Her Hometown Hero(13)

She could have at least gone to an indoor mall. Then she wouldn't feel  like she was about to lose her fingers and toes. But the store she'd  just entered pleased her instantly. It looked like a country cottage  boutique instead of a modern store, and it had a nice selection of  unusual gift items. If she wasn't able to find something for Grace in  here, she might as well give up.

As she turned down an aisle, totally focused on the treasures in front  of her, she bumped into another customer. Before she had a chance to  apologize, the man spoke.

"Are you stalking me, Dr. Banks?"

That voice could melt butter on a below-freezing day. Spence was out  shopping in the exact same place she was. What were the odds?

"After the flowers, I should be concerned that it's you stalking me,"  she replied, her heart beating a few paces faster than normal.

"I wish I were. We could have driven here together."

"Well, you know what they say about wishes," she said, causing a sparkle  to light his eyes. "I'm sure you're very busy, as am I, so I'll see you  tomorrow night at the hospital." She turned and bolted in the opposite  direction. Grace didn't need a gift after all.

He caught up to her swiftly and followed her out of the store. "Since  we're both here, let's have lunch together. I'm starving. Didn't get a  chance to eat breakfast."

"I ate a late breakfast. Couldn't possibly have another thing," she  lied. Good thing there was a lot of traffic outside or he'd hear the  rumbling from her very empty stomach.

"I wanted to give you a performance evaluation. This is the perfect time," he said, playing his trump card.

Though it was her time off, she was curious what he thought about her  work. She could cry inappropriate behavior, but something like this  wasn't unusual in their community. Well, that he was chasing after her  might be slightly unusual, but mixing business with pleasure-more  specifically, eating-happened all the time.                       
       
           



       

"I suppose a cup of hot coffee wouldn't hurt," she said, and before she  could change her mind, he had wound her arm through his and was leading  her down the festively decorated sidewalk.

The tingling sensation of his fingers wrapping around her had nothing to  do with hunger, well, not hunger for food, that was. No matter how much  she tried to avoid this man who she knew was only playing a game with  her, he seemed to always be there. And if the sparks she had felt for  him while she was a teenager had been strong, the passion building  inside her as a woman was out of this world.

As soon as he opened the door to the food pavilion, a loud growl broke  the silence, and there could be no doubt that it came from her stomach.  She was almost grateful, though, as it took her mind away from the fact  that she was craving something much less proper.

"I thought you weren't hungry," he said with a quiet laugh.

"A gentleman wouldn't call me on that."

Suddenly, his face was only an inch from hers, and what was burning in  his eyes had her feeling a whole new level of desire. "Don't ever  mistake me for a gentleman, Dr. Banks."

Oooh, the man was lethal. Take-me-to-my-grave-with-a-big-smile-on-my-face lethal.

"My mistake," she whispered, using the last of her strength to back away  from him. Her fingers shook, so she clenched them together. But nothing  was going to stop the wild beating of her heart.

"No, I would fully agree that you aren't a gentleman," she huskily whispered.

"I would be more than happy to show you how a man treats a lady," he offered, sliding back into her personal bubble.

"A real man doesn't have to take something that isn't offered," she  challenged. If her voice was stronger, then maybe she would be more  convincing.

He paused, his warm breath fanning her face and weakening her  convictions by the second. But then, he backed away, and she realized  she was holding her breath.

"What would you like to eat?" His change of subject threw her off for a  minute, and she had to shake her head before she could clear the fog  that had infused her brain.

Sage looked around at the different options and found a Cinnabon. That's  where her cravings led her, but she knew she should have something with  a bit more nutritional value. Maybe if she ate a salad first, she could  finish with a big, warm, gooey cinnamon roll. That was a plan. Yes,  she'd get a sugar high and then crash, but it was her day off, so she'd  be fine.

"I'm getting a salad," she told him, and walked over to a counter with  no line in front of it. Of course there was no line-people wanted pizza  or Chinese food, not salads.

