Page 6 of Huckleberry Hill
“Dating.”
“Who said anything about dating a Powell daughter?” he inquired.
“Oh, come on.” I rolled my eyes. “You’ve been flirting with me since the moment you met me.”
“The moment I met you, you fell on top of me. If anything, you’ve been flirting with me, bear snack.”
“Don’t call me bear snack,” I commanded.
“Why not?” he drawled. “I mean, we do go way back to last night when I saved your life. You actually woke me up out of a sound sleep. I thought I was getting burgled.”
Do not smile. Do not smile. Do not smile.
“Look,” I said with a sigh. “You work here. I’m going to be visiting for a few weeks before I go back to New York. Let’s just be friends.”
“You want to be friends?” he asked with a raise of his brows. “Men and women can’t be friends.”
“Sure they can.”
“Hmm. No. I’ve seen that romantic comedy,” he said.
“If we’re going to argue, I need caffeine.”
“I already offered you coffee. And we’re not arguing. This is called banter. We’re bantering.”
“You were so chivalrous last night,” I pointed out. “Where did that go?”
“A gorgeous woman lands on top of me, then sleeps in my clothes in my bed and then wakes up looking like that? A man can only control himself so much.”
“You think I’m gorgeous?”
“Is that the only part you heard?”
“Nothing else seemed to matter,” I murmured, hating that I was staring at his mouth. “This is bad.”
“What’s bad?”
I gestured between the two of us. “This. I’m talking to you like I’ve known you for years.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s just . . . weird.”
“Doesn’t have to be.” He cocked his head to the side. “So, you’re visiting your family for a few weeks. And then you’re going back to New York?”
“That’s the plan.”
The idea of going back to New York sounded dreary and tiresome. But my sister and best friends were there.
“Then we can be friends for a few weeks. You’ll see, I’m a very good friend,” he said.
“You just said men and women can’t be friends.”
“I like trying new things. Except snails. I’m not doing that.”
A reluctant smile spread across my mouth. “I think your idea of friendship is different than my idea of friendship.”
“All joking aside, I have no interest in getting on your father’s bad side, okay? I respect him, and I like your grandmother quite a bit. And for the record, when I took this job I had no idea you were coming home to visit.”
