How could these people be so forgiving when she couldn't find it within herself to forgive her husband?
A plate of food in hand, Paige plopped into a chair under a palm tree with Nikki. "You don't have to entertain me."
"It's my pleasure. Really." The leggy young woman leaned, silky black hair swinging with the swish of her head. "Besides, everybody's curious about you, so I'm the official spy for the gang."
"Curious? About me?" A chill tightened her skin. She rested her plate on her knees with a shaky hand.
"We've seen Bo with a lot of women—uh, no offense."
"No need to apologize." The chill turned downright icy. "I pretty much guessed his reputation."
"The thing is, we haven't seen him with a woman in almost a year." Nikki popped a sweet-and-sour meatball into her mouth.
"A year?" Icy nerves melted into something... She didn't know what.>A quick laugh jerked her shoulders. She steadied her glasses. "I love how you don't let me stay blue for long."
Love?
His neck kinked, not that she meant anything by the word.
He forged ahead with laid-back in spite of the tempting heat of her thigh burning through her jeans and his. "Who'd have believed a woman would get turned on by a bargain shopper? To think I've been wasting precious bucks on flowers and candy all these years."
"Hey, personally, I'd rather have the lightbulbs changed, since I'm so short. I'll pick out my own flowers if I want them."
They shared an easy laugh in the middle of a tough-as-hell day. He wanted her—here, now, no more waiting, but they had a wedding to attend and damned if he would rush his first time with Paige.
First? Would there be more?
He thrust aside questions guaranteed to kick them both in the teeth and just let himself stroke from her temple to her satiny cheek. She turned her face to press a kiss into his palm, which shot a bolt right to his groin.
"Oh, God, Paige," he groaned. "You're not making this easy. The wedding's in an hour and it's at least a half hour drive."
"That leaves a half hour." She nuzzled his hand again, flicking her tongue along the suddenly hypersensitive pad of his thumb.
The way he felt right now, five minutes would be long enough. But she deserved more than a rushed quickie. He could and would control himself.
He pulled his hand away with regret. "I want to take my time with you. No rushing. No interruptions."
For some reason his words, which others might have taken as a rejection, coaxed a smile and melting sigh from Paige. Already his imagination wrapped fantasies around stirring more sighs from her, louder, fuller, and holy crap if he didn't quit they would both be n**ed in seconds.
"Come on, lady. We need to haul butt if we're going to make the wedding before the bride walks down the aisle." He rose from the bench and started down the short hall.
"Luckily I have two bathrooms. As much as I'd like to shower with you, I think we'd better opt for separates or we'll never get there at all."
He turned to find Paige still on the bench.
"You go ahead." She tapped her glasses. "I'll just use the quiet time to call my daughter and then soak in a bubble bath."
Bubble bath. Was she trying to make him crazy?
A quick hiccup in his horny thoughts gave him a clear second to see... Paige adjusted her glasses again, a sure sign that she was nervous or, worse yet, scared. Of him or lingering emotions from the purse-snatcher?
Either way, she was staying with him. "We're not so pushed for time you can't bathe, and you can call Kirstie on my cell phone during the drive over. Besides, I don't keep bubble bath on hand."
"I brought some."
She'd planned ahead enough to bring bubble bath to his place? He couldn't breathe, much less answer.
"Really, go ahead to the wedding without me. I don't even know these friends of yours."