All she had to do was shift her weight, and her lips would cover his.
Oh . . . the thought . . . The decadent thought had her swaying. But Avery couldn’t take any more rejection, and she knew he was only telling her he wanted them to be friends again.
“If things are different,” she said, “it’s because you made them different. You’re the one who’s been keeping your distance.”
“So it wouldn’t happen again.” His gaze cut away, definitely guilty. “I promised it wouldn’t—”
“Maybe I didn’t want that promise.” She couldn’t quite believe those words had come out of her mouth. But Avery pushed on. Of all the promises made to her and broken, why couldn’t this be one of those? “Maybe I liked it. Maybe I wanted it to happen again.”
His gaze jumped back to hers, surprised, pained.
And she had her answer—it would never happen again.
She stepped away and pulled from his grasp. “But I understand it’s the right thing, so don’t worry. Everything between us is fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Avery walked out, confused, lost, and hurting in ways she didn’t understand, wondering whether Trace understood what was happening between them any better than she did. She offered hasty good-byes to several of the guests as everyone made their way to their cars, gave Tiffany a hug, and climbed into the Jeep Delaney had loaned her for the foreseeable future.
Sick with the turmoil in her life, Avery headed to her favorite place in the world. The one place where following simple steps would, time and again, produce successful results. A place where those successful results created warmth and happiness and love.
Her kitchen.
As she drove down the long, lighted driveway of the Mulligans’ multi-million-dollar home, she shook her head and murmured, “If only life could be as simple.”
FOUR
“Maybe I liked it. Maybe I wanted it to happen again.”
Trace couldn’t get Avery’s words out of his head. Nor could he wipe the image of her in that sexy little deep-pink dress as she’d walked away from him. The way the softly flared skirt followed the curve of her ass, the way it ended high on those toned thighs. The way the open back showed all that creamy, smooth skin beneath straps creating an X between her shoulder blad
es, joined there with a little bow.
“Maybe I didn’t want that promise.”
A flash of Avery’s gorgeous face flushed with want filled Trace’s mind from that night he’d had her slim fingers in his mouth, and his groin swelled with the kind of heat and pressure that demanded attention. The kind of attention he hadn’t had in over two months—since he’d set eyes on Avery Hart.
“Trace, honey.” His grandmother’s voice broke into his delicious memory, and he let thoughts of Avery fade as he glanced toward Pearl in the passenger’s seat of his truck. “It’s green.”
“Hmm?”
“The light, honey. It’s green.”
Trace’s mind snapped into the present, and he stepped on the gas. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Was thinkin’.”
“Did you hear anything I said about your father?”
Trace searched his mind and glanced at his grandmother. “No, Gram, sorry. I hope Zane doesn’t have to pull a double. I’ve really got to get some extra time in on the café, and I don’t want to be worried about Dad when I’m using a nail gun and table saw.”
“No, Zane’s with him tonight,” she said, exasperated. “I was telling you about the music therapy Avery told us about. Have you noticed a change in your dad?”
“Uh . . .” He thought back over the last few days. “I don’t know. I see him at night, and you know how fast he goes downhill after five or six o’clock. I’ve been focused on the project, on following up with his doctors and Medicare.”
“Between the café and your daddy, you’re burning the candle at both ends. You can’t keep this up.”
“I’m all right, Gram. Have you noticed a difference with Dad?”
“Actually, yes. An amazing change, in fact. I wasn’t sure at first, but each small change builds on the one from the day before. I’ve only had him listening to the music mix Avery made for us for three days, and he’s already happier when I get there in the morning.”
“Avery made you a music mix?” That was news to him. She hadn’t mentioned anything about it. The sweetness of her unselfish act when she had so much to do, so much stress weighing on her, touched him.