Good grief, she’d just met the man and she already planned future breakfasts?
“How did you get in today?” she blurted.
“I used the key you gave me, how did you think?”
“Of course, the key.”
Goodness, he had a key? Did Lily have a key to his place?
“Get dressed, I’ll meet you out on the beach in thirty minutes,” he said as he drained his cup.
“Don’t you have to go to work or something?” she asked, unsure she could pretend to be her sister all day with a neighbor who had known Lily since she moved in. Wasn’t it about two years ago? That she’d pulled it off so far seemed miraculous.
He shook his head.
“What’s the point of being president if I can’t take a few days off? Besides, I’m too beat to be any good at the office. I’ll probably nap on the beach but at least you’ll be there to wake me up in your own inimitable style, right?”
His voice sent shivers along her spine, deep and husky and loaded with innuendos. She wondered what Lily’s “inimitable style” was.
For a moment Emma hesitated. This man fascinated her. He was nothing like the boys she’d dated in college, nothing like David. If he pursued a woman, he’d do it with panache and flare and make her feel more like a woman than anyone ever had. He wouldn’t bring bouquets of toothbrushes or inundate her with flavored floss.
Guiltily, she looked away. David was honest in his feelings. She and he had been friends for years. It wasn’t fair to mock him, even in her thoughts. She needed to decide whether to marry him or not, and be ready to give her answer when she returned home.
They’d probably marry. David had always been safe and secure. There had been no great passion between them, he had never pushed for more than a few chaste kisses. But she knew him, could trust him to be a good husband and father. She just wished there was a bit more. Maybe it came with time.
He rose lazily and stretched. Lowering his arms, he moved smoothly around the table until he stood beside Emma. Reaching down a finger, he tilted her face up to his.
“Meet you in thirty minutes. Don’t take all day.”
“Right, thirty minutes.”
Time seemed to stand still as he gazed down into her eyes, his finger hot against her jaw.
She held her breath, imagining him leaning over until his lips touched hers, until the heat that rose in her met the heat he generated. Together they—
He playfully touched the tip of her nose with his finger and left.
Slowly Emma let the air out of her lungs. Running her tongue over her lips, she imagined she could taste him. Would it be a curious blend of sweet syrup, strong coffee and sexy male?
She shivered and jumped up. Running water in the sink, she gazed out over the wide expanse of ocean. Blood hummed in her veins, anticipation jumped up and down. Slowly she took a shaky breath and smiled. She wondered if she were losing her mind. She couldn’t spend the entire day with this man. But a short time, maybe. For just a little while she’d pretend she was not the shy librarian from Charlottesville, but her carefree and daring, sophisticated sister.
Logan crossed the yard between the houses, puzzled with the events of the morning. Something was definitely different about his pretty neighbor. She hadn’t acted a bit like herself—and it had nothing to do with coming down with a cold. But she could keep her secrets for the time being. He grinned. He had all day to find out what game she was playing. She’d once called him a hot-shot businessman, more interested in deals than the special effects he peddled. Maybe he’d demonstrate for the lady how he could use some of those business techniques to find out what she was up to.
And if that didn’t work, he’d ply her with margaritas at dinner. She loved them and after only a few drinks became very loquacious. Shaking his head, he let himself back into his house.
A good thing she didn’t have to work. She’d never make it in business, she was usually totally predictable. Maybe that’s why her actions this morning puzzled him. She seemed like a totally different woman.
Stepping beneath a hot shower a few minutes later, Logan continued worrying the puzzle Lily presented. He’d known her for a couple of years, ever since she’d bought the house next door. Both of them were young, single, and comfortably established financially—he from his special effects, she from a rich ex-husband. As neighbors do, they’d exchanged pleasantries, gradually forming a kind of casual friendship. Enough to exchange keys, keep an eye on each other’s place when one of them traveled. Enough to borrow coffee or milk from time to time.
They usually invited each other to parties they gave. Lily proved to be a lot of fun and a knockout when she took the time and made the effort. But he’d made it clear in the beginning that his only interest was in neighborly friendship. Burned by his marriage and divorce, he’d sworn off long term relationships with women. Especially trusting one enough for marriage.
She said she felt the same, so they had slowly become friends of a sort.
For the most part he liked her, found her intriguing and occasionally sweet in a way that she tried to cover up. Not always, however. Not when she reminded him of his ex-wife, Crystal. Then, he wanted nothing to do with Lily Rambeau, or any woman more concerned with having a good time than loyalty.
Twice over the past couple of years she’d asked him to listen to her reading for small parts in movies. When he suggested she should try for bigger roles, she had laughed merrily, shrugged and commented that the throwaway roles suited her. She didn’t want to put up with the grind of building a career in the movies.
Stepping from the shower, he dried off and wrapped the damp towel around his waist. Peering into the mirror, he considered shaving. Might as well, no sense looking as scruffy as a stray dog. He needed his hair cut and made a mental note to find time. Lathering his face, he paused in mid-swipe, staring at himself, still puzzled by the change in his neighbor. There had been something different—or at least, in his own mind.
