she walked back to the main store. After the bustle and noise of the morning, she found the quiet lull welcome.
Until she saw the gleam in Cassie’s eye.
“I called in our lunch order,” Laurie told her.
“Great. Let’s get the catalog and order sheet so we—Stop,” she demanded as both women grinned at her.
“I can’t help it.” Laurie bounced in her chair. “You can’t expect me to walk into you and Beckett Montgomery in a major lip-lock and not react.”
“I wished I’d answered the phone, then I’d have come looking for you,” Cassie complained. “Damn customers. I knew there was sparkage, and everybody knows you were going out last week before the kids got sick.”
“Booted right on his shoes.”
Clare winced. “And everybody knows that, too?”
“I ran into Mrs. Ridenour in the park on Sunday and asked how the date went. She told me. Sucks for everybody. Anyway, we can’t miss how he comes in here pretty much every day—nothing new there—but lately the two of you have been flirty.”
“Flirty?”
“Discreetly flirty. Or so I thought until I find you sneaking off to the back room to fool around.”
“We weren’t fooling around. It was . . . It was just a kiss.”
“Smoking-hot kiss.” Laurie waved her hand in front of her face. “So, is it serious or just a little thing?”
“Laurie, we haven’t even officially gone out yet.”
“If a guy kissed me like that, I wouldn’t go out either. We’d stay home. But then, you’ve got the kids so—And I’m being really nosy. I’ll zip it.” She mimed zipping her lips. “I just liked seeing the two of you together. Plus, smoking.”
“And on that note, I’m getting a soda.”
She didn’t snicker until she was out of range. She imagined her rep had just taken a huge leap.
And Laurie was right. It had been a smoking-hot kiss.
She’d like more of the same. Soon.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TAKE TWO, BECKETT THOUGHT AS HE BANGED THE knocker on Clare’s door. This time he carried a cheerful bouquet of white daisies. No point in jinxing things by bringing her the same flowers as last week.
It struck him as a little weird, not just the deja vu, but especially the intense anticipation for the evening because of the postponement.
Just dinner, he reminded himself. He had to stop making such a big deal out of it in his head, or he’d screw up. He’d played it all over in his mind so often you’d think they were winging off to Paris to dine at . . . wherever people dined in Paris.
He’d have to ask her if she’d been there. She’d done so much more traveling than he had. Maybe she spoke French. Hadn’t she taken French in high school? He seemed to remember—
Good God, cut it out, he ordered himself.
He didn’t know whether to cheer or run when she opened the door.
She hadn’t wanted to jinx it either, he decided. She wore a different dress, this one with pink and white swirls topped with a thin pink sweater that stopped at her elbows. And made him think about kissing that spot again.
Should he have brought the pink roses? Was this a signal?
“I’m going to get spoiled.” She reached for the flowers. “I’ll start expecting flowers every Friday night.”
“Thought I’d mix it up.”
“Good plan, and thanks. Come on in. I’ll put them in water before we go.” As he did, she eyed the little shopping bag in his hand. “More?”
“Not for you.” As if to keep it out of reach, he shifted it to his other hand. “You’ve had enough. It’s a bribe so nobody pukes on me. A game for the PlayStation. I got a pretty good look at what they’ve got when I hung out with them, and I didn’t see this one. Where are they? Did you lock them in a closet?”
“No, but my parents may have by now. They’re having a sleepover at Marmie’s and Granddad’s.”
“Oh.” His mind instantly landed on all the things they could do to each other, alone in the house.
Slow down, buddy, that’s not what this is about. Slow and steady, a step at a time. He followed her into the kitchen, watched as she dealt with the flowers.
“Quiet in here,” he commented.
“I know. I can never decide if it’s spooky or bliss when they have a sleepover. I guess it’s spooky bliss.”
“You’re not afraid to stay in the house alone, are you?” He could offer to stay over, sleep in the kids’ room.