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“How is Heather doing?”
“Can we save that for another day?” He had such a grip on the wooden spoon it was a wonder it didn’t snap. “Or do you know something I should know?”
“Of course not.” Chuckling, she came up and gave him a kiss. “No one in Haleswood confides in me. You’re a good big brother,” she said, patting his cheek. “And having a brother, I had to bait the bear.”
She turned back to mixing the dumplings and he marveled that the tension over Heather just lifted from his shoulders. Suddenly he understood the ‘kiss it and make it better’ phrase. Did she know she had that power over him? In his mind that ability to comfort and share the burdens was a key ingredient in the lasting relationships of his parents and grandparents.
Whoa. Jumping the gun, he thought. Eva wasn’t someone who’d be rushed into anything, much less a relationship with a small town deputy. Just because he’d had her on his brain for weeks, didn’t mean she was anywhere close to the same feelings.
“When this is over, we should have a real date.” He wanted to bang his head into a wall. He hadn’t meant to voice his thoughts. Could he have sounded more clingy? Keeping his eyes on the stew, he waited for her to say something.
Anything.
“Dumplings are ready to go.”
“Great thanks.” She was going to ignore the date comment. Good. He dropped dumplings on top of the bubbling stew. “This’ll just be another few minutes.”
“Want a beer?”
“Sure.”
“Well?” She popped the tops off both bottles and handed him one.
“Well what?”
“You know I won’t say yes to a date unless I know your plans.”
He couldn’t stop the grin spreading across his face. “Well, the shooting range was my ace in the hole. A dinner and movie thing sounds a little tame at this point.”
“Hmm.” She rolled the bottle between her palms, pouting a little. “That depends on the movie.”
She finished the statement with a slow wink and he heard his heart fall with a thud at her feet.
No, he wasn’t about to let her slip through his fingers. He couldn’t believe that something this right wouldn’t have a way of working itself out.
If she felt the same about him.
But, like thoughts of his sister’s antics, it was better to table that for another time.
He scooped stew and dumplings into two bowls and carried them to the table she’d set with napkins and spoons. “Bon appetit!”
Her smile lit up the room. “Buon appetito!” she replied in Italian.
***
Eva sat across from him and wondered at her good luck. Capable in bed and in the kitchen. Tasting her first bite of the stew, she knew capable was a terrible understatement on both counts.
He had her feeling things she didn’t want to feel. Great sex was no reason to go crazy here, she coached. Great food might be.
Stop it.
“Something wrong? You’re scowling.”
Idiot. She used the heel of her hand like an eraser on the lines her mother claimed would be a permanent fixture one day. “Food is delicious. I was just thinking.”
“About?”
You. “That flash drive.”
