Suspect Lover. Stephanie Doyle

was 5:01.

      Perhaps he should leave now. It would take him a little more than an hour to get home in the rush hour. Plenty of time for her to get settled, maybe even take a nap to fight off the jet lag. Or maybe he should call first to see if she was there yet.

      He picked up the phone and then put it down. Just like he had at least a dozen times this past week. Once she’d made the decision to come, he hadn’t felt the need to continue calling her. No, that wasn’t true. He’d wanted to talk to her; he just hadn’t wanted to give her an opportunity to change her mind. He had, however, sent another e-mail.

      Caroline,

      I must insist on paying. You’re making the trip. Let me at least do this. I’ve booked your ticket, first class. Attached is the itinerary.

      Dominic

      No, calling would have been overkill. If he’d missed the sound of her voice after talking nearly every day for a week, then it was a small price to pay for not jeopardizing this meeting. Dominic hoped his strategy paid off. After all he knew the plane had landed. He just didn’t know if she’d been on it.

      Impatiently, he hit his intercom. “Serena.”

      “Yes, Mr. Santos?”

      “Get Henry on his cell phone, will you? And put him through to me.”

      “Yes, Mr. Santos.”

      Dominic turned back to his computer and tried to focus on work, but gave up when his eyes once again strayed toward the clock. This was insanity, and frankly it was pissing him off.

      Maybe this was all a big mistake.

      His intercom beeped. “That’s Henry on line one, Mr. Santos.”

      Dominic snatched up the receiver. “Where are you?”

      “Just leaving Half Moon Bay, sir. Ms. Somerville’s plane arrived on time. I dropped her off at the house a few minutes ago. Was there anything else you needed today?”

      “No. That will be all.”

      He hung up the phone and tried to convince himself that the overwhelming relief surging through him right now had more to do with his plans and less to do with Caroline. He’d started on this path with a very specific goal in mind. He wanted a wife. He wanted a child. He’d taken the most expedient path to obtain the first objective by hiring an exclusive matchmaking service. Caroline’s had been the third profile he’d received and the only one he considered making contact with. At first he’d been wary of the idea of a long-distance situation. She lived in Virginia, on the other side of the country from San Jose, California.

      It was the picture. She wasn’t strikingly beautiful, but she was pretty. And there was serenity in her face that appealed to him. It made him imagine that she was someone people found easy to be with, easy to look at. He’d gone to her Web site to see the photo she used for the back covers of her books. In that shot she looked even prettier, but the soft smile wasn’t there. Instead she looked very studious.

      He preferred the other picture. His picture. Now, he wanted to see the real thing.

      Dominic beeped Serena again. “I’m going to be leaving in about thirty minutes. No more calls get through.”

      “Leaving for the day, sir?”

      He heard the incredulousness in his employee’s voice. In the ten years she’d been working for him, he’d never left his office before eight.

      “Yes.”

      “Denny wanted to meet with you.”

      Denny. Damn.

      His partner and senior programmer had sequestered himself in his office for the past few weeks working on a project that he said was explosive. Of course he wouldn’t give any indication about what the hell that meant. Worse, his behavior was starting to alarm their newest partner. But Dominic had assured Steven this was Denny’s way. All or nothing. And the end result had always been worth it.

      Apparently he was finally ready to reveal the big secret.

      Not tonight. “Tell Denny I’ll catch up with him. And no more interruptions for the rest of the day.”

      “Yes, sir.”

      Now all he had to do was concentrate on work for thirty minutes. He checked the clock.

      It was 5:07.

      Chapter 2

      She was asleep on his bed with Munch pressed up against her back. That was how he found her. Their first introduction in person and she wasn’t awake for it.

      Her blond hair brushed over her cheek and he could see the steady in and out of her breathing. Just like her picture. Easy to look at. A sudden and surprising surge of lust flooded him.

      It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about what it would be like to make love to Caroline. He had. While he only had a photo and the sound of her voice to work from he’d allowed his imagination free rein. It had been a long sexual dry spell for him so his imagination didn’t have to work that hard. The idea that this weekend might serve two purposes was suddenly very real to him.

      He wanted her. Badly. And he hadn’t even seen her eyes yet. He told himself there was a chance he was willing himself to want her because it would make things so much simpler if they did marry. While he didn’t have any romantic illusions about what his marriage would be, he sure as hell expected to share a bed. But as he felt his sex stir and grow, he knew he wasn’t forcing his body to do anything.

      He wondered how she would respond if he went to her and began kissing her in her sleep, arousing her before she was even awake. His very own Sleeping Beauty. He imagined her eyes opening just as he pushed himself inside of her.

      “Roof!”

      Startled out of his fantasy, Dominic looked over at Munch and scowled.

      “Shh. You’ll wake her.”

      Too late. He could see her eyes flutter open. She stretched out languorously, and the sight of her twisting on top of his bed didn’t help to cool his ardor. As if suddenly realizing that she was awake and wondering what had brought her to this point, she turned her head and saw him.

      “Hi,” she said softly.

      “Hi.”

      He watched as she sat up and smoothed her hair, clearly embarrassed to have been caught napping. She shouldn’t have been. She was compelling in her rumpled state.

      “I wasn’t sure if this was the right room. The driver left my bags here so I thought…”

      “You picked the right room.” Dominic swallowed hoping to ease the gruffness in his voice. “I want you to have this room. It has a beautiful view. I’ll sleep in the guest room while you’re here.”

      “Oh. Okay.”

      She stood and he took in her tailored jeans and lightweight sweater. The soft pink color made him think of the inside of a shell and he couldn’t help but wonder if she would be as soft to touch. She stretched out her hand.

      “I suppose we should start with the basics. I’m Caroline Somerville.”

      “I’m glad,” he said taking her hand, which was small and delicate in his. “You came. I’m glad you came.”

      She nodded even as she continued to watch him, study him. He couldn’t help but wonder if she liked what she saw as much as he did. Dominic wasn’t a self-conscious man, nor was he lacking in confidence, but this woman standing in front of him in her white socks was twisting him in ways he hadn’t imagined. This was supposed to have been a practical and efficient way of meeting and interviewing a potential spouse.

      All he wanted to do was kiss her.

      “Roof!”

      They both smiled as Munch hopped off