Worth the Risk_ A Contemporary - Megan Hart Page 0,102

registered a dollar and change?

"Why didn’t you?"

"That’s not the way I wanted to get my face on the front page." Her sister pressed a lipsticked kiss to Lila’s cheek. "Gotta run, Lila-love. I see Martin over there chatting up one of my best customers."

In a cloud of purple gauze, Rivka skipped her way through the crowd to meet with her agent. Lila watched her go, unable to keep from smiling. Her sister, the artiste.

"Ready to go?"

Lila turned to find Tom holding out her worn field coat as though it were some sort of offering. "Sure."

He settled the coat around her shoulders and lifted her hair free of the collar before smoothing the material flat on her shoulders. That simple, attentive gesture stunned her and made her throat close with sudden, inexplicable emotion. Clearing her throat and stepping away from his grasp, Lila forced a smile. "I’m ready."

"Me, too." His smile made her shiver, and Lila realized she’d lied. She wasn’t ready for Tom Caine.

Not at all.

The tea had grown bitter in the pot, but Tom drank it anyway. Sitting across from Lila was a sweetness that more than made up for the brew’s taste. They’d been sitting for three hours at MJ’s Coffeehouse at the Allen Theater, discussing everything from college theater classes to practical jokes gone awry. She had a keen sense of the ridiculous that delighted him. On top of that, she was bright and not afraid to let him know it.

She’s definitely not the sort of woman he was used to taking out, he thought, watching as she tucked a curl of coffee-brown hair behind one of her ears. Lila had long and slender fingers, nails short and neat, unadorned by any rings. Her face glowed with good humor, not makeup. Her features were slightly too uneven to be called beautiful, but her eyes were vivid blue ice and her mouth was damn near perfection. Her lips were full and soft, one front tooth slightly crooked enough to snag his tongue if he wasn’t careful. He didn’t plan on being careful. No, Lila Lazin wasn’t like the hardbody hotties he normally went out with. She was smart and funny, and Tom was completely and utterly smitten.

"So anyway," she was saying, "I had just finished flushing the damn thing down the toilet when the phone rang. It was my roommate, asking about the fish!"

"Weird." Tom drank in the way Lila’s smile curved her mouth.

"Candace was weird," Lila agreed and then broke off. She had noticed him looking at her mouth. "What?"

"Just thinking about how much I’d like to kiss you right now," Tom answered honestly.

Lila flushed and then frowned. She pulled her glance from his and began intently studying the mug of tea in her hands. Her face told him he shouldn’t have blurted out his thoughts. It was a fault of his—that tendency to speak without thinking. He hadn’t thought her reaction would be so negative. She’d made it clear from the start she wasn’t impressed with lame conversation, but he wasn’t trying to come on to her…at least not in a sleazy way.

"Lila, I’m sorry." He was apologizing for his bluntness, not his desire to kiss her. He couldn’t be sorry for that.

"We were having a nice time." Her voice was quiet, and she still didn’t meet his eyes.

"We still are." He felt stupider than the time he’d asked his prom date’s father to buy him a six-pack of beer. Of course he hadn’t known until later the guy going into the liquor store was his date’s dad, but he’d sure felt like an idiot anyway.

"Look, Tom," Lila began, her tone of voice telling him she was going to try to let him down easy.

He didn’t want to be let down easy. "Don’t say anything, Lila. I’m sorry. I wasn’t coming on to you."

She laughed. "You mean telling someone you want to kiss them isn’t a come on?"

"I was just being honest." She still wasn’t thawing. All the ground he’d gained since asking her for coffee was lost, just like that. "I thought women liked that."

Her lovely dark eyebrows knitted together. "Some women."

Beginning to be exasperated, he sat back in the chair. They’d spent three hours talking without him once suggesting they go to his place, buy condoms, or read to each other from his hardbound collection of Penthouse letters. He hadn’t even told her any off-color jokes! And one little comment had straightened her spine like a broomstick down the back of her shirt.

"So you’re