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“Very rude,” I whisper back. “She came to see us. We can’t chase her off.”
His arms slide around me, and he pulls me close. I can feel his erection pressing against me. “This is pure torture,” he whispers, his lips brushing my ear and sending shivers down my spine.
“I know. I’m sorry,” I whisper back. “We’ll just have to be patient.”
“Patience has never been my strong suit.” He leans in and kisses my forehead. “Fine.Moanait is. How about grabbing a bowl for the popcorn?” He nods toward the cupboard. “There’s one in there.”
While I grab a suitable popcorn container, Connor puts some butter in a small glass bowl and sticks it in the microwave to melt.
“Got to have butter,” he says.
I pour the popcorn into the bowl, and he drizzles the melted butter over top.
“Just like old times,” he says as he offers me the bowl.
I reach for it, but he doesn’t let go, and for a moment we’re both holding it, our fingers touching. As he gazes down at me, I know he’s communicating a lot more than he’s saying.
I nod, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with emotion.
“I never stopped loving you,” he says quietly. “Not for a minute.”
“Connor.” My eyes fill with tears. I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve his understanding or his forgiveness. “I’m sorr—”
“Shh.” He lets go of the bowl and cups my face. “You don’t need to apologize.”
As he leans down to kiss me, Penny says, “Are you guys ready? I’m ready. Is the popcorn ready?”
Connor grins as he straightens. “Cockblocked by a four-year-old,” he mutters under his breath. To me, he says, “We’ll finish this conversation later.”
“Coming, sweetheart,” Connor calls to Penny as he takes the bowl of popcorn from me and heads to the sofa.
I end up sitting at one end of the sofa, with Connor at the other. Penny insists on sitting between us.
“You’re in charge of the popcorn,” Connor says as he sets the bowl on Penny’s lap.
Penny’s mesmerized by the movie. I catch Connor watching me far more than he watches the screen. I can’t resist sneaking peeks at him, too, and he catches me on more than one occasion. More than once, Connor and I reach for popcorn at the same time, our fingers brushing in the process. Fortunately, Penny’s oblivious to all the subtext going on during the movie.
“How about a time-out for a quick hand wash?” I suggest when the popcorn bowl is empty.
“Good idea.” Connor winks at me as he peers down at Penny. “I doubt Skye would appreciate little buttery fingerprints all over the furniture.”
After taking a short break to clean up, we resume the movie. Connor lays his arm across the back of the sofa, and soon I feel his fingertips lightly grazing the back of my neck, sending tingles coursing through me. I make an attempt to pay attention to the movie, but the truth is, my mind is elsewhere, and my body is overheating.
All I can think about is getting Connor alone again.
After the movie ends, the three of us head up to the house to visit with Skye and Will. We find them relaxing in the family room, snuggling with baby Nicholas.
“How was the movie?” Skye asks.
“It was great!” Penny says. “We had popcorn.”
“I hope you still have room for dinner, sweetheart,” her mother says. “Maggie’s making pot roast.”
We visit for a while, reminiscing about old times back in London. Connor tells us what it’s like to be an account manager at Carmichael & Son. Penny sits on the floor with her dolls, ignoring the grown-ups’ boring conversation. I hold a sleeping Nicky for a while, and then Connor takes a turn. When the baby starts fussing, Will steals him away from Connor and rocks him to sleep.
When dinner time rolls around, we move to the dining room, where Maggie serves up her delicious pot roast. We have homemade peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert.
Throughout the meal, I feel Connor’s gaze on me.
