Saving You, Saving Me (7 page)

            I was glad when service was over and I could head out, avoiding the eyes of Mom and the other ladies in her book club. Knowing Mom, she probably would have spiked the punch, too.

            I took Nydia’s hand to take her to her music class when I felt a tap on my shoulder from behind.

            “Hi,” a sexy deep, but young male voice said, sending shivers down my spine. Collins McGregor was standing there, looking like he came out of a magazine in his cream casual suit, white shirt, and Prada shoes. His wavy blonde hair was swept casually off his face, revealing his beautifully sculpted face, and his icy blue eyes that blazed into mine. I nearly dropped Nydia’s hand. It was as though two weeks had not passed by since I last saw him, my heart was racing, and when he reached out to touch my hand, I felt the same electricity shoot between us.

            “Um, hi,” I said. “You’re at church.  Here. Why?”

            “I wanted to see how it was.  You know, when we came here on Monday to pick up your mother, I thought why not give your father’s church a try.” His eyes held mine, and the corner of his sensual lips lifted in amusement. He leaned in closer until he was whispering into my ears. “I wanted to see you, too.” It was so low, so sensual, I couldn’t take my eyes off his full lips.

            I didn’t realize my mouth had gone dry again, and I was licking my lips.

            Collins McGregor’s eyes blazed darker, and he leaned in to whisper. “Thirsty? I know I am…”

            “Ah,” Oh my. Hotness. All the blood from my brain left and my mouth was drier than before. Without thinking, my tongue shot out again to lick the perimeter of my mouth.

            His eyes were so dark, so predatory, I felt that he would pounce at me at any instant. He took my free hand in his, and said, “Come on, let’s get something to drink.  I remembered passing a Seattle’s Best on the way here.”

            I swallowed. It had been two weeks since I last laid eyes on him, and I had moved on - getting myself entrenched in work at Sawyer House, becoming good friends with Derek, even once going out to the movies at the Newport Beach Lido Theater with him. Derek was so surprised I had never been on a date, that he wanted to show me what I was “missing out” on. I agreed, but only as friends. I knew if Collins McGregor ever walked back into my life again, though, he would be the one I wanted to go on a real date with.

So here he was at my father’s church, asking me on a date. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to take my little sister to the music room. Want to come?”

            Collins McGregor’s face looked surprised at first and then embarrassed. “Oh, I didn’t see you there behind your sister,” he said bending down to speak to Nydia. “I’m Collins McGregor. How are you?”

            “Hi,” Nydia said with a mischievous grin. “You’re very handsome, like a prince. Are you and Sam screwing?”

            Gah! “Nydia,” I said, turning beet red, “Where did you hear that? Never mind.” I smiled and shrugged at Collins McGregor. “You just don’t know where kids pick up things like that.”

            “Mom said it,” Nydia said. “When you and Mr. Princely Lips picked us up.”

            Of course, where else would kids pick up sayings like “screwing” from?  Their drunken erotica-reading moms. “Gotta love my mom,” I said, hugging Nydia too tightly.  I ruffled her curls and said, “Come on Princess, let’s get you to the Music room. I hear they have a harp in there that you can play with.”

            “I want a drum set,” Nydia said.

            “We’ll see,” I said leading her to the Music room down the hall from the Sanctuary.

            Collins McGregor’s face was stuck in a state of amusement and something which I couldn’t define. He followed me along the way, a few steps behind me, his presence as intense as always. Once I turned around to see if he was still there, and he just smiled, as we walked along. Even behind me, I could feel his eyes blazing on me, and the thrill of that made Lola very happy, while Serious Susan looked on with caution.

            After I got Nydia situated in the youth music class, I turned around to see Collins McGregor leaning up against the wall of the hallway outside of the Music room. He was studying my face, from my eyes to my lips and back to my eyes again. It was intense, and it was hot. It could be below zero and snowing in Southern California, and I’d be burning up.

            “This is a nice cheerful music room,” Collins said. “Did you learn to play piano at a place like this?”

            “No,” I shook my head. “Growing up, we didn’t have a place like this. We had a hand-me-down old piano from Grandma that was always in the living room so I kind of taught myself how to play piano.”

