CHAPTER 7
Lia rode in the limo next to her father and stared out the window at the rural scenery speeding by.
Meeting with the Small Farmers Coalition at Gordon Equine was far preferable to some stuffy cocktail party.
Best of all, although the senator was coming, his son wasn’t. Lia would gladly walk her three-hundred-dollar shoes through horse manure any day if it meant getting away from him.
The sun was shining. She was wearing a pantsuit instead of a dress that required a torturous strapless bra and stockings. All in all, it was a good day. It would have been a better day if her mother had agreed to come with them when Lia suggested the trip to the country might do her good.
Of course, as usual her mother had said she wasn’t feeling up to the drive. It had become such habit for Lia to accompany her father she feared her mother would never take her rightful place again.
Lia mentally reviewed her schedule for the next week. There would be more of the aforementioned cocktail parties this weekend. The most ridiculous thing was she had to control her heartbeat each and every time she walked into one. Even after six months, she’d still search the wait staff to see if James was among them.
It was crazy. She needed help. Although perhaps he needed the help. What guy could have the amazing kind of night they had together and not call afterward?
She hadn’t expected him to ask her out on a date or anything, but come on. Not even a midnight drunken booty call? Nothing. Nada. Zip. For six damn months.
The bigger question was why did it bother her so much?
She’d worked that one over in many a therapy session. Her therapist thought it was because he had rejected her first before she had a chance to reject him and that it particularly bothered her since he was from a lower station in life.
She knew it was more likely she was obsessed with him because, unlike all the men who fawned over her, this one hadn’t taken any of her shit.
He was a real man, not a spoiled rich boy. He knew his mind and treated her like an equal, not the governor’s daughter.
After the initial shock that she wasn’t always going to get her way around James had worn off, she’d really liked that about him.
Her therapist also thought she’d slept with James as a rebellion against her father and the pressure he’d been putting on her regarding the senator’s son.
The psychologist may be a little bit right about that. Lia nearly laughed out loud in the limo when she considered what her father would say if she ever brought James home.
Hello, father. I’d like you to meet my new boyfriend the waiter. I’m going to marry him and have his babies and they will likely all grow up to be waiters too.
Marry him. Sure. She hadn’t even made enough of an impression for him to call her. But boy, had he made an impression on her. Unforgettable.
He knew how to please a woman—at least this woman. Every inch of her. All night long until morning when he had to rush off to an early meeting with his boss.
Wait . . . Early meeting? What kind of early meetings did waiters have?
That had obviously just been an excuse to get out of there and she’d been too blinded from the sex haze he’d left her in to see it then.
That was a demoralizing thought.
What was laughable was she had actually hesitated before inviting him to the hotel because she was worried he’d fall in love with her and become a stalker or something.
Humph. He most likely slept with a different woman at every party he worked. No wonder he was so well stocked with condoms. He probably bought them by the case.
Lia shook her head at her own foolishness. Six damn months and he was still on her mind and it still killed her he hadn’t called.
She definitely needed help, or maybe some sex. But the only man she’d even gone to dinner with lately was the senator’s son, at her father’s insistence. No way was she going to encourage him with anything more than just a casual dinner and a peck on the cheek or she’d find herself married.
That was not going to happen. John III held zero appeal for her, as a life mate or a bed mate.
The limo pulled down a charming magnolia-lined drive and up to a white farmhouse that, in typical southern tradition, had columns in front.
The car came to a stop and the driver opened Lia’s door. She stepped out into the sunlight, slipping her sunglasses on to shield her eyes from the glare.
At least today’s event would be a distraction from her pitiful love life.
The scent of jasmine wafted to Lia’s nose. She breathed in deep, perhaps for the first time in a long time. Running in the rat race in the city wasn’t really conducive to breathing deeply. Not with the car fumes and all.
It was beautiful here and peaceful. Besides, she’d always wanted her own horse.
Maybe she’d move to the country. That would really give her father heart failure. How would he play matchmaker with her so far away?
It was a nice dream, but it was expected that a dutiful southern daughter did what was best for her family. She couldn’t fight tradition, though she might have tried if things had turned out differently . . . Lia pushed the pointless thoughts of James out of her mind.
One day a man would sweep her off her feet and she’d forget all about her night with James. Hopefully, that day would come soon.