“No worries.” She lifted up the rolled out dough and lowered it over the dish. “It’s for Grayson. He’s been working so hard on the house. I decided to make him an apple pie. He doesn’t have anyone to bake him pies at home.” She wrinkled her nose conspiratorially as if we were sharing a secret.
I decided it was my opportunity to learn a little about the handsome stranger whose name I’d been crying out in ecstasy the night before. “So, he’s not matched—attached to anyone?”
She shook her head rather indecisively.
I laughed. She turned to me. A wide streak of flour crossed her forehead. “What was that laugh about?”
I concentrated on my task as I answered. “It was nothing. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve never met anyone who was so skilled at giving nebulous answers to very simple straightforward questions.”
It was her turn to laugh. “I suppose that’s true, but my philosophy is that nothing should ever be simple or straightforward. Nebulous is much more fun. Leaves so much more room for interpretation.”
Just then the backdoor swung open. I didn’t need to turn around to know who had walked inside. The sound of his work boots on the wood floor made my hands tremble. I had to concentrate not to peel my hand instead of the apple. I pretended to be extremely absorbed in my job as he circled around to the front of the work table.
The scent of fresh cut wood and sweat mingled with the fragrance of cinnamon. “Impossible,” I muttered to myself as I dropped the apple I’d been holding. It bounced off the table and onto the floor, where it continued its escape plan by rolling beneath the stove.
Coco put her hands on her hips and stared at the stove. “I think that one’s a goner. Good thing I have extra.”
“Sorry about that.”
My gaze barely flicked Grayson’s direction, but he had no problem staring unabashedly at me. He even seemed to be taking pleasure in watching me squirm under his unflinching scrutiny.
Grayson picked up one of the apples. “Interesting. I don’t really picture you as the pie baking type, Jessi.”
He was taunting me to get my attention. Of course, he already had it. Every inch of me was at full attention with him standing just a few feet away.
I finally stopped to look at him. Probably a mistake. How on earth could a layer of sweat and a fine film of dirt and sawdust look so damn appealing on someone? His face was more suntanned from being up on the roof. It made his eyes look bluer. Not that they needed it since they were already like deep lakes of azure. And now, it seemed, I was writing poetry in my head about the guy.
Coco reached over and took the apple from my hand. I looked at it. I hadn’t realized that I was still peeling it. Only peeling wasn’t really a good description for it. Decimating was closer. I’d taken it nearly down to its core.
“Jessi, why don’t you take that walk, and I’ll finish the pies.”
I wiped my hands on the dishtowel. “Probably a good idea.” I walked confidently past Grayson’s gaze but was feeling anything but self-assured. This, I reminded myself, was what happened when I let down my usual guard. Last night, I’d crumpled, I’d given into my urges convinced it would be no big deal. Now I was dealing with the consequences. I just wasn’t sure how to define the consequences. It should have been embarrassment and shame, but instead, I was feeling something much deeper, something akin to regret. I’d thrown caution and propriety to the wind, and somehow it had left my heart vulnerable, a heart I’d worked hard to protect from unnecessary things like love.
I could feel Grayson’s gaze still on me as I hurried out the back door.
“Just take the path along the honeysuckle bushes,” Coco called as the screen door snapped shut behind me.
Chapter Eleven
My feet landed on the backyard lawn, which seemed to stretch on endlessly. I glanced around. The fog had lifted, leaving behind a bright blue sky that was dotted with just the right amount of white puffy clouds to make it look as if it belonged in a storybook. None of the scenic surrounding landscape made sense. One turn down an unfamiliar alley could not have taken me this far from the city. And yet, I couldn’t see the outline of buildings or hear the sound of traffic. I was standing in a perfectly bucolic setting.
I decided to take a detour from my walk and rounded the side of the house. I strode past the ladder and an array of tools, including a tool belt that I briefly imagined slung around Grayson’s naked hips like the towel. I shook the disconcerting image from my mind and headed toward the front yard.
