Page 13 of Her Captivated Hero

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Einstein jumpeddown off the bathroom counter when the doorbell rang.

“Bad Kitty!”

Einstein meowed back at her with haughty disdain. He hated being called ‘Kitty’. He stalked toward the bathroom door and Riya looked at the makeup, brushes and spilled lotion on the floor.

“I should have capped that properly,” she said.

She heard another meow. The damned cat was agreeing with her. She turned and glared at him, and then he turned around and walked out of the bathroom. She grabbed some tissue and wiped up the mess and the doorbell rang again.

What an auspicious start to the day. Riya tore down the stairs with Einstein trailing behind her.

When she got to the door, she took a deep breath and smoothed down the silk of her blue dress that fell to just above her knee. Opening the door, she was met with miles and miles of chest covered by a blue pinstripe suit and silver tie. Her knees weakened. Riya had to look at least a foot into the air to briefly meet Gray’s clear blue eyes. They matched her dress. Thank God she wasn’t wearing her shoes, or she really would topple over.

The only thing that kept his smile from looking like a toothpaste ad was that he had a little scar that bisected his upper lip. She wanted to lick it. Oh yeah, she had it bad.

Heat suffused her body as the memory of that amazing kiss overloaded her senses.

“If you keep looking at me like that, we’re not going to the wedding.” His voice rumbled like thunder.

Arggh. If she wasn’t careful she’d get drool on her dress. Everything she’d practiced saying to him totally flew out of her mind. She needed to get a handle on this, like yesterday. Still, he was good to look at.

“No can do, sailor. I’m a bridesmaid, I have commitments. Why don’t you come on in and sit down. I still have to get their package wrapped.”

Riya turned and waved him in and shut the door. When she turned back she saw him standing in the middle of her living room with his left eyebrow reaching for his hairline.

“Having trouble making up your mind?” he asked.

She let out a long sigh. “Laugh. Just get it over with. It’s not like I haven’t heard it before.”

“Do you own a craft shop? Does someone in your family own stock in Hallmark?” Gray asked as he bent down and picked up two rolls of wrapping paper and compared them.

“I want to make sure that it’s pretty and conveys the right message,” Riya said as she snatched the rolls from his hand. Gray simply bent down and picked up two more rolls.

“Honey, I’ve seen people with a variety of Christmas wrap, but how many different patterns of wedding wrap do you have here?”

Riya looked at her six large Tupperware bins, five that contained wrap and one that contained ribbon and bows. “Can I say that I don’t know?”

Gray tapped one of the bins with the toe of his high polished shoe. “You’d be lying. I bet you know the entire inventory of your house. How many rolls?”

“Fifteen wedding, seven baby shower, five Hanukkah, thirty-seven Christmas, two Easter, five Valentines, twenty-seven birthday rolls of wrapping paper and one St. Patrick’s day,” she reluctantly admitted.

Gray took a moment, then he gave her a sympathetic smile. “It must kill you to be one roll shy of one hundred.”

Dammit, he was right. It was killing her. She was down a roll since Ethan’s birthday. Gray must have seen he’d been on target because he laughed.

“How can I help?” he asked.

“I just have to get the present wrapped and find my shoes, then we’re good to go.”

“I don’t believe that you can’t find your shoes.”

Neither did she. They were supposed to be right by the couch. She had precisely placed them perpendicular to the sofa right before she brought out the Tupperware containers.

“And if I offered to wrap the present while you found your shoes?” Gray asked. His eyes were sparkling. Again, he knew the answer to his question.

“Ahhhh,” she tried to come up with an answer.