“It is. I know we originally decided on a stainless finish for your kitchen fixtures but I think we need something more dramatic against the white backdrop of the tiles and counters.” He sucked in a breath. “I think we need to go with bronze.”
Emily laughed at his show of kitchen melodrama. “Wow. This does change things. How will I ever decide?”
He put a hand on her shoulder. “I know it’s a lot to take in. All kidding aside, I do think bronze will look better, but it’s an upgrade. Are you free tonight? I could take you to the hardware store and show you the finishes and you can decide. If the bronze is too much, we still have all the stainless fixtures in our warehouse.”
“That sounds great, but only on one condition.” She cleared her throat. “I’d like to make you dinner afterward.”
Michael did his best not to fist pump. “You’re on.”
“Great. I’ll get my things.”
Her shy smile did many things to Michael. It made him wonder and caused him to hope. It also made his jeans feel a whole lot tighter. Just so he wouldn’t look like a sex-starved lunatic, he concentrated on a topic that caused immediate shrinkage. Trent. “Just out of curiosity, does Trent have a key to your condo?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe we should remedy that while we’re at the hardware store.”
“Do you think it’s necessary?”
“I think it’s better to be safe than sorry. He’s already shown up here unannounced, and it’s not as if he needs a copy of your key anymore.”
“You’re right, and I don’t feel like reaching out to him to get the old one back.”
“Then it’s settled. We’ll get a new lock and keys. I’ll install the lock for you tonight after dinner.”
“You’d do that? I can pay you for your labor.”
“I’d be happy to do it. If you really need to pay me, do it in soup.”
“Soup, it is. Thank you, Michael.” She placed a hand on his forearm and stood on tip-toes, dropping a kiss onto his cheek.
He breathed in, trying to get a whiff of her strawberry lip gloss, but he couldn’t detect it. She’d probably licked it off during the day. He wished he could have licked it off himself. “That’s two kisses now, Em. You know what they say about the third time being a charm?”
She raced off to collect her bags but there was no hiding her blush. Even the back of her neck was scarlet.
He was probably being overprotective, insisting on a new lock for her unit, but he didn’t care. Better that than underestimating what Trent might do in his current frame of mind. Michael had seen firsthand how a man could be driven off his rocker after a breakup. Trent might have cheated, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t experiencing the sting of Emily’s rebuff. He said he would do anything to get her back.
Michael would do anything to ensure she never had reason to fear.
He would not let her end up the way Jane Ashton did.
Michael and Emily might not have years of history under their belts, as she did with Trent, but that didn’t mean Michael didn’t possess an awareness. Shemeantsomething to him. In their short time together, he’d been driven to distraction over her. When he went to bed at night and closed his eyes, it was her face he saw. When he awoke in the morning, he stretched toward the empty side of his bed, wishing he could wrap his arms around her nude body. Their kiss, growing more distant every day, had impressed on him a sense of urgency. He needed to touch her and taste her and give her the same level of crazy need he endured every day.
It was about time he told her.
He had never achieved anything in his life by beating around the bush. In his experience, people liked knowing where they stood.
Tonight at dinner, he would tell Emily how he felt. She might not be ready to hear it and he could be patient, but he would leave her with no illusions.
He wanted her, plain and simple. If that meant he had to wait for her, so be it, but something told him he wouldn’t be waiting long.
***
“You do realize I invited you to dinner for ulterior motives, right?” Emily ladled another hearty portion of her new Spicy Thai soup into Michael’s bowl.
He pretended to wipe his brow. “Because you get off on watching a grown man sweat from eating too much hot food?”
“No, but I was hoping for a favorable reaction. I just tweaked my Thai recipe and wanted to see what you thought. Too much lemongrass?”
