Delectable Desire by Farrah Rochon Page B

people, but most of the time it doesn’t feel as if I’m doing enough. There has to be more to life than sitting on charity boards.”
    “You only have this one life, Lorraine. You can’t live it for anyone but you. It doesn’t matter what your mother or your father thinks. It doesn’t matter what your friends or society thinks.” He tapped the shallow space between her breasts. “The only thing that matters is what’s in here. Nothing else.”
    “I wish it were that easy,” she said with a sigh.
    He captured her chin between his fingers. “It’s only as hard as you make it. When you’re ready to take that next step, it’ll be the easiest decision you’ll ever make.”
    Lorraine stared into his eyes, once again amazed at how quickly this man had burrowed himself into her world. That ever-present air of caution reared its head again, but Lorraine tamped it down. She wasn’t the same person she was when Broderick had weaved his spell around her. She knew better this time around.
    Lorraine wrapped her arms more securely around Carter’s waist and held on tight. She felt his deep chuckle rumble softly against her ear. She looked up from where she’d lain against his chest.
    “What’s so amusing?” she asked.
    “I was just thinking that I need to take my own advice,” he said.
    She eyed him curiously, but before she could question him further, Carter leaned forward and captured her lips in another soul-stirring kiss.
    * * *
    Carter became more light-headed with each floor the elevator ascended as they rode it to the penthouse in Lorraine’s building, and the feeling had nothing to do with altitude. His body was on fire. After one simple kiss. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. There had been nothing simple about that kiss. That kiss had rocked his damn world.
    He looked over at Lorraine, standing next to him in the elevator in her stylish slacks and sweater. She looked more like a schoolteacher than a seductive enchantress, but she’d sure as hell cast a spell on him. There was no other way to account for the way his body craved her.
    She was such a contrast. The way she’d smiled like a little girl while on the carousel, completely uninhibited, compared with how she’d lit his body on fire with that kiss. She was so much more than what her outer appearance suggested. When he’d first caught sight of her that morning at the bakery, he’d immediately pegged her as a pampered princess, but there was substance hidden beneath the surface. Each hour he was with her, he learned something new. And each new thing made him more and more attracted to her.
    The elevator arrived at her floor. As they walked down the carpeted hallway, the blood pounded in his ears.
    Lorraine pulled out a key. “Would you like to come in?”
    Carter glanced quickly at the door, unsure of what they would find on the other side.
    “They’re not at home,” she said.
    His eyes flashed to hers.
    “My parents flew to their house in Arizona. Mother has a standing appointment at a wellness spa in Scottsdale once a month. They won’t be back for several days.”
    “So.” Carter took a moment to collect his breath. “So no one’s home?”
    She shook her head. “Trina is spending the night at her fiancé’s. Frannie is likely here, but she goes to bed early, and her room is on the east side of the apartment. It’s on the opposite side of the building.”
    “Damn. How big is this place?”
    “Big enough that we wouldn’t be disturbed,” she said, pulling him into the darkened apartment. They walked to the room where he’d been earlier today, and stood before the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. The view was unlike anything Carter had ever seen. The lights of Navy Pier and downtown Chicago glittered across Lake Michigan, like something you’d find on a postcard.
    “That’s a pretty amazing view,” he said.
    She caught his hand and pulled until he faced her. “That isn’t the view I want you to concentrate on,