Beth Andrews - Winter's Kiss

She had to be smart here, though. Had to try and figure out what Oakes thought about her, about them, before giving away too many of her own thoughts, her own feelings.

He was too honorable to make the first move. He probably thought she was too young for him. And he wouldn’t want to rock the boat where their families were concerned. Yes, it would take Zach, and their mothers, time to get used to the idea of them being together, but they’d all just have to deal. She’d been waiting six long years for Oakes to notice her as something other than Zach’s younger sister and a friend.

It was time he noticed her as a woman.

She had to ease him into the idea of being with her. Get him to think it was the best idea ever.

Mainly, she had to let him think it was his idea. She knew all about men and how sensitive they were about being led to do something. He had to take the lead.

With some encouragement from her, of course.

“Here we are,” he said, after shutting the door. He held up a large bag with the diner’s logo on it. “Best breakfast this side of Houston.”

“Let me help you.” She slid to her feet, crossed to him in what she hoped was a slow, seductive sashay and not a clumpy, eager gallop. But damn it, she was starving and the food smelled really, really good. She took the bag, waved him back to his seat. “The least I can do is dish this out. And I hope you’ll let me pay for it and whatever the cab cost.”

“My treat and so was the cab ride.” He grinned down at her, teasing and friendly. “But maybe next time you go out, you shouldn’t spend all your money on drinks.”

And the last thing she wanted was for him to look at her that way, as if she was some cute kid sister who’d gotten herself into a jam. “I didn’t spend all my money on drinks. I switched purses before we left and my wallet wouldn’t fit in my smaller one. I thought I’d grabbed my credit card and a fifty but my cousins were rushing me and I’d only put a ten in there along with my grocery store’s rewards club card. Luckily, my cousins insisted on paying for dinner—as they should since they kidnapped me and all.”

“How did you pay for your drinks then?”

“I didn’t.”

He followed her back to the counter, though he wouldn’t let her take the bag. He set it down and faced her. “You have generous cousins. They must have really wanted to make sure you had a good time.”

She laughed. “They can be generous, and they paid for a few rounds for all of us, but they weren’t the only ones buying me drinks last night.”

“They weren’t?”

She smiled. Maybe she could get a reaction out of him after all. “No. There were some very sweet men there who insisted on supplying me with beverages.”

He blinked. Blinked again. “You let some strange guy buy your drinks?”

She pursed her lips. “Actually, it was two guys. Strangers, yes, but I don’t think they were strange. Christopher was really funny and Ray had that whole bad-boy vibe going on, which made the night interesting.”

Oakes frowned, his eyes narrowed and she wondered if it was too soon to assume he was jealous, or if he was thinking of her with those other guys—not both at once, of course—when she could be with him.

“You shouldn’t accept drinks from strangers at bars,” he said, sounding irritated—very unlike easygoing Oakes. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you that?”

“Not in so many words.” Her mother knew she was capable of taking care of herself.

“I’m sure Zach warned you about it,” Oakes continued, not like a jealous man at all, but more like a lecturing teacher.

Or big brother.

“Men who buy women drinks at bars,” he continued in a voice way too similar to her freshman year lit professor’s superior tone, “do it for one reason and one reason only.”

“Really?” Setting her elbows on the counter, she cupped her chin in her hand and stared at him wide-eyed. “Do tell.”

His frown deepened. “They see you looking like...” He waved a hand at her, going up and down as if to take in her entire person. “That,” he finally said. “And they want to take you home.”

She blinked, slowly and with great exaggeration. “Whatever for?”

He looked so uncomfortable, she almost felt sorry for him. Almost. “You know what for.”

“A complete innocent like me?” she asked, hand to her chest. “Why, I haven’t a clue.”

“Sex,” he growled from between his teeth. “They’re hoping you’ll sleep with them.”

“No. That thought never crossed my mind. Thank God I have you here to set me straight on the nefarious ways of men in clubs.” She rolled her eyes. “It may come as a shock to you, but I’m not a child. I’ve gone out to clubs and bars before.” She lowered her voice and leaned forward. “I’ve even had sex before.”

He stepped back so quickly, he almost tripped over the stool behind him. “That’s... I don’t need to know...you don’t...”

She smiled. How could she not? He looked so horrified, but that wasn’t all. He looked...stunned. As if the thoughts of her and sex had never coexisted in his mind before. But then she looked closer, saw a definite heat in his eyes behind the panic, and she wondered if maybe, just maybe, that heat wasn’t the reason for the panic.

Maybe he didn’t see her as just a friend or some sort of little sister after all.

Only one way to find out.

She moved closer. “I know exactly why those guys bought me drinks, what they were hoping to get from me. But I choose who I go home with. Who I sleep with, share my body with.” At her words, his eyes dropped and raked over her body, before his jaw clenched and he yanked up his gaze once again. “I didn’t go home with any of those men, didn’t want to go with them. I came here. I came to you.”

CHAPTER THREE

I CAME HERE . I came to you.

The words hit Oakes like a punch. Like the answer to a prayer, one he’d never been brave enough to say, let alone think about.

He was in serious trouble here. Because he was taking what she’d surely meant to be innocent words as some sort of overture. He was a man well used to women coming on to him. His looks helped, but he knew part of his appeal was his last name—at least before those women got a chance to know him. He also knew when a woman was tossing the ball in his court, giving him an opening, a chance to make a move.

And he wanted, badly, to do just that. To make a move on Daphne, to see how those curves felt pressed against him, how that mouth would taste.

He was wrong. He had to be. There’s no way she was coming on to him. Daphne was his friend. Sort of. But more than that, more important than that, she was Zach’s sister.

He gave her an awkward, brotherly pat on her shoulder. “I’m glad I could help. And that you had the good sense not to go home with some stranger.”

Was it his imagination or did she look disappointed by his response? He couldn’t analyze it, was afraid if he did, he’d come to a conclusion he didn’t like. One that was purely a figment of his imagination.

“Ready to eat?” he asked, desperate to get back on solid ground with her.

As if the moment had never happened, she smiled. “Yes, please. I am starving.”

He pulled the boxes out of the bag while she refreshed their coffee. He tried not to take in how good she looked in his kitchen, that red dress like a beacon calling his attention again and again. How comfortable she was here, barefoot in his house, all bright and cheerful as she chatted about some dessert she’d had last night.

He let her talk wash over him as he folded the bag and set it with the recycling. He had to get a grip. Yes, he found Daphne attractive. He was a man, wasn’t he? And she was, well...she was Daphne. All curves and subtle sensuality. She was also smart and funny and full of energy. Last night when she’d been asleep on his couch was the first time he could remember seeing her so still. She always seemed amped up, lit up from some internal light, an inner spark.