His nice, quiet, empty house.
When she’d opened the door with the comforter wrapped around her, shivering, his original intention went out the window. At that moment, he’d wanted to wrap his arms around her, pull her in close, and give her whatever body heat he possessed. Before his body could do something completely inappropriate, his mouth invited her to stay with him rather than offer her the wood in the car. With her sitting mere feet away, all he could do was make the best of it and hope he didn’t do something stupid like kiss the very lips that had pleasured him last night in his erotic dreams.
“Are you hungry?” Without being able to use the stove or the microwave, she would’ve been limited as to what she could prepare. “I already ate lunch, but I can make you something.” If she wanted food, he could remove himself from the temptation that was Juliette Belmont and not appear rude.
She lowered the mug from her mouth and licked a drop of tea off her bottom lip. Although a perfectly innocent action, his body responded. Yep, he needed to make more of an effort when it came to his social life. Something as simple as a woman licking her bottom lip should not be affecting him unless maybe she sat there naked while doing it.
“No, thanks. I had a peanut butter and fluff sandwich not long before you came.”
So much for having an excuse to leave the room. “My mom used to pack me those for lunch a lot when I was a kid.” They needed to talk about something. It was either that or sit there and stare at each other.
“Until I was about nine or ten, the only kind of sandwiches I would eat were peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and fluff.”
Food was a nice safe topic. “At least you’d eat a sandwich. My older sister, Elise, wouldn’t touch them. It used to drive my mom crazy. When Elise started middle school, Mom gave up and made her get her own lunch ready.”
“When I was in middle school, I decided to become a vegetarian. No matter what Paulette prepared for dinner, if it contained meat, I wouldn’t touch it. My brother and sister thought I’d lost my mind. I lasted three months before the need for a hamburger did me in.”
He didn’t know who Paulette was, and he didn’t intend to ask. However, based on the little he knew about Juliette, he assumed she was an employee of her parents. “Yeah, I wouldn’t even make it three weeks without meat. Salads are great as an add-on, but they’re not a main meal.”
Somehow, they managed to keep up a conversation about food for over an hour. And by the time Juliette’s cell phone rang, he knew everything from her favorite kind of pizza—if anyone had asked him to guess, he would’ve said she preferred ones topped with veggies, not sausage—to the fact she refused to eat lamb. While she took the call, he added two more pieces of wood to the fire and made them both more tea. Her phone call didn’t last long, though, because by the time he returned with their drinks, her cell phone was on the end table, and she was petting Clifford. As he predicted, as soon as she’d sat down on the sofa earlier, the dog had jumped up next to her.
Once they’d exhausted the topic of food, he’d asked if she played chess. For his birthday years ago, his parents had purchased him a beautiful marble chess set. Since until a few months ago, he’d spent his entire adult life living alone, he didn’t get many chances to use it. Honestly, it’d probably gotten more use in the past seven months while he’d been teaching his niece to play than in the almost ten years he’d owned it. Perhaps at a loss for a conversation topic as well, she’d immediately agreed. They’d been playing ever since. Whatever else he might think about Juliette, she was a damn good chess player.
“You were right about Clifford. With him around, you never need a blanket.” She ran her hand down the dog’s back again. Since Juliette had been there, he’d left his spot on the sofa next to her only once.
“He’s a decent vacuum too. If food falls off a plate, he’ll get it before it hits the floor.” Aaron studied the board for a moment and then looked up. “How about we take a break?” He always struggled to concentrate when he was hungry, and thanks to his empty stomach and the beautiful woman across from him, his head wasn’t on their game. “I can make us some dinner, and then we can finish the game after we eat.”
While he was up, he’d get out some flashlights and candles. The sunlight streaming through the windows gave them enough light to see for the moment, but the sun would be setting soon.
Aaron didn’t wait for an answer before he stood up. Even if she wasn’t ready to eat a meal, he’d get himself a snack from the kitchen to hold him over.
She unfolded her legs, and in response, Clifford, who had been using her thigh as a pillow, opened his eyes. “Sounds like a plan.” She came to her feet. As if that was some kind of cue, the dog jumped down and started wagging his tail. More than likely, he hoped some food was in his immediate future. The dog often thought more with his stomach than the organ in his head.
Without a word, Juliette followed him down to the kitchen. Of course, he didn’t need her to say anything to know she was there. His body somehow knew she stood close enough that if he turned, he’d be able to touch her. And if he touched her, he might try to kiss her. Who knew where that might lead, especially since they had the house to themselves.
When he woke up, having a guest for dinner hadn’t been on his agenda. If it had been, he would’ve thawed out some chicken or pork chops. “We don’t have too many options.”
Before he did anything else, he took out the rechargeable lantern he kept under the kitchen sink. Although it was still at least an hour until sunset, shadows filled the room, and he saw heavy clouds moving in over the lake. Switching the device on to its lowest setting—unless pitch-black outside, the highest option was far too bright—he set it on the counter. Canned soup and pasta were two things he always kept on hand since both were quick and easy to make. He’d had pasta and meatballs last night and would rather not have it again.
“We’ve got plenty of canned soup and sandwich meat.”
“Sounds good. What can I do to help?”
Slapping together a sandwich and heating soup di
dn’t require much effort, and it wasn’t a two-person job. “Don’t worry about it. What kind of soup do you want? We’ve got chicken noodle, beef barley, and tomato.”
“Chicken is fine.”
Once he had the soup heating on the stove, he got out everything to make sandwiches. His mom always insisted guests got served first, and at some point in his life, he’d adopted her theory. “What kind of sandwich would you like?”
Juliette’s hand covered his as he reached for the bread. Heat hotter than the flame under the saucepan on the stove shot across his skin. “I can make the sandwiches for us. Just tell me what you want.”
You. “A little of everything. And while you take care of this, I’ll get some flashlights and candles from the garage.”
Maybe while he was out there, he’d find his common sense too, because the more time he spent around Juliette, the more he wanted to take his sister’s advice and see what happened if he asked her out.
When he came back, two sandwiches sat on the counter, and Juliette stood at the stove mixing the chicken soup. Although he’d seen her in his kitchen several times, he’d never noticed just how right she looked there, as if she actually belonged, which was bizarre because in another two months or so, she’d check out and they’d never see her again.