Kate Hardy - One Night of Passion - The Night that Changed Everything / Champagne with a Celebrity / At the French Baron's Bidding

He could share a bed with her once more or five times more and then decide it was time to move on, find another woman. He wouldn’t even have to flaunt her in front of Edie. He could simply find a new bedmate.

And she’d be left, gutted, heartbroken.

In the end Nick was right—it was simple.

But he was wrong, too. He might find it easy to choose where he loved. But could she?

Again the answer was simple: no.

So she turned her head, refused to let her gaze linger on his easy walk, his lean muscular body, his smile, the gleam in his eyes. She helped him move the tiles, and tried to think about something else.

And when they had the truck unloaded, she said, “Goodbye.”

“Au revoir,” Nick said cheerfully. “That means I’ll see you again.”

“I know what it means,” Edie said shortly. She felt like saying, Not if I see you first. “Come, Roy.”

But Roy, perversely, was too busy following Nick around, watching what he was doing, deftly catching the occasional treat Nick tossed his way.

“I saw that,” Edie accused him. “Roy, come on!”

But Roy only had eyes for Nick.

“He’s my friend,” Nick told her, grinning.

“Because you’re bribing him,” Edie said indignantly.

“You haven’t ever heard the old saying, ‘The way to a dog’s heart is through his stomach’?”

Edie shot him a glare to keep from laughing. “Fine. Keep him with you. Just don’t overdo it,” she said irritably. “And don’t lose him.”

“No fear. We’ll both be back for dinner,” Nick promised.

Edie grunted her lack of enthusiasm about that and started up the hill.

“I’ll pick up a pizza,” Nick called after her. “What kind do you like?”

She didn’t answer that. “I’m going to be busy.” Busy avoiding him.

But if Nick got the message, he ignored it. “See you later.”

She tried to make sure that wouldn’t happen. She finished up at work early. She swam her laps early, so she would be done before he got back. And she was in her apartment making a salad for dinner when she heard his car.

The only reason she looked out the window was to see that Roy was with him. Once she saw the big black dog, she turned away. So she wasn’t prepared for the knock on her door.

“We’re back,” Nick announced unnecessarily. He had a pizza box in one hand.

She didn’t invite him in. Apparently she didn’t need to. He came in just the way Roy did, without an invitation. Only while Roy went straight to the food dish, Nick paused to look around at the overstuffed sofa and chair, the craftsman style bookcases and the library table that doubled as her dining room table. He nodded his approval. “Nice place. Suits you.” He spotted the cat on the windowsill. “Who’s this?”

“Gerald,” Edie told him. “What are you doing here? I didn’t invite you,” she said pointedly.

“No, I invited you,” Nick agreed. “For pizza,” he reminded her when she looked blank.

“I said I was busy.”

He looked around at the evidence of her doing absolutely nothing other than tearing up some salad greens. “Yeah, I can tell.”

Breath hissed through Edie’s teeth. “I don’t want to have dinner with you.”

“Because you’ll fall in love with me.” He paused, then the grin flashed again. “Or am I making myself so obnoxious that you can’t stand me?”

“Getting close,” Edie said, determined not to smile.

Nick shrugged equably. “Well, if you don’t want to share the pizza with me …” He waved the box close enough that she could smell sausage and other mouth-watering pizza sorts of smells as he moved toward the door. Edie’s stomach growled.

“Oh, fine. Sit down,” she snapped.

He beamed. “Will do. Gotta clean up a bit first. You take care of this while I grab a quick shower.” He thrust the pizza box into her hands. “Don’t eat it all before I get back.” And he ran lightly back down her stairs and headed for Mona’s house.

She put the pizza in the oven and turned the heat on low to keep it warm. Then she finished making the salad, adding enough for him now, and set the table for two. Roy looked hopeful. Gerald came over to see if there was something for him. Edie fed them both.

Then she told them sternly, “That’s all you get. No sitting around watching us, looking hopeful.”

“No, that would be me.”

She whipped around to see Nick standing in the doorway. He gave her what was undeniably a hopeful look, tempered with a grin, as his gaze slid over her, making her all too aware of what he was hoping for. Edie steeled her heart—and her hormones.

“Don’t,” she said firmly.

He shrugged. “Okay,” he said easily, dropping the hopeful look and heading straight for the table with the same single-mindedness Roy and Gerald had shown. “Starving,” he said as he put a piece of pizza on her plate and one on his. Then he dished her up some salad and took some for himself. “This looks great.”

It did. And she was hungry. So she ate.

For the first few minutes there was silence as they were both focused on the meal. But eventually Edie had had enough to be far more aware of the man than of the meal he’d brought.

When he finished his fourth piece of pizza, he leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Ripping off a roof gives a guy an appetite.”

She’d noticed that he’d already begun when he’d called her to bring the key. Now she reached over to the counter and plucked it up and held it out to him. “You’d better have this. Then you won’t have to keep calling me.”

His lips twisted, but he took the key and stuffed it into the pocket of the canvas shorts he was wearing. “Thanks.”

Their gazes met again. His dark eyes regarded her warmly. A slight smile played across his lips. She abruptly got up and carried her plate to the sink. “Thank you for the pizza,” she said, running water to wash the dishes.

“Thank you for the salad,” he said equally politely. He came up behind her, set his plate on the counter. He was so near she could feel the heat of his body. She added dish soap to the water, then began putting the dishes in, all the while aware of him right behind her. And equally aware when he moved away.

She breathed again.

“I’ve got some planning to do,” he said. “So I’ll say good night.”

She looked over her shoulder, surprised.

Nick shrugged. “Unless you have a better idea?” There was that hint of hope again.

Edie shook her head. “No. No. I—good night.”

It was the right thing to do, she assured herself when the door closed behind him and she heard his feet going down the steps. It was safer—far far safer—this way.

Nick finished ripping the roof off the next morning. The following day he cleaned and sorted tiles. It had been a while since he’d worked on a roof like this one. Putting new and old tiles together was a tricky business. He wanted to take his time.

And he wanted Edie to come back.

She hadn’t been here since the first day. He barely saw her except at dinner. Somehow they managed to eat that together every night. Either she cooked and apparently felt obligated to feed him—”Mona’s hospitality is legendary,” she said, making it clear the meals were an extension of it—or he went into town and picked up take-away.

But other than at dinner, he didn’t see her. She didn’t come around the adobe at all. Well, no, that wasn’t true. She was certainly there in spirit—in his head—even if she didn’t set foot in the place.

On Friday as he removed the last of the rotten front porch beams before he put the new one up this afternoon, he could look across the roof line and see the rusty swing set near the trees.