Page 8 of Twice as Tempting

Kelly felt like his hand was burning a hole through her sleeve, or maybe it was the fact that standing this close, she could feel the heat rolling off of him. “Not in my building, but there are some units available in the complex.”

He didn’t let go of her arm. “How would you feel about that?”

“What? About you living there?” She tried to play it cool, but the catch in her voice betrayed her.

“Yeah. Would that be a problem for you?”

Kelly looked into his smoldering brown eyes with the flecks of gold and shook her head. “Would it be a problem for you?” she asked.

His eyes appraised her for a moment, lingering on her mouth. “No,” he finally said.

They might have said more, but Alex called, “Kids, come on. Dinner’s getting cold.”

Damian let go of her arm. “See why I have to get out of here,” he said and chuckled gruffly.

Kelly giggled and followed him into the dining room.

After dinner, Alex shooed Damian and Kelly out of the kitchen, inviting them to “relax and catch up.”

Her attempt at matchmaking was so obvious that Kelly wanted to laugh, but she didn’t want to make Damian any more uncomfortable than he already was.

“Walk outside with me,” he said and headed toward the front door without waiting for Kelly’s response.

As soon as they were outside in the bright August sunshine, Damian appeared to relax. They walked around to the back of the house that faced a small yet picturesque lake and took a seat on a swinging wooden bench overlooking the water.

With Damian’s bulky frame taking up much of the seat, Kelly had to scoot far over to the opposite side to avoid contact. They sat in silence for a few minutes and stared out at the water rippling gently in the breeze.

“It must have been fun growing up here,” Kelly commented as a pontoon boat carrying a large group of passengers floated by.

“It was,” Damian replied. “Zack and I used to be out on the lake all summer long, until Mom came out waving her arms to call us in.”

“I can totally picture that,” Kelly said.

“Listen, Kell, about the other day at the hospital…”

Kelly held up her hand. “Let’s not go there, Damian. I’m enjoying this right now. No need to dredge up the past.”

Damian shoved his hands in his hair and shifted on the bench. “I just wanted to say that it was wrong of me to expect that you’d want to pick up where we left off.”

Kelly sighed. “I’m not completely blameless here. I shouldn’t have expected you to call me after you left. We never made any promises to each other.”

They locked eyes for a long moment.

“What do you say we call a truce? At least for the next few months, until Zack and Emma’s wedding.”

Kelly wondered what his definition of a truce was—exchanging pleasantries at family gatherings or something more…intimate? Don’t go there, Kell!

“I suppose we owe it to them, huh?”

“Yeah. Plus, Zack said he’ll kick my ass if I’m not nice to you.”

Kelly tipped her head back and laughed. “Emma told me to be nice to you too, but she didn’t threaten bodily harm!”

Damian stuck out his hand. “So, truce?” he asked with a gleam in his eyes.

“Truce,” she said and placed her hand in his. He clasped it firmly, and she felt instant heat from the contact. Suddenly, she remembered those hands on other parts of her anatomy, and she had to shake her head to return to the present. True, they had once been lovers, but Damian hadn’t said anything to make her believe that he wanted to go down that path again.

The sound of Alex’s voice calling them in for dessert broke Kelly’s train of thought, and then she realized that she and Damian were still holding hands.

“Be right there, Ma,” he called gruffly and reluctantly let go of Kelly’s hand.

“I think I’m going to check into that apartment sooner rather than later,” he said as they trudged up the sloped lawn to the house.

“Great,” Kelly said. Just great!