“I’m not going to answer that. You’re conceited enough as it is.”
“You said you wanted me.”
“That’s the sort of thing I’m talking about. You think you know all the answers.”
“Only where you’re concerned.”
He pushed himself up off the ground and held out his hand. She grabbed it and he helped pull her up.
He twirled her into his arms and whispered in her ear. “I know that if I kissed you right now, you’d do anything I asked you.”
She opened her mouth to give him a snappy reply, but stopped short when she heard someone yelling Kent’s name.
“Oh, thrill,” she said. “I think it’s James.”
“The man has radar,” Kent said, bending down to pick up the stuffed dog and dice from the ground.
“I take it we’re leaving?”
James’ voice had gotten louder, then receded.
“I think he’s going away,” she said.
“Yeah, well, we’d better move anyway. He’s my best friend and I’d like to keep it that way. I can’t understand why he’s being so overprotective of you, though he did kind of warn me the other day at the cafe.”
“He’s not my keeper, no matter what he thinks,” Phae said.
Kent shrugged. “He’s stubborn. What do you say we go ride the Ferris wheel and eat some cotton candy or whatever else your heart desires?”
Phae firmly grasped the hand he offered and they began the stroll back to the fairgrounds.
“You know,” Kent said, “we started off talking about you, then I got sidetracked talking about selling my company and we never got back to you.”
“I don’t mind it. What’s next for you after the sale? Early retirement?”
“I don’t know yet. Maybe games this time. Not bloody games. Smart games that challenge kids and adults both. Something like that.”
“Fascinating. Tell me more.”
“No, Phae. That won’t work. I want to know … what’s your favorite color?”
“Blue, like your eyes. What’s yours?”
“Brown of course, like your eyes. What’s your favorite food?”
“I have too many favorites to pick. You?”
“Lasagna,” he answered quickly. “Do you like it?”
“Love it,” she said.
“Good. When I get back from San Diego, I’ll come over to your place and cook lasagna for you on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You have to leave your hair down. I want to see it down and untamed.”
“Hmm. I might do it.”
“I love your honesty. It’s a deal,” he said. He gently raised her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. “We need to think of a story to tell James when we get back.”
Phae mumbled a reply but didn’t listen to what he said. She was too busy mulling over his comment about her honesty.
She hadn’t been completely truthful about what happened in Chicago. And she certainly hadn’t told him about being Captain Nice Guy. He wouldn’t be pleased about that particular bit of information.
She didn’t want to think about it. It was too soon to worry about confessions and the future.
“Phae? Are you listening? I said we should tell James that we were at the ag barns.”
“Right,” she answered quickly. “Ag barns.”
She admired Kent’s handsome profile as they stepped back into the lights of the carnival. She left her worries behind, in the darkness.
Chapter 10
KENT CHECKED HIS SPEED AS he neared the city limits of Zeke’s Bend. He stifled a yawn. It was nearly two o’clock in the morning.
He probably shouldn’t have rushed his return from San Diego, but the meeting with the buyers had lasted nearly two days longer than he’d expected and he’d been impatient to return home to Phae.
He’d called her on Wednesday to tell her that he’d see her Friday. She’d been strangely distant on the phone, not her usual sassy self. He’d texted her, too, but her responses were terse. She said she didn’t like texting.
He flattered himself by assuming that she was only disappointed by his delay, but truthfully, he guessed her reserve had been caused by second-guessing what had happened between them at the fair.
It had been hard to focus on the details of the sale because he’d kept daydreaming about Phae under the trees, dappled moonlight playing on her satiny skin.
It was as if he could still see, taste, touch and smell her. And hear her gentle moans when he made her come.
Damn. He was hard again. The woman had put some kind of spell on him. They hadn’t known one another long, or spent much time together, but he knew a winner when he saw one. And he wasn’t about to let this particular winner go.
While Kent’s career lay grounded in modern science and technology, his heart and mind remained open to a more mystical side of life. He believed in love at first sight.
His own parents were perfect examples that instantaneous love could happen, and more importantly, could last. They’d been married for over thirty-seven years, yet had only known one another for a month when they sealed their union.
Kent wanted what his parents had, and he’d been waiting for his perfect woman his entire adult life.
Just when he thought he’d never find her, Phae Jones had appeared. In his eyes, she embodied perfection. Beauty, brains and wit with a fiery, passionate side. And she was proud, confident, lusty. Oh hell yes. Lusty.
Her honesty about her attraction to him worked like an aphrodisiac. He didn’t like coy women, or those who were out of touch with their physicality. He liked women who knew what they wanted, and he especially liked that Phae wanted him.
He could barely concentrate on the road when he recalled the way Phae had responded to him at the fair.
As he drove down the quiet streets of Zeke’s Bend, he contemplated dropping by Phae’s apartment. He glanced at the gift box on the passenger seat. He could use the present as an excuse to see her.
No, it was late, and she had undoubtedly gone to bed hours ago. He shouldn’t wake her.
He grinned as he wondered what her response would be to his gift. He’d searched through more than a few boutiques in San Diego looking for the consummate little black dress. The box held the sexy fruit of his labors.
He laid his plans. Tomorrow morning he would drop by Phae’s shop and give her the present. She’d probably put up a fuss about him tryi
ng to clothe her, but Kent had confidence he could goad her into wearing the dress.
And hey, if the dress was a little too small, he couldn’t be blamed. After all, he was a man, and what did men know about dress sizes? His deep, throaty chuckle rumbled in the quiet car.
He pictured himself hand-feeding her a bite of lasagna. Maybe a drop of sauce would drip off the fork onto her luscious cleavage which would undoubtedly be spilling over the top of the oh-so-little black dress.
He’d be less than a gentleman if he didn’t clean up his mess. But wait. Where had his napkin gone? Oh well, when faced with life’s little challenges, one must improvise. His tongue could clean up the spill quite nicely.
He wore a wicked grin. Maybe Phae hadn’t gone to bed yet. He could drive by quickly and see if her lights were on. He turned the car down the next street, in the direction of Phae’s home.
He was less than two blocks away and had been wondering if Phae owned a pair of high heels when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed some shaking bushes over to his left. It was a windless night. He slowed to a near crawl.
Less than six feet away from the porch of a fine old house, the bushes fronted the sidewalk which ran the length of the residential street. A streetlight adequately lit the scene, but the depths of the shrubbery remained in shadows.
He stopped the car and waited a few moments. Nothing moved. It had probably been an animal.
He eased his foot onto the accelerator. Then he saw it. A man. Dressed all in black, including a stocking cap.
The back of his body was illuminated for a split second as he leapt gracefully from behind the bushes then disappeared into the shadows at the side of the house. Kent briefly considered chasing the man, but knew it would be pointless.
He’d just seen the elusive Captain Nice Guy.
He couldn’t believe his luck. And he had no doubt whatsoever that the man he’d seen was indeed Captain Nice Guy and not a burglar.
The man had a bulky belt around his waist, probably filled with the tricks of his do-gooder trade. A town the size of Zeke’s Bend wouldn’t attract someone the caliber of a pro cat burglar.