AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There’s nothing more to say.” She glanced up at him, hoping he would realize that she was at the end of her rope.
After a tense moment, he stood and walked all the way to her front door. Abruptly he turned around to face her. “What about if we started dating?”
She groaned. Didn’t the man know the definition of the word no?
“We could make a fresh start.” He closed the distance between them. He studied her, his eyes dark and probing. “It’s not a bad idea, you know.”
She reached for a tissue inside her pants pocket and loudly blew her nose. “What about, you know…what happened?”
“We’ll put the incident behind us.”
Candy didn’t know if starting over would be possible now, but she teetered, tempted more than she thought possible by the prospect. It was difficult to refuse him when he was this gentle. She could deal with his anger—and in fact thrived on it. But she had no defense against this side of him.
“You can send me away,” he continued, “and I’d go because that was what you wanted. But at some point we’d run into each other again, and it’d be the way it always is between us.”
Undecided, Candy nibbled on her lower lip.
“Sparks would fly and soon we’d be spatting over one thing or another.”
He was beginning to make sense and that was a dangerous sign.
“Before we knew it, we’d end up falling into the same trap as before, so hot for each other that we’d—”
“I get the picture,” she said bluntly. Still Candy hesitated, unsure if what he said made sense or if she wanted to believe him so badly that she was willing to agree to any terms.
“Hello, Candy Hoffman,” he said, and offered her his hand. “I understand you own and operate the local feed store. I’m Carl Saks.”
She studied his open hand as if that would tell her what she needed to know. It was worth a shot, she decided, then squared her shoulders and slipped her hand inside of his. “Hello, Carl.”
They studied each other for several moments, and a tentative smile touched Carl’s mouth. “I hope you won’t think I’m being too forward if I invite you to dinner with me on such short acquaintance.”
“Dinner?”
“I understand that Bluebeard’s serves up a fine prime rib and all the trimmings.”
“When?” Of all the questions she should have asked, “when” was probably the one least important.
“Tomorrow night…Why wait? What about tonight.”
“Tomorrow,” she agreed.
His smile was full-blown now. “I’ll pick you up at six.”
“I’ll be ready.” She’d never been the blushing, reticent type, but she felt that way now. Unsure of herself, of Carl, yet yearning for the opportunity to start again.
“You won’t regret this,” he promised, and then as if to seal their agreement, he leaned forward and kissed her with a hunger that hurled her senses straight into outer space.
* * *
A day passed and Zane didn’t hear from Lesley. Her decision on whether to marry him wouldn’t be easy, he realized, but he hoped he’d persuaded her.
Not until after she’d left did he remember they hadn’t kissed, except briefly the one time when she’d asked it of him. To not influence her with the strong physical attraction they shared hadn’t been a conscious decision, but it’d been a wise one.
If she did suffer regrets—and she would, if she chose to marry him—he didn’t want her to look back and assume she’d been coerced into agreeing.
In an effort to get out from under the constant irritation of the construction workers, Zane decided to take Arabesque for an afternoon ride.
His nerves were on edge and he realized his nervousness was due to Lesley. He wanted her answer, one way or the other, so he could move forward.
