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“Cruz. Hello.” Lame.
Lame, lame, lame.
He blinked a couple times, almost like he hadn’t believed she was there until she spoke. “Payton.” Hearing him speak her name, so soft, nearly undid her. He blinked again. “What are you doing here?”
He didn’t sound happy. He didn’t sound angry either. She couldn’t tell anymore.
“Your sister, Benny. She asked me to help set some things up for Kate and Dominic. Do some staging,” she said and swept her hand toward the pile of votive candles next to her.
He nodded but didn’t take his eyes from hers. “So. How are things with you? You look…well,” he said, hesitating slightly before the last word.
“You too.” Only she said it in a near whisper as it seemed like she was struggling just to breathe under his intense gaze. She rose, needing to do something other than sit there like a rock. She walked back to the kitchen island and began fussing with the flower arrangement again. “I doubt either Kate or Dominic are going to even notice any of this when they arrive tonight, but Kate will appreciate it in the morning when she’s wanting half and half for her coffee that’s not a week past its expiration.”
Why was she blathering like an idiot? Cruz didn’t care if Kate had half and half in her coffee.
She turned to him, forcing a bright smile.
And realized he had closed the space between them somewhere in the last few seconds and was standing so close she could see the pulse at the side of his neck. Smell his wonderful sensuous scent.
“Payton, I—”
Only whatever he was about to say was cut off by the sound of voices from upstairs. A high-pitched female one that was insisting she bring down the box herself and didn’t need to wait another minute for anyone to help her.
Cruz blanched ever so slightly and glanced over to the figure coming down the stairs. Payton’s eyes followed. She recognized the bubbly brunette balancing a wide box in her arms, having met her months before at Kate’s birthday party. With Cruz.
She pinched the flesh between her thumb and index finger, trying to keep the tears from surfacing.
Oh. Goody.
Cruz had brought a date.
Cruz was still stunned from the unexpected sight of seeing Payton, here, looking so gorgeous and cheerful—something that had been in short supply for him—when he heard Becca making her way down the stairs.
He cursed himself for even taking her call yesterday. Or agreeing to go out with her for, as she put it, old time’s sake. But he’d been feeling lonely and angry and thought any company was better than stewing about the woman he could never have.
He glanced up at the cute brunette trying not to fall down the stairs in the teetering heels she was wearing and couldn’t help but find her short on the appeal that Payton had. He looked back at Payton, trying to gauge her reaction. Did she even care anymore? Was she already back with Brad?
“There you are, Cruz,” Becca said and dropped the box she was carrying not very gently to the floor, her interest more on the meeting going on over at the kitchen island. She almost ran to his side. “Hi there,” she said, possessively tucking her arm through his.
He didn’t pull away, watching Payton’s expression instead. Looking for anything. Some sign that she still felt something for him.
But her face stayed bright and she widened her own smile. “Hi. It’s Becca, right? I’m Payton, I think we met a few months ago at Kate’s party.”
“That’s right, you were there a little late. Is your fiancé around—”
Any further conversation was interrupted again, this time by his nephew and nieces who were running down the stairs now, their mother and the rest of the family hot on their heels. He’d make bets they’d been holding everyone outside for as long as they could to give him and Payton a moment.
This was a total set-up.
But little did they know that when he agreed to help tonight, he wasn’t coming alone. He should have known something was up by the panic in Daisy’s eyes when she caught sight of Becca. He’d just chalked it up to her disappointment he wasn’t with Payton. Which he had no idea why, since they barely even knew her.
And now, with the two women smiling almost too eagerly at each other, his sisters could reap the repercussions of their little scheme.
Daisy reached the bottom of the steps first. “Hi, Payton,” she said a little too brightly. “So glad to see you. It’s sweet that you wanted to come up and make sure this place felt homey for Kate.”
Payton leaned across the island and grabbed her purse, tucking it under her arm. “Thanks. And congratulations to you. I hear you’re the new tenant?”
Daisy eyed the purse. “The kids and I are pretty excited. Tonight’s going to be our first night there. You weren’t leaving, were you? I brought my special tres leches cake to share with everyone.”
