Page 42 of The Bachelor's Dilemma

They talked in between playing with Zack and finally settling in to watch a Disney movie.

When Anna went to prepare dinner, Myles stayed in the main part of the apartment to entertain Zack.

She dashed down before eating to check on Edith. Satisfied the older woman was holding her own, she returned and dished up dinner for the three of them.

Sitting at the table, she remembered meals with Tom. Zack had been too little to eat his meals at the table; he’d still been in a high chair. Looking up, she was startled to see Myles’s dark hair and eyes when she expected to see Tom’s light brown.

By the time dinner was over, Zack was growing sleepy.

“What did you do to my son?” she asked when he yawned again at the table.

“We had races. I remember one foster mother having all the kids race around the yard to wear us out. He loved it.”

“You ran around with him?”

“No, I timed him with my watch. And he got faster and faster, didn’t you, Zack?” Myles said.

“Yes, I can run fast as a superhero,” he said. “Want to see?”

Without waiting for Anna’s answer, he got off the chair and raced down the hall. A moment later, she could hear his footsteps as he ran back.

“Very good. And what a great idea, as long as he doesn’t drive the downstairs neighbors crazy.”

Myles and Zack helped clear the table and then Myles stayed in the kitchen with Anna while she quickly did the dishes. It was cozy, the rain on the window, the companionship of the two of them while she washed and set the dishes in the drainer.

She glanced over at Myles. He was watching her as if he’d never seen a woman washing dishes before.

“What?” she asked.

“Soaking in the atmosphere,” he said slowly.

“Dish washing?”

“Different from the desert. As is being in a proper kitchen. The room where I’m staying doesn’t have much except a small refrigerator and microwave. I order in when not invited for a home-cooked meal.”

“Every night?”

“And lunch, too. Breakfast I usually catch at the local coffeehouse.”

“What do you do when on the job site? Surely they don’t have restaurants on every corner over there,” she asked.

“We usually have a mess tent. No point in fifty men each cooking for themselves if the company can have a cook to prepare meals for everyone. Keeps morale high and men focused on the work they’re hired to do.”

“So that’s kind of home-cooked,” she said, wiping down the counters and turning to face him.

He looked tired. She forgot sometimes he was still recovering from being hit by a land mine. Had Zack worn him out?

“Don’t confuse mess food with home-cooked. Yours is the best.”

Delighting in his compliment, she smiled.

“You’re easy to please,” she said.

She draped the dishrag over the sink edge and wiped her hands on the towel. Hanging it on the rack, she turned. Myles was just inches away.

“I meant it, Anna,” he said, his voice low and sexy.

He reached out to put his hands on her shoulders, pulling her closer. His mouth covered hers and Anna let out a soft sigh as the magic of his kiss took over.

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