It seemed to take Dr. Quinley a moment to recover from her Arturo-haze. “Butdating comes with some pitfalls I want to make sure you’re aware of. We’ve talked at length about the void that painkiller addiction leaves. You wouldn’t want to allow yourself to fill that hole with Sam.”
“Point taken.” The doctor was right, of course.
“Co-dependency is unhealthy for anyone. But for you, it carries a different sort of danger, given that you’re in recovery.”
“I couldn’t agree more. In fact, you’re articulating things I’ve thought about a lot. I definitely don’t want to become co-dependent on Sam.”
“He can beoneof the things in your life.”
“But he can’t be my everything.”
“Precisely.”
Who cared if a man could golf or fish or play baseball? The most seductive (and practical) talent any man could have was a talent for cooking.
Last night, after her session with Dr. Quinley, Sam had made her a divine dinner. And now, sitting across from Natasha this morning at The Kitchen, she was getting positively misty over his equally divine paleo donut.
Natasha had been talking about her hunt for information on Russell’s family for a while now. Genevieve was finding it hard to concentrate on her sister’s monologue when she could concentrate on thoughts of Sam and his donut instead.
“Genevieve.”
She jerked straight.
“Did you hear anything I just said?”
“Um ... something about the Atwell family?”
Natasha rolled her eyes. “You’re so infatuated with your new boyfriend that you’re incapable of focusing on anything else.”
“Shhh.” Genevieve leaned quickly toward her sister and lowered her voice. “He’s not my boyfriend.” The last thing she wanted was for one of Sam’s employees to overhear and inform Sam that she’d given him that title.
“If he’s not your boyfriend, then what is he?”
She didn’t want to go there, either within the quiet of her own mind or verbally with Natasha. “He’s Sam,” she answered. “And he’s great.”
“‘A lady’s imagination is very rapid ...’” Natasha dangled the quote fromPride and Prejudice, brows lifted meaningfully.
“‘It jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment,’” Genevieve finished grudgingly. “Except, not in this case.”
“Then whatishappening between you two? In this case?”
“When I know, you’ll be the first person I tell.”
Natasha leveled a troubled look at her.
Genevieve waved a hand. “I’m on cloud nine. I don’t need to give Sam a label.”
“Bull.”
“Anyhoo, will you look at that. He just emerged from the back.”
Never the queen of subtlety, Natasha twisted in her chair and waved.
He immediately crossed to their table.
The stark details of him—simple black T-shirt, wide chest, short hair slightly mussed—flashed a thrill through her.
“Good morning,” he said to them both.
