Page 93 of Already Home

He gave her his best smile, the sexy, slightly lazy one thathad always made her want to push him down on the kitchen table. Now she saw thesmile for what it was—an act.

“I miss you, Jenna. More than I thought I would. I missus.”

“Really? You haven’t called. Oh, wait. I take it back. You didcall to tell me that someone you’d never met was trying to find me. You gave outmy personal information. That was nice.”

“It wasn’t bad, was it?” he asked, sounding horrified. “God,did someone try to hurt you?”

“No. It was fine. So why are you here?”

He drew in a deep breath and took both her hands in his. “Let’sgo have dinner. Or we can stop by a store and pick up some ingredients. We’llcook together. I miss that, Jenna. Us cooking, side by side. You were always sobrilliant.”

“Um, I don’t think so.”

He blinked in surprise. She could almost hear him thinking,“But hey. It’s me.”

“Don’t you want to spend time with me?” he asked, sounding morepetulant than sexy.

“Not really.”

“But we have things to talk about. Jenna, you can’t be happyhere. A store? Really? Your heart and soul belong in a kitchen. We did so muchtogether. I hated it when you left.”

She pulled her hands free of his. “Hated it? You told me you’dnever been faithful and that I was holding you back.”

“I was drunk.”

“It was ten in the morning, Aaron.”

She knew she could let him keep talking, get her pound offlesh, so to speak. Or she could be mature and tell him he was too late. It wasthe mature thing to do.

Besides, being mature was going to feel really good.

“You don’t have to pretend,” she told him. “Tara Peters alreadycalled me.”

He stiffened, then relaxed into a smile. “Did she? Good. Thenyou know about her idea for us to work together. I think it’s great.”

“No, that’s not really what she said. She’s interested inworking with me, but she didn’t seem that impressed by you.”

The friendly facade slipped. “What the hell did you tellher?”

“Nothing. She was doing all the talking. Oh, wait. I saidyes.”

He glared at her. “I never thought you would play the bitterex.”

She felt happy and free and filled with possibilities. “Thatwould make me a bitter woman with a book contract, Aaron. You probably want toleave now.”

He started to speak, but she didn’t stay to listen. Instead,she walked to the front door and held it open. “Have a safe trip home.”

He stalked past her, then turned. “You’re nothing without me.This store is ridiculous. It can’t possibly support a book deal.”

She stared at him, wondering what she’d ever seen in him andwhy she’d ever thought his opinion mattered.

“You know the best part?” she told him. “I don’t even care ifthe book thing works out or not. I’m happy here, Aaron. I’ve made it work andyou can’t take that away from me.”

He was still sputtering when she closed and locked thedoor.

As she turned out the lights and walked into the back tocollect her purse, she had to ask herself why she’d thought he was so special.She’d finally figured out she’d been wrong about him.

Fifteen

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