Free Renaissance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 5) by Rebecca Lynn

school sweetheart, Doug, and has a five year old daughter who is taking after her mother and grandmother,” he said dryly.
    Tiffany laughed. “What’s your niece’s name?”
    “Deidre, after my mom.  She’s actually going to be hanging with my dad this weekend while Carly comes up to New York.  Doug’s going away for a boys’ weekend and Pop will be watching her.  He can’t wait.  He’s going to spoil her rotten.  Deidre has that poor man eating right out of her hand.”
    Tiffany smiled.  “Granddaughters have that effect on grandfathers.  And spoiling her is what a Pop is supposed to do.  I’m sure the two of them will have a blast.”
    “No doubt.  Pancakes for dinner, ice cream for breakfast,” he said good-naturedly.  “So, what time will work for you on Saturday?”
    “Why don’t you let Carly decide?  She’ll want to sleep in, I’m sure and I don’t want to throw an even bigger wrench into your plans if she had her heart set on doing certain things while she was visiting with you.  If you’re available late morning, I could get bagels and whatnot, and we can have them over here at the warehouse so she can see the place, or if you guys don’t have dinner plans before the concert, we can meet up at the warehouse first then eat somewhere.  Or I’d be happy to have you guys to my place?”  She calmed her breathing to stop her words from spilling.  She was wondering if she should include Katrina in the invite as well, but he answered before she could continue.
    “I’ll ask her and see what she says.  I’m sure she’ll want to see the warehouse and so would I.  How late can I call you tonight?”  She tried to tamp down her excitement at the prospect of talking to him again. “I was actually going to call you last night after I first talked to her, but I didn’t know if it was too late.”
    “I’m usually up until eleven, or so.”
    “Okay.  If I settle things up with Carly before then tonight, I’ll call you after I get back from the hospital.”  He paused, then said, “Did everything go okay with your check up yesterday?”
    “Yes, sir.  Clean bill of health, Dr. Huntington.”
    “Good,” he said sincerely.
    There was a long pause and then they both started talking at the same time.  They laughed, then Drew said, “You go first.”
    “I was just going to say thanks for contacting Carly.  I know her expertise will be a great help.  You’re a good man for sharing her with me this weekend.”
    “She’ll thoroughly enjoy talking to you about all of it.  It will break up the monotony of spending all of her time with her brother,” he laughed.
    “I’m sure she loves being with you.”  She waited, then, “What were you going to say before?”  She couldn’t believe she was having a normal conversation with him.  Even though she felt butterflies and that electric current of sexual awareness, she was actually talking at average speed.
    “I was going to say,” he paused significantly, then murmured, “I’m glad you’re ready to date.  It’ll be good for you to get back out there.”
    Why didn’t that comment make her happy?  It was the way he said it.  She couldn’t help but sigh, a sadness at what ‘could’ve been’ spilling over her.  Should I tell him I went out with Todd last night? 
    Instead, she said, “Yeah.”
    “You don’t sound too happy about it,” he said.  She thought she heard a smile in his voice.
    “I’ve been thinking about New Year’s Eve and the way I acted.  You were so wonderful to me that night.  And,” she paused.  “I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I ran away.”
    “You weren’t ready.  Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
    She remained quiet for a moment then spoke.  “If I hadn’t run away, I imagine things would be very different right now.”
    “Maybe,” he agreed.  “But maybe it wouldn’t have been for the better,” he said in a soothing voice.  “It was clear that you weren’t