have to go in before Luke tears down my door. He’s been whining in there for the past 10 minutes.” Her gaze turning reluctantly to her balloons, Maria smiled in response. “I hear him. Can he come visit later?” “Of course he can.” “See you, Sheridan.” “See you, sweetie.” Smiling, Sheridan let herself into her apartment, the card from Luis still clutched in one hand. **

It had been a very long time since Sheridan had had an erotic dream. She had one that night. Luis was kissing her again, his mouth moist, sun-warmed, hungry, just as it had been in the parking lot. Only this time he also touched her with his hands, running them over her throbbing, eager, nude body with a skill that made her writhe and moan in pleasure. And she touched him in return, thrusting her fingers into his short, crisp dark hair as he thrust into her overheated body, tracing his long, masculine dimples with the tip of her tongue, nibbling at his chin, testing the strength of his broad shoulders and muscular arms. She awoke with a gasp and a shudder, her body aching, actually craving a man’s touch for the first time in longer than she could remember.

Since the end of her marriage, she’d put all her energy into her education and then her career, leaving little time for socializing. Perhaps her body was reminding her that she had other needs besides a successful career. So why couldn’t her suddenly demanding hormones have kicked in when shed been out with Warren, who’d have been more than happy to satisfy her desires? Why not with any other of the safe, reliable, conservative men she’d dated in the past few years? Why did it have to be Luis Lopez Fitzgerald who’d appeared in her dream, who turned her knees to jelly, whose lazy smiles lured her into that dangerously unreliable world of fantasy?

“Way to go, Sheridan,” she muttered aloud, her voice thoroughly disgruntled in the darkness. “Eligible men everywhere and you have to fixate on an obnoxious man with questionable sanity. How discriminating of you.” Determined to go back to sleep, dreamlessly at that, she closed her eyes. Only she was assaulted by a vision of Luis Lopez Fitzgerald yet again, this time standing in the sunshine smiling down at her. She groaned and pulled her pillow over her head as if that would block out the annoyingly enticing memory. ** Sheridan was still trying to forget her uncomfortable dream when she walked into a pizza parlor close to her office the next day. At one o’clock, most of the luncheon crowd had thinned, which was why she and her friend Gwen Hotchkiss had chosen to meet at that time. Sheridan spotted Gwen immediately, as the tall blonde was waving from a cozy booth in one corner of the colorfully decorated room.

“Have you ordered yet?” Sheridan asked, sliding into the opposite side of the booth. Gwen shook her head, causing her stylishly blunt cut hair to sway at her jawline. “I just got here myself. Should we be sensible and have the salad bar, or fall off the wagon and split a pizza?” Sheridan always had the salad bar. Sheridan was always sensible. “Let’s order a pizza,” she heard herself saying. Looking very surprised, as if she really hadn’t expected Sheridan’s response, Gwen motioned for a waitress. “Hungry today?” Sighing, Sheridan rested her elbow on the tabletop and propped her chin in her hand. “Maybe I’m just tired of always being sensible.” “Well hallelujah, strike up the band!” Amused by her friend’s cheery comment, Sheridan laughed softly. “What was that supposed to mean?”

“That means,” Gwen explained gravely, “that it’s about time you did something frivolous for a change. Even if it’s only ordering a pizza instead of a salad or taking an afternoon off from work.” Sheridan snorted delicately. “You’re one to talk.” Gwen nodded in agreement. “I know. We’re very much alike in some ways. But you have to admit that I do cut loose more often than you do, even if it is only once a year or so.” Chuckling, Sheridan sipped her ice water, then ran a fingertip down the side of the tumbler. “Okay, so you indulge in an occasional weekend of debauchery. Why, just last summer you took a Caribbean cruise, only to participate in a bridge tournament being hold on board ship all weekend.”

Gwen made a face at Sheridan’s mocking accusation. “So it wasn’t a trip down fast lane. But at least I wasn’t alone. You do remember my bridge partner, don’t you?” Sheridan rolled her eyes. “Of course I do. Benjamin Montgomery. Wealthy, distinguished, divorced three times and old enough to be your father. He had to interrupt the tournament every half hour to take a heart pill, didn’t he?” “Every hour and a half,” Gwen squirmed. Her point made well, Sheridan allowed the subject to drop. She took out her napkin and placed it across her lap as their waitress slid a thickly topped pizza on the table between them. “Time for serious sinning.”

“Maybe for you,” Gwen muttered. “I could think of better things to do if I happened to be in the mood to be bad.” “A rousing game of tennis?” Sheridan sweetly inquired. “Okay, okay, forget I brought it up,” Gwen held both hands palm outward in laughing surrender. “I’m not wilder than you are. Let’s face it, we’re duds.” “I think I resent that,” Sheridan grumbled, but something about the rich aroma of pizza robbed the complaint of its sting. She took a large bite, steaming cheese stringing from the crust, her eyes closing in near ecstasy. “Oh my,” she said when she’d swallowed the first heavenly bite. “That’s better than sex.” Gwen lifted one skeptical eyebrow.

Sheridan only laughed softly. “As far as I can remember,” she added and sank her teeth in the pizza again. Someone dropped change into the jukebox in the corner behind Sheridan’s seat, followed by the opening chords of one of her all-time favorite “oldies” songs. She smiled. The Beatles and pizza. Maybe it wasn’t the fast lane, but she had no complaints at the moment. Nothing could destroy the simple pleasure of this luncheon with her friend. “You know,” Gwen murmured dreamily, her eyes focused somewhere over Sheridan’s shoulder. “Even I might be tempted to try something wild with a man like that.

Talk about sin-on-the-hoof!” Without much interest, Sheridan mumbled an incoherent response around a swallow of Canadian bacon and pineapple. Gwen’s eyes widened. “He’s looking this way, staring right at us!” “Big deal. We’re the only women in the place who don’t have children with us.” “I guess you’re right. But he’s smiling, oh honey what a smile, as if he knows something we don’t know. I wonder what he’s thinking.” Her curiosity finally aroused, Sheridan looked casually over her shoulder, and promptly choked on her pizza.

Grabbing frantically for her water glass, she gulped half the contents in an effort to clear her suddenly tight throat. What was Luis Lopez Fitzgerald doing in this pizza parlor, leaning negligently against the juke box, looking as if he were prepared to spend the rest of the day just standing there watching her. “Sheridan?” Gwen leaned forward in concern at her friend’s odd behavior. “Are you all right?” Lifting her hand to her flushed cheek, Sheridan slowly shook her head. “No, I’m not all right. Damn that man. Not only does he invade my bedroom, he even has to ruin the first truly enjoyable lunch I’ve had in ages.”

Gwen clasped her hands in front of her, her eyes going wide with avid interest, their half-eaten pizza forgotten. “He invaded your bedroom? Now this I have to hear!” Realizing what she’d said, Sheridan could have bitten her tongue. “It’s not what it sounded like,” she muttered, deeply embarrassed. How could she possibly explain? Gwen looked disappointed. “Oh, you mean you don’t know him?” Her eyes then brightened as she did some mental calculations. “You mean he’s the guy you told me about?” “No,” Sheridan cut in flatly, sensing Luis’s approach and making quite sure her voice carried to him. “I don’t know him. Despite what he says to

the contrary.”

“Really Sher, you’re going to bruise my ego if you don’t stop rebuffing me this way,” Luis commented, sliding into the booth beside her as if he’d been expected all along. “Impossible.” Her tone made her skepticism crystal clear. “An ego the size of yours can’t be bruised. I couldn’t dent it with a sledgehammer. You followed me here from my office, didn’t you?” “That’s what I love most about her,” Luis said to Gwen, ignoring Sher’s question, his voice deep with suppressed amusement. “She’s such a sweet talker.”

He stretched his arm across the back of the red vinyl booth, just brushing Sheridan’s shoulders. She leaned slightly forward, breaking the contact. Even that brief touch had caused her nerve endings to quiver. Dream memories haunted her, taunted her. Was his skin really as warm and sleek as she’d imagined it? His arms hot like steel? His kisses as… Stop this! She silently screamed to all her raging instincts, even as Luis casually introduced himself to Gwen. “Sheridan and I have known each other for years,” he added with a wicked grin that dared Sheridan to contradict him. Gwen looked enchanted. “But Sheridan said…”

“As far as I’m concerned, I met this man the day before yesterday when he accosted me in the elevator,” Sheridan interrupted. “He claims we knew each other before, but he’s demented, poor thing. The only reason I haven’t called the police to make him stop harassing me is that I’ve always been sympathetic to the mentally ill. My sympathy, however, is about to run out.” “She’s terrific, isn’t she?” Luis asked Gwen, his sexy grin broadening as he helped himself to a slice of pizza. “Have you known her for long?” “For many years,” Gwen answered, smiling as she looked from Sheridan to Luis with avid interest. Luis swallowed a third of his pizza slice in one bite, then asked “Ever known her to be completely rattled?” “No, I can’t say that I have.”

“Wouldn’t you say it’s about time?” “Yes,” Gwen answered, suddenly thoughtful. “I think it is.” “Gwen!” Gwen only smiled at Sheridan’s exclamation. “Sorry, Sheridan. But you know that’s exactly what I was trying to tell you before Luis joined us.” “Was it?” Luis looked delighted. He turned to Sheridan. “See? Even your friend thinks I’d be good for you. So now will you go out with me?” “Are your feet cold?” she asked him in return. He looked a little disconcerted, which pleased her very much since it was usually the other way around. “Well…no,” he admitted. “Then I don’t suppose hell has frozen over yet, has it?” She smiled. Luis gave an approving laugh and dropped his outstretched arm around her shoulders to hug her to his side.

“Damn, but I like you. Come on Sher, say you’ll have dinner with me. What could it hurt?” “The man’s only asking you to dinner, Sheridan,” Gwen pointed out. “Give it a chance.” “I really don’t think he needs any help Gwen.” “Don’t believe it Gwen. I need all the help I can get.” Luis’s arm tightened briefly around Sheridan’s shoulders, and then he released her. “Well?” She looked at him for a long moment, frowning. “Are you going to stop asking if I say no this time?” “Not a chance.” “That’s what I thought.” She sighed. Somewhere, she thought with grim humor, the devil was reaching for his overcoat. “All right Luis, I’ll have dinner with you. On one condition.”

“I won’t try anything funny,” he promised, one hand lifted in the Boy Scout sign of honor. “You can bet your dimples you won’t try anything funny,” she returned coolly. “But that wasn’t the condition.” “What is it?” “Tell me how we met.” He winced, then hesitated. “I’ll tell you…when the time is right.” She didn’t like that at all, but it was time to go back to her office and she really needed to get away from him to think abut what she’d just let herself in for by agreeing to go out with him. She couldn’t think clearly with him sitting so close to her. She could hardly remember her name with him sitting by her side. “Pick me up tonight at eight.” Might as well get this over with, she thought in resignation.

“Seven,” he amended quickly, then smiled with mock innocence. “I’d be starving by eight.” “All right, seven,” she agreed, surrendering once again. “I live at…” “I know where you live,” he assured her. Then, at her look of surprise, explained. “I looked it up in the phone book.” Of course he had. Sheridan grabbed her purse and waited pointedly for him to stand so she could slide out of the booth. He finished the last bite of his pizza, washed it down with a healthy sip from her water glass, and then shoved himself to his feet. “Nice to meet you, Gwen. Thanks for the help.” “You’re welcome. By the way, if this doesn’t work out, Sheridan has my number.”

Luis grinned. “I’ll remember that.” He waited until Sheridan had finally told her friend goodbye, then took her arm. “I’ll walk you back to your office.” “That’s not really necessary.” “It’s no trouble at all,” he assured her gravely. “Besides, I’m parked there.” She gave up, knowing she might as well. She did start to protest, however, when Luis threw some money on the table. “Lunch was on me,” he announced, overriding her objection, “since I so rudely interrupted your visit.” “No argument from me,” Gwen agreed cheerfully, purse tucked under her arm as she walked with them as far as the door. “Though it would have been worth the money just to watch the two of you together.”

Sheridan glared at the other woman and kept her mouth shut. Luis seemed content to walk quietly at her side as they returned to her office building. He left her on the sidewalk at the revolving door. “I’m looking forward to tonight,” he told her, catching her arm to detain her for a moment. She wasn’t sure what to say in reply. She couldn’t exactly say she was looking forward to the date. She only wished she could call up just a bit more reluctance. He leaned over to brush her mouth very lightly with his. “See you tonight Sher.” And then he turned around and left her staring after him, silently chastising herself for wanting to call him back and kiss him passionately, a reversal from their normal pattern. He really had to stop doing that, she told herself, pushing through the revolving door into her office building. Those kisses of his could easily become addictive. **

A DINNER DATE. It’s only a dinner date. Sheridan stood staring into her closet, the rows of multicolored garments swirling before her in a rainbow haze. No big deal, she often went out to dinner with men. And this particular date would just end like the others….on her front doorstep. So what was wrong with her? She asked herself with a groan, clenching her fists in her disheveled hair. She never spent half an hour staring into her closet, trying to decide what to wear for an ordinary dinner date. She’d known all along to avoid this.

