His heart hammered in his chest. He hadn’t been this close to her since his high school party, and at the time they had been in the dark. Here he could clearly see her topaz eyes, the gold color enhanced with shimmery eye shadow. His eyes dropped to her mouth, and he vaguely felt himself pulling her close to him, his hands tightening at her waist. She was tempting. Oh, so tempting.
They needed to talk, and now was the prime time to do that. But talking was the last thing on his mind.
***
Anita was stunned, confused, and, God help her, loving every second she was in Tanner’s arms even though he was just comforting her from a scare. She’d been fighting her attraction from the moment he first arrived tonight, when she and Harper had been talking by the bar. When she’d caught him bending over the trunk of his Jeep . . . He made blackpants look very,verygood. Then he’d turned around and she almost lost her senses. His short hair was slicked back, the light-brown locks mingling with golden highlights only nature could create. He was also freshly shaved, and whatever cologne he was wearing, he needed to wear it more often. It smelled that delicious.
Wait, scratch that. He didn’t need anything extra to make him attractive. He was perfect. And now she was in his arms, a near imitation of being in the closet together at his house so long ago. She’d been crazy about him then, and despite all her vows to see him only as a coworker, she was fast losing her resolve.
Why, why,whywas she still so attracted to him? She couldn’t pull her gaze away from his eyes. Were they changing color? They seemed darker, more intense.
“Tanner?”
He immediately let her go. “Uh, glad you’re okay.”
Whatever had her spellbound vanished. “What’s your problem?”
“My problem?” He stepped back, almost knocking a box of Rice-A-Roni off the shelf. His eyes dropped to her dress, then back to her face. “You’re the one wearing a white dress while catering.”
“You make that sound like a crime.”
“It’s dumb, don’t you think?”
She stilled, the worddumbgoing straight to her core. Even though she knew he wasn’t talking about her intelligence, she’d been called dumb and stupid so many times during her childhood that the insult always left her raw. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
He scrubbed his hand over his face. “I’m sorry, Anita. You’re right, I shouldn’t have.”
But his apology rang hollow. “You never cared what I wore before.”
This time his eyes never left her face. “You’ve never wornthisbefore.”
For a split second she started to fall into self-pity again. Even Harper’s magic couldn’t make her attractive to him. But she’d had enough. “I likethis,” she said, gesturing to the dress with her arms. “I think I look pretty. In fact, I’m a knockout.”
Harper threw open the door. Fortunately, the door opened outward, or it would have smacked Tanner. Now that Anita thought about it, that wasn’t a bad idea.
“What are you two doing?” Harper said, flashing both of them an irate glare. “The guests are here, and there’s nothing ready to eat!”
Anita gasped. “Oh, Harper, I’m so sorry. I was just getting the salt for Dylan—”
“We’ll get right on it,” Tanner said and walked out of the pantry.
When Anita grabbed the box of salt off the floor, Harper held out her hand. “I’ll take that to Dylan,” she said. “You help Tanner.”
Anita nodded and hurried to the kitchen island where Tanner was already busy setting out the appetizers. She set aside her personal issues with him and followed his directions without question. They got everything ready in record time, and soon she started circulating with the opening appetizer, something Tanner calledPintxo Gilda,along withthe bandarillas. The Pintxo Gilda were smaller skewers that held manzanillo olives, pepperoncini, and a tiny bite of goat cheese. They looked scrumptious, and according to the guests who tried them, they were.
As the party went on, Anita continued to serve a variety of Tanner’s creations, some she hadn’t tried before. Near the end of the evening and after several guests had already left, Harper came into the kitchen. “Everyone’s pretty much helping themselves now,” she said. “Where’s Tanner?”
“He went to get some dip cups from his car. We ran out.”
She leaned over and whispered, “What were the two of you doing in the pantry?”
“Getting the box of salt, like I said.”
Harper arched a doubtful brow. “It took both of you to do that?”
“I couldn’t reach the box.” She shifted on her feet. As nice as the shoes were, her feet were starting to hurt. “The shelf was too high.”
“And you two just happened to be standingreallyclose together.”