After she was handed her salad, she glanced over at the pizza place and  saw Spence getting something to eat there. She made her way to the  Cinnabon counter and placed her order. The two of them finished about  the same time; he was carrying a box with pizza in it and a couple of  plates on top, plus two steaming cups of coffee.

She thanked him warmly, oddly pleased that he knew how she liked her  coffee. It was something silly, but it meant that he paid attention.  Okay, quit reading so much into this, she warned herself. It's just a  stupid cup of coffee.

"Nice . . . lunch," he said with a chuckle as he pointedly looked at her  massive cinnamon roll and its embarrassing side of extra frosting.

"I have a salad," she said in self-defense as she speared some lettuce. "I even went for the vinaigrette instead of ranch."

"Ah, a good patient," he replied as he lifted a piece of pizza with extra cheese.

Her mouth watered. Pizza was good for you-it had something from all the  food groups in it, even fruit if you got Hawaiian. Maybe she should just  go get some and give up on the salad. She wasn't a rabbit, after all.

Before she could make a decision, he put a slice on an extra plate and  slid it over to her. She knew she should refuse, but it smelled so good.  What the heck! Lifting the pizza to her mouth, she groaned as she took  her first bite.

"There is absolutely no good pizza in Sterling," she groused. "No pizza  at all, in fact, but the frozen kind. Someone should really open up a  place."

"I heard that someone turned in a proposal at the last city council  meeting, but I didn't follow through or ask any questions. I don't care  that much, I guess." He shrugged eloquently.

"How can you not care about great pizza?" She knew she was overreacting,  but as she finished her slice, having a nearby pizza parlor seemed of  utmost importance. She'd worry about healthier eating when she was in  her thirties-heck, maybe her forties.
                       
       
           



       
He looked at her with a supremely serious expression. "I will make sure  to take far more notice of all pizza locations within a hundred-mile  radius."

Sage realized how ridiculous she was being. Sitting back, she grinned as  their eyes met. "Okay, that was a bit extreme. I blame it on working  too much."

"If we should be worried about anything in Sterling, it should be the  lack of a good barbershop. I mean, I have seen some horrendous haircuts  in our town."

"I understand where you're coming from. When I was in California, a bad  haircut was grounds for calling in sick and hiding away in your  ridiculously tiny cockroach-infested apartment."

The two laughed as they began comparing stories of her time in  California and his in Seattle. Sage was thinking that she'd been the one  who'd gotten the bad end of the deal. Though Seattle was much colder  and rainier than Stanford, at least he hadn't had to deal with the  mind-blowing bug population she'd put up with for the last four years.

"Will you go back when you're done?" Suddenly, he was serious, all traces of a smile disappearing from his face.

Sage thought about it. When she'd first arrived in California, she'd  been convinced it was where she'd live the rest of her life. And yet  now, after being back home for a mere five months, she knew she was a  small-town girl.

The saddest part was that the place she'd been living for four years had  been more than easy to walk away from. She'd been able to fit her  minuscule amount of possessions in her car, and it had taken only a  couple of phone calls to change her address.

There were no connections, no friends she'd ever call again. She'd gone  out a few times, but the faces would soon fade away. They were temporary  friends in a shallow world. That wasn't who she was, wasn't who she  wanted to be.

"I would go to the beaches on the coast, but I could never live in  California again. It was fun, and I'm glad I got out of Sterling for as  long as I did-I hope to take a great job somewhere else eventually, but  not in a huge city. It's just too impersonal, too hard to make friends.  Everyone seems to be so focused on their own lives and their futures  that there isn't time to build real relationships. Living here, I know  that if I disappeared tomorrow, a search party would begin almost  immediately. It's not like that in big cities, I didn't even tell my  roommates I was leaving; I just left them a note with the final month's  rent. Not one of them has bothered to call to see if it was legit.  That's how much my leaving was noticed." She winced almost  imperceptibly.