She’d tried, she really had tried. Luis Lopez Fitzgerald didn’t belong in her safe, ordinary, routine life. He was a total stranger, and he was already wreaking havoc with her concentration. Hardly conscious of her choice, she jerked an ocean blue silk dress from its padded hanger and threw it recklessly onto the bed, digging into her wardrobe for lingerie and accessories. She was ready at five minutes before seven. Inspecting her reflection in a full-length mirror, she told herself she looked just right for this particular dress.

The silk dress was flattering, figure forming, yet cut severely enough to give her a slightly intimidating air when combined with her neatly styled hair and expensive, obtrusive jewelry. She was satisfied that there was nothing about her appearance to hint at the nerves that quivered beneath the composed facade. The doorbell suddenly rang and she almost jumped out of her neat black pumps.

Hand on her fluttering heart, she counted to thirty before turning on one heel and leaving her bedroom, descending the stairs to the living room where Luke barked furiously at the door. “Get back Luke,” she ordered automatically, relieved to hear that her voice at least sounded normal. Glancing by habit through the small, diamond-shaped window in the door, she flipped the locks as her eyes met Luis’ through the glass. “Come in Luis.” “Sure I won’t be eaten alive if I do?” he asked cautiously, looking around to the small, brown and beige dog sitting behind her. “You won’t be eaten unless I give the command,” she replied smiling and laughing, thinking how much harm her twenty-two pound Pug would be able to inflict on Luis’ strong, lean body. “That’s reassuring,” Luis joked.

“I have no plans to sic him on you, at the moment anyway.” She stepped back to allow Luis to enter. As he passed her, Sheridan automatically noted the way his dark blue suit clung to his muscular shape, her eyes lingering on the width of his shoulders. She deliberately shut down the fantasy memories those wonderful shoulders evoked. She smiled brightly, falsely, determined to ease the awkwardness she felt over this supposedly ordinary dinner date. “Are you ready to tell me who you are?” “Not just yet,” Luis answered with a grin at her curiosity. “Are you ready to go?”

Sheridan frowned. “I must have deliberately blocked you out of my mind because you are so annoying!” “Maybe you did,” he agreed equably. “You once told me I could be a pest at times.” “I did? When?” She demanded, her fists on her hips. He shrugged, refusing to answer. “I don’t believe you.” Luis stepped closer, lifting her chin on the edge of his hand. “I never lie Sheridan.” She was the first to look away. “I suppose I have to believe you then,” she said, stepping back from his disturbing proximity. She just couldn’t deal with the strange effects of his touch at the moment. Her backward movement bumped her into Luke, and she looked down in surprise, realizing that the dog hadn’t protested when Luis had touched her.

Luke didn’t usually allow strangers to touch his mistress without a softly growled warning. Did Luke somehow sense that Sheridan knew she was in no physical danger from Luis? Luis’s gaze followed Sheridan’s. “Why don’t you introduce us?” She patted her pet’s back. “This is Luke, my roommate.” Only after Sheridan had spoken the dog’s name did Luis extend his hand, and then he didn’t touch Luke, but waited patiently to be sniffed and evaluated. Luke made a rapid inspection of the friendly stranger, panting up into Luis’s face with obvious invitation, to which Luis responded by patting the noble head and scratching obligingly behind the ears. “Hello Luke.”

“He likes you,” Sheridan remarked unnecessarily, since Luis was aptly expressing his own opinion with enthusiastic wiggles. Traitor, she though, deciding to have a long talk with the dog later about who should and shouldn’t be trusted. Luis looked up with a one-sided grin that made him look suddenly very sexy and incredibly handsome. “What’s not to like?” he quipped, the repetition rapidly becoming a private joke between them, increasing the strange sense of intimacy that surrounded them in her living room.

Aware of a compelling urge to clear her throat, Sheridan returned the smile somewhat shakily and turned to find her purse. Oh, the man was dangerous! If she weren’t careful, she’d end up making a bigger spectacle of herself than her usually dignified pet, who was now squirming closer to Luis for more attention. An unnerving picture flashed into her mind of those strong, tanned hands caressing her body as the two of them lay naked and aroused on her bed, touching each other and moaning their pleasure aloud. Dear heaven, what had gotten into her? **

Luis’s car turned out to be a low-slung, racy black model. If she’d had to guess what he drove, she would have imagined a car exactly like this one, she mused, climbing carefully into it. So very different from the more sedate businessmen’s vehicles her old, less dashing dates drove. “Do you like Italian food well enough to have it again tonight, even though you had pizza for lunch?” Luis asked, starting his powerful engine. “I’m in the mood for one of those places where they bring you a difference course every few minutes until I think I’m going to die from overeating.” Sheridan smiled. “Sounds wonderful.”

“A woman after my own heart,” he quipped, guiding the car down the street. “Wanna get married?” She laughed at the cheerfully teasing question, then sobered abruptly as something occurred to her. “I never even though to ask if you were married!” She usually made a point of inquiring about a man’s marital status before accepting a date with him. “Now how could I propose to you if I were already married?” Luis asked with amused logic. “I assure you I’m single. Always have been.” “You never asked if I were married,” she commented, remembering his single minded determination to ask her out from practically the moment he’d seen her in the elevator.

“You would have told me if you were. Have you ever been?” “I was married for five years. A long time ago. I’ve been divorced for over three years now.” “No children, I assume?” “No children.” Jean Luc hadn’t wanted any; the fact that Sheridan did hadn’t particularly mattered to him. She pushed down a wave of old resentment, and quickly changed the subject. “Did we go to school together in Harmony?” Luis smiled, guiding the car into a parking space outside the popular Italian restaurant. “Is that your second guess?” “It’s just a question, dammit.” He chuckled at her obvious frustration. “I’ll answer it, anyway. We were both students when we knew each other before.” “That’s not much of answer.” He grinned. “No, but I’ve got your full attention, don’t I?” he inquired whimsically. Then he reached for his door handle. “Let’s eat.”

To Be Continued…

Chapter 4:

Luis gave Sheridan little chance to ask questions over dinner. She was too busy answering his. He seemed intent on finding out all there was to know about her, apparently fascinated by everything she said. “You must have worked very hard to get where you are now,” he murmured, his hand hovering over a tray containing assorted fruits and cheeses. “Very,” she answered, not glossing over the facts. “Why a temporary help service? How did you get into that?” “I enjoyed the way it worked, and saw a real demand for the business, both for companies who need temporary help and for people who need part-time jobs or who are looking for a means to support themselves until a full-time job comes along. After my divorce with Jean Luc, I had money of my own to invest, and I chose Dial-A-Temp." “Any regrets about buying the business?” “None,” Sheridan shook her head.

Luis studied her face for a long moment while a smiling waiter set their first course in front of them. Sheridan wondered what Luis was seriously thinking about, but before she could ask, he changed the subject, asking about Ethan. Sheridan told him about Ethan’s job. “We’re very close,” she added. “He’s like the brother I wish I had.” “I know you lost your mother. What about your father?” Luis asked. “What about him?” Sheridan hurtfully replied. “He’s never done a damn thing for me.” She saw the surprised expression on Luis’ face. “I’m sorry.” “No don’t be.” Luis thought it best to change the subject. “What do you do when you’re not working?”

‘When is that?’ Sheridan silently asked herself. “I like spending an occasional evening out with friends. But I also enjoy spending time at home, especially with books and Luke. Did I tell you that I own my home? I rent the other half to a very nice couple with an adorable daughter.” “You’re doing quite well for yourself,” Luis commented as he reached for the wine he’d ordered to accompany their meal. Sheridan shrugged, knowing he was right. Feeling like a feel after the disaster of her marriage, she’d put away childish dreams and fantasies and dedicated herself to becoming a responsible, self-reliant adult. She was in control of her life known, and that included her relationships with men. Yes, she was doing well for herself, by herself. “We’ve been talking about me all evening. What do you do, Luis?” “I’m a pilot.” Luis answered.

Intrigued, she cocked her head and looked across the table, picturing him at the yoke of an airplane. Studying those attractive fine lines at the corners of his eyes, she realized that they’d been caused more by hours of squinting into the sun that by the passage of years. “How interesting. I’ve always wanted to take flying lessons, but of course, that was inappropriate for a Crane woman. We’re not supposed to be independent. Do you fly for one of the major airlines?” “The biggest,” he replied with a smile. “Uncle Sam’s.” Startled, she abruptly put down the wineglass she’d just lifted halfway to her mouth. “You’re in the service?” His grin widened as he stared at her beautiful face. “Captain Luis Lopez Fitzgerald, United States Air Force, at your service ma’am.” “Oh.” She stared at her plate.

“What’s wrong?” Blinking, she shook her head and forced a smile. “Nothing. I was just surprised, that’s all.” Another nomad, she thought with a deep sense of regret. Why did she always have to be attracted to them? If she’d had any fantasies about something coming of her attraction to Luis, he’d just settled that. The U.S. Air Force wasn’t exactly known for allowing its members to establish themselves in one place and stay there. “Are you stationed in Harmony?” she asked, already sensing the answer somehow. He shook his head. “No. I’m on a month’s leave prior to being reassigned. I’m taking the time to visit with my family.”

Just passing through. “Oh.” She looked away. “Oh look, here’s our second course.” As if in repayment of his interrogation of her, Luis cooperatively submitted to Sheridan’s questions about his career. “How long have you been flying?” she asked, pushing away her disappointment with his revelation and determined to enjoy the remainder of her evening, since it would probably be the last she’d spend with him. “Since I was 18. It was something I wanted to do for as long as I can remember. My parents could barely hold me back until I was old enough.” “Didn’t that interfere with your social life?” His chuckle was vaguely rueful. “What social life? My only interest back then was flying. Every free moment was spent learning about planes, bugging pilots for stories and advice, dreaming of the day when it would be me up there.”

“So you went into the air force after graduating high school? Or did you attend college first?” “Air Force Academy,” he replied with just a trace of justifiable pride. “My parents couldn’t afford to send me to college.” “Very impressive,” she assured him gravely, managing not to smile at the gleam in his wicked amber eyes. A very impressive man, she decided. No wonder she found him so fascinating. What woman wouldn’t? “I’ll bet you were a hell-raiser in your Academy days.” Luis widened his eyes in an effort to look innocent. An effort that failed miserably. “Now whatever made you say that?” Sheridan grimaced expressively. He was probably still a hell-raiser, she thought. He’d certainly played havoc with hr routine during the past few days!

“I can’t imagine,” she murmured dryly, making him chuckle as he cut into his meat. “What about your writing, Sher? I always thought you’d be a best-selling author by now.” How in the world had he known about that? She thought of the hours she’d spent in her youth, scribbling love stories into wire-bound notebooks, creating friends she wouldn’t have to leave behind when her father urged her to stay in her stuffy social circle. Her pleasure in writing had gotten her through some rough, lonely years, but had always been her secret. Or so she’d thought. “I’m afraid I’m much too busy with my business to concentrate seriously on writing now,” she prevaricated, telling herself that she was being at least partially truthful. After all, she found time for her current manuscript only on occasional free evening or weekend afternoons. She would hardly consider herself a serious writer.

“Don’t you ever still dream of being published? Even as a teenager, you were very talented. You won first place in a state-wide short-story contest, didn’t you?” She cleared hr throat, avoiding his eyes. There was something just a bit too intimate about discussing a consuming passion with a virtual stranger. Admitting vague longing that had little chance of being fulfilled made her feel too vulnerable, too open to condescension or worse, pity. Maybe somebody she’d find time to finish her book. In the meantime, she had no intention of sharing that secret dream with anybody. She knew from bitter experience how others could tarnish one’s dreams. “I’m not a starry-eyed adolescent now Luis. I’m very content with my sensible, profitable career.”

Luis frowned. “You make it sound as though you think writing is a less-than-respectable profession.” She shrugged again. “Writing is for dreamers. The odds of being successful at it, or even being published, are slim.” “You used to be a dreamer, Sheridan,” he said quietly, studying her face with what almost appeared to be sadness in his perceptive eyes. “What happened?” What had happened? She asked herself.

How could she explain her father? A cold, ruthless man who didn’t give a damn about her unless she was bringing him some sort of profit. What about her scum of an ex-husband? He had offered her so much and given her so little. He’d taken her fragile dreams of her own home and family and turned them into dust. “I grew up Luis,” she finally replied, as she had answered the same question the day they’d met in her office building. “We all have to sometime.” “Maybe.” He looked down at his plate, hiding his expression. “So what about you? Have you changed much since you knew me before?” Sheridan inquired lightly, deciding to switch topics. Luis chuckled. “You never give up, do you? Here’s your dessert.”

Sheridan signed dramatically and dipped her spoon into the raspberries, which were served over her rich ice cream. “I hate to think of the calories I’ve put away tonight.” “Trust me, you don’t like as though you need to count calories.” He took the opportunity to admire the slender curves outlined by her clinging blue dress. Sheridan had to struggle to keep her color down, chiding herself for reacting like the teenager he claimed to have known instead of an experienced, 28 year old woman. She knew better than to trust an infatuation based on physical attraction.

Then, because she was an honest person, she admitted to herself that her attraction to Luis Lopez Fitzgerald wasn’t entirely physical. She admired his quick wit and the lively humor that danced in his sexy amber eyes. The way he listened to her with his complete attention. Few of the men she knew were such good listeners. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d talked so much about herself, and yet Luis gave no indication of being bored. She was more than ready to turn the conversation back to him. “Just brimming with questions, aren’t you Sunshine?” Luis asked humorously, as if he’d read her mind.

