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Her eyes narrowed, but no walls went up. Hallelujah.
“Okay to help me with my yard work,” she clarified, sounding very much like the in-charge nurse he was used to seeing. “Lucky you.”
Although she was teasing, he felt lucky.
“The other thing is debatable,” she said, her eyes darkening.
He felt her pulling away. He’d thought... No matter. She was letting him go over the following day. For now, that would have to be enough. No need to warn her that he’d been on his high school’s debate team and they’d always won. She’d know soon enough that he wouldn’t give up easily.
“I’ll take what I can get if it means getting to spend time with you.”
With that, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. Her skin was warm beneath his lips. The touch was brief, but it felt right.
Just as Riley felt right.
* * *
“Special delivery.”
Riley frowned through the peephole of her front door.
What had she been thinking, inviting him over? All night she’d tossed and turned, knowing that she had opened Pandora’s box, was risking letting him in, risking the pain he could dole out.
Although she’d not recognized it at the time, she now knew Johnny hadn’t been nearly the man Justin was. If Johnny’s betrayal had gutted her so, how much more so would Justin’s?
She’d considered canceling all morning, picking up her phone, typing out a message, deleting it, only to do the same thing again fifteen minutes later.
She opened the door and gestured to what he held. “What’s that?”
He glanced down at the pizza box as if it had morphed into something unrecognizable. Arching his brow, he gave a sheepish grin. “Lunch?”
“I’ve already eaten.”
Her cup of yogurt that morning had to count, because she didn’t have the heart to tell him pizza was not on her diet. But the aromas were delicious and tempted her almost as much as he did.
“It’s pizza. It’ll keep until you work up an appetite.” His gaze met hers as he added, “Doing yard work.”
“Of course.” She moved back for him to come inside, hoping she hadn’t made a big mistake. Knowing she had.
“Not that I agree that you need to be dieting, but I did order cauliflower crust, in case you were still doing that low-carb thing.”
Stunned, Riley stared at him. He’d ordered a low-carb pizza?
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t want you to have a reason to say no.”
To him or the pizza?
“You make it impossible to say no,” she admitted, pointing toward her kitchen. “Just set the box on the counter.” Because she sure couldn’t take it from him. Not with the way her hands were shaking.
Although Johnny had constantly pointed out her jiggly thighs, he’d certainly never put any of her dietary needs before his. Quite the opposite. He’d order her favorites and then taunt her as he ate them.
Why, oh, why had she said yes to marrying him? Had she really been that desperate for love?
Justin set the pizza down, then turned to face her. “That’s the idea, you know.”
Trying to clear her head of the past, wondering if she should be desperately clinging to it instead, she blinked at the man now leaning against her countertop. He looked more scrumptious than anything she’d ever seen in her kitchen. Her mouth practically watered as she eyed him in his shorts, a T-shirt missing its sleeves, and tennis shoes.
