She hesitated. He could almost see her weighing the benefits and drawbacks of a temporary thaw. After a few seconds, she gave him a little smile and accepted the glass he offered her. A truce had been declared, at least for the moment.
“It is,” she said. “You said to poke around the kitchen. Well, I did—and I found some sausage in the freezer.”
“You could have found a mastodon, and it wouldn’t surprise me. I bought the freezer when I bought the house, filled it—and never opened it again.” He held out his glass. “Salud.”
They touched glasses. Emily took a sip of wine.
“Mmm. That’s lovely.”
“I’m glad you like it. I wasn’t sure what your preferences are.”
“Except when it comes to cephalopod mollusks.”
Jake grinned. “Dangerous things, those mollusks.”
“Mmm.” She drank some of her wine. “Actually, I don’t know much about wines. I just know what I like.”
“Yes. So do I.”
Their eyes met and held. Emily’s color deepened and she turned away. “Anyway,” she said, “I found the sausage. There were some canned tomatoes in one of the cupboards, along with a box of spaghetti. And you had garlic and cheese in the fridge, so I figured I’d make a sauce. It won’t be anywhere near as good as that stuff at La Gondola, but—”
“How could it be?” Jake leaned back against a granite-topped counter and crossed his feet at the ankles. “I mean, heck, without some tentacles and a blob of ink, who’d want to eat spaghetti?”
Emily laughed. “Who, indeed?”
“Is the sauce going to take a while to simmer? We had a neighbor when I was a kid, lady named of Mrs. Rossini. She used to make this terrific sauce—it would make the whole street smell great. I remember it took forever to cook.”
“Oh, this won’t take that long. Just another half hour or so.
“Good. ‘Cause I’m as hungry as a bear.”
Emily picked up a wooden spoon and stirred the sauce. “So, where was this, where Mrs. Rossini used to make her sauce? Pennsylvania?”
“Uh-huh. How’d you know that?”
She shrugged. “You mentioned Pennsylvania before, when we were in the car.”
“Ah. Yeah, Pennsylvania. That’s where I grew up.”
“I’ve never been there.”
“Not much to see in my part of it,” Jake said, and smiled. “Trees, trees, more trees.. .and coal mines.”
“Coal mines, huh? That sounds interesting.”
“It isn’t,” Jake said flatly. He stepped away from the counter. “Looks as if we have just enough time to sit by the fire and enjoy our wine.”
“All right,” she said, after a second’s hesitation. “That would be nice.”
Yes, he thought, yes, it would be. Sitting beside the fire, his arm around her shoulders, her head on his chest...
Jake put down his glass. “The thing is,” he said gruffly, “I’m not a guy who believes in forever after.”
He spoke before he could stop himself, because the words needed saying, but if he’d taken Emily by surprise, she didn’t show it.
“I know that, Jake.”
“Do you? I want you, Emily. Hell, I want you so badly it makes me ache.” He took a slow step towards her. “But I don’t want to hurt you. And I’m not sure what you expect out of tonight.”
Emily didn’t have to think about her answer. She’d come to grips with reality while she’d been making the sauce. She was an adult and so was he. Oh, she’d tried to pretty things up by telling herself she wasn’t a woman meant for a one-night stand but the truth was, just as the sauce was made up of a bit of this and a bit of that, so was life.
Tonight was about sex, not romance. That was fine. She didn’t believe in romance, anyway. This—being with Jake, learning what other women knew—was part of life. And here, at long last, was her chance to live it.
“Just tonight,” she said softly, her chin level, her eyes steady on his. “That’s all I expect, Jake. I just want—I want what you said you’d give me. What you said you’d teach me.”
She sounded calm, almost cool. She wasn’t, though. Jake could see the glass trembling in her hand. She was afraid, and excited, and the knowledge that she was both sent a lightning bolt of anticipation through his blood.
He took her wineglass from her hand and set it aside.
“Come here,” he said softly, and drew her to him. “Em.” He ran his hands down her back, then up again. “Em, you’re so lovely.”