A sudden scary thought occurred to me. My borrowed boots hit the ground hard, and I picked up my pace as my heart raced ahead. I stopped and released a sigh of relief. My car was still sitting right where I’d parked it.
I turned back toward the house and the walking path. Now assured that my car was parked just out front, ready to take me back home, I felt relaxed enough to take a stroll. Then I would head in, pack up and drive away from this strange place for good.
Just as my mind went to the notion of leaving the Silk Stocking Inn and never looking back, Grayson walked out of the back door. Leaving here meant never seeing him again, another thought that should have brought me relief. But it didn’t.
Grayson leaned against the side of the house, next to his ladder, and watched me as he ate an apple. I tried to pretend that I hardly noticed him standing there, but his cocksure grin only grew behind the apple. He clearly knew that I was completely flustered by his presence. Unfortunately, my presence didn’t seem to rattle him in the least.
“Come on, Jessica, you’re a damn woman executive in a mostly male world,” I muttered quietly to myself. “Toughen up.” I lifted my shoulders and even added a little tilt to my chin. I marched confidently past him but stumbled the second he spoke.
“I like this casual look even better than that prim and proper business suit you were wearing when you first arrived.”
I stopped and faced him. “You didn’t see me arrive.”
He pointed straight up to the roof and smiled. “Best vantage point on the property.”
He tossed the apple core into the shrubs and walked toward me. My instinct told me to back up, but I ignored my gut feeling and stood my ground, chin still lifted but confidence definitely taking a hit. Especially as he closed the gap between us.
“Although I confess—” His voice had dropped lower, and he spoke with just enough grit in his tone to cause my knees to weaken. He looked down at the hiking boots and then dragged his dark blue gaze up the length of me, stopping decisively on my lips. “—those bossy high heels you were wearing have been giving me some damn dirty daydreams.” Unexpectedly, he reached up to my face. “And that blush is pretty unforgettable too.”
My haughty chin lift collapsed, and the school girl nerves returned. I couldn’t think of one other man in my life who could knock me off balance so quickly. I was still trying to decide if it bothered me or if I liked the idea that he was so darn skilled at it. I needed to shore up my defenses, or I’d end up leaving here without my heart.
I drew in a determined breath. “I’m glad my shoes provided you with some delight. I can tell you that at the end of a long work day, they are nothing but torture. I kick them off the second I walk into my townhouse.”
He stepped back, and I felt it keenly, not having him just a few inches away. “Why do you wear them?”
I was about to spurt out an answer, only no viable explanation came.
“Guess the loud, confident clack of heels on floors lets some of the men you work with know you mean business. Me? I’d take you seriously even in sandals with that haughty chin lift.” He picked up his tool belt. It dangled from his fingers, a gesture that shouldn’t have been the least bit sexual, and yet, all kinds of erotic images floated through my head. Once again he’d knocked me off balance.
“Or maybe you just know how good your legs look when you’re wearing them.”
“That’s right, throw me a bone with the first ‘you mean business’ comment and then snatch it away by ending it with a tawdry comment about my legs. I’m the vice president of a large commercial real estate brokerage. I hardly need to have my choice of shoes analyzed by a man who pounds in roof shingles for a living.” I spun around to leave.
I heard the tool belt drop behind me.
He took a firm grip of my arm and turned me toward him. His gaze was dark and cool, and it sent a spark of thrill through me. “Vice president, huh? Impressive.” His mouth came right next to mine. My lips parted long before I realized that I wanted the damn kiss. “Nothing sexier than a strong, confident woman . . . even if she’s wearing hiking boots instead of heels. In fact, I really don’t give a damn what she’s got on her feet as long as her legs fit just right, wrapped around me when I’m fucking her.”
I flinched from his coarse words at first. Then my body betrayed me. The heat of the previous night came back to me in waves, and moisture pooled in my panties. I swallowed hard as he once again stared down at my lips as if he was going to devour me.
I held my breath as he reached up, and, with a gentleness that was in complete contradiction to the way he was looking at me, he stroked the side of my face. It was a split second of tenderness that made my heart melt. I felt utter disappointment when he dropped his hand.