Opening the box he’d handed her, she placed holly and pinecones along the top of the mantel. It had been so much easier to think of Josh as the heartbreaking Ebenezer Scrooge of the TCC funding committee. She almost wished that she still could. It would be a lot less stressful than the reality of the kind, thoughtful man that he had turned out to be.
* * *
On Wednesday afternoon, Josh stood in his family room, staring at the Christmas tree he and Emmie had put up the day before. When had his house become so damned big and empty? He had lived in the place for over five years and in all that time, he couldn’t think of a single time that he had felt as alone as he did at that moment.
After the morning news reported that the roads were clear and that power had been restored to the subdivision where Kiley lived, they’d gone to the TCC clubhouse to get Kiley’s car, then he’d come home to work. But he hadn’t expected to find himself listening for Kiley as she moved around in the kitchen cooking or the sound of Emmie’s delightful giggles as she played with her toy ponies.
“You’re losing it, Gordon,” he muttered as he walked down the hall to his office.
He liked being a bachelor—liked living alone. He could do what he wanted, when he wanted, and there wasn’t anyone but himself to worry about. Besides, he had work to do and didn’t have time for anything else.
An hour later, he uttered a heartfelt curse and turned off his computer. He had been working on the same bid sheet since he’d sat down and gotten absolutely nowhere with it. All he had been able to do was sit there wondering what Kiley and Emmie were doing.
Had the house been warm enough when they arrived home? Did she need him to check out the plumbing to make sure the water pipes hadn’t frozen from the low temperatures and caused a leak? What were they planning to have for dinner? Did they miss having him around?
Rising from his desk chair, he walked out of his office and straight through the house to the door leading to the garage. He grabbed a jacket on the way through the mudroom and within minutes, Josh was driving down the highway toward Royal.
By the time he knocked on Kiley’s door, he was confident his plans for the evening were set. He would see if she needed anything, then he fully intended to pick up takeout at his favorite Chinese restaurant, go back home and work on the bid sheet he needed to turn in for the new addition to the women’s crisis center over in Somerset.
“Josh, I didn’t expect to see you again until Monday afternoon,” Kiley said, looking confused when she let him in. “Is something wrong?”
“No, I just wanted to check in and make sure you and Emmie made it home all right.” He realized how lame his excuse sounded. Picking up the phone and giving her a call would have accomplished the same thing.
“Hi,” Emmie said, grinning as she ran up to him and held up her arms.
“Hi,” he said, picking her up. “How’s the pony princess?”
She surprised him when she put her little arms around his neck to give him a big hug, then started jabbering excitedly. He looked to Kiley for a translation.
“Emmie thinks you’re here for dinner and a movie,” Kiley said, smiling. “She wants you to stay.”
“And what does her mom want?” he asked, lightly running his index finger along her smooth cheek.
As she stared up at him, he felt her turn ever so slightly into his touch. It was almost imperceptible, but there was no denying it had happened.
“I was going to pick up Chinese on the way home,” he said, trailing his finger over her lower lip. “Why don’t we have it delivered here?”
“Okay,” she said, suddenly taking her daughter from him and backing away. “I’ll give Emmie a bath and get her ready for bed. That way she can go to sleep while we watch the movie.”
He had a good idea why she had retreated. Unless he missed his guess, she was frightened by the strength of the chemistry between them. Hell, it was pretty unsettling for him as well. But he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that if they didn’t explore it further, he would end up regretting it for the rest of his life. He had a feeling she would, too.
Two hours later, Josh couldn’t help but smile as he sat on Kiley’s couch, waiting for her to finish getting Emmie tucked in for the night. They had stuffed themselves on lo mein and egg rolls, then watched the movie about the little mermaid princess again. And if anyone had told him a week ago that he would be happy staying in, watching a kids’ cartoon for the second time in less than a week, he would have told them they were in serious need of psychiatric evaluation.