Too Close For Comfort (Sweetrock Cowboy Romance Book 2) by Leighann Dobbs Page B

Salmon with lemon butter sauce, asparagus, and tiny little red potatoes. It looked delicious. Just like him.
    Heaven on earth.
    Or a farewell dinner?
    He pulled out her chair and they sat.
    “This is nice.” Tessa took a sip of wine, and then flaked off a piece of salmon with her fork.
    “Very nice. Special.” Cash dug into his dinner.
    “I guess we only have two more nights here,” Tessa blurted out. Only two more nights and the floors would be refinished and they’d be moving back to their own places. What would happen then?
    Cash looked up at her, pausing with a forkful of asparagus halfway to his mouth. “I know. It’s been fun.”
    Did he hesitate at the end of that sentence as if he was about to say ‘but’?
    “It has.” She spread her palm on his thigh, feeling warmth and hard muscle through the fabric. “Real fun.”
    Cash smiled, taking her hand and pulling it up to his lips and planting a kiss on her knuckles that sent her stomach fluttering. “I was hoping we could have even more fun.”
    The warmth that flooded through her stole her words and in a second she was on his lap, his lips on hers, his hands slipping the clingy dress off her shoulders. She sighed, parting her lips and leaning in to him, enveloped in his musky smell, tasting the herbs and wine on his lips.
    As he stood, picking her up in his arms and carrying her toward her room, she abandoned all reasonable thoughts and worries about what might happen after tomorrow night.

    * * *
    C ash snuggled Tessa closer to his side, feeling the warmth of her curves pressed against him, her breath on his skin. She looked peaceful and completely relaxed. Her dark lashes cast shadows on her cheek as she slept, and he resisted the urge to reach out and touch her flawless skin lest he wake her.
    A guy could get used to this.
    But was Tessa thinking along those same lines?
    He’d loved the feeling of having a special dinner together, Tessa putting on that sexy dress for him. Taking it off was even better. And afterwards, the way her body responded to his told him that she felt their connection as deeply as he did.
    When she’d mentioned that the hardwood floors would soon be done, he’d sensed a certain hesitation in her voice. Was it because she wanted to know what would happen afterwards or because she was sending him a signal that there would be no afterwards?
    His mind drifted back to his run-in with Derek. According to Derek, he was recently divorced. He’d bought the old Dobbins Place, a run-down Victorian on the edge of town. He’d asked about Tessa. Cash realized it was because Derek knew they’d been friends their whole lives. What he didn’t know was how close of friends they’d recently become.
    Cash was worried, though, because Derek had asked in a way that made it sound like he was interested in getting back together with Tessa. He’d made it a point to say he was single now. Cash had had all he could do not to punch him in the face. He couldn’t believe the jerk was actually coming back and interested in the girl whose heart he’d broken.
    But it wasn’t up to Cash to make that call. It was up to Tessa. Hopefully, she wouldn’t want anything to do with the guy but it made Cash wonder why she hadn’t mentioned that Derek was in town. Maybe she didn’t know, or maybe she just wasn’t sure how to broach the subject with Cash.
    Or maybe she thought it was none of Cash’s business.
    He looked down at her sleeping face, watched her chest rising with a slow rhythm. His heart squeezed. Surely she wouldn’t even think of going back with Derek. Not after what had happened between them.
    Images of his grandfather came to mind. His grandmother had run off when Cash’s father was just a little boy leaving Gramps with a young son to care for. He knew that Gramps still hurt from that even now. He’d never found anyone else to love. Cash just hoped he wasn’t about to suffer the same fate.

14
    T essa drove to Happy Trails the next day