Sunshine? The casually uttered nickname startled her for a moment. And then she remembered that she had quite a few questions for him. “What about your own family? Are your parents still living?” “Yes.” “Do they live in Harmony?” She persisted. He shook his head yes. “Any brothers or sisters?” “Two brothers and two sisters.” She scowled. “Have I met her?” “Yep.” Sheridan placed her espresso cup on the table with a little thud. “You’re not being very helpful!” “I’ve answered every question you’ve asked,” he pointed out, his eyes gleaming in appreciation of her frustration. “Feel free to continue.”

Amused despite her frustration, as he’d known she would be, of course - the rat – Sheridan sighed and threw up her hands in defeat. “I want to know exactly how we met,” she said firmly, deciding she’d never get anywhere with the answers her was giving her. Luis hesitated, considering his response. Sheridan remembered his claim that he never lied, and she could tell that he was trying to formulate an evasive, yet still truthful answer. “May I bring you anything else, sir?” a courteous waiter asked at Luis’ elbow. His face mirroring with relief, Luis smiled and shook his head. “We’d like the check now, please.” “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” Sheridan almost growled at him. He laughed. “You bet. I think you’ve had your own way for entirely too long Sheridan Crane. Don’t you think it’s time someone challenged you a bit?”

“Someone like you, I suppose?” He reached out to touch her hand, seeming to send sparks of wonderful sensations all the way up her arm. “Someone exactly like me,” he replied, the words sounding uncomfortably like a vow. ** Luis started the engine of his car and turned up the radio, looking rather pleased with himself. Sheridan settled back to ride quietly for a while, realizing that Luis now knew a great deal about her, thanks to his unexplained prior knowledge and all the talking she’d done over dinner And still she knew very little about him. She knew he was a pilot, that he was extraordinarily attractive, naturally charming and unselfconsciously sexy, and he was dangerous to her peace of mind.

She wasn’t used to the feelings he elicited from her. She concentrated, instead, on the challenge he’d thrown her, trying very hard to place him. Think, Sheridan. Lopez Fitzgerald. Harmony. Lopez Fitzgerald. Her eyes widened. There’d been a family living in Harmony when she had lived there as a family. Their name had been Lopez Fitzgerald! Yes!! That was the connection! Sheridan remembered. A Pilar Lopez Fitzgerald had been a close friend with her mother. Confident that she was on the right track, she chewed her lower lip as she tried to wade through the years of her memories.

She hadn’t known the family very well, considering her father forbid her to know anyone out of her class, but she had baby-sat for them a time or two at the mansion while Katherine and Pilar talked, and while Alistair was away on business. He never was fond of Katherine having “locals” over just for pleasure. Their children – she remembered three of them – two boys and a girl, hadn’t been older than her. In fact, she remembered one of them to be close to Ethan’s age, which was two years behind her. Ethan had played ball with them one hot, summer day when Katherine, Pilar, and Ivy had thrown one of Pilar’s children a birthday party.

Sheridan didn’t specifically remember one named Luis, but by that time, most of Harmony’s teens outside her circle considered her stuck up and didn’t talk to her. So now she knew. It had to be. Luis had to be a relative of Pilar and the children she used to baby-sit in her playing room. It explained some of the things he knew about her, but not all. How in the world had he known about her favorite foods? Her favorite color? Her secret hobby of writing? He must have been a good friend of somebody who knew her. She slanted Luis a sideways glance, admiring his profile as he drove with seemingly total concentration. Had he liked her then? If so, she wondered why he hadn’t tried to get to know her. Why he hadn’t asked her out. She couldn’t believe Luis to be shy, not even as a teenager.

“What’s so funny?” Luis inquired curiously, bringing her back to the present with a start. Sheridan blinked, discovering that he was pulling the car into her driveway. Had she been smiling? “I beg your pardon?” “You’ve been so quiet. I was just wondering if your smile had anything to do with me,” he explained, killing the engine. “Could be. Would you like to come in for coffee?” She was determined to find out more about him now. She knew Luis was a genuine guy, and didn’t expect any trouble. For some reason, she instinctively knew that Luis could be trusted in some ways. He was no danger to her, physically. Emotionally…well that was another story altogether. “Thanks. I’d like that,” Luis jumped out of the car as if he was afraid she’d change her mind. **

“I like your apartment,” Luis commented minutes later, looking around from his kneeling position on the living room carpet. Luke stood beside him, reeling in Luis’ attention, wagging his tail as if Luis were an old friend who’d been gone for days. “Thank you,” Sheridan replied, waiting for the usual comment about her liberal use of yellow and purple in her décor. When it failed to come, she relaxed. “I’ll make the coffee. You can talk to Luke.” “I’d rather talk to you, if you don’t mind,” Luis replied.

Dear Lord, Sheridan thought. How did he always manage to say the simplest words with such a sexy appeal? Just the way he talked made her want to sit next to him and nail him to her floor, with her on top of him of course. She wanted to do the most sinful things to him, using every part of her moving body. What had gotten into her? “I see you have a dog door built into the kitchen door. That must be convenient for you,” Luis said, interrupting her overheating train of thought. “Yes. The Munoz’s next door installed one just like it. Luke can go out of this one and into theirs.

They adore him, especially their daughter, Maria.” She poured water into the coffeemaker. “Where will you go when your vacation is over, Luis? Where are you stationed?” “I’m leaving for Spain in a few weeks. I’m tentatively stationed there for two years, depending on further political developments in Europe.” Sheridan kept her eyes focused fiercely on the coffeemaker. “Spain,” she repeated, her voice rather hollow. “It’s a very magnificent country, very far away from…your family,” she added inanely. It wasn’t as if she’d ever expected anything to come from this anyway, she reminded herself somewhat bleakly. “Yes. It has been my dream to go to Spain. I enjoy seeing different parts of the world.”

“Ever get homesick?” “Sometimes,” Luis admitted. “My phone bill usually runs high enough to feed a small family.” Sheridan managed the expected smile, then changed the subject, not letting the pain ruin her evening. “Are you hungry? I think I have some cookies.” “Are you kidding?” he asked with a smile, though she felt him watching her intently. Had he sensed her disappointment with his moving? “I may not eat again for days!” He joked lightly. “Me either,” she confessed. Suddenly, this little game had lost its appeal. She decided to end it once and for all. “There was a family that lived in Harmony while I lived here before. Their name was Lopez Fitzgerald. You’re related to them, aren’t you? One of their cousins, perhaps?”

Luis’ grin widened. “Think you’ve got it all figured out, do you? Is that your third guess?” She nodded, keeping her voice light. “I realized you must be a relative of theirs when I suddenly remembered the family. I used to watch over their younger children while Pilar, their mom, would discuss things with my mother. Resa, Miggie, and – gosh – what was the other one’s name? Lipper? No, Lulu? Yes, it was Lulu! He was a cute kid. Do you ever hear from him?” Luis swallowed hard, but he answered evenly. “Sometimes.” “He was a cute, small kid, as I remember. He was about 12 when I knew them, but small for his age. Did he turn out okay?”

Nodding affirmatively, Luis moved closer to her, propping his strong arms on the counter at either side of her to trap her between them. “Not as okay as you turned out. You were a pretty teenager, Sheridan, but you’re a beautiful woman. So beautiful.” She’d been expecting him to kiss her all evening, of course. But she’d thought she’d have more warning. He caught her off-guard when his mouth covered hers, unprepared against the electric response that was becoming all too familiar, all too arousing.

She shouldn’t respond to Luis this intensely, especially not now when she knew without doubt that there was no future for them. But there didn’t seem to be much she could do about it except close her eyes and lose herself in the skillful pleasures of his kiss. Luis didn’t kiss her as though they’d just been out on their first date, as if their lips had only touched briefly a couple of times before. Instead, he kissed her as if they really had known each other for years. As if they’d known each other intimately. His lips moved firmly over hers, and when she automatically parted her lips, he surged inside without hesitation, his tongue finding hers and greeting it hungrily. She had never been kissed so perfectly.

Her mind started to spin at the feel of his hard body pressed to hers. She grasped the counter behind her in a desperate effort to prevent herself from reaching for him, one last attempt at maintaining some sort of control over this situation. His hands then moved, lifting from the countertop to grasp her arms and gently wrap them around his waist as his traveled down her back to her firm, round buttocks. He squeezed lightly before pulling her forward and against him. Sheridan let out a loud moan of appreciation into his mouth as she felt everything he could offer her.

Luis lifted his head for a moment to look at her and she stood looking mutely back, her hands remaining where he had placed them. Her lips trembled with the words she should speak to bring the evening to an end, but no sound escaped them. Her eyes met his. He groaned before raising an unsteady hand to cup the back of her head and hold her still for his next kiss. A gentle, persuasive caress that proved to be her undoing. Her arms lifting to slide tightly around his shoulders, Sheridan closed her eyes and tilted her head against his hand to take his kiss more deeply.

He accepted the unspoken invitation eagerly, surging into her mouth again and again until she was clinging helplessly to him, kissing him back with a passion that should have astonished her, but somehow made her want to beg for more. His hands moved to her waist as he quickly lifted her to sit atop the counter. Once she was there, he opened her legs, pushed her dress up a little bit, and pulled her against him again, letting her feel his desire. He instinctively rocked against her as he felt her desire through her panties.

She moaned and captured his tongue between her parted lips, suckling gently before releasing it and moving her own tongue into his mouth. His hands traveled up her sides to cup her breasts through her dress. “Sheridan,” Luis rasped, dragging his mouth away from hers. “I’ve either got to leave now or make love to you. Will you ask me to stay?” She stiffened, common sense returning with a jolt. “Luis, no…I don’t…” “I know you don’t,” he interrupted, stroking her hair before pulling her off the counter and into a standing position. “I don’t usually rush into something like this either. But we’re not strangers, you and I. I think we’ve known each other for an eternity.”

Sheridan was almost frightened to realize that she felt exactly the same way. Her eyes searched the face that was so new to her and yet already so familiar. She had never before been so tempted to make love with a stranger. She was too cautious, too fastidious for one-night stands. On the other hand, she was old enough to grasp at a chance for a night’s ecstasy. She knew by instinct that Luis could show her what lovemaking was supposed to be like. Would she be a fool to pass up this chance, or would she be even more foolish to allow him to get that close to her? “It’s happening too fast,” she whispered, though her arms had tightened of their own volition around his tautly corded neck.

“I know,” he murmured, kissing her temple, her eyelids, her nose, and finally, her soft responsive mouth. “I want you, Sheridan, but I won’t push you. I’ll go if you tell me to.” “You better go.” Luis stiffened in silent protest, but only for a second. Then, he lifted his hands to remove her arms from around his neck and stepped back. “Good night, Sher. I’ll call you tomorrow.” He turned around the headed for the door. “Luis!” Sheridan called out, stopping him in his tracks. He turned slowly toward her, his smoky amber eyes flaring with hope.

She stood still, trembling and chewing her lower lip. What was she doing? She asked herself wildly. She had to let him go. Still, the thought of watching him walk out was wrenchingly painful. “Never mind,” she murmured finally. He looked disappointed, but nodded. “Will you see me tomorrow night?” No. Tell him no, Sheridan. You’re only going to be hurt if you let this go on. “I..uh..” “Please.” Damn. “All right.” She’d tell him then that there was simply no future for them. She didn’t date men who weren’t as firmly settled in one place as she was now, she decided. She’d allow herself just one more evening with him, and then it was over. After all, what could possibly happen in one evening? “Good night, Sheridan.” Then he was gone, leaving Sheridan and Luke staring wistfully after him. **

Luis made it all the way to his car before letting out his breath in a noisy gust. He felt like a teenager again, just discovering the tantalizing and appealing mysteries of the opposite sex. Had he ever reacted that quickly, that powerfully to a kiss? Pushing his hand through his hair, he exhaled deeply before starting the car. Frowning, he backed out of the driveway with one last, desire filled glance at her door, beginning to wonder if a lingering boyhood infatuation was all he felt for Sheridan Crane. He shook his head in an effort to rid himself of the dazed sensation left over from their hot kisses.

What else could it be but a powerful physical attraction? He asked himself logically. He’d only known her for a few days – this time anyway – and it wasn’t exactly a great time for him to get seriously involved with any one, particularly one as deeply rooted as Sheridan. He was already counting the minutes until he saw her again. But it was only sexual attraction, right? Right, Luis decided, giving a nod to his determined reflection in the rearview mirror. Sure. He snorted in disgust at his own pitiful attempt at self-delusion, waiting for the events tomorrow would bring.

To Be Continued...

Chapter 5:

Sheridan found herself spending an inordinate amount of time choosing earrings Friday evening. The black? The diamond? Then she scolded herself for being silly and defiantly thrust the diamond posts through the tiny holes in her earlobes. They looked breathtaking with the black silk confection she’d donned a few minutes earlier. Luis had called her at work that morning and had asked her for dinner and dancing that evening. She’d agreed very briskly, because she’d already told him she would see him that night, but she told herself that she was not going to fall for his charms this time. She had herself firmly under control again. She hoped.

