Page 46 of Two Hearts' Ploy

Wait a minute, she thought. Could he actually beshyabout what had happened between them?

“You’re not disappointed in me?” she asked.

“What?”he growled quickly. “Are you kidding?”

“I kind of threw myself at you.”

“I’ll admit, it sort of surprised me, but I’ve never felt so comfortable in my own skin before,” he admitted softly. “Lifefeels good when we’re together, and despite the threats hanging over your head, you handle everything so gracefully – almost without fear. You disappeared for a while after you transitioned from a model to full-time vocalist, and I won’t ask why. But I knew you’d be back. I’ve always considered you pretty much perfect from the first time I noticed you as a teenager, you know.”

“I’ve tried,” she answered dryly.

He barked out a laugh.

“But you’re pretty much perfect yourself,” she confessed, realizing she meant it.

He snorted. “Hardly.”

“No, Jeff,” she said quietly. “Don’t ever believe that you’re not as far as I’m concerned, no matter what might happen in the future.”

And when he pulled up to the Inn’s entrance to drop her off, he quickly tugged her into his arms, kissing her deeply, passionately.

She felt lost in sensation, so much so that she had trouble breaking away until a car pulled up behind Jeff’s truck.

What she felt was more than just a physical reaction, she realized. She was suddenly coming to understand that this might be the first guy who’d actually have the power to break her heart.

“I’d better see you to the door,” he said, stepping out from the truck.

When he opened the passenger door for her, she was still feeling dazed.

But as he was ready to leave her at the Inn’s entrance, she quickly pressed herself against him, kissing him deeply again.

“I have a feeling we’re both going to be doing a lot of thinking tonight,” she murmured, heading inside after the automatic glass doors swept open.

Jeff was grinning when she turned to wave goodbye from inside the lobby.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Wren had been right, Jeff realized the following morning after getting very little sleep. He hadn’t stopped thinking about her the entire night. The place had felt empty when he’d come home after dropping her off.

How was he going to feel when she finally left town – and him – for good? Especially since there were already reminders of her everywhere.

More than he’d realized, when one of the security guys who was finishing up the connections called him out onto the deck.

“I just wanted to check to see if you thought we needed to install one more camera out here, maybe from the second story, since your sunroom could obstruct the lakefront view once you have it finished,” Sam Osbourne, a guy who worked with his father asked. He and Sam had also been friends in high school.

“That’s probably a good idea. You’d better go ahead,” Jeff replied.

Sam cleared his throat, motioning at a wispy piece of fabric resting in the corner of the deck near the house. “Looks like someone forgot something last night.”

Jeff snorted, feeling strangely embarrassed.

“I’d say it’s about time,” Sam said, smiling widely as he continued making notes.

Suddenly, Jeff laughed, picking up Wren’s lacy bra and stuffing it into his pocket.

For some reason, he felt better after that as he sat drinking coffee. What had happened last night had been very real, and this afternoon, the weights and work out equipment would arrive, so at least he could begin getting everything squared away downstairs once Wren moved in.

Meanwhile, he hadn’t been over to Luke’s in a while, so he’d probably better work out over there tomorrow before picking up Wren since he wasn’t sure if some of the equipment arriving would require assembly.

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