Steele 05 - Irresistible Forces

his grandfather until she saw him. She wanted to be face-to-face with him when she did so. For now, she just wanted to hear his voice.
    She leaned up and reached over and picked up her cell phone off the nightstand. “Hello.”
    “Did I wake you?”
    She smiled. “No, I’m in bed but I hadn’t gone to sleep yet. Are you still in London?”
    “No, I’m on a plane returning to the States.”
    She felt a gentle tug of joy in her stomach. He was on his way home. “You’re going to Los Angeles?”
    “No, I’m headed straight for where you are,” he said softly. “By the time you awake in the morning I should have landed. I miss you.”
    She felt another pull in her stomach. “And I miss you, too.”
    “Will it be okay for me to come straight there from the airport?” he asked.
    A grin touched her lips. “Yes, most certainly.”
    She heard his soft chuckle. “In that case, I’m going to let you go so you can get your rest. Trust me when I say that you’re going to need it.”
    She clearly understood his underlying hint and countered, “I encourage you to take a few catnaps on the plane as you’re going to need your rest, as well.”
    * * *
    After Dominic ended his conversation with Taylor he leaned back in the leather seat and closed his eyes. God, he missed her. For the past week he could barely concentrate on business without thinking about her. The meetings with his business associates had been intense, and with a heaping amount of sexual frustration thrown into the mix, negotiations at times had gotten downright heated. In the end, he had closed the deal he had wanted and his mission had been accomplished. Now he could set his mind and sights to other things.
    Like finally acknowledging he had fallen in love with Taylor.
    It had been bound to happen at some point, he thought. The week on that island had been no joke. Since then he had been trying to convince himself his attraction to her was only sexual, and that since Camry he had enjoyed a number of women’s company. But he’d known this thing with Taylor went deeper.
    He would never forget the exact moment he’d realized just how he felt. It was the last time they had made love. After experiencing what he considered as the best orgasm of his life, he had lain beside her, held her in his arms when suddenly, his mind and body had begun reeling before experiencing a feeling of having been punched in the gut by one of those wrestlers Ryder liked watching on television.
    Dominic had been tempted to tell her then, but had decided to wait, to think more about his feelings and to give himself time to contemplate hers, as well as to set up a plan of action if he discovered she wasn’t feeling the same way he was. He knew one of the things that made his parents’ marriage special was their love for each other. Theirs was not a one-sided love match.
    And he wanted the same thing for him and Taylor. If she didn’t love him now, by the time he was through with her, she would. He loved her and she was going to have his baby. He was a very lucky man, a man very much in love with the mother of his child. Now his goal was to do whatever it took to make sure Taylor loved him, as well. His mission was to win her heart.
    * * *
    Taylor had gotten a good night’s rest, grateful it was Saturday and that she wouldn’t have to go into the office. She glanced at the clock. It wasn’t quite seven but she’d hoped Dominic would have arrived by now.
    She had gotten up at the crack of dawn and although she hadn’t bothered changing out of her nightclothes, she had washed her face, brushed her teeth and tried making her hair look decent.
    If it wasn’t so early in the morning she would call Cheyenne to check on her. They had talked a few nights ago and her sister was doing better with her pregnancy. The morning sickness was easing up somewhat with Cheyenne whereas so far Taylor hadn’t experienced one day of her stomach feeling queasy.
    Taylor’s heart leaped in her chest when she heard the sound of the doorbell. She inhaled deeply as she crossed the room to answer it. The moment she opened the door to find Dominic standing there, immaculate as ever, simply breathtaking, whatever emotions she had been feeling before were nothing compared to what she was feeling now. Whether he loved her or not didn’t matter. She truly loved him.
    “Taylor…”
    And then she realized that he had taken a step into the room, closed and locked the door behind him and had