She smoothed her hair back before stylishly parting it, which, combined with her beautiful makeup and dress, gave her the appearance of a competent, slightly sexy sophistication. Not like that image had helped her out the night before, she remembered. But it would tonight. Luis would find out that she had come a long way from the silly teenager he claimed to know. It was past time she regained control of this disconcerting situation. Her stern control lasted until Luis smiled at her when she opened the door to him. “Sweetheart, you are gorgeous,” he murmured, looking at her in a way that brought hot color to her cheeks to spoil the cool, implacable look she’d worked so hard to achieve. He didn’t kiss her, but he may as well have from the reaction he elicited with just that seductive look.

Without doubt it was the most romantic evening in Sheridan’s life. From the exquisite French cuisine at the restaurant where they dined to the smoky glimmer of the intimate lounge where they danced, she found herself entertained and charmed by a master. Luis seemed to know by instinct how to entrance her, the way to look at her to make her tremble, the words to say to make her heart beat faster. She tried to remember her earlier resolution to retain control over the evening, but the task proved impossible. No one had ever looked at her this way. No one had ever gone to this much trouble to make her feel special, desired, yet deeply respected.

Even their dancing seemed magically coordinated. Their tango steps matched beautifully, their bodies molded with intimate perfection. Luis was temptation incarnate, firm body, sexy smile, laughing eyes, caressing words. She was being seduced. She knew it but heaven help her, she thought at one point during the evening, there seemed to be nothing she could do to stop it. “Tell me about flying, Luis,” she urged him when they had taken a moment to rest and sip mixed rinks at a snug little table in a dim corner. “What’s it like?”

“I don’t think I can describe it to you,” he answered slowly. “Not in words that haven’t been used too many times before. I was one of those boys who used to watch birds and dream of their freedom. My first flying lesson was everything I had dreamed it would be, and more. I’ve been a hopeless addict ever since.” “Dreams,” she murmured, captured by the word, uncomfortable with the feelings it always aroused in her. “Yes, dreams,” he replied quietly. “I believe in them Sheridan. I still have them.” “What kind of planes do you fly?” She spoke rapidly, changing the subject. “Anything that will get off the ground,” he answered willingly enough, though his eyes told her he knew what she was doing. “What really turns me on are the fighter jets like the F-15. The power, the speed, the noise, the technology. There’s nothing like being right at the edge of the atmosphere with all that power at my fingertips.

“And the danger?” Sheridan asked quietly, trying not to think of all the plane crash descriptions she’d heard and read. Ethan had taken her to see Top Gun once, and she still remembered how disturbed she’d been by the scene where Goose had died in the freak aviation accident. “It’s there,” he admitted. “I suppose that’s part of the lure, as well,” he added rather sheepishly. “Oh.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say at the moment. She didn’t want him to notice how deeply it bothered her to think of him in peril. Luis rose suddenly and held out his hand. “Do you hear that music? A true romantic like me can’t sit here and listen to that without wanting to dance with you.”

Willingly diverted, Sheridan stepped into his arms. She wondered if the flying he loved so much could be nearly as beautiful as dancing with him. Seduction, she thought again, her head cradled in the hollow of his strong shoulder, her hand clasped warmly in his. So this was what it felt like. She found herself as vulnerable to the experience as any other woman, even vaguely reassured that she could still feel things she hadn’t felt in so many years. It seemed there was nothing wrong with Sheridan Crane’s hormones after all. ** It was very late when Luis took Sheridan home. She hesitated at the door, knowing she could send him home on the excuse that she had to work in the morning. Knowing somehow that he would accept her excuse without protest. And then she heard herself asking him in.

“Sheridan,” Luis touched her face with fingers that trembled just perceptibly, his voice husky and tender, “I was raised to be a gentleman and I’ve managed to remain one most of the time, but I’m afraid the feelings you bring out in me aren’t very gentlemanly. I made myself leave you last night when I wanted to take you in my arms and carry you to bed. I don’t know if I can be so chivalrous tonight.” He leaned over to rest his forehead against hers, causing her eyelids to drift heavily downward. “I want you so much,” he whispered. “I’d better go now while I can.” Sheridan drew in a deep, shuddering breath and tried to think, finding the task incredibly difficult while he was so close.

In fact, it was damn near impossible. It had been so long since she’d done anything just because she wanted to. And she wanted Luis. She’d never wanted anyone the way she wanted this charming, tantalizing stranger – even if it were only for this one night. “Don’t go, Luis,” she murmured in a voice that couldn’t possibly have been her own. He muttered something incoherent and turned his head to kiss her. His mouth closed fiercely over hers, shattering the last of her sanity. She handed him her key, afraid she’d never be able to control her trembling enough to fit the key to the lock. When was the last time she’d trembled? She wondered fleetingly, staring in bemusement at her hands. She moistened her lips as she stepped inside and patted Luke before turning back to Luis, finding him watching her much too intently.

“Last chance to change your mind,” he murmured, trying for a light tone, but not quite achieving it. She smiled and held out her hand. “I’m not changing my mind,” she whispered, reveling in the hunger flaring in his eyes. His usually cocky grin wasn’t steady this time. “Good,” he replied, pulling her into his arms. He kissed her deeply, once, twice, until she couldn’t breath. Then, he surprised her by swinging her into his arms, high against his chest, making her laugh and clutch at his shoulders for security. “It’s good to hear you laugh,” he approved, heading confidently toward the stairs. It felt good to laugh again, and to ache again in this deliciously wanton way. Her hands caressed the muscles bunching in his upper arms as he held her so easily, then curled around his neck. “You make me feel good, Luis Lopez Fitzgerald,” she told him quietly, honestly.

His eyes gleamed in sensual promise. “I haven’t even begun,” he assured her. At the base of the stairs he paused and lowered her to her feet. “I’m not Rhett Butler,” he laughed, a trace of humor still underlying the passion that deemed his voice. “I wouldn’t want to ruin the mood by tumbling downstairs with you.” Sheridan took his hand and matched her steps to his, leading him up the stairs to the short hallway onto which the two bedrooms opened. Hers was on the left. They didn’t both with the light when they entered but made their way to the bed by the dim illumination provided by the full moon streaming through sheer yellow curtains. Sheridan turned back to Luis, her arms opening in mute invitation.

Luis stepped into Sheridan’s arms and lowered his head, his lips moving against hers so lightly that she soon found herself wanting more, needing more, finally demanding more. Her arms went up around his neck, pulling his head closer. He accepted the gesture for what it was, an invitation for him to take control. He immediately took advantage of the opportunity to dazzle her again with his skillful kisses. Her attention shifted from her marvelously assaulted lips to her breasts, swelling through layers of fabric to press into his sold chest, and to her silk-and-nylon covered legs, which fit snugly between his longer, harder ones. Her entire body seemed incredibly sensitized, quivering to life in surprising places.

She wasn’t aware of making a conscious decision to shift her weight, but she did and he followed her eagerly down to sit beside her on the edge of the bed, his mouth still moving against hers. Sheridan circled his neck with her arms, her fingers sliding into the springy, soft hair at the back of his head. “Oh god,” she rasped as she forgot about anything but the feel of his hand as it slipped downward to cup one breast through the clinging fabric of her dress. Startled by her body’s instant response, she stopped kissing him for a moment to concentrate on the sensations he created with his talented fingers.

She was aware of a sudden urge to look down and see if she were still wearing clothes. Luis seemed completely unhindered by the layers of cloth as he circled and kneaded her swelling fullness, the head of his palm penetrating the fabric. Sheridan pressed herself more fully into his hand, her own moving away from his hair to splay across his broad back. She could feel the heat radiating off him, and couldn’t wait to feel his bare body. Slowly, savoringly, she slid her palms down the length of his spine, loving the solid, virile feel of him.

Luis found the fastenings at the back of her neck. She felt the cool air on her bare shoulders, then lower as the dress opened beneath his fingers. He dropped his head to kiss the delicate line of her shoulder, sliding the garment with tantalizing leisure down her lowered arms to her fingertips. Leaving her hands bound by the sleeves, he stroked the length of her arms from wrist to shoulder and back down before moving to the clasp of her scanty lace bra. That, too, was lowered to her wrists and his mouth was on the top curve of her breast, warm and moist and deliciously arousing. Sheridan wanted to touch him, to unbutton his shirt and feel him against her, but the bunched fabric around her wrists impeded her movements. She tried to free her hands, but he snagged her wrists and stopped her, pressing her backward until she lay beneath him on the bed.

Without giving her time to react, Luis took advantage of her position to palm her upthrust breasts, cupping the sides and pushing gently inward before burying his face between them. He worshipped her with his breath, lips, teeth, and tongue, brushing, rubbing, nipping, and licking until Sheridan thought she would scream if he didn’t stop teasing her. She arched convulsively upward, crying out breathlessly when he responded by taking one breast deep into his mouth, suckling it thoroughly before repeating the glorious attack on the other. With a surge of strength, Sheridan jerked her hands from her sleeves and cupped his head between them, the dress gathered heedlessly at her waist. She stoked his face, then pulled at his shoulders, urging him upward, her lips hungry for his.

He needed no second invitation, pushing himself forward to cover her body with his, his mouth taking hers with barely restrained force. She held him tightly before reaching impatiently for his tie, fumbling in her fervor. He tolerated her awkward efforts for a time, then grew impatient and pulled away to rip the tie from his neck in one smooth movement. The buttons on his shirt opened much more easily under his fingers than they would have for hers. Then his hands were at her waist, striping away her dress and lacy undergarments with careful haste. He stared at her wantonly, mesmerized by the seductive way she was laying there, beckoning him with her amazing body.

When he came back to her, his shirt, slacks, socks, and briefs had joined the pile of clothing on the floor and Sheridan was finally able to feel the entire length of him against her. “You feel so good,” they moaned in unison, then laughed softly together, their fiery passion undimmed by the intimate humor. As her smile remained to deepen the corners of her mouth, Sheridan closed her eyes and burrowed into the corded juncture of his neck and shoulder. Ah, he felt so damn good. He allowed her to indulge herself only for a moment, and then he levered away from her, his hands sweeping her supple length to find the crisp tangle of blond curls between her legs. “So beautiful,” he huskily murmured. “So very beautiful.”

Sheridan gasped at the sure possessiveness of his touch. He seemed to know just how to please her, just as he’d known how to romance her earlier in the evening. She parted her legs wide for him, her hands sliding across his smooth chest and down to his flat stomach. His chest was bare, sleek, almost hairless, but there were soft, springy curls beneath his navel. “Yes, Sheridan. Touch me sweetheart,” he groaned, his muscles rippling beneath her palms. Her hand slipped down to cup him, making him gasp at her touch. Like Luis, she seemed to know where to stroke, what he liked, what made him shudder with pleasure.

He retained only enough coherence to make sure that they were protected, and then they both sensed when the moment was right for him to lift himself on his forearms and lower his body between her raised knees. She felt him pressing against her hidden opening and arched to meet him. “Yes Luis, yes! Please.” “Sheridan. You want me, don’t you sweetheart?” He paused just before entering her, his voice conveying an unexpected vulnerability. “Luis.” Her hands gripped his back, her fingers clenching into his resilient flesh. “Don’t you know?” “I want to hear you say it. Tell me, Sher.” “I want you. I’ve never wanted anyone like this.” He surged against her, burying himself deeply within her. Sheridan gasped. He stilled instantly. “Did I hurt you?”

She shook her head against the pillow, urging him on with sinuous movements of her hips. “Good,” he replied. He lifted himself from her and stood up on his knees, their bodies stilled joined as his seductive gaze traveled up and down her body. He bent down to kiss her, letting his hands roam from her shoulders down to her hips, covering her breasts along their way. He then cupped her hips in his hands, raising her bottom half off the bed as her legs wrapped around his waist. His body arching into a thrilling rhythm, Luis kissed her, his tongue tasting the sounds torn from her throat. Sheridan clung to him, unable to even say his name.

Her shoulders and head flung back against the pillow as her lower body arched to meet Luis’. She loved this feeling of complete and utter ecstasy. Luis’ hands were gripping her waist, keeping her lower half from falling against the bed, while his mouth was clamped to her breast. “Sheridan…” Luis moaned. He was filling her completely, driving himself slowly back out, and then thrusting into her again. As if prompted by his poetic quotes of flying, her mind filled with images. She and Luis flying together, higher and higher, faster and faster toward the clouds, finally bursting through with an ecstatic shout of glorious freedom.

“More Luis, please.” Her body bowed rigidly upward, her knees and legs tightening around his hips. As the shudders rocked through her, she gripped his firm buttocks with her hands, unwilling to let him leave her one more time. His mouth moved to her other breast as he plunged deep and then began thrusting far inside her. “Oh God Luis..YES!!” Sheridan screamed as another climax rocked through her. She collapsed against the bed, amazed that it had taken her so long to find out what lovemaking could really be like. Luis kissed her mouth again, finding his own fulfillment with a muffled exclamation against her swollen lips as her heated flesh convulsed around him. He collapsed against her, loving the feeling of being inside her after they made love.

After a very long time during which the only sounds were pounding hearts and ragged, gradually slowing breathing, Luis twisted to relieve her of his weight, drawing her immediately to his side. Sheridan snuggled into his taut, damp shoulder, eyes closed as she savored the moment, content to be in his arms. Deciding to worry about ramifications later, much later, she allowed herself to drift, slipping easily into a satiated, dreamless sleep. ** It was still dark in the room when Sheridan awoke. A blurred glance at the illuminated bedside clock let her know it was only 2:00 a.m. A sheet covered her bare body, which was snuggled intimately against another warm, relaxed form.

