“You built the dining and coffee tables, too, right?”
“How can you tell?” Most people didn’t notice, let alone take an interest.
“They have a similar appeal—visually strong, yet airy, too. Clean lines,” she began, then shrugged. “At least, that’s what I see.”
Her admiration brightened the room and his spirits. “You’ve got an eye for detail.”
“Must be from years of studying photographs and clothing design.” She then smiled broadly, lifting a framed photograph of his two-year-old nephew. “Is this you when you were young?”
“No, that’s my nephew, Eddie. He does look like me, though. See?” Hank pointed at another photograph—one of him and his mother when he was three or four.
“That’s uncanny.” Cat set Eddie’s photo down, her expression more sedate. “Do you like being an uncle?”
“Love it. Meg brings him by when she stops in to check on our mom. It’s pretty cool to see family traits come out in this whole new little person. I suspect, with David and Vivi’s recent marriage, you’ll be an aunt soon enough.” Hank chuckled to himself. “Maybe they’ll get lucky and have a girl who looks like you.”
Cat’s halfhearted nod surprised Hank. She sighed. “Sounds like you’re looking forward to fatherhood yourself.”
“Some day. Boys, hopefully, to even out the odds around here.”
Cat clasped her hands together, her faraway gaze momentarily taking her elsewhere. With her gaze averted, she quietly said, “You’ll make a great dad.” Her body language screamed “end of discussion.” Didn’t she like kids? Not that it should make any difference to him.
Then she snapped back to the present. “Why don’t you go shower so we can eat.”
“About that. I can’t go out tonight. Meg’s working at the hospital—she’s a nurse.”
“Oh.” She bit her lip and looked up at him through the thick lashes of her bewitching eyes. “We could order pizza.”
“You eat pizza?” The shock jerked him from his lusty haze. He’d never seen her plate filled with much more than lettuce and fruit.
“Hardly ever,” she admitted. “I need a good excuse to binge on junk food. Being blown off by my brother and your getting stuck here gives me two good excuses, right?”
My God, when she grinned, he revved up like a Porsche running at full throttle. Would his longing ever subside?
“You’re the boss,” he answered.
A beat of silence settled between them while she appeared to weigh her next words.
“You don’t like that about me, do you?” Her hurt tone singed his lungs like polyurethane fumes.
“That’s the second time you’ve accused me of not liking you, or not liking something about you.” He gripped his hips and tilted his head. “What’ve I ever done to give you that impression?”
“The cold shoulder last summer and at the wedding spring to mind.” Cat glanced toward the candlesticks on the buffet, avoiding eye contact. Her obvious struggle to be open reminded him of David’s remark about the unfortunate St. James family trait. “The way you clam up around me, like you’re biding your time until you can escape.”
“If anything, we had a mutual cold-shoulder thing happening last summer, which is understandable considering how you blew me off after we first met.” Taking a page from Vivi’s playbook, he waited for Cat to meet his gaze before continuing. “As for the wedding, you can’t honestly accuse me of not caring when I went out of my way to keep you from getting hurt.”
Although Hank stood three feet away from Cat, the heat they generated fused them together with some kind of invisible glue. He noticed her pulse throbbing at the base of her neck, her breath falling shallow. Only her troubled expression stopped him from kissing her.
She swallowed hard before replying. “What did you mean that morning when you said I was the reason you left my room?”
Any sense of victory he might’ve felt about his remark making her think these past several weeks vanished at the sight of her suffering.
Having this conversation hadn’t been something he’d planned. However, his mom had always taught him an honest question deserved an honest answer.
“You like to play games and wield the upper hand.” He stepped a little closer. “I don’t have room in my life for games, Cat. I’m a man, not a puppet.”
Cat’s eyes widened and her mouth formed an O. Before she replied, his mother staggered into the living room with the walker, wearing her pajamas over her other clothes.