Page 35 of Lonely Heart

I’d succeeded in eventually falling asleep and getting a decent night’s rest, but when I woke up the next morning, Marco was in my thoughts again. We saw each other while at work, but I’d been tied up with a guest both times he’d walked through the hotel.

The feeling that came over me when I saw him, when he smiled and waved at me, wasn’t something I’d ever experienced with him. For so long, he’d always just been Marco Kingston, my brother’s best friend and an honorary member of the family.

Now, I wasn’t quite so sure that was all.

Because today had been the absolute worst and best for me all at once.

There was the rational part of my brain that was looking at tonight’s dinner with Marco as the simple result of a challenge, something that happened to come up in a random conversation we’d had. There was nothing else behind this—just an attempt for each of us to prove the other wrong.

And from that side of it, this was harmless. It would be fun and friendly, and I wouldn’t need to spend my whole evening alone. Plus, even though he’d insisted it wasn’t necessary, it gave me just one more opportunity to do something nice for Marco after what he’d done for me the night I’d been assaulted.

But there was the other part of me that was struggling with all of this. The difficulty I was having was the result of the excitement I felt, the questions lingering in the back of my mind.

It was possible I was reading far too much into this, but I couldn’t help it. This was Marco. He’d known me for so many years, and never, not once in all those years, had he made any kind of move on me. Granted, I realized he hadn’t exactly done that yet, but there was this part of me that was wondering if there was something behind this for Marco.

Was it just a simple dinner with his best friend’s younger sister, or was he experiencing some of the same nerves and anticipation that I’d been feeling today?

For the last two hours, I’d been obsessively checking the time, counting down the minutes until Marco was going to be here.

I’d put extensive effort into choosing an outfit to wear tonight. I’d gone with a pair of jeans, a black camisole that left just a sliver of skin at my abdomen exposed, and a long-sleeved, open front, gray knit cardigan over it. Had we been going out somewhere, I would have finished the outfit off with my gray suede booties. I wanted it to appear casual enough for dinner at my house with him, but I refused to look like I didn’t care at all.

And then there was the food.

Despite this wholedatecoming to fruition because I’d challenged Marco when it came to eating my cooking, I’d gone out of my way to prepare a meal I thought he might enjoy. Because for some reason I couldn’t begin to comprehend, let alone explain, I desperately wanted him to like it.

I was so frazzled, so jittery, that I let out a little yelp when the knock came at my door precisely two minutes before six o’clock.

“Jesus, Ivy. Get it together,” I mumbled as I set the tongs down and made my way to the front door.

With each step I took in that direction, my heart pounded. I made it to the door, cleared my throat while brushing my palms down my thighs, and let out a breath.

A moment later, Marco was standing in front of me. I had to believe it was because of what he was here to do, to have this so-called date with me, but seeing him now, I couldn’t miss how devastatingly handsome he was. I’d always known he was a good-looking guy, but there was something about him in this moment that had my breath catching.

“You made it.”

His eyes swept down over me, an unmistakable appreciation in them. When he returned his stare to my face, he smiled and said, “I wasn’t going to miss this for anything.”

I’d always been a bit daring, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask him to explain his response to me. The way his gaze had drifted over my body told me one story, the amusement in his tone told me another. Was this just about having some fun for him, or was it possible there was something deeper here?

And perhaps the better question remained—which of those would I have preferred it to be?

I smiled at him and stepped back to allow him to come inside. “I’m glad you’re here. You have perfect timing.”

The second I closed the door behind him and led him away from it, Marco didn’t hesitate to compliment me. “It smells incredible in here. If I was rating the food on the scent alone, it’d already get a ten out of ten.”

If only it were that easy.

I couldn’t say I didn’t have the ability to appreciate a good fragrance. While Marco was busy taking in the aroma of the food, I was acutely aware of the new scent in my space.

Him.

Had he always smelled this good? It was rich and masculine, woody, with a hint of citrus. I wasn’t quite sure the food I’d made could compare to him.

“Well, we’ll have to wait and see how you feel about the taste,” I said, snapping myself out of the lust-filled fog.

“Do you need me to do anything? How can I help?” he asked once we had made it to the kitchen.

“If you want to grab some drinks, I’ll get the food squared away.”

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