Have Bouquet, Need Boyfriend by Rita Herron

too?
     
    Shaken by that thought, he was grateful when the phone rang. She jerked
    as if surprised, then stepped over to the end table and looked at the
    caller ID. She let it ring once, twice.
     
    “Aren’t you going to answer it?”
     
    She nodded and picked it up. “Hello, Suzanne.”
     
    Girls. They’d probably talk forever. He pounced on the opportunity and
    decided to leave before he did anything stupid.
     
    But they had had such a nice evening, he didn’t want to be rude. So he
    moved closer to her, then lifted a strand of her silky hair from her
    neck and whispered, “Thanks for having dinner with me. I had a great
    time. I’ll call you tomorrow.” Then without analyzing why or what he was
    doing, he brushed a gentle kiss to the hollow of her throat.
     
    At the feel of Thomas’s lips on her neck, Rebecca quivered with longing
    that arose from somewhere deep inside her. Then he disappeared, and she
    sank onto the
     
    couch, breathless, wondering why he’d kissed her. And wishing he hadn’t
    left.
     
    Had she misinterpreted the look he’d given her earlier? She’d thought
    she’d seen hunger in his eyes. For her.
     
    No, it couldn’t be.
     
    He’d said they were friends.
     
    “Rebecca, are you listening?” Suzanne’s voice broke into the haze around
    her.
     
    Still, she savored the sensations spiraling through her, memorizing his
    masculine scent and the lingering whisper of his kiss. “Yes.”
     
    “Are you all right?”
     
    “Yes, I’m fine.” Attracted to a man who is all wrong for me. I want to
    ask him to give me a baby but I don’t have the nerve.
     
    “Like I was saying, Mimi called earlier, and she and Hannah plan to come
    to Atlanta on a shopping spree to pick new outfits for the party. I hope
    you’re coming with them.”
     
    A shopping trip with all the girls? “I…I don’t know.”
     
    “Oh, come on, Rebecca, don’t be a fuddy-dud. You can use a new wardrobe.”
     
    She glanced down at her loose-fitting dress. “What’s wrong with my clothes?”
     
    Suzanne sighed. “Nothing, if you want people to think you’re an old
    school marm.”
     
    “My clothes are comfortable. Besides, I sell books in a small town-“
     
    “That doesn’t mean you have to look like the spinster librarian. Come
    on, it’ll be fun.” Suzanne’s voice grew excited. “We’ll get free
    makeovers and have
     
     
     
    lunch. Oh, and there’s a great lingerie shop we can buy some fancy
    underthings, too. You never know when you might be taking your clothes
    off for some sexy guy!”
     
    Rebecca faked a laugh. Yeah, right. If only she had that problem to
    worry about.
     
    Thomas turned on his treadmill and began to walk, then jog, hoping the
    exercise would purge the desire to call Rebecca and hear her voice
    again. That stupid kiss had done something to him. His lips had never
    tasted skin that actually made him tingle from the inside out.
     
    He had wanted to dip his mouth and taste her lips, then lower down her
    neck and beyond….
     
    He adjusted the speed on the machine and sped up until he was sweating.
    What was wrong with him?
     
    He’d never been interested in art before, but the passion in those
    pictures had aroused him and his curiosity about the woman who had
    painted them. They were just landscapes, for God’s sake. It wasn’t as if
    she’d painted nudes or erotic love scenes.
     
    Don’t think about the paintings-think about that homey little apartment.
    All those antiques and family photos and hand-knitted afghans. Rebecca
    was a homebody. She’d obviously settled in Sugar Hill for life.
     
    And he didn’t intend to.
     
    He planned to move on. When he went to Atlanta, he’d find some
    sophisticated city woman to keep him company. And if he ever did decide
    to open up his heart again, it would be with someone who enjoyed
     
    the same activities he did, hiking and skiing and…and football!
     
    Someone who’d help him in his drive for