A Bravo Homecoming by Christine Rimmer Read Free Book Online Page B

good….”
    She could have stood there, holding him tight like that forever. She liked it, so much, the glorious feel of his big, hard body pressed against hers. In his arms right then she felt so…feminine. Not soft, exactly. She was too buff for that.
    But smooth. Definitely. And curvy. And very much a woman in every single way.
    Reluctantly, she stepped back from him. They stared at each other, both of them grinning.
    And Jonathan said, “Come along, you two. We’ll have a toast.” He’d ordered champagne. It was waiting, on ice, in a silver bucket. The bellman had already popped the cork.
    Travis filled a crystal flute for each of them and then offered the first toast. “To you, Sam. I knew you could do it. And you have. You’re incredible. I always knew you were good-looking. I just didn’t realize how beautiful you really are.”
    She basked in his admiration and approval, thinking that the week of torture and starvation and grueling hard work had been worth it.
    And then Jonathan said, “Sam, I wish you all the success and continued admiration you so richly deserve. When you get back here to the suite from your night out with Travis, I will be gone.”
    She felt teary-eyed suddenly. “Oh, no. So soon?”
    He nodded his big head of beautifully highlighted hair. “Because, darling, my work here is done. I hardly expected what a triumph you would make of our time together. But you, my love, have come so far, so fast. I swear to you, my head is spinning. I will leave you my numbers. Do call now and then and tell me how you’re doing.”
    “Oh, Jonathan. Yes, I will. And thank you. Thank you so much.”
    He waved a hand. “The pleasure was all mine. Check my website in a few days.”
    She groaned. “That’s right. The awful ‘before’ pictures.”
    “Ah, yes. But also the ones I took this evening. I think any woman would be proud to look as you do right now.”
    She hugged Jonathan before she and Travis left him. He seemed so tiny and fragile in her arms. She whispered more thank-yous. And she promised to call.
     
     
    They had dinner at Restaurant Cinq in a gorgeous hotel and art gallery called La Colombe d’Or. The building itself had once been the mansion of an oil baron.
    To start, there was Petrossian caviar with homemade blinis. Sam had never in her life had caviar before. She found she liked the salty, rich taste.
    Then came the toasted goat cheese, roasted beet and mixed greens salad, the three-chili rubbed pork tender-loin with Granny Smith applesauce and roasted corn relish.
    Sam remembered to eat slowly, to enjoy every bite.
    And even better than the wonderful food and great service was the handsome, dark-haired guy in the beautiful charcoal wool jacket and checked silk shirt across the snowy white tablecloth from her.
    He looked at her so…appreciatively. As though he couldn’t get enough of the very sight of her.
    Okay, yeah. She knew this thing between them was just for now, just for tonight and the next week with his family. She knew they were only pretending, that it wasn’t, in the strictest sense, real.
    But so what? She didn’t care. She was set on loving every minute of it. It was a new beginning for her. The start of a different kind of life.
    Which, come to think of it, made it mostly real, after all. Yes, she was only going to be his fiancée for a week. But the woman she was tonight, in the black camisole dress with the lacy high heels and the sparkly rhinestone cuff—she actually was that woman now. She had recreated herself in the past week, with Jonathan’s help.
    Her new self was no lie.
    They talked easily, comfortably together, as always. As comfortably as they did when they’d meet for beers at some wood-paneled neighborhood sports bar right there in Houston.
    But Restaurant Cinq was hardly a neighborhood bar. And the way she felt right now, looking at him across the table, the glow of candlelight shining in his eyes?
    Well, it wasn’t the same as when they went