Stranger in the Moonlight (Edilean 7)

Travis nearly choked on the bite he’d just taken. “Boyfriend?”

Kim started to speak, but then Dave answered.

“Hey, babe, what’s up?” he asked.

Kim held the phone away from her ear so Dave’s voice could be heard. “I was wondering if you had any ideas about what to pack for this weekend. Is this B&B formal? Should I take a long dress?”

“I don’t know,” Dave said. “You found the place, but I can tell you that I’m not taking my tux. I have to wear it too often at work. Hey! Why don’t we solve the dilemma by having dinner in bed every night?”

Kim was smiling as she looked at Travis. His eyes were wide, as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I thought breakfast in bed was more usual.” Her voice was low, sexy—the same one she’d heard Travis use with women. Women other than her.

“How about if we compromise and do them both in bed?” Dave’s voice was low.

“What in the world would we do for lunch?” she asked innocently.

“You’re the creative one, so I’ll let you figure that out. I gotta go. We’re loading the truck for a dinner party. See you Friday at two. And Kim?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t pack anything to wear at night.”

Laughing, she hung up, put her phone away, then took a long sip of her drink.

Travis was staring at her. He hadn’t moved a muscle since she opened her phone. “Boyfriend?” he said at last, his voice close to a whisper.

“Yes. What’s wrong? Don’t you like your sandwich? We could get something else. You want me to call the waitress?”

“The food is fine. Since when do you have a boyfriend?”

“Dave and I have been together for six months now.” She smiled at him. “I think it’s serious.”

“Serious as in how?”

She gave a one-shouldered shrug. “The usual. Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m just surprised is all. I didn’t realize there was someone . . . important in your life.”

“Please tell me that you didn’t assume that since I live in a small town that I was . . . What? Waiting for some big city man to come and rescue me? Not quite.”

“Actually,” he said, “I thought maybe the wedding going on when I arrived was yours.”

If Kim had had any doubts that their relationship was only friendship, it vanished with that statement. He didn’t seem bothered that he’d thought she was about to get married. But why should he? They hardly knew each other, and he’d made it clear that in three weeks he was leaving. “So what about you? Anyone special in your life?”

“I don’t know . . .” he said. It hadn’t occurred to him that Kim had a boyfriend, certainly not one that she called “serious.”

“You don’t know if there’s a woman in your life? If there is and you two need wedding rings, I can design and make them for you. Are you ready to go?”

“Sure,” Travis said, but he hadn’t recovered from the blow. He didn’t know what he’d imagined, but Kim talking of meals in bed with another man hadn’t been part of it.

He put money on the table and walked out of the diner behind Kim. A pretty young woman smiled at him, but Travis paid no attention to her.

Kim got behind the wheel of her car. “I have work to do at home,” she said, her voice cool.

“Have I made you angry?”

“Of course not. What would I be angry about?” She wanted to yell at him. He flirted with other women but looked at her as though she were his sister—or an eight-year-old girl.

She took a deep breath and when she let it out, she released her anger. It wasn’t fair of her to be angry because he wasn’t attracted to her. How many times had men come on to her but she’d shot them down? At least once a week some man came into her shop and let her know that he was available. Sometimes his wife would be standing three feet away.