Eve had to admit she had the same problem. “No, I do not much like spaghetti either. But William was so keen for us to try the Inn’s authentic Italian spaghetti. Everything is made from scratch in the Inn’s kitchen.”
“Yeah, me too,” Lila said. “I didn’t want to burst his bubble and let him know I’m not a big pasta fan.”
“Your mother enjoyed it,” Eve pointed out. “It’s the first time I’ve seen her eat so well in days.”
“That is a good sign,” Lila said, already moving toward the vendor they had been walking toward. She stopped and turned back, her smile turning pleading. “Come on, Aunt Eve. We’re on holiday, so let’s live a little.”
“I’m afraid that we won’t live very long eating street vendor food,” Eve stated, though the smell of the hot dogs andcooking onions was making her mouth water despite her better judgment. “Okay, let’s do this.”
She ordered them hot dogs, loaded with onions, ketchup, and mustard. The vendor handed them over with a smile that suggested he’d heard every health concern in the book and didn’t care.
They started walking again, looking for the hot chocolate vendor Lila had spotted earlier.
“You have to try it,” Lila insisted, gesturing at Eve’s hot dog. “You can’t just carry it around.”
Eve laughed and lifted the hot dog to her mouth, not watching where she was going. Lila was laughing at something, pointing at Eve’s chin, and neither of them saw the man walking toward them, his attention on his phone.
The collision happened fast.
One second Eve was biting into the hot dog. The next, she slammed into a solid wall of muscle and stumbled backward, the hot dog flying from her hand. Her purse slipped from her shoulder. A phone clattered to the pavement. Lila bounced off to the side with a surprised yelp.
Strong hands grabbed Eve before she could land on the ground, steadying her with a firm, warm grip that sent a shock of awareness through her entire body.
“I’m so sorry,” Eve started at the exact moment the man said the same thing.
Their eyes met.
Hazel. No, green. No, both, shifting with the light, flecks of gold scattered through them like stars.
The world narrowed to those eyes, to the feeling of his hands on her arms, to the tingling sensation dancing across her palms where his hand had hers.
A zing of electricity shot up her arm.
“I was reading my phone and walking,” the man said, his voice low and slightly rough, like he didn’t use it often. “That was completely my fault.”
“I wasn’t looking where I was going either,” Eve managed, her brain scrambling to form coherent thoughts.
He was the most handsome man she had ever seen. Tall, broad-shouldered, with silver threading through dark hair. His face carried lines that spoke of years lived hard, but his eyes held warmth beneath the careful control.
He looked a little familiar, though Eve couldn’t place why.
“You have, uh...” The man pulled a napkin from his pocket and held it out to her. “You have some ketchup on your chin.”
His eyes dropped to the hot dogs on the ground, and his expression shifted to genuine dismay. “Oh no. I’m so sorry.”
Their eyes met again, and Eve felt heat flood her cheeks. She was fifty-seven years old and blushing like a teenager.
She swiped the napkin across her entire chin, probably smearing ketchup everywhere.
“It’s gone now, Aunt Eve,” Lila said from somewhere to her right, her voice filled with barely suppressed amusement.
Eve glanced at Lila, who stood with one eyebrow raised, clearly enjoying the show.
“Oh,” Eve said. “Thank you, honey.”
The man turned toward Lila, and something flashed across his face. Fast. So fast Eve almost missed it.
Shock. Recognition. The look you got when you saw someone you weren’t expecting to see, or hadn’t seen in a very long time.
