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It wasn’t enough to make me change my mind. Wasn’t enough to get me to throw my future away. But I could see it, what made these spaces special to her.
And there was her. A woman so determined, so strong. She was a human bulldozer. Couldn’t be intimidated. Couldn’t be pushed around. Couldn’t be cowed.
I stepped up to her and gazed down at those blue eyes, blushed cheeks, and pouty pink mouth. For a second, I forgot what I was there for—to get her to come over to my side of the argument, or just to get her to come to me.
I was on the cusp of the biggest business deal of my life, and all I could think about was the shape of her lips. I wanted her to run me over, have her way with me. I wanted to forget about all the bitterness and logical, commercial reasons that had brought me to this town, because she was unlike any woman I’d met before.
Her gaze drew slowly up my face, and her chest rose and fell with every breath. I could feel her white flag rising. She was getting tired of fighting me. And I was getting tired of fighting the urge to swallow every last drop of her.
Because that’s what had been happening. Every time she threw me a glare or bit off some sharp word and flung it in my direction, it made me want to find out why her shell was so thick. A nonsensical, ridiculous part of me wanted to be the man she’d let behind her walls.
Maybe I wanted to open the gates and invite her behind my own.
She tilted her chin and bit her lip. Would she let me bite it too? I leaned in and felt my heart race as the gap between us closed. Her breath gusted out of her, gaze rising to meet mine. Her lips parted with permission, and I stopped fighting temptation. I slid my hand around her waist, pulling her close. She fit like she was made for me. Prickly, difficult woman. Figured.
I let my other hand slide over her jaw, reveling in the softness of her skin. Then I dipped my head to finally, finally taste that mouth of hers.
FOURTEEN
CHARLIE
It had been a tactical mistake to leave my door open. I should’ve known by now that it was best to keep my guard up around this man. He’d somehow gotten under my skin, and now I wondered if he kissed as good as he looked.
It was the wine stain that did it. He was mussed and undone, and it softened the harsh edges of him. And try as I might, the more time I spent with him, the more I saw the cracks in my plan.
I’d fallen through the floor a few days ago. The roof was leaking. The whole place needed a lot more than a bit of paint to bring it up to scratch, and the theater wasn’t much better.
He wasn’t an evil developer. Part of me was ready to admit that in a lot of ways, he was right. The town needed help, and my need to preserve history might’ve been holding us all back. Maybe all I was doing was standing in the way of progress while I clung to a past that never belonged to me.
So when he stalked toward me and slid a strong arm around my waist, I didn’t have time to muster my defenses against the onslaught of him. His gaze softened as it dropped to my mouth.
A faint groan escaped him, and he bent toward me. His fingertips tightened around my waist, tracing the edge of my skirt as he gently nudged me closer. His palm was calloused as it tilted my jaw up toward him, its roughness sending shivers skittering over my skin.
Heart rattling, I tried to ignore what that simple touch did to me. Tried to ignore the heat sweeping through me, the tension pulling me in four different directions.
Kissing him would be a mistake. It would go against everything I believed in. It would be a betrayal of my most sacred values. It would be defeat, plain and simple, before we’d even fought the first battle in the war.
But I still wanted to do it.
“Charlie—” he groaned, and it sounded like a prayer. His fingertips were all the urging I needed to bend toward him like a flower searching for a scrap of sunlight. His head dipped, and?—
“Yoo-hoo!”
I jumped away from him and crashed into my kitchen cabinets. My palm landed on the cookie plate, flipping it off the edge of the counter. It crashed against the floor and shattered. I yelped, Anderson swore, and Albert waved at us cheerily from the front window.
My heart thumped so hard the only thing I could hear was the blood rushing in my ears. Crossing the small space, I pushed the window up and stared at the man leaning against the ladder outside.
“All done up there,” Albert told us, the apples of his cheeks red with exertion. His wiry white hair stuck out at all angles, gnarled fingers gripping the edges of the ladder. “Few new shingles did the job, but there are a few problem areas we might have to look at soon. Something for the new landlord to deal with.” He chortled, winking at Anderson behind me.
“You be careful on the way down, Albert.” I stuck my head out the window to look at the grass below. It seemed like a long way down.
“Don’t worry about me, hun,” he chided gently. “I’m old, but I’m still handy.”
“Course you are,” I said, watching him make his way to the ground. It gave me enough time to get my heart rate under control while I tried to come to terms with what had almost happened moments ago. Horror gurgled through me like hot tar. I clutched the windowsill, breathing deeply, until Albert’s feet hit the grassy front lawn.
Then I turned.
Sebastian was crouched by the broken plate, gathering up the shards into a neat pile.
