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I looked over my shoulder wondering who was behind me and heard him laugh again.
“You find it so hard to take a sincere compliment?” he asked.
I gave it thought. “Have you told all women you’ve been with that they’re beautiful?”
“By been with do you mean those I had sex with?”
“Either way. Whether you had sex with them or not,” I clarified, though wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear his answer. Not that it should matter. So what if he told other women they were beautiful? Did I expect to be different from them?
Darn right I did.
“I’ve told many a woman she was beautiful.”
Okay that bothered me even though I knew it was juvenile to feel that way.
“But I never knew true beauty until I met you, Pep, and let me explain before you think I’m feeding you a line.”
I grabbed a knife out of the knife block. “Veggie omelet?”
“Aye,” he said and slipped off the stool and walked over to me to brush a stray hair off my face before settling his hands at my waist.
Brave man with me holding a knife.
“I saw your true beauty the first day we met. You don’t hide behind make up or hair that forever needs attention. You wear clothes that are comfortable not that impress and when you do slip into a little black dress you put all other women to shame. You’re straight forward with your words and honest with your opinion. You love good, filling food and not some light meal with barely any calories that leaves you starving. You love walks in the woods and your dad told me you’re better at fishing than your brothers. You love old mystery films as much as I do and best of all you love solving real mysteries. You, Pep, are the most beautiful woman I have ever known or ever will know.”
He touched my heart like no other man ever did and I didn’t know what to say, so I reacted.
I kissed him—after dropping the knife on the counter.
His arms went around me, and we kissed—A KISS.
Wow! Wow! Wow! That was all I could think. The meter reading went off the charts, completely exploded. The man was a genius at kissing, which naturally had me wondering what he’d be like in bed.
I wisely ended the kiss, resting my head on his shoulder.
“That’s another thing about you, Pep. You kissed me without worrying about morning breath.”
My head shot up and he said what I thought.
“You didn’t give it a thought. You didn’t let it stop you. You wanted to kiss me, and you did.”
The kettle whistled.
“You’re beautiful, Pep, and don’t ever forget it. I’ll fix us tea while you see to the omelet.” He gave my backside a soft pat and got busy with the tea.
I felt like I’d just won the lottery, snatched the gold ring, been claimed queen of the universe, that’s how Ian’s words made me feel.
We ate at the counter, talking and laughing, until he realized the time and had to run to get ready for a shoot. I walked him to the door.
“I have a busy schedule coming up, Pep, which includes travel. My personal assistant will be getting in touch with you. She coordinates my schedule and sees to my travel arrangements, only two of the endless things she handles for me. I was hoping you would provide her with your schedule so that our schedules can mesh and not clash.”
I smiled. He’d been thinking the same thing I’d been thinking, though the thought of his female assistant had me reverting to juvenile thought once again.
“I’d be happy to,” I said.
“Great, I’ll have Edith get in touch with you and just so you know—she can be blunt at times, but she’s really a dear. Ah dinnae know what I’d do without her. She’s going to conduct interviews vie the Internet for her counterpart here in the States, since she refuses to leave her beloved Scotland.”
I didn’t give any more thought to Edith or a new assistant. Neither were a threat and there was no reason to think otherwise. She worked for Ian, and she was someone I’d have to deal with and the new hire as well and that was that. I took a quick shower and settled in at my computer for the day.
At least I thought I would. Only an hour in and the phone rang. It was Amy.
“Wait until you hear what I found out about the dead guy. Lunch at the diner.”
23
I got to the diner before Amy, anxious to hear what she had to tell me. The news had to be important for her to want to meet to tell me especially since we just had lunch yesterday, though any reason was a good reason for us to have lunch together.
“How’s everything going with the hot Scot?” Zelda asked, dropping down in the seat opposite me and not giving me a chance to answer. “That man is a walking Adonis.” She laughed. “He also seems to be a great guy, unusual since most good-looking men are a-holes.”
