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His eyebrows arched and he considered her closely, his gaze lingering on her pert nose, the perfect oval of her face framed by brown curls, the long lashes shadowed in heavy mascara, and the huge chocolate eyes shimmering with curiosity.
She’d changed since high school, or maybe at the time he’d been too blinded by flashy blondes to notice her pure beauty. He wouldn’t mind getting to know her better, and she seemed interested in meeting again. In her office? Why not?
“All right, I’ll call your office.” He suppressed a smile and lowered his voice to a whisper, “If only to verify that the sofa is comfortable.”
She burst out laughing, attracting the curious attention of their table companions.
“What’s so funny?” Jocelyn asked.
“Something Matt was saying about…” She tossed him an amused glance. “You tell them, Matt. I’m sure you can tell your joke better than I can.”
Smart woman, she’d hurled the ball in his lap with all her strength. He chuckled. Nothing he couldn’t handle.
“I was telling Brenda about my father and his wife living on a boat in St John. Every morning, they go to work at their clinic in a dinghy. They wanted to bring their German shepherd and two cats with them, but finally realized the poor things might be terrified with nothing but endless water surrounding them.”
Brenda giggled. “What a funny story.”
Nice try, Brenda.
There was nothing funny about his story, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember any good jokes.
“So what became of the dog and cats?” Hanna said. “Are you stuck with them?”
“More or less. They live in my stepmother’s house with a friend. My brother and I have to walk the dog twice a week and play with the cats.”
Distaste playing on her face, Jocelyn shook her head. “What a waste of time for you.”
“Actually, I find running in the park with Max quite relaxing. He’s a good friend.”
“Dogs are by far more loyal than people,” Brenda chimed in, gaining his instant approval and increasing his desire to see her again.
“What do you mean?” Jocelyn’s pinched lips proved she’d jumped to the conclusion he hoped she’d reached about her cousin Cybil.
“She’s right,” Jocelyn’s husband said before launching into a flattering eulogy about his late dog.
Matt finished his last bite. The evening was proceeding along better than it had started. As the waiters distributed the dessert, music filled the room.
“Ladies and gentlemen, time to dance,” someone announced on the mic.
With a sigh of relief, Matt savored his apple pie and ice cream. A moment later, he glanced at Brenda’s clean plate.
“Would you like something else?”
“No, thank you. I’m done.”
“How about a dance?” He held out a hand.
“I’d love to.”
She pushed her chair out and stood, her beige, wrap dress snuggly fitting her slim figure that hadn’t changed over the years.
“If you’ll excuse us,” Matt said.
With his hand on her lower back, he led her to the dance floor and gathered her against him. The floral scent of her perfume floated around him.
“I thought you couldn’t wait for the dinner to end so that you could leave.”
“I changed my mind between the entrée and dessert.” He chuckled and held her tighter, inhaling her subtle fragrance. “How about you? I remember you said you were having as much fun as I was.”
