Page 21 of After You

But when Kyle caught her looking, and cocked an eyebrow, she determined to work on it. Hard. She could not go around staring at Kyle and getting all worked up over him. That was a horrible idea. In fact, now that she’d seen him again, she realized that she desperately needed to just avoid him as much as possible. Not because it would be awkward or because he’d be cold and unfriendly. The opposite. Not only did he give her tingles just being him. He was also being friendly and acting as if there was nothing strange at all about them being in her grandmother’s kitchen together.

That was, strangely, worse than if he’d been angry. Angry, she’d been expecting. And angry would keep them apart.

Friendly and warm was not just a surprise. It was too hard to resist.

She’d truly expected him to be distant and…hurt. She supposed that was the best word. She’d expected that he’d be angry with her, and hurt, and that he’d want to avoid her too. But here he was, making pasta for her grandmother for Hannah. And hanging out. And hugging her. And telling her they needed totalk.

What did he want to talk about? Alice? Her hip? Her surgery? Hannah could hope that was what it was. But maybe he wanted an explanation for their breakup. Maybe he wanted to know what the hell had happened in Seattle. Or maybe he wanted to yell at her for ruining hislife.

But he wasn’t acting like a guy who wanted to yell ather.

She frowned. Why didn’t he want to yell ather?

It wasn’t that she wanted him to. Exactly. But what had happened between them was surely yell-worthy. Wasn’t it? She’d lost so much sleep, had worried so much, had missed him so badly…

And he wasn’t even going to yell ather?

Kyle crossed to the table and kissed Ruby on the cheek, then Alice on the top of her head. Then he turned to Hannah.

She straightened at the look in his eyes. Though she could not have labeled what she saw there for anything. Was he thinking about kissing her too? Cheek or top of her head or…somewhere else? That was not okay. Probably.

“Definitely good to see you,” he said. He lifted a hand and cupped her cheek. For just a second. Then he dropped his hand and headed for the backdoor.

Hannah lifted her hand to her cheek as she watched him. That had been strange. The gesture had seemed almost affectionate. But his eyes had been filled with somethingelse.

“I’ll see you ladies later,” he said from the doorway.

Just before stripping his shirt off and stepping out onto Alice’s back porch.

Hannah’s nipples were not the only things tinglingthen.

She watched him cross the yard toward Alice’s detached garage. Hannah had no idea how long she watched him, but it was well into pulling Alice’s car into the driveway, hooking up the hose and soaping up the car. Shirtless. With lots of muscles bunching and skin gettingwet.

She became aware that Ruby and Alice were still at the table talking.

Hannah managed to move away from the spot where she could see Kyle perfectly, cursing the huge windows in her grandmother’s kitchen. “So, Kyle comes over a lot?” she asked.

“Oh, yes. All thetime.”

“You need that much help?” That made Hannah’s heart hurt. No, Alice’s well-being wasn’t Hannah’s sole responsibility, but she’d always known that she would be part of the team taking care of her grandmother. Actually, the captain of the team. Her father could only do so much manual work, and her mother didn’t have muchtime.

Alice shrugged. “Kyle does more than I need him to, but that’s just the kind of guy heis.”

Well, if he was anything like the man she’d known three years ago, Hannah couldn’t argue with that. “What kinds of things does he do besidescook?”

“Fixes leaks and puts in new light fixtures and dusts the top shelves. Anything to keep me off a ladder. He and Derek painted the house last fall. He also tries to save me money whenever he can. And, washes my car.” Alice glanced toward the window, and Hannah couldn’t help that her eyes followedtoo.

Kyle was bent over, scrubbing one of the tires. Yeah, it wasn’t just his abs and chest and shoulders that were worth ogling. Thatass…

“Just kind of whatever I need,” Alicesaid.

Hannah pulled her attention from the window. Dammit.

“He does all of that for you? Why?”

Alice looked mildly offended. “Because he likesme.”

“Of course he does,” Hannah said apologetically. “I just don’t know how he finds thetime.”

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