Page 6 of Tempt

“Yup. It’s been so warm I feel like I’m having hot flashes.” She fans herself.

My gaze drags down her body.

It is warm.

“Dad, can we have ice cream for dinner?”

I rub a hand over my neck. “No. Andy, we’re having pasta.”

“The trick is to have the pasta first.” Kat turns back to the freezer and grabs a family-sized heat-up entrée. “Pasta makes ice cream taste better.”

“It does?” Andy asks.

“Guaranteed.”

She sets both boxes in my cart without asking, and I try not to notice the way her breasts press against the edge.

“What about you? You’re getting dessert to go with your…dessert?” I ask, thinking of the icing.

“Mhmm. Going to eat it solo. It’s a new tradition.”

“Sounds more like a pity party.” I say it without thinking, and for the first time, there’s a flicker of emotion behind her eyes.

“My roommate is moving out.”

“Liv? I thought she and Sawyer were already moved in.” She waves to me from across the street most mornings.

“My other roommate,” Kat says with a flourish of her hand. “The only one I had left.”

She turns toward the end of the aisle. In profile, she looks sad and a little lost.

It’s been a while since I was in school and had roommates, but I do remember how it feels to lose someone you thought would always be there.

“Come for dinner,” I say. “There’ll even be complex carbs before the ice cream.”

She freezes, her lips parted in surprise.

Why did I ask that?

Because she made my kid smile.

Or because I hate the idea of her eating alone.

Possibly both.

“Besides.” I saved my trump card for last. “A smart person told me pasta makes ice cream taste better.”

3

KAT

Watching Daniel strap Andy into the kid seat while battling with grocery bags is oddly fascinating.

When he asked me to dinner, he caught me in a moment of weakness. The news from Jules was a blow, plus I really am starving.

If it were any other guy, I’d wonder if he was hitting on me. But the chances of this man trying to get in my pants are worse than the chances of Greek Row obeying a new “no parties” rule.

He’s older, and a dad. With the exception of the fact that he’s friends with Liv’s boyfriend, he runs in totally different circles.

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