Read Online This Changes Everything by Gretchen Galway - Free Book Online

much, for anything else I did that I don’t remember.”
    “You snore like a congested elephant seal.”
    Smiling, he gathered his wallet and phone. “Teresa said you ate breakfast with her, another thing I’m sorry about. Are you hungry for lunch?”
    She hesitated. “Not really. It was quite a buffet.”
    “That’s good. I’m glad you finally got to eat.” He went to the door. “The dinner’s at six thirty. Then the auction. Should we meet here?”
    “Sure. Here’s good,” she said. “I have another dress I’m going to wear.”
    “Another one?” In all the years he’d known her, he’d never once seen her in a dress. Now he was going to see her in two different ones, all in one day. “You’d do that for me?”
    “I decided not to embarrass you anymore. For both of our sakes. Since I already won the bet, right?”
    “Right.” He couldn’t bring himself to leave. “Look, Teresa noticed we’ve been alone a lot. Are you sure you won’t join me?”
    “You really are scared of that tiny little woman, aren’t you?”
    “Terrified.”
    She smiled. “Well, that’s what I’m here for, isn’t it? All right, I’ll hang out with you. To help you out.”
    As she walked past him into the hallway, he caught a hint of perfume. Not just shampoo. Perfume.
    And he liked it. A lot.
    “That’s what friends are for,” he said.
    ♢ ♡ ♤
    Watching Sly eat his farm-to-table lunch didn’t help Cleo maintain the state of relaxation she’d achieved at the spa. How many meals had she watched him shovel in over the years? Why had this one suddenly made her think about what else he could be doing with those lips, that tongue, and those long, lean fingers?
    The erotic turn to her thoughts depressed her. Sly was a friend. Perhaps her best friend, one she couldn’t afford to lose. Any lines they were stupid enough to cross would lead them into momentary pleasure and nowhere else.
    “Want to look at the silent auction stuff with me?” he asked as they walked out of the restaurant.
    “OK,” she said. “Let’s see what the butt lifts are going for.”
    “Doing some early Christmas shopping?”
    “Totally. You’re impossible to shop for.” She slapped him on the ass.
    Which was a mistake. Now her palm was all tingly as it remembered the feel of his muscled cheek while they walked along the deck to the conference rooms. The ocean crashed against the rocks below them, gray and white water sending mist up in the cypress trees around the hotel.
    It was one of the most romantic places she’d ever seen. Maybe that was the problem. She was too sensitive to her environment. It muddled the obvious: Sylvester Minguez was a workaholic who thought he was a slacker if he took a few hours to read a book for fun, whereas she lived life at half the pace he did, composing music that made her pennies, giving lessons to pay the rent, and intended to keep doing it. His parents were wealthy, hardworking accountants with a thriving business. Hers were clinical therapists who had retired to Oregon to grow organic vegetables. She and Sly could be friends who saw each other twice a month, but more than that?
    Impossible.
    They walked together into the room for the silent auction, which had panoramic windows of the sea and a harpist playing in the corner. The gentle notes added a heavenly quality to the foggy view. A man in a black shirt and pants handed her a glass of champagne, and another offered tiny plates of grapes.
    “From our own vines,” he said.
    She smiled and followed Sly to the far end of the longest table, near a grand piano that had a giant red satin bow on top, like a TV commercial for a luxury car during the holidays. But instead of imagining the beautiful wife running outside in the snow, crying with joy next to her beaming, proud husband, she imagined how nice the grand would look next to her couch. Well, she’d have to remove the couch to make room for it. But if she had that piano, she’d always be sitting