“I’ll pop these in some water right away. Can I take the wine through to the kitchen for you?”
“It’s okay, I’ll do that,” he said, still feeling a little awestruck.
She’d done something with her makeup that made her dark eyes look huge and warm, and the fresh pink lipstick she wore made him itch to lean forward and kiss it all off. And there was something different about her tonight—a soft confidence that radiated from her. It was there in the smile in her eyes and in the way she walked. He liked it, he decided. He liked it very much.
In the kitchen Finn automatically reached for the champagne flutes on the hutch dresser and extracted a bottle of a locally made sparkling wine. The second bottle, a sauvignon blanc, he put into the refrigerator.
“Are we celebrating?” Tamsyn asked, noting the label on the bottle. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to try that.”
“It’s very good. It’s been made here in Marlborough since the late 1980s. They blend seventy percent pinot noir with thirty percent chardonnay. Here,” he said, passing her a glass filled with the rapidly bubbling straw-colored liquid. “Try it.”
“I can’t do that without a toast,” she said with a secretive smile. She raised her glass toward his. “To new friends.”
He liked that, although right now his feelings toward Tamsyn Masters went way beyond friendly. He clinked glasses. “Indeed, to new friends.”
Their eyes remained locked together as they sipped their wine. He’d never be able to drink it again without thinking of this moment—of her.
“Mmm, that is lovely,” she said, flicking her tongue over her lower lip as she set her glass down on the countertop and picked up the vase of flowers. “Can you bring my wine while I take these to the sitting room?”
Finn reached for the glass, and followed her through. She was as enticing from the rear as she’d been face on. The sway of her hips as she walked made the fabric of her skirt swing gently from side to side, caressing her thighs and the backs of her calves. He’d never been envious of a skirt before. It was a new and distinctly unfamiliar sensation.
He could not, in all honesty, say that his growing feelings for Tamsyn were normal. Not in his experience, anyway. These feelings were consuming. Invading his concentration and disturbing his usually short but fully restful sleep at night.
“Crudité?”
He looked up as Tamsyn passed him a small platter decorated with vegetable sticks and one of those dips females seemed to like so much.
“Sure,” he said, helping himself to both.
It was tasty, the garlic and lemon tang in the hummus leaving a fresh aftertaste in his mouth. Maybe there was something to the dip after all.
“How was your trip away?” she asked, settling herself on the sofa and slipping her feet out of her ballet slippers to tuck them up beside her.
He took the chair opposite, not trusting himself to sit closer.
“Ah, yeah, Wellington. It’s a beautiful city.”
“And your business? It went well?” she continued.
“It did.”
“But something’s still bothering you, isn’t it? You looked…I dunno, worried, when you arrived. Is everything okay?”