Page 10 of Twice as Tempting

Kelly shot her a scolding look. “I don’t know, Em. I’m not really into public speaking. I prefer to keep a low profile.”

“Nonsense!” Mrs. Simmons proclaimed. “You’re young and beautiful. Now is not the time to keep a low profile. Look at me, still going strong at eighty!”

How can I argue with that? “Ok, fine. But if it’s a disaster, don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

Emma smiled and turned to Mrs. Simmons. “We’ll work out a date, and you’ll be the first to know.”

“Thank you, dear,” she replied and then disappeared into the romance section.

“Thanks a lot, Em,” Kelly hissed.

“Hey, you’re the expert on romance novels, not me,” Emma said and walked away.

If only I could be as good at romance in real life…

The next few days passed quickly, and Kelly drove home from the bookstore on Friday evening with the entire weekend stretched out before her. Emma had insisted that Brett and Jill could handle the store for the weekend and that Kelly deserved some time off. Kelly should have felt grateful, but she actually felt let down. She had half-hoped that Ken would call her for a date, but her phone had remained silent. Now the weekend loomed ahead of her with no plans in sight.

Kelly had just started to prepare a mental list of chores that she could do when she pulled into the apartment complex and spotted Damian’s black truck parked in front of the building across from hers. The tailgate was down, and there were several packing boxes stacked inside.

Kelly parked her Jetta in her assigned space, checked her reflection in the rearview mirror, and caught sight of Damian sauntering toward her. Kelly took a deep breath, smoothed down her skirt, and stepped out of the car.

“Hey, neighbor,” he said with a dazzling smile.

“Hey,” she replied. Now what?

“Just get home from work?” he asked, eyeing her up and down.

“Yeah. Congratulations on your new apartment. That was fast.”

“Yep. I don’t mess around,” Damian said and leaned against the tailgate of his truck.

Kelly took in his usual attire of faded jeans and a graphic t-shirt, which today sported the Chevy logo in large black letters across the front. He wore the same worn-in work boots that she had seen on him numerous times before but never tired of. Damian was not a man who dressed to impress, and the truth was, Kelly admired that about him. He simply was who he was, with no apologies. She’d never seen him put on airs or adjust his behavior to fit in. He was a man who was definitely comfortable in his own skin, and oh, what glorious skin it was…

“Is that all of your stuff?”

“Yeah, why?”

“It doesn’t look like much. There’s no furniture.”

Damian chuckled. “I need to buy some. I only had the essentials shipped here from California.”

Kelly guessed that the number of boxes in his truck would barely contain all the clothes in her closet! “Well, then that explains why you didn’t need help moving in!”

“Actually, this is my third load. I could have used some help earlier, but Zack was at work, and my dad was on the golf course.”

“Ah, well, don’t let me interrupt. Go back to your unpacking and…welcome to the neighborhood,” she added flippantly. Kelly had just turned around to head to her own apartment when Damian called out…

“Wait.”

She stopped mid-stride and faced him again. “What?”

“You busy tonight?”

Uh-oh. “Um…”

“Because I was thinking about ordering Chinese take-out, and if you’re not busy…”

Kelly eyed him suspiciously. Was this part of the whole calling-a-truce plan, or did he have an ulterior motive? Because if he did, she would not make it easy on him this time. There was no possible way!