Her eyes flew fully open as reality hit her. She’d made love with Luis Lopez Fitzgerald, a man she’d known less than a week. A man who’d be going overseas very soon. But she didn’t regret asking him to stay, she decided, rolling carefully toward the edge of the bed. No woman should live an entire lifetime without finding such enchantment at least once. Her movements roused Luis and he reached out reflexively to grasp her wrist. “Sheridan?” he asked with that trace of vulnerability she’d detected earlier. She leaned back down to drop a feather kiss on his cheek. “I just remembered that I left the lights on downstairs.”

“I turned them off an hour ago,” he informed her, rising on one elbow. The moonlight streaming through the window behind him illuminated him without color, glistening on his broad shoulders, shadowing his smiling face. “You did? I didn’t hear you get up.” He stroked her arm with the back of his hand, chuckling. “You were sleeping pretty soundly. You didn’t even stir when I blundered into your closet looking for the bathroom. “You don’t need to sound so smug about it,” she accused him indulgently, lying back down beside him. He laughed. “I wasn’t bragging.” “Weren’t you?” She reached up to touch his face, enjoying the night-roughened feel of his cheek.

His knuckles lightly grazed the top of one breast, making her shiver in renewed arousal. She wanted him again, she realized with a start. Was her body trying to make up for years of celibacy in one night? Or were her feeling for Luis more than desire, more than the lure of making love with a sexy stranger? Uncomfortable with the direction her thoughts had taken, she reached up to slide a hand behind his head and kiss him. His lips curved in a pleased smile against hers, then softened to the response she’d craved. The man certainly knew hot to kiss.

Luis’ hand tightened on her breast, the beading nipple cupped in his warm palm. He kneaded gently, then impatiently swept the sheet away and reached for the bedside lamp. “This time I want to see you,” he murmured, his eyes gleaming in the shadows. Embarrassed for only a moment in the lamp’s soft golden light, Sheridan relaxed when she noted the appreciation on Luis’ face as he looked at her. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, and she wanted to believe him. It had been so long since anyone had looked at her that way, so long since she cared whether another person found her attractive.

She cared with Luis. Unable to resist touching him, she trailed her fingertips from the junction of his neck down the arm supporting his weight. His subtle muscles were bunched beneath the sleek, warm skin. Her breathing shallowed, as her eyes swept him. She admired the muscular perfection of his chest. Well, not quite perfection. A strawberry shaped birthmark lay just below his right nipple, something she hadn’t noticed in the darkness before. Her eyes fixed on that birthmark, widening in shock as her memory jolted. An undersized little boy was sitting on the step of the Crane mansion, shirtless from the hot summer sun. Sheridan had never seen him before. He must have been one of the staff’s children. His amber eyes peered resentfully from beneath a shaggy fringe of dark hair. He sat with skinny shoulders hunched forward as he tried to breathe. Her young heart twisted in sympathy.

“Hi,” a teenaged Sheridan cheerfully said. She knew her father didn’t want her mingling with the locals, but what harm could one conversation due. “I’m Sheridan.” “Hello,” replied the little boy. “What’s the matter?” asked Sheridan. “Nothing. I just get a little sick once in awhile. It’s hard for me to breathe, but Papa says I’ll be okay.” “Sheridan, get in here RIGHT NOW!” Alistair yelled from inside the house. Sheridan stood up, slightly embarrassed. She handed the young boy a chocolate bar. The boy looked up and thanked her, his lips curving into a sweet smile, his prominently ribbed chest heaving, drawing her eyes to the oddly shaped birthmark just below his right nipple.

“Oh my God!” Sheridan yelled, her eyes flying to Luis’ suddenly grim features, her hand dropping limply to her side. “I know who you are!” He inhaled deeply, dark eyebrows contracting. “Don’t look so appalled, Sheridan. It doesn’t make the least bit of difference.” “No difference? Then why didn’t you tell me last night, or the day before that?” she demanded rather shrilly, pushing herself upright, clutching the sheet to her breast. “You let me think it was all a game, challenging me to find out how we’d met. Instead, you lied to me.” “I didn’t lie to you. I told you I was related to the Lopez Fitzgerald family,” he pointed out evenly. Her laugh bordered hysteria. “No, you didn’t lie. You just neglected to tell me that you were the little boy I used to baby-sit, didn’t you Lulu?”

To Be Continued…

Chapter 6:

“Sher, I made everybody stop calling me Lulu when I reached puberty,” Luis told her flatly. “My name is Luis Lopez Fitzgerald.” Sheridan felt dazed. Her mind laboriously struggled to cope with this revelation, trying to match the virile, fascinating man who’d made such exquisite love to her with the hazy memory of an undersized little boy. “Don’t look at me like that Sher,” he snapped irritably, shifting to sit beside her, unconcerned that she’d grabbed the sheet and left him uncovered. “Damn it, that is why I didn’t tell you before. I wanted you to accept me as the man I am, not the boy I used to be.”

“How old are you?” She steeled herself for his answer, unable to remember exactly how much younger he really was. “I’m twenty-six. And yes, I know that you’re twenty-eight, but I really don’t care. My attraction to you has nothing to do with the year you were born. I’m hoping you feel the same way.” “Twenty-six,” she murmured as if she didn’t hear anything else. That suddenly sounded so young. Luis was right though. The small age difference shouldn’t matter, especially sine there was no future for them. But for some reason it did. There had been a tantalizing excitement in making love with a dashing pilot, indulging her long-ignored physical needs with a man straight out of a woman’s fantasies.

But now she found herself vaguely shocked that she had been to bed with the little boy Pilar and her mom would always ask her to watch over, the child she had once felt sorry for, the child her father had forbid her to once share a soda with. “Damn it, Sheridan,” Luis growled, his frown leveling at the death-grip she maintained on the sheet she held to her chin. “I’m not that young. Surely you’re not still thinking of me as a boy.” His words brought her abruptly back to the present. A boy? Her eyes swept the mature nude body poised tensely on the bed, still in a state of semi-arousal from their interrupted lovemaking. She shortly laughed. “No, Luis, I know you’re not a boy.”

“I’m a man. Not some little kid called Lulu,” he deliberately enforced. “Yes! But you didn’t have to take me to bed to convince me of that! I have eyes.” “Would you have had dinner with me if I’d introduced myself as Lulu Fitzgerald?” “Probably,” she admitted. “Would you have made love with me?” Sheridan bit her lip. Would she have? His seductive magnetism had all too easily overcome her notion about going to bed with him on such short acquaintance, though she’d resisted other temptation for years.

Temptation? She’d never even known temptation until Luis Lopez Fitzgerald had strolled into her life. Still, she had to wonder if her attraction to him would have overcome those awkward memories. “I don’t know.” He eyed her cautiously. “You would have,” he finally announced. “It might have taken a bit longer, but the outcome was inevitable.” He reached for her as if to prove his point. Instantly, she flinched away from his touch. His eyes widened, his hands dropped. She’d hurt him, she thought in quick regret, although she hadn’t really known she could. “I’m sorry, I..” she stopped and bit her lower lip, wondering what else to say. She hated this awkwardness that had developed between them. “You want me to leave?” He asked the question with little expression, his eyes shuttering.

“Maybe you should,” Sheridan agreed quietly, not quite meeting his eyes. “We’re both tired, and well..” What else could she say? She was still too preoccupied with her discovering of Luis’ identity to think clearly. Little Lulu Fitzgerald. Oh lord. Luis only nodded. “All right, I’ll call you tomorrow.” “Okay.” She couldn’t resist watching through her lashes as he stood and reached unselfconsciously for his clothes. Definitely not a boy, she thought again, her eyes lingering on the taut sculpting of his back and buttocks. If only they hadn’t known each other before under such weird circumstances.

If only he wasn’t in the service, just passing through on his way to a foreign assignment. If only she really was the type to indulge in a brief, passionate flight without fear of becoming too deeply involved. Her wistful thoughts were interrupted when he leaned over the bed and placed a firm, almost challenging kiss on her still-tender lips. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight Sheridan.” “Goodnight Luis,” she whispered. She wondered if she should have said goodbye instead. ** “You look like hell.”

Luis winced and slid into a chair at his sister’s table, ducking his head to avoid her frank, intense scrutiny. “Pass the coffee, would you?” Theresa poured him a cup from the insulated carafe in front of her and slid it across the table. “Looks like you need it.” “I didn’t sleep too well last night,” he admitted, sipping the hot, strong brew with a sigh of pleasure. “Could it be because you didn’t get in until dawn?” Resa suggested sweetly. Luis scowled. “I was in before dawn.” “Three o’clock, Luis. I heard you.” “What were you doing up at that hour?” Theresa patted her stomach with a deep sigh. “Junior here isn’t much of a sleeper. He likes to kick and play during the night, which makes it hard for me to get much needed sleep.”

“Oh,” he replied, reaching for the covered dish sitting by his plate before lifting it to find scrambled eggs, bacon, and a bran muffin the housekeeper had prepared for him. “This looks good.” Resa popped a bit of muffin into her mouth, swallowed, then cocked her head in characteristic curiosity. “Well?” He concentrated on spreading butter on his own muffin. “Well what?” “Are you going to tell me what you were doing last night?” “Nope.” “Come on, Luis! What’s going on between you and Sheridan Crane? You’ve been out with her for the past two nights, you spent most of yesterday smiling to yourself, and this morning you look like you spent a long, hard night on the bricks. Naturally, I’m curious.”

“You were born curious,” Luis accused, smiling a little at her understatement. “And you never paid any attention to the parable of the nosey cat.” Resa sighed. “You’re not going to tell me anything, are you?” “That would be a good assumption.” He bit neatly into his slice of bacon. “Did you tell her how she knew you before?” He swallowed and answered resignedly. “She knows.” “How’d she react?” “She wasn’t exactly thrilled.” Theresa tried to swallow a giggle, but failed. At Luis’ quick frown, she spread her hands and stopped. “Well, it’s funny Luis. I can imagine how I would feel if one of the little boys I used baby-sat for suddenly turned up as a good looking man and started making passes at me.” Luis found himself intrigued by her words. “How would you feel?”

“Old.” “That’s ridiculous. I’m only two years younger than Sheridan. Why would she feel old?” Shaking her head, Theresa smiled as she tried to make her older brother understand. “Luis, think about it. This woman used to watch over us when Mama and Mrs. Crane would discuss important things. She ordered you to finish your milk and clean up your mess. She used to offer us cookies and send us to different corners when we fought over board games. You don’t really think she can just forget about that now that you’ve appeared all grown up and gorgeous, do you?”

Scowling, Luis stirred his scrambled eggs with his fork. “That’s ridiculous,” he repeated in a mutter, although he was wondering if Resa was right. “Maybe so. But since when do women have to be logical?” “Hey! If I’d said that, you would have called me sexist!” He snorted. Theresa grinned cheerfully. “Yep! We reserve the right to make fun of our own gender. And yours!” Luis was still considering his sister’s suggestion about Sheridan’s emotions. He found it hard to truly believe he made Sheridan feel old. After the way he’d responded to her last night? He’d simply startled her, perhaps embarrassed her a bit with her discovery.

Knowing what he did about Sheridan, she didn’t like feeling awkward and out of control. He’d simply have to help her get past those feelings because he had no intention of leaving Harmony without tasting the passion that flared so hotly, so gloriously between them. He had never experienced anything as powerful as their lovemaking last night. It had been more than just physical, more than mere desire. He’d wanted her as he’d never wanted another woman, and that hunger wasn’t in the least bit satisfied by their one night together. He’d spent the remainder of the night staring at the ceiling in his sister’s guest bedroom, replaying the sensual memories, trying without success to analyze what had made the experience so different from any other.

Who would have thought, he dispassionately wondered, that he’d have fallen this hard, so fast? And what the hell was he supposed to do about it now? “Luis, you’re not getting in over your head here, are you?” Theresa asked carefully when the silent had stretched noticeably. “What do you mean?” He asked cautiously. “Well, you have to admit that you have a tendency to jump in feet first whenever you find something you want. The way you did with flying, with the air force, with that poor girl you scared half to death a few years ago when you decided it was time to have a ‘serious relationship’ because you’d never had one before. She took to her heels, as I remember.”

Why had he come back to Theresa’s house last night, Luis asked himself with an inward moan. Why hadn’t he driven on into Boston and stayed with his parents even though he’d known Theresa had expected him? At least they wouldn’t have given him the third degree over breakfast, or reminded him of events in his past that were better if forgotten. If only Noah wasn’t working overtime to clear his schedule so he could have time off when the baby arrived. He would have deflected some of Theresa’s attention towards something else. Not knowing what else to say, he fell back on a sometimes successful sibling retort. “Shut up, Resa.”

She laughed. “Okay, I can take a hint. Just be careful, will you? I mean, you’re leaving in three weeks for Spain. I’d hate to see you get hurt before you go.” She wasn’t the only one. To reassure Theresa, and himself, Luis spoke with airy confidence. “Don’t worry about it. I’m fully aware that there’s not time to start anything serious here. I doubt that Sheridan would be interested, anyway. I just enjoy her company, okay? I can spend time with her during the next few weeks without getting too involved.” He crossed his fingers beneath the table as he spoke. Theresa eyed him skeptically for a few moments, and then squirmed in her chair and pressed a hand to her side.

