Simply Sexy

'Are you saying you didn't know I had a kind streak?' His husky voice reverberated in her ear.

'Not any more than I knew you had a jealous one.' She just now realized he still held her hand in his grasp, his thumb tracing erotic circles inside her palm. She shivered, unable to control the impulse.

'I enjoy your sense of humor, Rina. And I enjoy you.'

And she enjoyed him. Too much, she thought. Though she'd already chosen him as the man with whom she'd set herself free, she still needed to protect her heart. No matter how charming, the man was a wanderer capable of leaving on a whim.

Already she knew Colin wouldn't be a man easy to forget. 'I need a drink.'

'Cat makes a delicious punch. Come on.'

After finishing a glass of sherbet-and-champagne-laced punch, Rina relaxed. She held another glass in her hand and, with Colin close by her side, she was enjoying the party. 'So tell me more about getting Emma that job.'

'What's to tell?' Colin shrugged. 'About a year ago, Logan called and asked me for a favor. Everyone adores Emma, so I talked Joe into hiring her.'

'You did more than that. You saved her from her meddling self.'

He merely shrugged, obviously unwilling to admit that he had a caring nature, one that extended beyond Joe, beyond family. With each new fact she learned about Colin, she discovered an intriguing side, making her want to know more.

'I got her a desk job. I didn't know she'd end up writing a singles column though.' His eyebrows furrowed, aggravation plain on his face.

She didn't understand why. 'Something wrong with what Emma writes?'

'It's just an unusual slant for a newspaper to take.'

She nodded. 'I thought so, too, the first time I heard about what Corinne was doing with the Times.' During their initial conversation, Corinne had explained her vision of using the paper as a means to bring the town together. She believed that in today's world, people needed more warmth and compassion, and less harsh reality.

Under her leadership, the Times would advertise where people could meet. Men and women would learn how to relate to one another better when they did mingle at a social event. While the paper would still be reporting some news, the focus would be on people. Listening to Corinne's excitement, Rina knew she'd found a place to call home.

Colin folded his arms over his chest. 'So how did you come to work for Corinne?'

'Hors d'oeuvre?' An elf stopped by with a tray in hand.

The delicious aroma tickled her nose, but Rina was more interested in her conversation with Colin than with the food on the plate. 'No, thank you.'

Colin shook his head and the woman in green took her leave.

'You were telling me about how you came to work for Corinne?' he prompted, the moment they were alone again.

'Oh, it's a long story. Basically, my parents knew hers, and older people like to talk about their children.' She shook her head. 'So I heard about Corinne taking over her husband's paper, thought my writing would interest her and I called.'

'You pursued your goals,' he said with approval. 'Did you always want to be a writer?'

She shook her head. 'No, I took the long route. I used to be a legal secretary. The hours were decent, the pay was guaranteed and so was the overtime. It covered the bills, but I'd always been more a people person than someone who liked being holed up in an office.'

'That much I can believe.' His warm gaze met hers, mesmerizing her so much it was hard to believe they were still at a party surrounded by people.

She tipped her head to one side. 'I'm hoping that's a compliment and not a dig at my curious nature.'

'I admire you, Rina.'

The husky tone in his voice sent shivers of awareness down her spine. 'Thanks,' she murmured.

'And your writing…'

'I always took notes, wrote stories. Anecdotes.' She shrugged, remembering. 'After I got married, I had a lot of free time to fill pages in a journal.'

At first, she'd used her new surroundings and her husband's new friends as subjects. She'd been amused by the for-show marriages she'd witnessed and enthralled by the real relationships, like her parents', that had lasted for years. Her observations had become humorous slice-of-life stories that kept her busy while home alone.

'You stopped working?' he asked, apparently truly interested in her past.

Why wouldn't he be? She was equally interested in his. 'My husband wanted to give me the life he thought I always wanted. But staying home and spending money I hadn't earned, well, that just wasn't me.'

But to please Robert, she'd eventually accepted the lifestyle. After all, most women would have traded anything to be in her position, or so she'd been told at the going-away party the other secretaries had thrown on her last day of work.

'I can't see you staying at home and eating bonbons, either.'

'What can you see me doing?' She wondered how he viewed her.

He shrugged. 'A headstrong, determined woman like you? I can see you dissecting what men want.' His lips twitched in a wry grin. 'The question is whether you'll get it right.'

'You're just worried I'll get inside your head.'

'You already came close. I read your first article.'

'And?' she asked, knowing that right or wrong, his opinion was important to her.

'You made some very valid points. Men are visual animals. We see, we react.'

'Basic chemistry.'

He nodded. 'Lust.' His voice grew deeper.

'Not enough for anything meaningful or lasting.' She cleared her dry throat. 'Which is why I have to dig deeper.'

'I'm certain you'll dig into both men's and women's psyches.' His eyes danced with certainty.

'You think you know me so well?'

He nodded. 'I know I do.' But he frowned, seemingly not thrilled with the notion.

And Rina thought she knew why. Despite the banter, the notion of getting past lust and digging deeper made him uncomfortable. He wasn't looking for anything more serious than she was. Yet in the short time they'd known one another, he understood her better than Robert ever had. Her husband had loved her and given her everything- except the freedom to be herself. The more time she spent in Ashford, the more time she spent with Colin, the more self-awareness she gained and the more she felt she had to contribute to her work. Not to mention she was coming to enjoy herself. A lot.

'Tell me something. Doesn't it strike you as odd that a newspaper has two relationship columnists?' he asked. 'I mean, why write what you do for a newspaper?'

She really didn't understand what he was getting at. 'As opposed to what?'

He shrugged. 'A magazine, maybe? There are plenty of those in Manhattan.'

'I needed to get away from the memories. To start over fresh. Plus, I had no connections with the publishers there. Corinne was willing to give me a chance. And I liked her vision. She wants to bring people together and is using the newspaper to do it. My writing fits in well here.'

He exhaled hard. 'But you don't think her vision-the subjects she wants to focus on- is odd for a newspaper?'

'Slightly unusual, maybe. But then so is the world lately. Besides, many papers have articles and columns in the lifestyle section geared toward relationships or other things.'

'True. But those papers have an abundance of sections and space. The Times is a small paper. Space is limited. By adding more frivolous things to it, other sections have to go.'

Rina bit her lip and nodded. 'I suppose. But Corinne said the Globe outsells the Times anyway,' she said, speaking of the larger competition. 'Which freed her up to try something different. All I know is, I owe Corinne for giving me a new start and a new life. And you can't imagine how badly I needed that new life.'

He glanced out into the crowd for a moment. 'Rina…'