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“I’m always hungry.” I grinned at her. “I can hunt for a snack if that’s okay. You don’t have to go to any trouble.”
“No, you sit. I have some crab cakes in here, I think.” Tess was already pulling a plate from the refrigerator.
I sat up straighter. Yum. “Crab cakes?”
Tess brought the plate my way to show me the tasty round mounds and my mouth began watering. “Did you make these?” I asked her.
“I make them every week. Gran likes to have them pretty regularly. Do they look okay to you?”
“They look amazing.”
She heated them for a minute or two in the microwave, and I watched her move around the kitchen, trying not to be obvious. She was graceful and strong, and I wanted to know everything about her. After a moment, Tess put the plate down and then sat across from me, watching me as I began to eat.
“This is amazing,” I told Tess, pointing my fork at the crab cake on my plate.
“Well, it is what we’re known for,” she said, her voice almost a mocking song. “You come to Maryland, you get crabs.”
I raised an eyebrow, unable to keep the grin from my face. “That should be the state motto.”
She laughed, and a blush crawled up her neck, spreading over the line of her delicate jaw. When she laughed, it was a breathy sound that pulled at something inside me and made my stomach jump. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
I chuckled and kept eating, but sensed she had something else to say. I glanced at her, a silent invitation to talk.
“So this afternoon,” she began. “In the tent …”
She was going to ask me about those few heady seconds when she’d been so close I could just catch that delicate jasmine scent coming from her skin, when I’d let my eyes drop to her plump pink lips, slid my hands around her little waist, and actually thought about kissing her. I’d been a second away from letting instinct take charge—when my better judgment had kicked in. Or maybe Tess had stepped away.
Either way, I was not here to romance hot little sisters. I was here to get the boost being associated with Juliet would give my career. I was here to be her costar in the promised film being cast when we returned. Even if my heart had begun trying to elbow my mind out of the way to take charge.
“Yeah, so, glad I could help with that,” I said quickly, hoping she’d go with it.
She shook her head, her adorable brow wrinkling and a breathy laugh coming from her that made me wonder what other breathy sounds I could get her to make. “Okay.” She frowned, seemed to decide something. “Yeah. Thanks for helping.” She stared at her cup for a long minute.
Then she set her teacup on the table and peered up at me from beneath dark lashes. Her almost ebony hair was pulled back into a loose high ponytail and I couldn’t help imagining my hand wrapped in that dark hair, my body pressed up against hers. “Look, Ryan. I’m not a movie star,” she continued. “I don’t live the lifestyle you and my sister do, and I don’t know what’s typical in Hollywood, California. I’m more familiar with Hollywood, Maryland, and—”
“There’s a place called Hollywood, Maryland?” I didn't really mean to interrupt her. But once I had, I thought I might be able to derail the dangerous train she was heading my way.
“Yes, actually. It’s just north of California, Maryland.” A little smile lifted one corner of her mouth.
“There’s a place called California, Maryland?” This was a strange state.
She nodded. “I know. It’s weird.”
“Weird,” I agreed, glad we seemed to be veering away from discussing what had happened in the tent that afternoon.
Just then, the oven timer dinged, and I stood, maybe too quickly, to pull the first pan from the oven. With cakes this big, I didn’t want to put more than one pan in at a time.
“How’s it look?” she asked, peering over my shoulder as I set it on the cooling rack. She wasn’t touching me, but it didn’t matter. Every cell in my body lit up at her proximity and my dick decided this cake-baking thing was some kind of complex foreplay and that maybe now was a good time for him to wake up. I’d had enough trouble calming the guy down after the barn earlier.
I took a wooden skewer and inserted it in the center of the pan, pulling it out clean. A totally misplaced pride washed through me. I didn’t fail in front of her. So there was something.
“Looks good,” I said.
“Here we go.” She slid the second pan in, and I closed the door once it was settled, moving back to my seat.
“Look, the thing is,” Tess said, picking up the thread of conversation where the timer had interrupted it. “I just … I’m not used to being around movie stars, I guess. It’s just, I mean the way you touched me this afternoon…” Her eyes met mine and there was something vulnerable in her gaze, so pleading and innocent—I felt something protective shift inside me, a feeling I needed to hold firm. She was not mine to protect.
She shook her head, as if to force her thoughts to fall into line. “Things are just pretty simple here most of the time, that’s all.”
