“What should we do,” he asked in a low, wicked tone, “while we wait for the coffee to finish brewing?”
I had a million suggestions, every one of them bad—
A deep chime rang out from the front entryway, making my heart skip and Greg freeze. At the sound of his doorbell ringing, his accusatory gaze flew to the clock on the coffee maker. He was probably thinking the same thing I was. Who the hell was at his front door at eight in the morning on a Sunday?
He pulled his phone out, scrolled to an app, and gave an exasperated sigh. I leaned over to peer at the screen. The image was the front porch, and a blonde woman in her late forties or early fifties stood there, trying to peer through the beveled glass of the front door.
His voice was clipped. “Judy Maligner from next door. That woman cannot take a hint.”
This was the divorcee who’d been trying to woo Greg with fresh lemonade and baked goods. I gazed at her for another moment. She was nice looking. She had on yoga pants and a sherbet-colored athletic top that was fitted and showed off how she kept herself in shape. Her short hair was styled, she was wearing a little makeup, and everything about her looked as if she were making an effort . . . all to appear effortlessly casual.
When her face turned down in an unflattering scowl, it suddenly made her seem much older.
Breath was tight in my lungs as we watched her on the screen. She shifted on her feet and examined through the dining room window, but unless she could see through walls, we were safe from her prying eyes.
Tension relaxed out of Greg’s shoulders when Judy crossed her arms over her chest, pressed her lips together, and finally gave up. As she walked away, relief needled at me. The way Preston had described Ms. Maligner, it had given me a very different impression. I’d expected a frumpy older woman. One who was oblivious that Dr. Lowe was out of her league.
But was she out of his league?
Judy was pretty and slender. She had a job, owned a house, could order a beer at a bar. I wasn’t stupid. I knew it made more sense for him to be with her than me, and suddenly I was grateful he’d brushed her off all those times.
“Did you ever go out with her?” I forced casualness into my words.
He put his phone away in his back pocket. “No.”
“Okay.” I bit down on the inside of my cheek, not sure why I’d even asked. It wasn’t like I had any right to him before we slept together. Today was a different story. I’d spent the night and woken beside him in his bed. I wanted some kind of ownership.
Greg’s dark eyes sharpened. “You’re looking at me funny.”
“Are you, I don’t know . . .” I frowned. “We didn’t talk about it. Are you seeing other people?”
He cocked his head to the side. “Besides you? No.” A warm smile spread across his lips. “You?”
I choked on a laugh. “Um, no.” Besides the fact I’d just ended things with his son, couldn’t he tell I was too hung up on him? Greg dominated my thoughts, and every minute spent with him only twisted me up further.
“I’m only seeing you, Cassidy.” He gripped my face in his hands, brushing his thumb over my cheekbone as he slowly lowered his mouth toward mine. “In fact, I’d like to see a lot more of you right now.”
His lips were fire, but they were the slow, smoldering kind. His mouth was soft against mine, and my knees weakened as his tongue dipped past my lips. One of his hands smoothed down my neck, glided over my collarbone, and moved down further until his fingers inched beneath the neckline of my tank top.
My nipples snapped to points, tingling and eager for his attention. The strap was pushed over the curve of my shoulder and peeled down. I sighed and stretched into his touch, enjoying how his lips progressed down my neck, working toward his fingers massaging my breast.
A moan seeped from me, barely audible over the bubbling coffee machine, as he skimmed the sharp edge of his teeth across my pebbled nipple. Christ, that felt good. I wrapped my arms around his head, holding him to me, encouraging him to feast on my exposed flesh.
But a tingling, uncomfortable sensation flashed across the hairs on my arms and rocketed up my back. It was a warning of danger that my body sensed before the rest of me. A shadow fell on us, coming through the window over the sink, and drew his attention before mine.
He hardened into stone, and I glanced over my bare shoulder to see what he was looking at.