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“The fact that you feel the need to do that bothers me even more.”
“That’s only because of what happened at my office.” She glanced toward the door. “I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” If you asked him, he thought she was trying to convince herself as much as him. He moved a step closer and braced a hand on the counter. “Because you could always stay at my place. As you pointed out, I have plenty of room.”
“Yeah…except even with
all that room, you’ve only got one bed.”
He shrugged, doing his best to keep a straight face. “Is that a problem?”
A smile tugged at her lips even as color tinted her cheeks. “For you, I’m betting not.”
A sideways glance took in her small bed across the room. “It is twice as big as yours, if that helps?”
He turned back and would swear by the look in her eye, she remembered the size of his bed.
“Nice try, but no.”
“Bet I could convince you to agree with me,” he challenged with an exaggerated waggle of his eyebrows.
She laughed. “You could try.” Her laugh cut off and her eyes widened. “Wait—I did not mean that the way it sounded.”
“Sounded like a dare to me.”
“No.” She shot to her feet, and then had to catch the stool to keep it from toppling to the floor. Once it was set straight, she avoided his gaze. “You keep your dares and bets to yourself.”
“Afraid I’m right?”
Her hair swayed as she shook her head while skirting around him. “It’s probably time for you to go home.”
His turn to chuckle as she headed for the door. He pushed away from the counter and followed, absurdly pleased by her evasive words and actions. Teasing her was fun, and even better, she’d confirmed she wasn’t immune to him at all.
He saved that knowledge for another time and stopped on the threshold. “All kidding aside, if you ever need a place to stay, any of my guest rooms are open to you.”
“Thanks.” She hugged the edge of the door as he stepped out into the hall. “And thank you again for all your help tonight. And for dinner.”
“You’re welcome. Don’t forget that chair under the doorknob.”
“I won’t.”
His gaze locked with hers. He wanted so bad to lean in and kiss her. There was even a soft light in her eyes that told him despite all her deflections, she’d probably let him.
Much as he wanted to, the problem was, one touch of her lips was bound to scramble his mind all over again, and he’d never want to leave.
He stepped back and slipped his hands in his front pockets. “See you tomorrow?”
Her smile faded a bit as she nodded. He let his gaze skim her face one last time. When it lingered on her mouth, with those lips that he knew would taste so much better than the Limonchello bread pudding, he forced himself to turn and walk away before temptation overrode common sense.
Chapter 13
“Fess up, have you kissed him again?”
It was Friday afternoon, and even though she was at the far end of the house, and there was no way either Dean or Liz could hear Britt’s voice coming through the cell phone pressed to her ear, Gina glanced toward the open door of the guest room.
Had she kissed Dean again?
Oh, she’d come close. So damn close the other night. Twice.
