Page 17 of Never Let Me Go

“Don’t go,” he said quietly. “Stay and talk to me. Please.”

She bit her bottom lip hard enough to taste the tang of blood. It would be a mistake to misread the situation. Jeff was tired and probably dispirited. The job he faced was a huge one.

“Okay. But let me get dressed first.”

His sexy smile was a fraction of its usual wattage, but sweet and potent, nevertheless. “Not on my account. You look cute, Marisa.” He crooked a finger. “Keep me company.”

She chose the end of the sofa farthest from his chair. When she sat down, she was careful to tuck her ancient robe beneath her so there were no embarrassing gaps. “Okay, I’m here. What do you want to talk about?”

His smile was mysterious. “I know you asked for a week, but I’ve been giving our situation some thought.”

“Oursituation? Should I be alarmed?” Her tart question was a cover for the butterflies in her stomach.

“I don’t think so. I hope not.” He shrugged. “I think you should move in with me.”

There was a roaring in her ears, but it wasn’t a tornado this time.Move in with him?“I don’t understand. Why?”

For the first time, Jeff looked nervous. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. When he lifted his head to stare at her, his expression was part defiant determination and part unease. “We have something. I don’t know that I believe in love at first sight, but whatever happened between us that Valentine’s night hasn’t gone away. We’d be foolish to ignore something so powerful.”

Goose bumps bloomed across her skin. “You’re not saying you love me.” She made it a statement.

He grimaced. “I don’t know. Maybe. But I don’t want to lose you for another eighteen months. If you move in with me, we could gut this house and do a remodel for a larger food prep area and a bakery. You told me you had thought about doing that.”

The bakery had been a passing comment during their first date. “That’s true,” she said. She had dreamed more than once about baking cakes and pies and cookies with her own spin on them. Or maybe specializing in wedding cakes and special orders.

She sucked in a breath. “And what if I love you?”

He went white. “Do you?”

Did she?“I don’t know. Maybe,” she said, echoing his answer. “I guess it wouldn’t be smart if I did. You haven’t even told me your favorite color and whether you’re a beach or a mountain guy.”

“Blue,” he said huskily. “Like your eyes. And both.”

Something about his intense regard dried her mouth. “So this idea of yours is all about convenience and my future business plans?”

He stood to face her with only a large sofa between them. “No,” he said evenly. “It’s about having you in my bed. Every. Single. Night. It’s all I can think about.”

Tremors made her legs wobbly and her stomach shaky. “A breakup would be harder if we were living together. Blossom Branch is a small, gossipy town.”

“Then we won’t break up.”

She wanted so badly to say yes. She wantedhim.What he was suggesting was both exhilarating and terrifying.

There was just one problem.

She sucked in a breath. “I think I may have lied to you,” she said.

Chapter 5

Jeff groaned inwardly. For a moment there, he had been certain she was on the verge of saying yes. And besides, he could have sworn Marisa Evans was one of the least duplicitous women he had ever met.

“I don’t care,” he said recklessly.

“You should. It may scare you away again.”

“I wasn’t scared,” he protested. But even that was a lie. He’d never been any woman’sfirst. And he’d handled the situation poorly.

“If you say so.”

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