Page 42 of Her Forbidden Bargain

“No. I wasn’t hungry earlier.”

“Will you have a piece with me?”

“Maybe a small slice. I try not to eat after seven.”

“Why?”

“Because unlike you, I don’t work out every day.”

“You could,” he said, settling at the breakfast bar while Sheri moved around the kitchen. She found plates and cut them both a piece of pie. She was more at ease in his house than he was.

“You don’t need to work out, ma petite. You look lovely as you are.”

She arched one eyebrow at him. “Really?”

“Honestly. You have a sexy little body that I can’t get enough of.”

She blushed and smiled at him. “Then I should keep doing what I’ve been doing, and that’s not eating late at night.”

“Milk, coffee or some kind of after-dinner drink?”

She leaned over the breakfast bar to slide his plate in front of him. He took her chin in his hand and kissed her long and slow. Now he felt as if he was home. The home he found in her eyes and in her arms.

She pulled back, looking bemused, and he smiled inside. He loved that she was so guileless about how attractive she was and about the effect she had on him.

She turned away, grabbing a napkin and fork for him. “Did you want a drink?”

“Yes. Milk, please.”

She poured him a glass and then brought her plate around to his side of the counter and sat down next to him.

He realized he wasn’t interested in food. He’d forgotten what it was like to have a woman in his home. To have a woman take care of him.

“Mrs. Ranney said that strawberry-rhubarb was your favorite.”

“It used to be.”

“Do you want me to get you something else?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She started to hop off her stool, and he lifted her up and settled her on his lap. “What are you doing?”

“Having something sweet.”

“I didn’t realize I was sweet.”

“You’re tongue is sharp, but your kisses, ma petite, they are very sweet.”

“So are yours,” she said. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him close. “I missed you tonight. Your apartment is so big. I felt very lonely without you.”

Lonely. That was a word he’d learned to ignore for a long time.

He thought about the future, and for the first time he realized he was looking at the future. One that he wanted with Sheri. Not as his wife, because he’d already given his name to the one woman who’d owned his heart.

But he did want her to stay with him. Wanted Sheri to be in his life, and not just at work.

“You’re staring at me,” she said. “Why?”