            “Wow,” Collins McGregor said. “You play rather well.”

            “Do you play?” I asked.

            “If you can call it playing,” he said shyly. “I pretty much taught myself how to play but eventually broke down and hired a teacher. I thought it would help me to wind down, but I find I’d like pursuing other means of release.”

            “Oh,” I said softly, feeling as though he was implying something else. “You mentioned you have a younger brother,” I asked. “Does he live with you?”

            Collins McGregor’s face twisted into a look of uncertainty. He didn’t look like the Owner of Collins Companies at the moment, but the little boy with angelic blonde curls. How I wanted to run my fingers through his hair and pull him to me. Lola had her pom poms out, while Serious Susan had her arms crossed. My id and ego in full force.

            “No,” Collins McGregor said. “He doesn’t live with me, but I’m trying to get him to. He’s pretty troubled, and that’s probably because he didn’t know he had family.” He shook his head. “Just a month ago, I didn’t know he existed. I didn’t know I even had a brother, a half-brother actually.”

            “You didn’t know?” I asked. “That’s pretty much a shocker.”

            “I’ll say,” Collins McGregor said. “But I shouldn’t be so shocked. My father was a real bastard, knocking up my mother, and leaving her when he found out she was pregnant. It’s no surprise he would have other unwanted children littered around. But my mother was no saint. She ran away from home as a teenager, joined a gang, and got pregnant with me.”  He smiled bitterly. “Not exactly the best way to raise a kid, and you know of course that I would have some issues,” he said. He stepped back, his face disgusted. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, Miss Sullivan.”

            I was about to say “No, it’s okay” when out of nowhere, a big arm came around my shoulders and I was enveloped in a tight bear hug. Michael, the young pastor who was second in command at the church.

            “Sammy!” he said, looking at me warmly. “I didn’t get a chance to say ‘hi’ to you today. How’s it going?”

            “Well,” I nodded. “Busy with school, trying to get a scholarship to Stanford, you know, the usual.”

            “Don’t get too busy to hang out with me,” Michael said, his face almost serious.

            “Do we hang out?” I asked, smiling.

            “Of course we hang out,” Michael said, squeezing my shoulders, as he looked warmly at me, his chocolate brown eyes caressing my face with his gaze.  He was cute, all right, and he knew it. All the women at church practically ate out of his hand. The young eligible bachelor pastor who had just returned from being a missionary in Southeast Asia. He was cute, but ruggedly handsome too, having blazed through jungles to reach villages where he would bring in food and medical supplies to people. He stepped back to take a look at me and laughed. “Sam, you’ve grown up before my eyes. I can’t believe you’re eighteen now, a woman, and beautiful.”

            “Why is it such a shock, Pastor?” I asked.

            He shook his head smiling. “You’ve always been beautiful, but now, you’re, uh, not a scrawny little kid.”

            I punched his shoulder. “I was when I first met you, Pastor, at 15.”

            “I remembered the day,” Michael said, “And believe me, you weren’t a scrawny kid back then, too.”

            I blushed. Of all the pretty girls at church and all the young available women, whose mamas were pushing them on the handsome young pastor, why did I get the feeling he kind of had a crush on me?

            Collins McGregor had stepped up to Michael and me.

            “Ah, Michael, this is Mr. McGregor. Collins McGregor.”

            “Of the Collins Companies,” Michael said. He reached out to shake Collins McGregor’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet the man who had been so generous in donations.” He looked Collins McGregor up and down, in the way guys do when sizing up their competition. “I hope you enjoyed today’s service.”

            “I did,” Collins McGregor said. “Especially the piano playing part.” He looked over at me.

“Sam is quite talented,” Michael said, looking at me in admiration. He placed his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in close.

“So I’ve found,” Collins McGregor said, his eyes looked at me possessively. His hands had bunched up into fists by his side, although he looked perfectly calm.

“Michael,” I said, feeling Collins’ eyes burning at me. “I have to go. Mr. McGregor and I were just about to head out.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed slightly then, and I’d never seen him look angry. “Sam,” he said looking from Collins McGregor to me. “You’re a grown woman now, just be careful. I worry about you.”

