Page 7 of Keep On Loving You

And a moment later, when he said, “Hi, Kitty Kat. I’m Andy. It’s nice to meet you,” she fell head over heels in love.

Just like that.

“No one really calls me that anymore,” she said, in an attempt to remind him that she was no longer a kid. Maybe the curves in all the right places, the dress that she knew showed them off to their fullest potential, and the hair that she’d carefully styled in long, luscious waves over her shoulder wasn’t enough to get that particular point across. She might have to up her game. Not that she had any. Kat had always been completely hopeless when it came to men. She reached for the glass of wine again.

“Right.” He dragged out the word while he twirled his fork in his pasta. “But did anyone else ever call you that besides me?”

Ha. He caught her.

She ducked her head, but not in time to hide the small smile that crossed her face.

“I really am happy to see you, Kitty Kat,” Andy said again.

This time he spoke slowly, his voice deepening. Or maybe it was her wishful thinking. Could it be, that after all these years, and the distance between them, that Andy might finally think of her as something more than Craig’s little sister? It was probably too much to ask for that he might even think of her as awoman.Still, it wasn’t going to stop her. She had nothing if not hope. Not when it came to her love life.

It had recently come to her attention from her best friend, Annie, that the entire reason Kat was still single was because on some level she was still comparing every man who crossed her path to Andy. At first, Kat had blown it off,but then when she really let herself think about it, she’d realized Annie was right. And there was only one way to move past it: she needed to get Andy out of her system one way or another. Which was exactly what she was going to do.

Kat let the wine swirl around her mouth a moment longer than absolutely necessary before she looked him in the eyes and said, “I missed you. A lot.”

He sat back in his chair and his mouth fell open.

Shit.It was too much.

She never should have said that. She never did know how to be subtle. She really should have taken Annie up on her offer for flirting lessons.

“I meant, it just hasn’t been the same in Trickle Creek since you moved out to the coast.” She shrugged as casually as she could. “I know Craig misses you, too. He even mentioned how maybe he could convince you to move back and scoop ice cream in the Sugar Shack instead of finishing your degree.”

Craig hadn’t mentioned anything of the sort. In fact, her big brother was ridiculously proud of how smart his best friend was and how Andy was putting all those smarts to good use by getting his master’s degree in physical therapy. No doubt, if Andy even mentioned quitting in favor of working in Craig’s candy and ice cream shop, her brother would drag him back to Vancouver himself and tie him to his desk if necessary.

But if Andy knew any of that, he didn’t say so. Instead, he smiled slowly, his lips curling up in a way that made herstomach flip. “I sure do miss Trickle Creek,” he said. “And everyone there.”

He reached across the table and took her hand in his, surprising Kat. She caught herself before jerking away from the touch.

Her mind raced. He was holding her hand.Her hand.He was looking into her eyes and holding her hand.

What. Was. Happening?

Certainly, she was dreaming. She had to be dreaming. But if she were, Kat had absolutely no interest in waking up anytime soon.

“How’s the family?”

The last thing Kat wanted to talk about was her family. It’s not that she didn’t love all her siblings. She did. Mostly. But there was always something going on. Most recently, her father hadn’t looked well. He insisted he was fine, but between Kat and her siblings, trying to get him to go to the doctor was exhausting.

“I don’t really want to talk about it right now,” she said with a small shake of her head. Kat wasn’t going to let anything cloud her mood. Not when she was with Andy. Finally.

Andy nodded and moved on. “I’m really glad that Craig told me you were coming to Vancouver,” Andy said, her hand still wrapped in his. “I think the last time I saw you was?—”

“At the Sugar Shack grand opening.”

His eyes twinkled, looking bluer than they already did, which was some sort of miracle of nature. “You’re right. Ihad a break in semesters that worked out. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss that. I’m so proud of what Craig has done.”

Kat also didn’t want to talk about her brother. Not when his best friend was holding her hand, and now…nowhis thumb had started to stroke small circles on her skin. She swallowed hard and willed herself to stay calm. It was a herculean task. She’d dreamed about him touching her. Fantasized about the way his lips would feel on hers. And gone over and over in her mind in vivid detail exactly what it would feel like to finally have him take her to bed.

Damn.Annie was right. No man stood a chance until she worked Andy out of her system. And considering there was no way a relationship between them would ever happen in a million years, there was only one way to do that.

There were a million reasons why Andy shouldn’t be doing what he was doing. What heshouldbe doing was yanking his hand away from Kat’s smooth, silky skin, tucking it into a pocket or running it through his hair or doing pretty much anything with it besides touching her in any way. More importantly, what hewantedto be doing—which was running his hands down her body so he could explore all those brand-new curves properly before pulling her in for the kiss he’d been wanting to take since he’d seen her the last time he’d been in town—could never happen.

It was only when he’d walked into the Sugar Shack for the first time that there, beside the display case full of freshfudge, he’d laid eyes on Kitty Kat, all grown up—her red, silky hair cascading over her shoulders when she tipped her head back, laughing the throaty laugh that made every single thing in Andy’s body come alive.

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