“I lowered the heat because it was boiling.”
“Thanks.” She’s not sticking around. He sent himself the mental reminder and got out two bowls. “If you want to get something to drink or start eating, I’ll take care of this.” He waited for her to move so he could fill the bowls. Rather than move away, she turned off the stove, removed the bowls from his hands, and set them down.
Stepping closer, she met his eyes and gestured toward the stack of magazines on the counter that hadn’t made it into the recycling bin. Even without looking, he knew her face graced the cover of the one on top. He also remembered the headline above the picture.
“I didn’t know he was married.”
Okay, did she expect a response from him? And if so, what kind? He parted his lips, although he had no idea what he planned to say. He didn’t get a chance to speak, however.
“The media is claiming otherwise. But I wanted you to know the truth. If I’d known Daniel was married, I never would’ve gotten involved with him.”
For the second time in the space of a few seconds, she left him scrambling for a response. “That’s….”
The signals traveling from his brain to his mouth paused when Juliette took a step closer to him, and her breasts brushed against his chest. Since his move back to Avon, he hadn’t spent a lot of time around women, but he recognized the intent on Juliette’s face. Aaron should move away, put a little breathing room between them. The hand suddenly on his shoulder kept him in place better than the concrete blocks he used to keep the swim platform in place in the lake.
Any neurons still firing in his brain stopped when her lips touched his. And every reason he’d given himself for not getting involved with Juliette evaporated as she caressed his lips with hers.
Sooner than he would’ve liked, she pulled her mouth away, but her hand remained on the back of his neck. Exactly when it got there, he couldn’t say, but her fingers continued to move across his skin much the way her lips had been moving against his a second ago. Unfortunately, the nerve endings on his neck seemed to be the only things working at the damn moment. His head certainly wasn’t—at least not the head on top of his shoulders. The one below his belt certainly had some ideas. Ones he had no intention of letting happen tonight.
Chapter 8
Over the years, Juliette had spent enough time around men to know when one was interested in her. Today as they discussed their favorite foods and played chess, she used the opportunity to watch Aaron. He’d quickly told her everything she needed to know for the moment.
She’d always believed waiting for someone else to take charge was a waste of time. That applied to both life in general as well as romantic relationships. So despite her earlier insistence that getting involved with a man right now was a bad idea, she made the first move and kissed him.
She’d shocked the hell out of him too. When her lips first touched his, she’d felt his whole body tense up. Even after he relaxed enough to participate in the kiss, he hadn’t tried to take control of it; instead, all he’d done was put a hand on her waist. A lot of men liked to be in control of everything from kissing to making love. Daniel had been that way. He always needed to set the pace and intensity when they kissed. She much preferred a man who didn’t mind sharing the driver’s seat. Her instincts told her Aaron would share no matter what activity they engaged in. Not that she wanted to engage in anything other than some more kissing tonight. But she was going to be here for a least another two months, maybe even longer depending on what happened with the old dance studio. A lot could happen in two months.
Moving away, she slowly let her hand fall away from his neck. “I didn’t come here looking to meet anyone.”
Honesty from the beginning made everything easier in the long run. Too bad Daniel hadn’t believed the same thing. If he’d told her from the start he was married, she would’ve said “nice to meet you, but I don’t date married men” and kept on walking.
“Actually, a big part of the reason I came was to get away from that.” She pointed over her shoulder toward the offending magazine. “But things change.”
Aaron nodded and leaned his hip against the counter. “And let me guess, you want to know if I have any friends I can introduce you to.” Laughter twinkled in his eyes, but somehow he managed to maintain a serious expression.
Hey, if he wanted to have a little fun and tease her, she’d give it right back to him. “Exactly. Wow, it’s like you read my mind. Do you have any friends I might enjoy spending time with? And just so you know, I’m partial to ones with dark hair and green eyes.”
His gaze dropped to her lips for a heartbeat or two before meeting hers. “I might.”
In one fluid motion, he pulled away from the counter and closed the distance between them again. Aaron lowered his lips toward hers far too slowly, but she resisted the urge to initiate their second kiss. She’d let him have control this time around.
“I’ll let you know later,” he said just before his mouth touched hers.
Off in the distance, she heard her cell phone ring. She ignored it because nothing except perhaps aliens landing in the kitchen would get her to move from this spot and put an end to their kiss, which, although closed-mouth, was making her a little weak in the knees. She’d been kissed by a lot of men—perhaps too many—but this, well, this was different. It was like all those other guys had been kissers in the minor league while Aaron was the major league’s star player. If he kissed this well, how did he perform in other areas?
Pulling away, he touched her cheek as he looked at her. “I think I heard your phone.”
She’d never been left speechless by a kiss. Clearly, there was a first time even for that, so she nodded.
“Do you want to go and check it? I can finish getting dinner ready while you do.”
Unless the call was from her sister or brother telling her aliens from Mars had landed on Earth, she didn’t care who had called or what they wanted. And since scientists had never found evidence of aliens living on any planet in their solar system, she doubted the phone call had anything to do with Martians or any other space dwellers.
“Nah, I’ll check it later. Let’s eat before the soup gets cold.” And then maybe you can further showcase your kissing skills.
The fingers on her cheek slipped away, and he reached for a bowl. “If you want to grab us something to drink, I’ll take care of this.”
“I can handle that. What do you want?”