Page 38 of Seductive Nights

"Oh, that would be fantastic. Yes, on days like this last week, we've had in the high nineties, that would be so refreshing. I'm excited for you, Jace."

He chuckled. "I'm pretty excited myself. I never dreamed that I would be able to grow the bar to those proportions.

He reached across the table and took her hands. "I have you to thank, partially anyway. You helped me get the thrift shop."

She chuckled. "Well, at the time I took the offer to Lorraine, I wasn't too happy with you, but I'm glad it worked out."

He squeezed her hands. "I'm glad it worked out, too."

They enjoyed a nice meal. They chatted about the restaurant and her plans for the real estate company. She wanted to make it bigger. He could see her doing it. She was determined, and she was good at what she did. She'd grow it for sure. He hoped he would be around with her to see it happen.

As he drove her home, he knew he wanted to see her again, and often, but he wanted to do this right. He parked in the driveway and helped her out of the truck. He walked her to the house, holding her hand. At the front door, she turned to him and grinned. "Is this where I ask you in for a drink?"

He tossed his head back and laughed. "I'll tell you what. I know you have Carley inside, and I don't want to disturb her. I think what I want to do is this." He leaned in and kissed her lips. It wasn't just a peck. His lips covered hers softly, his tongue sought entrance to her mouth, and she opened. Their tongues danced together. Their lips moved together. It was warm and soft and seductive. What he knew was he wanted more of this, but not tonight. They kissed while his body responded to her hands wrapping around his waist. Her hands splayed across his back, and he liked the way she felt against him. When their kiss ended, they were both a bit breathless. He looked into her eyes briefly and smiled. "I'd like to do this again."

She chuckled. "Me too."

He kissed her forehead. "Good night, Margo. How about tomorrow I make dinner for you at my place?"

Her eyes rounded and her lips, still wet from his kiss tilted into a beautiful smile. "I'd like that."

"I'll send you my address during the day tomorrow. Should we plan six again?"

"Six works."

He stepped back, winked at her, and turned toward his truck. Yeah, he was gonna woo her.

22

Margo's phone kept chiming. She had heard it for a while but couldn't wake up. She'd had too many sleepless nights, and it finally caught up with her last night. And for the first time in more than two weeks, she went to bed with her heart feeling like it was mending. She didn't have that heavy sense of dread when she lay down. What she had were visions of Jace Marriott in her head, smiling at her, holding her hand, kissing her. That was the best part.

Her phone chimed again, and she blinked several times, then rolled over to take her phone off the charging cradle. She looked at her phone and saw a text from a number she didn't know. Tapping the first one, she opened it up, and an instant fire began burning in her tummy.

"It's Sierra, I want to work at Price Realty. I don't know why you wouldn't want extra help. Logan wanted this for me. As a matter of fact, he told me just before he got sick that he was going to bring me into the real estate company. We were going to open a Miami office and work there together."

Margo huffed out a deep breath and laid back on a pillow. This woman! Did she wrong her in a different life or something?

Margo ran different options through her head, which was too early for anything before coffee. But, her non-coffee, sleepy brain came up with these options. She could respond, which she wanted to do, but what she wanted to say was probably not wise. Or she could just block her phone number. That was probably the best thing to do. She could always unblock her later if she needed to. Yes, that was probably the smartest thing. So that's what she did. She tapped Sierra's text, scrolled to the words,block this caller, and tapped. Then she rolled herself out of bed, used the bathroom, and stumbled down the hall to the kitchen. Carley wasn't awake yet, but the coffee had already brewed. Pouring herself a cup of coffee, she ran scenarios through her head. Sitting in the living room, in the far corner of the sofa, she curled her feet under her. She dropped her phone on the sofa and saw a text message that she'd missed last night. Taking a deep breath before looking at it, she saw Jace's name.

"I had a nice time tonight, thank you."

Oh, she missed it. That made her feel sad.

She tapped his text and responded right away,

"I had a nice time too. I'm sorry I just saw this. I fell asleep quickly last night."

Jace responded with a smiley face and then he replied,

”I thought I'd grill you the finest steak you've ever had tonight. Are you a meat eater?"

She laughed, then she replied,

"Of course I eat meat. Steak sounds fantastic."

And then she added a happy face emoji at the end.

He responded with a happy face back, and she figured he was probably getting ready to go to work. So she scrolled through social media a little bit and then checked the news to see if there was anything pressing in the world today that she needed to be aware of. That heavy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, so she decided to just enjoy her coffee without any of the noise.

---