“Damn,” she muttered. “That was a good kick. Your nephew is going to make a great soccer player.” Relieved, he jumped onto the new subject eagerly, diverting the conversation to the baby, a topic guaranteed to always capture Theresa’s attention. He was moderately successful at hiding the fact that his own thoughts were still on Sheridan. ** Sheridan focused on the half-filled page in the typewriter of her. She was trying to think of her story rather than the night before. At least she had some control over the actions of her characters, or at least she had until today. After a few more minutes, she slammed her palms on the desk.

“What has that man done to me?” She asked herself as Luke retreated to her feet. “I’m acting like an infatuated adolescent. It only goes to show that one should never trust a handsome, mysterious pilot with a to-die-for smile and a body that should be outlawed. Before you know it, he’s sneaking into your books, and your bed,” she added with a sigh. The telephone rang, interrupting whatever response Luke might have made. Catching her breath, Sheridan started at the cordless phone beside the typewriter. She knew who it was already. “Hello?” “Hi.” She’d guessed correctly. “Hi Luis.” “Have you forgiven me yet?” “For..uh..for what?” She stalled, moistening her lips.

“For turning out to be a bad memory from your past,” he sounded faintly amused. Sheridan frowned, reacting defensively to his teasing. “I never said you were a bad memory.” “Then there’s no reason you shouldn’t have dinner with me tonight, is there?” No reason? There were a ton of reasons. It still bothered her that he was younger. She was concerned about becoming too involved with a man who’d be leaving in a matter of weeks. She wasn’t pleased with the thought that she might be his version of “a girl in every port.” And worse, she had a sneaking suspicion that the evening would end exactly the way the previous evening had ended…in bed. She tried to think of a reliable excuse with a mind that had suddenly gone dysfunctional. “I..uh..”

“Please?” Oh hell, what could it hurt to have dinner with him? She asked herself abruptly. She was a grown, responsible woman. She’d end up in bed with him if, and only if, she chose to do so, and she’d decide about that later. “All right. Dinner.” “Great! I’ll pick you up at 3:30, okay?” “Fine. I’ll …Wait a minute! Did you say 3:30?” “Yeah. Three hours from now. That’s plenty of time for you to get ready, isn’t it?” “You want to go out to dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon?” Would she ever understand this man? Sheridan thought. “I have a surprise planned! Trust me, okay?” “Ugh! You are…” “I’m what?” Luis asked. He could just picture her face on the other end of the phone. “Never mind,” Sheridan finished. “What should I wear for this surprise of yours?”

“It doesn’t matter. You’ll look gorgeous no matter what. And Sher, thanks.” She heard the click and then the dial tone. “Luke, that man is insane,” Sheridan commented before turning off her typewriter, knowing she’d never get any more writing done that afternoon. ** Sheridan’s doorbell rang at precisely 3:30. How terribly military of him to be so punctual, she thought with an attempt at humor as she automatically straightened the full skirt of her deep purple shirtwaist dress. Opening the door, her smile wavered at her first sight of him, so dangerously attractive in a brown-and-tan suit. He was wearing his glasses again. Good golly, he looked sexy as sin in those glasses. She cleared her throat. “Hi.” Luis leaned over to brush a kiss across her lips. “Hi. You look gorgeous, just as I said you would.”

“Thank you,” Sheridan blushed. Her words seemed to come out breathlessly. How could such a simple kiss affect her after everything that had gone on the night before? “Would you like to come in?” He pushed his hands into his jacket. “No, I think we’d better just go. I’m afraid we won’t make it if I come in,” he replied seductively. Sheridan blushed again, remembering the details of the previous night. “Okay, let’s go.” “So, how is your family?” Sheridan asked in an attempt to make conversation as Luis drove them to wherever they were going. “Everybody is fine. Theresa, my sister, and her husband are expecting their first child soon.” “Oh! How exciting! I remember her! You would always get upset when I took her side.”

“Yeah well, I didn’t like two women gaining up on me! I was just a little kid.” Sheridan laughed. “You were a brat!” “You were mean!” Luis teased back. “How do you feel about becoming an uncle?” Sheridan asked. Luis’ smile deepened. “I can not wait! I love kids, and this will be my first nephew to spoil! I’m trying to get her to have the kid before I leave.” “I’m sure she’s trying to comply,” Sheridan chuckled. “Couldn’t probe it by me! I ask her every few minutes if she’s in labor yet. She gets kind of testy about it after a while.” Sheridan laughed again. “Where are we going?” “You’ll see.” His grin was pure devilment. “Does Theresa know you’re seeing me?” she heard herself saying. Dangit. She really hadn’t meant to ask that.

“Yes. I told her how we ran into each other. She remembers you well, of course. You were her favorite babysitter. My mother still has a picture of me, you, Theresa, and Ethan together. I think it was taken at some picnic. You’re wearing a pair of shorts and a sexy little top, and I’m standing next to you, salivating over your long, tanned legs.” Sheridan blushed again. “You were not,” she muttered. “You were just a kid.” “A kid with a major crush on you,” he confessed wryly, looking quickly over at her to judge her reaction. “Didn’t you know?” As a matter of fact, she had. She simply hadn’t expected him to admit it. She smiled as she remembered the candy bars left on her doorstep, the time he’d challenged Ethan to a fight just because he made her cry, the time he’d skinned both his knees trying to impress her by doing a handstand.

Her eyes lingered on his muscular thighs, encased so tightly in the twill slacks covering them, then rose slowly up the length of his powerful arms to his broad shoulders and sold chest that she had delighted in the night before. “It’s hard to believe you were such a small, sickly child.” “I know. I outgrew everything after I hit puberty. I spent years working out and playing sports to build up my physique.” “You did a great job of it,” she murmured impulsively, then fought down another blush. His smile was blinding, and of course, endearingly cocky. “Why, thank you very much. Could we talk about something else now?” Sheridan studied him. “Why? Does it make you uncomfortable to talk about your previous years in Harmony?”

He hesitated for only a second before nodding. “I guess so. I’m not thrilled about you thinking of me as a scrawny kid when you look at me.” “Luis, have you looked in the mirror lately?” “Then who I am doesn’t bother you anymore?” Luis asked, hope evident in his voice. “It still boggles my mind a bit,” Sheridan confessed, “But I suppose we have to be able to talk about it.” Luis nodded. “Looks like we’re both a bit touchy about our shared past.”

He was right, of course. Sheridan was no more pleased at being remembered as the older blonde he’d platonically admired than he was at having once been a sickly child in her care. So maybe they should forget the past and concentrate on..on what? Sheridan thought. The future? Hardly. There was no future for them beyond the next two and a half weeks, perhaps beyond today. They had only the immediate present. She decided her only choice was to be content with that. “Luis, where are you taking me?” Sheridan demanded, staring out the window again. “You aren’t actually planning on having dinner at Love Field, are you?” Luis laughed. “You and that lively curiosity. You remind me of Theresa.”

Before she could respond, he turned into the airport. “Are we, by any chance, going flying?” “You guessed it,” he agreed cheerfully. “I’d like to show you what I do best.” Sheridan surprised them both by answering without a beat. “I thought you’d already done that.” His delighted laughter made a thrill of pleasure curl warmly in her stomach. “Sweetheart, you are good for my ego,” he joked as he reached over to kiss her. Rather pleased for making him laugh so heartily, Sheridan sunk into the kiss. Oh yes, she thought as his lips moved against hers, she had every intention of enjoying the present immensely.

To Be Continued...

Chapter 7:

Sheridan hadn’t really expected Luis’ plane to be quite so small. It was barely as big as her car. “You’re..uh..you’re sure that thing’s safe?” she asked, staring warily at the plane. “Absolutely! Haven’t you ever been up in a two-seater?” “I’ve never been in any small plane,” she confessed. “Only the big commercial airliners.” “Then you’re in for a real treat,” he assured her with suspicious enthusiasm. “Uh-huh.” She watched him circle the plane, performing mysterious rituals she assumed had something to do with safety. “So where will we be going in this glorified kite?” “St. Lucia’s,” Luis replied casually, opening the passenger door for her and holding out his hand. Sheridan stared at him without moving. “St. Lucia’s?” she repeated incredulously. “Luis! Isn’t that half the country away?” “Yep! It’s just a little over three and a half hours, so we’d better get in the air if we want to get home at a reasonable hour.”

“Why do you want to have dinner at St. Lucia’s?” she asked, hands on her hips. Luis only smiled. “You love seafood, right? Well tonight we’re going to have fresh seafood. I only wish we had a plane with a little more speed and power available. I’d take you to San Francisco. Ever been there?” “No,” she admitted, allowing him to catch her hand and tug her toward the plane. “It’s awesome. We’ll have to go sometime.” Sheridan was very tempted to ask when, but she let it slide. She held her skirt out of the way as Luis closed the door after helping her into the seat. “Don’t forget your seat belt!” He announced as he took his seat. “Yes, Captain,” Sheridan playfully replied as she buckled it tight. “Now what?”

“You could try closing your eyes and praying for your life,” he joked as he fired up the plane. “I already did that, thank you,” Sheridan bantered back. She loved this playful talk between them. It was almost as nice as their arousing conversations. “Oh, heavens,” she said aloud as he proceeded with their flight. Luis laughed, slid a hand behind her golden locks, and pulled her in for a deep kiss. “Trust me, sweetheart,” he murmured when he released her. She melted back into her seat, realizing that the pounding of her heart and her gasps for air had absolutely nothing to do with flying. It took only a matter of minutes after takeoff for her to realize that she was seeing Luis in his natural way. He looked completely at ease behind the controls, and sexy as hell in his leather jacket and aviator glasses. Oh, she had always been a sucker for glasses. It somehow made him equally as smart and sexy as he was without them.

Luis looked over and caught her staring at him. He gave her that pure-devil, hellish grin, and yelled “Hang on!!” He twisted the yoke, and laughed as the plane went spinning into a perfect circle. “LUIS!!!” Sheridan yelled in fury when the world had stopped spinning and her hands released their death grip on her seat. “You do that again and I’m out of here!” “Oh yeah?” Luis played. “What are you going to do Sher, jump out of the plane?” “No. I just don’t want you doing loops. I’d like to make this trip in a straight, upright path. Got it?” “Yes ma’am,” Luis saluted her and laughed. Sheridan shook her head in half amusement as she watched him. “You really love this, don’t you?”

“This is what I am,” he replied simply. Her heart did an odd, painful twist. Yes. she thought. This is what he is. A pilot. A man who loved traveling, taking chances, and living for the moment. A man who had to leave Harmony and her life very soon. As if sensing her sadness, Luis gave her a smile. He changed the subject by entertaining her with stories of his career, his days in the air force, and his first flying lesson. He made her laugh, put her at ease. The flight passed with swiftness, and Luis even coerced her into taking the controls for a time, giving her an abbreviated lesson. He told her she was a natural, and she basked in his praise, even if she did think he was lying. Her emotions were simply out of sync where this man was concerned. **

Sheridan walked briskly along the beach, her hand firmly attached to Luis’ hand, their gazes wandering from each other to the moonlit ocean and clear stars. Luis paused and released her hand long enough to pull off his leather jacket. “Here,” he draped it over her shoulders, “It’s getting cool.” “Thank you,” Sheridan replied as she looked up and caught his gaze. She gave him a light kiss before snuggling back into the jacket, feeling warm and cozy. She couldn’t have asked for a more considerate date. Their dinner had been wonderful, with the best seafood and music St. Lucia had to offer. “It’s been a terrific evening. Thank you for everything.”

Luis turned her in his arms. “It’s not over yet,” he huskily replied before lowering his head to hers. His lips met hers in an enticing kiss, one that had Sheridan wanting to beg for more. She wrapped her arms around his waist as his wrapped around her shoulders, and the two deepened their kiss. He was doing it again, she thought. He was weaving his magical seduction until she could no longer think logically. A moan escaped her throat as his tongue dueled with hers. She could no longer remember all the logical reasons she shouldn’t be with him. Oh no, all she could think about was how much she wanted this. How much she wanted him to make love to her, right here on the beach, under the stars.

Luis gently pulled away from the kiss. He gave her a few short pecks before resting his forehead against hers. “Sorry Sher, but if we don’t stop, we’ll give the others one heck of a show. You know how hard it is to control myself when I’m around you. You have the most amazing effect on me.” “I know,” Sheridan seductively replied as she pressed herself into him, feeling how much of an effect she actually had. Luis laughed. “Come on sweetheart,” he pulled her toward a somehow tacky little souvenir booth. He bought her a funny little man made of seashells. “It’s made from the shells collected on this beach,” he assured her gravely, pressing the souvenir into her hand. “Every time you look at him, you’ll remember our perfect evening here on St. Lucia.”

