Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy - Diana Palmer Page 0,102
hard and worried at her lip.
“You okay?” Ted asked. He sure was out of practice dealing with other people’s feelings.
“Not really.” Veronica slowly raised her head, and to his horror there were tears in her eyes. “I was kind of hoping . . . I mean I was depending on Victor being there so I could stay with him.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “I don’t know what to do.”
Ted stared at her in fascination as another perfect tear followed the first, and then another.
“You could stay here with me,” he blurted out.
She gazed at him for a long moment. “What?”
“Until Victor gets back,” Ted hastened to explain. “It will only be a couple of weeks, and then you can talk to him and sort things out.”
“But I’d be taking advantage of you.”
“How?” Ted shrugged. “I’m here all by myself. We could keep each other company over the holidays while our relatives float around the Pacific without a care in the world.”
“What about Bacon?”
“What about him?” Ted raised an eyebrow. “As long as he doesn’t get out and crap all over my apartment I’m good with him being here, too.”
Veronica grabbed his hand and held it fast. “You are so kind, I can’t—”
He returned the pressure of her grip. “Yeah, you can. In fact, you’d be doing me a favor.”
“Won’t your girlfriend mind me being here with you?”
“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Ted held her gaze. “And even if I did, how could she object to me helping out an old friend? You can sleep in Dad’s room and use his bathroom so you won’t even have to see much of me if you don’t want to.”
“Thank you.” She brought his hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. Stay here, and let’s make this a Christmas to remember.”
Chapter Two
After she’d unpacked, checked on Bacon, and taken a quick shower, Veronica went back into the family room and found Ted with his head in the refrigerator. He was muttering something, so she waited politely until he straightened up and slammed the door.
Even though she felt a little guilty, it was no hardship looking at his rather fine Wrangler-covered ass as he bent forward, or the dip of his spine where his T-shirt had ridden up. He was a big, strong, solid guy, and she was so grateful she’d found him again. His offer to give her a roof over her head until her uncle returned was a lifesaver. No one would think to look for her here, or ever make a connection between her and Ted.
After her panicked exit from L.A., she needed time to think, and make a new plan. What better place to do that than here in her sleepy hometown, which would soon be cut off from civilization by snowstorms, mile-high drifts, and closed mountain passes? As a kid, she’d hated that isolation, but now it might be crucial to her and Bacon’s survival.
“I don’t have a lot of food in.” Ted grimaced. “I wasn’t expecting company.” He rubbed at an orange spot on his T-shirt that looked suspiciously like powdered cheese. “We could order pizza in, or I can check out the meals Beth left in the freezer?”
“There’s pizza in Morgantown?” Veronica advanced toward him. “Since when?”
“About a year ago.” He touched her shoulder, pivoting her toward the windows where she could just see a neon sign opposite. “It’s real close.”
“Perfect.” She checked her pocket for her credit card. “And it’s on me, okay?”
“Sure. Do you want to order off the menu? I’ll call it in, and then I can walk over and pick it up.” He handed her a well-folded piece of paper splattered with tomato. “I usually get the deep crust, the works one, but I have a feeling you might not eat pork.”
Veronica shuddered. “I just can’t do it anymore,” she confessed. “When I look at his sweet little face . . .” She perused the menu and handed it back to Ted. “I’d like a small pineapple and cheese thin-crust pizza and a side salad.”
“Pineapple on pizza?” His revolted expression made her want to smile. “Gross.”
“All the more for me, then.”
He phoned in the order and looked over at her. “Fifteen minutes.”
“Great. Plenty of time to set the table.”
Even as she spoke, he was dumping paper plates and napkins onto the countertop. He obviously wasn’t a great one for formal dining.
“Beer?” he asked.
She finished her coffee, considered how her day had gone, and nodded. “Thanks.”