“Let’s grab a bite to eat,” he suggested in a voice unsteady with some emotion. “Unless all this ruined your appetite.”
“Yes. That would be great.” Fiona seized on an opportunity to move past the heavy moment.
His car, so different from her tiny yellow Beetle, had butter soft leather seats that embraced her in comfort. It was a sleek black Mercedes, and it had been parked quite imperfectly in a slot in the back of the shop. She hadn’t noticed before, but now she couldn’t resist the opportunity to comment—after all, the mood had to lighten up soon or she was going to go mad at the thought:a skeleton in her closet!?—so she teased, “Nice parking job, Hollis Gideon.”
He paused in buckling his seatbelt and looked up at her from under a thick shock of hair. “I thought I told you not to call me Hollis,” he said dryly. “But why am I not surprised you still do?”
She grinned at him. “You shouldn’t be. I’m sassy that way.”
He looked at her and for a moment their eyes locked, and time seemed to freeze. “You certainly are,” he murmured.
Then, abruptly he turned away and finished buckling his seatbelt. “So…since your car is still near my office, we should probably head back in the general direction of Grand Rapids.”
“Right.” She’d forgotten that salient point; he’d insisted on driving her back to Wicks Hollow. “What do you have in mind?”
“I could cook,” he replied casually. “Or we could go out somewhere.”
“What? This sounds suspiciously like a date,” she replied with an arched brow. And then she added, “You cook?”
“Yes, well, I usually wait at least a week after finding a skeleton in her closet before I ask a woman out, but I decided to make an exception in your case.”
Fiona stared at him. “Did you—just make a joke? You?”
Gideon frowned, tilting his head as though contemplating a deep thought. “Yes, I guess I did. Sorry about that. Now,” he turned to fit the key into the ignition, “what’s your preference? Eating in or eating out?”
“Depends what you’re cooking,” she replied, still staring at him.
The decision was made. “My house.” He started the car with a low purr and the Mercedes slid onto the street.
Suddenly, Fiona panicked, picturing them at his house, enjoying an intimate meal, picking up where they’d left off…. “Gideon, I don’t think—”
He glanced at her, his face inscrutable as the streetlights flickered over his features. “You don’t have anything to worry about, Fiona. I’m not planning to jump your bones or any—ouch!” He directed a definite glare on her and rubbed the arm where she’d smacked him.
“That was two too many jokes in as many minutes,” she said, giggling. “I don’t even know who you are anymore, Hollis Gideon.”
“All right, all right, I’ll stop. I probably used up my quota of jokes for the week anyway.” And then his frown turned into that devastating smile of his. He grinned at her and Fiona nearly swooned right there. She was saved from making a fool out of herself when he floored the car, zooming along the entrance ramp and onto the highway.
She was still slightly unsettled from the effect of his sensual mouth curving in such an unfamiliar manner when they pulled into his garage and he stepped around to help her out of the car. She slipped past him, afraid to let him touch her even in the most innocent of ways.
This was going to be a tortuous meal.
* * *
Gideon waited until she was sitting on a bar stool at the counter in his kitchen before telling her.
“Wine?” he asked, pulling two balloon glasses down from a cupboard and setting them on the counter between them.
“Sure.”
He could tell she was nervous—like a cat ready to spring—and he was pretty certain it was only partially due to the heap of bones in her shop. He forced himself to be nonchalant as he poured the smoky garnet wine into the glasses. He handed her one rounded goblet and raised his own in a slight toast.
“To skeletons…and to us. We’re going to be magnificent.” He caught and held her eyes firmly as he sipped the rich Cabernet, looking at her from over the rim of his glass so that she would be in no doubt of what he meant.
Fiona took a drink and set her glass down quickly. “Gideon,” she began, her voice surprisingly firm for the consternation she must have felt. “You can’t seduce me. I won’t let you.”
“No, Fiona…I’m going to let you seduceme. But first….”
He paused, reaching to cover her sexy, parted, angry mouth with two fingers. Her lips were plump and warm, and he felt their faint moisture as he pressed lightly against them.
