“Did you have those barn doors when we were all here in October?”
“Just got them last month. I saw the idea online and liked it.” Thank God he’d followed his instincts and left them closed. He wasn’t ready to throw caution to the winds.
“They look great. I’ll bet you open them at night, though.”
“I do.” He headed toward the animatronics. Time to switch subjects.
She followed him over. “Figured you’d want to open the doors so you can see the fireplace.”
His breath caught. Was she imagining how the fire would look from his bed? The implications stirred him up more than a little.
She wandered toward the sliding doors. “Then again, it might not matter. You probably turn the flame off.”
Alrighty. If she wanted to talk about this, he’d go along. “As a matter of fact, it does matter. I like watching the flames before I go to sleep. They’re on a timer that clicks off at midnight.” Hooking his thumbs in his belt-loops, he acted like this loaded topic didn’t affect him at all.
“As I recall, it’s a nice-looking bed.”
He almost swallowed his tongue. Really? She was going there? He hadn’t planned to seduce her, but what if she’d planned to seduce him?
She turned back in his direction. “I’d be inclined to leave the doors partway open even in the daytime.”
“Would you, now?” He held her gaze, searching for clues in her warm brown eyes.
“I think it would make the space look bigger.”
“It’s an idea.” Several other ideas came to him. They started with opening the barn doors. He might not be ready to make this move, but what if she was? Would he insult her by not picking up on her cues?
“Unless you never make your bed.”
“I usually do.” Maybe he should fudging kiss her and take the guesswork out of it. He moved a step in her direction. For months he’d dreamed of tasting her full mouth and feeling the sweet press of her?—
“Okay, I get it.” Cheeks rosy, she flashed him a smile.
He froze, thrown off his game by that big ol’ smile. “Get what?”
“You have one set of sheets and you pulled off the top one to cover your surprise, which means your bed’s a hot mess right now.”
It wasn’t. The sheet over the animatronics was an old one, but now he was second-guessing his decision to kiss her. He might have misinterpreted this bedroom discussion.
“Don’t mind me. The doors look terrific and they add a level of privacy. That must be nice.” She broke eye contact and glanced around. “I just realized you don’t have any Christmas decorations.”
“Yes, I do.” He was confused. Now she sounded flustered. He gestured toward the little tree. “A nice person brought me that.”
“But your dramatic fireplace just cries out for…oh, wait. I keep forgetting single guys don’t tend to decorate much.”
Yeah, she was nervous, all right. And trying to cover it with chatter.
“My brothers would probably just get a tree and call it good, except now they’re required to go all in.”
He’d help her out. “Why?” Good thing he hadn’t kissed her. Even if she’d wanted him to, she was clearly conflicted about it. Now she seemed determined to discuss holiday décor.
“Grandma and the aunties left boxes of decorations when they turned over their houses to my brothers and they expect to see everything put up. They have standards.”
“I’m sure.” He got a kick out of those four women—the Dazzling Damsels. They did their best to live up to the name they’d chosen.
But inserting those spunky ladies into the conversation indicated Mila was backing off. She might have briefly toyed with the idea of getting jiggy, but if so, she’d chickened out. Just as well.
“That’s the main reason you see wreaths on doors and lights strung up outside their houses.”