She turned the figure over and studied the tiny gold sticker that read Made in China. “I love it,” she assured him with a smile that earned her another fantastic kiss. Soon it was time to leave. Sheridan let herself glance around the airport one more time, knowing if she ever returned to this place, it would bring nothing but happy memories. “It’s nice up here at night, isn’t it?” Luis asked when they’d been flying for over an hour in silence. “It’s beautiful,” Sheridan agreed as she drew her eyes away from the tiny lights beneath them. Despite the noisiness of the small plane, there was an odd silence and peace between them. The trip seemed all too brief. And before Sheridan knew it, they were back in Harmony. **

It was just after two am when the pair stood before Sheridan’s door, her key in her hand as she looked up at Luis. “Want a cup of coffee or something before you go?” She asked, unwilling for the evening to end just yet. She wasn’t sure if she wanted him to accept or decline her offer. Luis hesitated. “It’s late. Aren’t you tired?” “No,” she answered honestly. “Are you?” He shook his head. “I’d love a cup of coffee, thank you.” Sheridan unlocked the door as they walked hand in hand into her apartment. Fifteen minutes later, she carefully carried a tray holding two steaming cups of coffee and set it down on the coffeetable. Luis had turned on the stereo, and strains of soft music streamed through the air. He sat on the floor in front of the couch, with Luke’s head propped on his knee. “My dog adores you,” she noticed.

“Well, that’s half the bottle won,” Luis joked, reaching for his cup. “Join me?” Sheridan kicked off her shoes and placed them next to his. She dropped down beside him, her legs curled beneath her skirt. She sipped her coffee and tried not to think about how Luis would be gone soon, and this cozy, intimate setting would no longer be happening. He was the first to speak. “Did you love him?” She frowned slightly at his unexpected question. “You mean, did I love my husband?” “Yes.”

“I’ve asked myself that question for years. At first, I was infatuated. When he asked me to marry him, I jumped at the chance. It was the biggest mistake of my life. I thought I’d finally found someone who wanted me for me, not just for my money. He was completely sweet, caring, and loving. Ever since I was a little girl, I’d dreamed of nothing more than a home, a husband, and beautiful children. I thought Jean Luc was the one who would give me that.” “And he didn’t?” “No. He wanted his career. He spent all the years of our marriage traveling the country and expanding his bank account and reputation. I’m not sure why he married me. He never acted married on his business trips.” “Where is he now?” “He has his own companies opened in Paris, Milan, and London. As far as I know, he’s still sleeping with whoever is willing.” “Does that bother you?”

“No,” she answered with confidence. “It bothered me when we were married. I don’t care what he does or who he does it with.” “Has there been anyone else since the divorce?” Luis asked cautiously. Sheridan thought of Warren. “There was a man. We had a lot in common, but it didn’t work out.” “Will you slap me if I asked you why it didn’t work out?” Sheridan smirked. “You’re awfully inquisitive tonight. And no, I won’t slap you. I learned that he was only after two things. I should have known better than to start dating men like that again. Most only want my body or my money. Anyway, he started traveling with his business and settled down with some other rich woman who could make him happy.” “No wonder you aren’t too thrilled about becoming involved with anyone.”

“I haven’t had the best of luck in the romance department,” she agreed. Luis stared down at his almost empty cup. “I’m hardly the man you want to become involved with, right? I mean, my career obviously involves a lot of traveling, a lot of moving.” “Another nomad,” she tried to keep her voice light. “But it doesn’t really matter for us, does it Luis? After all, we’ve simply enjoyed a few good nights together. We’ve known from the beginning that there’s nothing more to it than that.” A muscle jerked in his jaw and Sheridan swore his eyes had a flash of anger. “Have we?”

Her throat felt constricted as she spoke the words. “Yes, we have.” His mouth twisted into a grim smile that was very different from the open one he usually wore. His voice was somewhat gritty as he spoke. “If all we have is a temporary affair, then we shouldn’t waste any time, should we?” Before Sheridan could anticipate his move, Luis set his cup down and grabbed hold of her wrist to pull her towards him. Luke left the room in search of his food bowl. “Luis!” She protested, laughing as she tried to straighten her clothing. He was already lifting her into his arms, holding her so that they were on their knees, her breasts crushed against his chest as he pulled her tightly against him. “I’ve wanted you since the moment I picked you up. I wasn’t even sure I could wait until we were alone,” he muttered, his mouth hovering above hers.

He kissed her with such a passion that Sheridan moaned almost immediately, her own tenuous control shattering to pieces. Luis’ hands were all over her, molding her, caressing her, arousing her. For the first time she realized exactly why he could make her respond so quickly, so passionately. No one had ever done this before. Other men had wanted her physically, but none of them had really needed her. Luis wanted – needed – her with a hunger that surpassed any physical one. He told her with his eyes, his touches, his kisses, and his body. It wasn’t just a woman he wanted tonight, it was her, Sheridan. She was helpless to resist. How could she when she needed him just as badly?

She wanted him. Those words floated on shimmering, musical notes through her brain as Luis unbuttoned her dress to the waist and eased his hands into the opening. Awkward memories were quickly forgotten in the heat, the passion of his caresses. Sheridan wasn’t aware of anything but Luis, and his hard, lean body. Only he could so easily arouse her. The front clasp of her silk bra seemed to dissolve at the first touch of his skillful fingers. Easing the dress over her shoulders, he lowered his mouth to her exposed breasts. Her fingers threaded through his hair, and Sheridan closed her eyes and arched into the hot depths of his mouth, her entire body going soft. “Oh Luis..don’t stop..please..” She heard herself moan. She’d been infatuated. She’d been intrigued. But she’d never wanted anyone the way she wanted him.

Luis lifted his head from her damp, throbbing breasts to stare down into her face with smoldering, desire filled eyes. “Tell me you want me.” He seductively demanded. Her glittering blue eyes locked with his. “I want you.” Reaching up, she nuzzled her cheek against his rougher one. “I want you.” She kissed his chin before running the tip of her tongue across his lower lip. “I want you.” He groaned, signaling his pleasure from her words and actions. “Show me how much.”

Pulling her arms from the sleeves of her unfastened dress, she quickly tossed her bra aside and reached for the buttons of his shirt. They opened easily for her. She spread her palms across his sold, rock hard chest. Her mouth greedily latched on to nibble at his chest as one hand continued to slide down to his belt buckle. She slowly lowered his zipper and slipped her hand inside. Luis gasped and pulled her head up, crushing her mouth beneath his. Sheridan smiled against his lips, and stroked him until he trembled against him. He lowered his head to her breast again, licking gently before latching on and sinfully torturing her.

She arched her back, allowing him better access, as her hands slid around to cup his taut behind beneath his loosened slacks. Luis moaned and circled one tightly puckered nipple with his tongue as his hands slid up her thighs. He lifted her full skirt to her waist as he filled his hands with her, his fingertips sinking into her soft flesh through the thin satin barrier of her panties. Suddenly impatient, Sheridan pulled away from him enough to spread his unbuttoned shirt out of the way. Taking him by surprise, she pushed him onto his back on the carpet, vigorously running her hands over his tanned, muscular chest. Leaning over him, she brushed her lips across his flat brown nipples, circling them teasingly with her tongue before attacking them with her lips and the edge of her teeth. Luis drew in a sharp breath. “God baby, I love it when you’re like this.” He moaned. His response was turning her on even more, burning away any remaining inhibitions.

She eased herself down his body, pushing his slacks downward until they lay recklessly abandoned beside him, along with his boxers. He lay before her, taut and hard, and trembling with his need for her. His cheeks were flushed, perspiration danced upon his body, his eyes blazed into her. She dropped a kiss on the birthmark beneath his breast before nibbling a trail to his rock hard stomach. The tip of her tongue circled his navel, then dipped into it. Luis moaned, his hands clenching into fists before grabbing onto the carpet. He quivered with the restraint he was exerting, but allowed her the freedom to explore him. He sensed that she needed to regain some control in their tumultuous, ambiguous relationship, and if this was the way she wanted to do it, then who was he to complain? He shuddered when her teeth sank gently into the inside of his thigh. “Oh Sheridan.” His voice was nearly unrecognizable.

She glanced up to see that his eyes were shut tight, his face contorted with pleasure. She then moved her mouth inward, nibbling, licking, sucking, and caressing until he exploded into action, all of his control shattered. Struggling back up to his knees, he stripped away her panties, grasped her hips beneath her bunched skirt, and pulled her to him, spreading her thighs over his. She pressed her mouth to his and lowered herself onto him, taking him deeply inside her.

They moaned simultaneously as Luis arched convulsively upward, his fingers biting into her buttocks as he guided her into a rhythm that drove them both to madness. Her hands clenched his shoulders beneath his open skirt, and she smiled wickedly. She leaned backward, her eyes closed, facial muscles clenched, desperate to feel the explosion within her. His mouth closed over the tip of one breast and she cried out, her blood burning in her veins, her heart pounding. She was dimly aware that the top of her dress was draped behind her, the skirt bunched at her waist, and that Luis still wore his shirt. Their half-dressed state only made the act seem sexier, more wicked. She moved wildly with him until the explosion took her, a hoarse cry escaping her lips as her hips pumped faster and faster. Luis’ grip tightened on her hips as his own violent spasms took over, and he released inside her warmth.

They fell to the carpet, exhausted. Their arms, legs, and items of clothing all tangled together, both breathing too heavily to speak. Burrowing into Luis’ sweaty shoulder, Sheridan closed her eyes and wished she could freeze this moment in time. Just this one perfect moment. ** Sheridan stirred on the pillow, slowly coming to the realization that she was indeed naked beneath the sheets. Not only that, but she had taken Luis Lopez Fitzgerald to her bed for the second time in three days. She opened her eyes and looked up at the glorious male figure lying beside her. Propped up on one elbow, and illuminated by the sunlight that was radiating through the window, Luis smiled down at her, obviously enjoying her disoriented waking. “Good morning.”

She remembered the uninhibited lovemaking on the floor downstairs, the hand-in-hand walk upstairs to her bedroom, and the slow, lingering lovemaking afterward. She pushed her hair out of her face, trying not to blush. “Good morning. What time is it?” “Nearly eleven.” His hand slid up her bare side as he nuzzled her neck. “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are in the morning?” “It’s been a while,” she murmured huskily as she stifled a yawn, stirring beneath his touch. His lips touched her earlobe. “Are you a good cook?” Startled into a heartwarming laugh, she caught his hand just as it would have closed on one breast. “Why do you ask?”

Sliding his lips across her cheek, he nibbled at her lower lip. “I thought maybe you’d offer breakfast. I seem to be in need of sustenance.” Again, she captured his hand in the act of another illicit foray. “I haven’t noticed that you’re lacking for energy.” “It’s all an act,” he assured her mournfully. “I’m trying to keep up a macho front when in reality I’m weak with hunger.” He kissed her deeply, leaving her trembling and gasping for breath. His own breathing was decidedly ragged when the kiss finally ended. “You must be truly amazing when you’re well fed,” she whispered when she could speak. “I’ll give you the opportunity to find out,” he promised with his most boyishly wicked smile. “After breakfast.” “All right, I can take a hint! I’ll take a quick shower, then you can have the bathroom while I make breakfast.”

He fell back on the pillows at the push of her hand. “Take your time, but hurry.” She laughed, made a grab for her robe, and headed for the bathroom. Minutes later, Sheridan turned her face upward into the full spray of the shower, hoping to clear away the sleepiness still fogging her brain. Her knees quivered slightly, reminding her forcibly of the unaccustomed physical activity in which she had been a willing participant during the night. It was getting harder to convince herself that her feelings for Luis were nothing more than physical desire. And it was becoming increasingly important that she convince herself they could have nothing else.

She wanted Luis with a hunger that was very new to her. What scared her was that she didn’t know what to do about it, or how she would feel once he was gone. Reminding herself that Luis was no real threat to her carefully maintained routine, she scooped her wet hair away from her face and reached for the shampoo. She told herself that it had been a wonderful weekend, and that she should have no regrets about her behavior. After all, she was a woman, and he was a man. A very hot, sexy, and charming man. There was no harm in the fact that they had gotten to know each other a little better. After all, she rationalized, she was a mature person, and she could handle this. Why shouldn’t she indulge in her needs occasionally? Other women did it.

The shower curtain swept back, and the cool air against her wet skin made Sheridan shiver. She blinked water from her lashes just as Luis stepped into the tub to join her, his nude, glorious body glistening as the water cascaded over him. His lazy, sexy smile shattered her hazy memory of a small boy in grubby cutoffs. This was a man, all man, and he made Sheridan feel more like a woman than anyone had before him. Flushing at his intense stare, Sheridan tried to take cover behind a bar of soap. The little beige rectangle did nothing for the task as Luis’ wandering, rapidly overheating gaze demonstrated. Lifting an eyebrow at the aroused condition of his magnificent body, she managed to speak. “I thought you were hungry.”

His laugh was nothing short of wicked. “I was hungry,” he corrected, reaching for her. “Now I’m ravenous.” “I was going to make bacon and eggs,” she murmured, her arms automatically going around his neck, bring her wet body into full contact with his warm, supple skin. “I’ve got a better idea.” His voice was hoarse. He nudged her out of the flow of the water, and reached for the bar of soap in her hand. The sight of his wet, aroused body made the heat sweep through her with a never before felt intensity. His soapy hands rounded her breasts, cupping and kneading, tweaking her nipples into highly reactive points. She arched her back, moaning into the air as her body writhed in sinuous, voluptuous gyrations.

