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Zoe shivered a little. Telling herself it was the chilly afternoon air and not depression over what would never be, she stepped onto the cobblestone path. Get over it, she warned herself.
As soon as Dex joined her, she gave him a teasing smile and shrugged. “It’s not coming for a few months, I hear. Apparently, once it does we’ll be well on our way to happy ever after, a big business deal, four kids, if you can believe it, and a wild sex life. I have to say, the details on that last one would have been extremely intriguing if they hadn’t been coming from your sweet little ol’ grandma.”
She had to give him credit. His shock didn’t last nearly as long as hers had. Other than that, she’d have to say they were both equally amused, but Dex’s cheeks did sport a tinge of color she was betting wasn’t due to the wind-chill factor.
“Tarot cards?” he asked with a roll of his eyes.
“Yep. Who knew such innocuous pieces of paper could sport so many naked bodies?”
Dex snorted. “My grandmother claims the nudity inspires her psychic senses or something like that.”
“Well she was inspired big-time, let me tell you.” Zoe wasn’t sure what had been worse. Shock or embarrassment. And she’d had plenty of both to compare from the moment that sweet white-haired lady had dragged her over to a small damask-covered table in the corner of the lobby. Once she’d pulled out those gilt-edged cards filled with compelling—albeit mostly naked—images, Zoe had felt like Alice down the rabbit hole. Then the octogenarian had started describing sex between Zoe and her only grandson. Surreal didn’t begin to describe her reaction.
Dex leaned around, peering at her face as they walked. “She embarrassed you?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Zoe lied, tucking her hands into the front pockets of her jeans to keep her fingers warm. All she’d wanted was to ask the older woman if she’d heard of Gandalf. As soon as she’d tried, though, Mrs. Drake had said all answers were in the cards and whipped out those naked pictures. Definitely not the answers Zoe had been looking for.
“She did. You never blush, but you do get this wrinkle between your eyes when you’re embarrassed.” He leaned closer, practically bending in half to walk by her side and still look into her face. “Yep, there it is. That cute little crease.”
He thought she was cute? Nonplussed, Zoe didn’t know what to say. After their encounter over breakfast, she’d wondered. Sure, he’d said she looked great, but that was one of those typical things to say when they see each other again. But cute? That was, like, special.
Wasn’t it? And how pathetic did it make her to get all giddy and schoolgirl-excited at the idea?
“I wasn’t embarrassed, really,” she prevaricated. “I do admit I was a little shocked to hear your grandma’s take on your sexual preferences, though.”
Instead of blushing, Dex just laughed. A deep, sexy belly laugh that made Zoe grin in delight. Well, well. So her geek-turned-sexy-as-hell old friend wasn’t that shy after all. Nor a prude if the wicked glint in his eyes was any indication.
“You’ll have to fill me in on the details. Grandma’s pretty imaginative. I might pick up a few tips from her reading, huh?”
Zoe thought of the varied likes and dislikes the old lady had listed. She still didn’t know how she’d gotten stilettos, whipped cream and outdoor play from those random cup-and-stick covered cards. But the idea of those and Dex combined nicely in Zoe’s mind. Oh, yeah, she’d like to cover him in whipped cream, wrap her stiletto-clad feet around his hips and ride him like a wild stallion under the full moon.
She gulped, trembling a little at the rush of desire washing over her.
“We should go back in,” Dex said all of a sudden.
Zoe frowned, her gaze flying to his face in consternation. That mumbo-jumbo psychic thing didn’t run in the family, did it? Had he just read her dirty mind and decided to run?
“Why?” she asked baldly.
“You’re shivering,” he pointed out.
Relief poured through Zoe at the same time she clued in that she was freezing in her light sweater.
“No kidding? I forgot how damned cold autumn in Idaho could get,” she said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms as if the friction would light some heat.
He gestured to the gate just beyond the rose arbor. “Come on, let’s stop by the house and you can warm up.”
She looked past the roseless vines to the tidy Tudor-style house. She’d only been in there twice as a kid. Dex’s parents hadn’t been crazy about her and it had always seemed easier to hang out at the hotel or the tree house.