“Michael,” I said, rolling my eyes. “When have you started to worry about me?”

“I do,” he said simply.

            “Oh Michael, there you are!” a very pretty redhead in a white eyelet sundress walked up. Emily Johnson, a senior at UC Irvine and the head of her sorority there, glanced over at me. “Hi, Sam,” she said coolly, before turning her attention to Michael.  She stopped and turned around like a ballerina to look at Collins McGregor, and did a double take. “I know you,” she said. “You’re in the Newport News and all the society papers. You’re Collins McGregor of The Collins Companies.” She extended a hand. “I’m Emily Johnson.” Her eyes perused Collins McGregor’s body before reaching his face, and it was clear she had lost interest in Michael or whatever she was going to discuss with him.

            Collins McGregor took her hand and shook it. Then he turned to me, grabbed my hand and said, “I believe we were just leaving.” He nodded at Michael before pulling me out of the hallway, out of the church, and into his silver sports car.

            He opened his car door and said, “Get in.”

            I slid into the passenger side, dropping my purse on the ground.

            He pulled the car out of the lot and expertly maneuvered it to head down the hill the church was on and onto the main street. He was silent for a while, his face expressionless.

            “Um, nice car,” I said. “You handle it well.”

            He smiled, the tension around the corners of his mouth gone. “Yeah, I like it. It’s my baby. An Aston Martin.”

            “Like James Bond?” I asked, arching my eyebrows and cocking my head slightly.

            He looked over at me then and there it was again, that look. Dark, hungry.

I licked my lips.

“Sam,” he said softly. “Do you realize how sexy you look when you do that?”

“I didn’t realize I was doing something sexy,” I said looking at him with wide-eyed innocence.

Collins McGregor looked down and said, “Perhaps you don’t. I forgot, you’re so innocent. So young.” He ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it off his face.

I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him. His profile was as beautiful as a sculpted statue. His hair windswept, and that tortured look. Oh my goodness. I wanted to wipe that look of anguish off his face, to touch him, to kiss him.

“This is a mistake,” he said, his eyes like steel as he resigned himself to a decision. “What am I doing? We should head back.”

“Why?” I asked. “What is a mistake?” I reached out my hand to touch his on the steering wheel. My heart was beating so fast. “Tell me, Collins. I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re so cryptic, and I don’t know what you want. All I know is that I haven’t stopped thinking about you since we met.”  I used a finger to trace his hand on the steering wheel, and heard him take a sharp intake.

“Please don’t do that,” he said.

I pulled my hand away from his, and looked out the window. He sighed, but kept driving.

I felt like crying all of a sudden. I hadn’t felt so much for a man before, hadn’t wanted a man this much before to touch me, to kiss me. Collins McGregor with his Hot Bod and All Sexiness had swept me off my feet from day one and I couldn’t help this longing, of wanting. “If you didn’t feel the same, why did you come find me at church?”

He kept his eyes on the road, but he glanced down briefly before saying, very softly, barely a whisper. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you, too.” He turned his icy blue eyes to me then, pinning me to my seat. He took a breath and asked, “Do you have any feelings for him?”

“Who?” I asked, too happy about him saying he was attracted to me, too.

“Michael,” he said simply. “He definitely has feelings for you.”

“I don’t know why,” I said. “I never once encouraged him…”

“You don’t have to,” Collins McGregor said. “Look at you. You’re beautiful in a stunningly natural way. Your full shiny hair, your big green eyes, flawless skin, and perfect body…and you’re sweet, smart as a whip, and sassy. You don’t even know how special you are, do you?”

My heart jumped. He thought I was beautiful like that? I wanted to protest, thinking of all the flaws I had physically and psychologically. Don’t forget mentally, too, Lola and Serious Susan added.

“So, answer me,” Collins McGregor said. “I need to know if you have feelings for him or anyone else.”

I swallowed. Such possessiveness. “I don’t,” I said. “I’ve never felt anything like this before, but all I know is that I want to get to know you better, I want to be with you.”

Collins McGregor’s eyes opened wide and shut closed before opening again. “You don’t know what you’re saying, so I’m going to show you, to put some sense into you so you know what you’re getting into.”