Luis’ breath caught in his throat as his eyes took in the sight of her body, and how she was reacting to his touches. His hands surged with new urgency, everywhere. His arousal swelled even more, and he dropped to his knees before her. Running one hand around her undulating bottom, he worked the other to lather soapsuds between her legs. Pleasure coursed through Sheridan like hot lava, and a glance at his dark, rugged face filled her with an intoxicating sense of power. He watched her hips roll and his hand glide. His jaw was tight, his eyes were hooded, and his chest rose and fell in hard contractions. The rhythm of her gyrations quickened.

Sheridan moaned again as the sensations flashed through her with each slide of his strong, masculine hand, each delve of his fingers, building her need to feel the glorious explosion only he could bring. With a breathless cry, she forced her movements to a halt and closed his hand between her thighs. She wouldn’t relinquish the power to him just yet. “Stand up,” she urged in a seductive whisper. “Sheridan,” he groaned on a hot breath, ignoring her command, shifting her until the water ran down her torso and rinsed away the suds. He ran his tongue across her glistening skin, back and forth, just above the blond, water-slick triangle, and then downward.

Her legs shook, her voice screamed his name, and her breathing came in short gasps. She couldn’t let him get away with this! She would lose all self-control. Digging her fingers into the water-beaded muscles of his shoulders, she pried him away, forcing him to stand in front of her. “Hands against the wall,” she ordered, her voice unrecognizable in its huskiness. A muscle flexed in his jaw, and his eyes darkened. He did as he was told, flattening his palms against the wall on both sides of her head, bringing his face close to hers.

He leaned in for a kiss, but she evaded him and soaped her hands. She applied them with a vengeance to his manly body, across his wide shoulders and heaving chest, her fingers working the suds around peaking nipples. She raked her hands downward, feeling the muscles of his stomach and strong, lean hips, and finally around to his taut backside. The feel of him sent desire sizzling through her blood. Luis watched her with barely contained savagery. She looked so sexy, and he could only imagine how amazing it was going to feel when he was finally buried in her silken flesh.

She wasn’t done with her torture though. The rich, soapy lather of her hand stoked between his legs. First the velvety heaviness underneath, and then up along the hard, pulsing strength of his erection. He shut his eyes, pressed himself into her hand, and moved in his own sinuous dance. Her hand gripped and slid through the suds, relishing in his pulsating power. Heat surged through her, radiating deep in the very core of her being. Two audible moans filled the air. He opened his eyes, catching her gaze, finding desire mirrored in her sparkling blue eyes. Quickly, he pulled back from the wall, curved his hands around her plump bottom, and lifted her. The warm skin of her back met the cool marble of the shower wall, and she gasped as he pressed into her, her legs coming to a comfortable position around his hips, her arms around his neck.

The two stood still, reveling in the feeling of each others bodies pressed against the others. They continued staring until Luis rested his hands on her supple hips. Sheridan moaned, knowing he was preparing to take her at any moment. But he had other ideas. Slowly, he pulled her against him, letting her feel the entire length of his erection against her, but refusing to enter her just yet. They both moaned as she felt his hardness, and he felt just how ready she was. “Please Luis,” she begged. She couldn’t take feeling him in his aroused state, and not having him buried deep inside her. He shot her a wicked grin, pulled back just a little, and finally surged into her. “Sheridan,” he moaned as he felt her body take him in. She inhaled sharply when he lowered his heed to lick the water from the tip of her breast. Breakfast would just have to wait. **

“Sher?” “Mmm?” Without opening her eyes, she nuzzled more deeply into his shoulder, shifting to a more comfortable position within the damp sheets. There were certain disadvantages to falling into bed straight from the shower without drying off. Of course, it had taken her quite awhile to notice any discomfort. “I’m starving.” “And whose fault is that?” She smiled against his neck. “Yours.” “Mine? How is it my fault!” “You refuse to feed me! You’re holding me prisoner in this bedroom, ruthlessly distracting me every time I try to go in search of food.” “And just who was it who invaded whose shower? You could have been eating while I was in there, you know.” “That’s exactly what I intended to do,” he mournfully assured her. “Weak and disoriented from hunger, I stumbled to a door, hoping it was the door to the hallway. Instead, I fell right into your clutches again.” “I noticed your heroic efforts to escape.”

He sighed. “Your will is too strong for me. I’m a helpless victim of your every demand.” She lifted her head, gave him a sweet smile, and summed up her response in one word. “Not only is she merciless, she’s potty-mouthed too!” “Potty-mouthed?” Luis nodded, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “A truly dangerous woman.” “And you, Luis Lopez Fitzgerald, are one very silly man. Let’s go eat.” ** Sheridan and Luis had just finished enjoying a leisurely brunch and moved into the living room when the phone rang. “Hello.” Sheridan answered. “Hi, it’s Gwen.” “Hi Gwen.” “Listen, I’m really sorry to do this to you on a Sunday, but it’s an emergency.” Gwen rambled. Well at least she’s not calling to grill me about Luis, Sheridan thought. “What’s wrong?” “I just got a call from the husband of one of my secretaries. She had to have emergency surgery, and with two other secretaries out on maternity leave, I’m a little short handed. So..”

“You need a temp in the morning,” Sheridan finished. “Desperately,” Gwen agreed. “Please tell me you can handle it.” “Have I ever let you down?” Sheridan teased. “Thank you soo much Sheridan. I owe you.” “You’ll get my bill,” Sheridan chuckled. “It will be worth it. Now about your date the other night..” “Why don’t we have lunch and discuss that?” Sheridan suggested, aware that Luis was sitting only a few feet away playing with Luke. “Or will you be tied up?” “No, I’ll make it! How about one o’clock at the Book Café?” “Sounds good. See you then. I’ll have a temp report to your office by eight.” “You’re a godsend. Thanks again.” Gwen smiled.

Sheridan hung up the phone and turned to Luis. “I’m sorry, but I have to go to my office and make some calls.” Luis smiled reassuringly. “I understand. I’d better be going anyway. My parents and I are going to dinner with the Bennett family and Tabitha Lennox.” He grimaced as he said the name. “Something wrong?” Sheridan teased. “Well, aside from the fact that she’s a strange, kooky woman with a doll, no.” Sheridan laughed. “Well I better get dressed.” “Okay. I’ll wait and leave when you do, if you don’t mind.” “Of course I don’t mind. Just don’t go opening any doors you shouldn’t be opening. You are well fed now, and shouldn’t be stumbling.” She teased, referring to his earlier comments about being to weak to realize he was heading into her bathroom.

It took her only minutes to change. She ran a brush through her hair and fixed her makeup. Checking her reflection, she noted her pensive expression. She knew the weekend had to end some time. After all, nothing serious could come between her and Luis. She sighed and left the room to find Luis. Stepping out of her bedroom, she noticed the light on and the door open to her guestroom. What the heck? Oh no..Luis couldn’t be in there, she thought. She found him sitting at her computer desk, carefully reading the pages he’d found stacked near the typewriter. She watched as he smiled, and flipped over to the next page. He was reading her book, her own private work. As if sensing her stare, he looked up, his eyes in bewilderment. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re writing a novel?” He demanded.

To Be Continued…

Chapter 8:

Sheridan was dimly aware that her hands had begun to tremble. She clasped them behind her, forcing down the urge to snap the pages away from him. “I’m not seriously writing a novel, Luis. It’s just a hobby, something for me to do when I’m bored.” “Sher, this is great. The dialogue is natural, the story is funny, and the plot is magnificent. When it’s finished, you..” “IF it’s finished, it’ll go in the desk drawer with the rest of my stories,” she interrupted, ignoring the pleasure in his voice. “I told you, I don’t have time to start another career, and I’m happy with the one I have now. Please, just forget it.” “But Sheridan..” “Look Luis, you really had no right going through my things,” she snapped. “This is obviously something personal.” “You’re right,” he stood up. “I’m sorry.” “I should go now. Are you ready?” “Yeah, I guess so.” He glanced back at the pages as they left the room. **

“It’s been a wonderful weekend,” Sheridan commented as she stood next to her car in front of Luis’ home. “That sounds an awful lot like goodbye,” Luis commented. ‘It is,’ Sheridan thought to herself. She had to end this affair now, while she still had the strength to. But rather than telling him that, she opted to say goodbye for now. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” he replied. “It might be a little hectic at the office,” Sheridan said. “So I’ll call you at home then.” Dammit, she thought wearily. Why couldn’t he see that there was no reason for them to keep seeing each other? He’s only going to be in town for a couple of more weeks, and then what? It would be over anyway. “Bye Luis,” she replied.

“Not so fast.” He caught her arm and spun her around to face him. Startled, she allowed herself to sink into his kiss. His lips were gentle, and caressing. She felt like she could fly. It lasted so long. When he finally released her, she found it necessary to clutch her car door, since her knees had gone weak. Damn, why did he always have that effect on her? Luis smiled, his expression rather smug. “See you, Sher.” He then turned and sauntered off, whistling cheerily. **

Gwen hardly gave Sheridan time to set her salad plate on the table during their Monday lunch. “Well?” She asked. Knowing exactly what her friend was asking, Sheridan stalled. “How did it go with the new temp this morning?” Gwen huffed impatiently. “She’s working out fine, just as you knew she would. Tell me about your date.” “What date?” “Sher,” Gwen growled. Sheridan smiled and picked up an oversized piece of lettuce. “Oh, all right, it was very nice.” Gwen waited for a long moment. “Very nice?” she repeated. “That’s all your going to say?” “What do you want me to say?” Sheridan asked. “Girl! Luis Lopez Fitzgerald is absolutely breathtaking, impossibly gorgeous, and he was blessed with the type of body that will make a woman want to make love to him all night long. You’re going to tell me a date with that man was nothing more than ‘very nice’?”

“Okay,” Sheridan cracked. “It was a gold medal, Olympic winning date. On a scale of one to ten, this was a 100! Does that make you happy?” “Oh my god! He’s that good, huh?” “Gwen! You sound like a high school girl wanting to know how far I let him get.” “And? How far?” Gwen pressed on. “First, second, third base? Home plate?” Sheridan’s eyes glazed over thinking about their amazing weekend. “Do the words ‘grand slam’ mean anything to you?” Gwen clapped her hands in excitement. “Details!! I want details!” Taking a deep breath, Sheridan started from the beginning, knowing her friend wouldn’t get out of her hair until she knew everything. “Lucky stuff. You did have an interesting weekend, didn’t you?” Gwen asked when Sheridan was finally done telling. “You could say that.”

“So…?” “So, it was wonderful, and I enjoyed every wicked minute of it, but it’s over.” Frowning, Gwen swallowed a bite of salad. “Why do you say that? Won’t you be seeing him again?” “I really don’t see much point in it. He’s leaving for Spain in a couple of weeks.” “Spain?” “He’s in the service. The air force. He’s being stationed overseas for the next two years or so.” Sheridan explained. “Damn!” “Yeah. That about sums it up.” Gwen signed deeply. “I had great hopes for this relationship. The two of you looked so right together. If ever I’ve seen a thoroughly smitten man, it was Luis.” “I had hopes too,” Sheridan admitted.

** Luis called twice during the afternoon. Both times Sheridan asked her secretary to take a message, claiming to be much too busy to speak with him. The messages said only that he’d call again later. The monthly dinner meeting of an organization for women business owners was scheduled for that evening. Sheridan lingered around at the office for as long as she could, knowing full well she was avoiding Luis. She told herself she was only being sensible in ending a relationship that had nowhere to go but heartache, though a tiny, scornful voice in the back of her mind argued that she was being a coward. It was after ten when she entered her front door that evening, grateful for Luke’s enthusiastic greeting. Spotting the blinking light on her answering machine, she grimaced, took a deep breath, and pressed the play button.

Luis’ deep voice went through her like warm molasses, causing her to sink into a nearby chair. Hi, it’s Luis. You’ve been really busy today, haven’t you? I’ll try again tomorrow. Sweet dreams, Sher.. There’d been no hint of accusation in his words, but she still sensed that he knew she had deliberately avoided him. She climbed the stairs to her empty bedroom, half hoping to find a naked Luis there. After changing into her pajamas, she realized she wouldn’t be getting any sleep, and headed off to the room down the hall. She sat at the desk, staring at the stack of pages in front of her. Luis said her writing was wonderful, but had he meant it? Pushing the thoughts of Luis from her head, she began to type, getting lost in the story instead of her complicated life. **

Luis put down the phone in Theresa’s den with a faint smile. It had taken some begging, but he had finally managed to get Sheridan to agree to go to lunch with him. She said she had been busy, but he missed her like crazy. It had become perfectly clear that she was avoiding him, but he wanted to see her, dammit. Hell, he couldn’t think of anything else these days. He reacted to Sheridan in an amazing way. She was beautiful, bright, cautious, and extremely passionate in bed. Passionate. That word repeated itself in his mind, making him smile brightly. He suspected that her passionate behavior had even startled her, judging from the surprised facial expressions he had caught a glimpse of.

And now she was avoiding him. She’d indulged her news in him, and then tried to escape back into her safe, cautious life. She had a lot to learn about him. When Luis was in love, he was in love. When he found something he wanted, he tended to go after it. And he definitely wanted Sheridan. Even if he was leaving in two weeks, he tried not to think about what it would be like to say goodbye. He was going to focus on his feelings, on his love for her. Yes, he admitted, he loved her, and he knew she loved him too. But, how would he get her to admit it?

To Be Continued...