too.
Suddenly he shifted, dropping his legs to the ground. She took a hasty step backward as he stood. Her heel caught on one of his shoes and she lost her balance.
Rhys’s reflexes were lightning fast as he steadied her with one hand at her waist and the other on her upper arm.
“Sorry.”
His eyes were very dark as he looked at her. “I think this is officially déjà vu.”
It took her a moment to understand he was referring to the night they’d first met. Looking into his handsome face, she felt a bittersweet pang of regret for the excitement and promise of that night.
“Did you ever get that shirt cleaned?”
“Nope.”
“I left you money.”
Her gaze dropped to the strong column of his throat. Not so many weeks ago she’d kissed him there. She’d pressed her face against his skin and inhaled the lovely smell of him. Spice and man and heat.
“I know. I have to say, I thought you were a little on the stingy side. Took a while for my ego to recover.”
She started then saw his smile and realized he was joking. She smiled sheepishly. “I never thought of it that way.”
“I should hope not.”
“If I had I would definitely have left a bigger tip.”
He laughed. His fingers flexed lightly into the muscles of her shoulder and waist, almost as though he was encouraging her to step closer.
Maybe.
Hot desire flooded her as she contemplated taking that step. The urge was so powerful it stole the breath from her lungs and made the backs of her knees, the creases of her elbows and the nape of her neck instantly damp with sweat.
A long-drawn-out second passed as they stared at one another. Then another.
She had an out-of-body experience as she imagined how they must look to a fly on the wall, standing so close, him holding her as though he was about to kiss her.
As though they were lovers.
Maybe.
She sucked in a shallow, inadequate breath and forced herself to step backward instead of forward. He let go of her slowly, reluctantly—or so it seemed. And then she took another step and common sense returned with a rush of cool objectivity and she shook her head at her own foolishness.
“I’ll get the DVD for you.” She walked to the player, crouching to hit the eject button and collect the disk. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him sit and grab his shoes. By the time she had the DVD in its case he was on his feet again.
“Thanks for coming over,” she said, careful to keep her voice absolutely neutral as she passed him the DVD.
“Thanks for having me.”
They walked to the front door in thick silence.
“I’ll call you on the weekend,” Rhys said as he faced her across the threshold.
“Okay.”
He turned toward the stairs.
“Drive carefully,” she said.
She pushed the door shut between them, only letting out her breath when she’d twisted the lock. She stood very still, listening to his retreating footsteps. Then she walked into the bathroom and flicked on the overhead light. She stood in front of the mirror and stared herself in the eye.
“Don’t be an idiot.”
The woman in the mirror stared back at her. Her hair was a straggly mess, her lipstick long gone, her complexion unflatteringly pale. She looked tired and very, very plain.
As she always did.
Far too plain for a man like Rhys Walker to want.
“Don’t be an idiot,” she said again. Because it was good advice and it bore repeating.
She reached for her toothbrush and prepared for bed—brushing her teeth and washing her face before smoothing on moisturizer. She walked into the bedroom and stripped off her jeans and sweater then pulled on her pajamas.
Right from the start she’d been very clear with herself about what she wanted from her relationship with Rhys—security, love and stability for her child. Another pair of loving hands. Extended family.
What she didn’t want was to develop some kind of ridiculous unrequited crush on a man who was around only because of contraceptive failure. She had spent the first ten years of her life craving something from her father that he had never given her, and she’d learned her lesson as far as that sort of pointless, soul-destroying yearning went. By the time she was twelve she’d understood that happiness was about setting her sights on the things that were possible, the things she could earn and achieve herself without relying on anyone else.
Rhys was not one of those things. She could not win him with her