“Maybe you should consider staying over there till you can get a plumber in here to finish the renovations,” he suggested.
“The inn’s not full?”
He shook his head. “I think Kelsey said there were open rooms for another week or so. Worst-case scenario, you could share mine.”
Even as the impulsive words came out of his mouth, he flinched. Bad idea! A really bad idea, in fact. That would be the absolute end of any pretense that they weren’t involved. Even if he never laid a hand on her—which was unlikely enough—the entire world would believe they’d become a couple.
“Why do you suddenly look so panicky?” Abby asked, her expression knowing. “Scared you won’t be able to resist me?”
“I know I won’t be able to resist you,” Seth confirmed. “Which makes that idea insane.”
“Insane?” she questioned. “Or dangerous?”
“Is there a difference?”
“I can’t say for sure,” she said. “But I’m suddenly very interested in finding out. I’ll pack a bag.”
Seth swallowed hard as she headed inside. What the heck had just happened here? He’d suddenly lost control of the entire situation. Or maybe what he really feared was that he was losing control of his heart.
* * *
“I’d like a room for a few nights,” Abby told Kelsey when she and Seth got to Seaview Inn.
Kelsey studied the two of them curiously. “Something happen over at your house?” she asked Abby. “You didn’t set fire to it, did you? You weren’t in such a good mood when you left here earlier.”
“Nothing like that,” Abby said, laughing. “But I did get a little overzealous with a sledgehammer.”
Kelsey’s shocked reaction had her quickly adding, “I gutted the only fully equipped bathroom.”
Kelsey chuckled at that. “I imagine that has something to do with that situation you discussed with Mom and Grandma Jenny earlier. They told me about what was going on with your contractor. Were you able to resolve the problem?”
“Thanks to a suggestion from Seth, I was,” she said. “But not till after I went on my destructive rampage. Seth took one look at the mess and suggested I should probably stay here till I can get the plumber in to install new fixtures and do the rest of the renovations.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t invite you to move in with him,” Kelsey said, her gaze on Seth. “How come you let that opportunity slip through your fingers?”
Seth scowled at the question.
“Oh, he did,” Abby confided. “Sort of.”
“Huh?” Kelsey said.
“Never mind. I’ll just take my own room, if one’s available.”
“Sure,” Kelsey confirmed. “A word of warning, though. We’re sold out starting in about ten days. Do you think your repairs will be completed by then?”
Abby nodded. “If I have to lay the tile myself,” she told her.
“Then we’re good,” Kelsey said.
Abby handed over her credit card, then glanced at Seth. “You must be feeling relieved about now.”
“Relieved?”
“No sharing necessary,” she explained.
“Looks to me like he’s disappointed,” Kelsey commented. “What about it, Seth? Want me to suddenly discover we have a full house now?”
“Just give the woman a room,” he grumbled. “I’ll carry her bag up.”
Kelsey laughed. “You won’t have to go far. Lucky for you, the room right next door to yours is available. Pretty convenient, huh?”
Seth shook his head. “I hope you two are enjoying yourselves.” He gave Abby a warning look. “Remember that conversation we had about dangerous situations? You’re playing with one right now.”
Abby trembled under his heated gaze. The prospect of testing Seth’s limits suddenly held a whole lot of appeal. Just as Kelsey had said, how convenient that she wouldn’t have to go far to do it.
16
Seth could hear Abby moving around in the room next door to his and felt his willpower crumbling.
“You’re not going over there,” he admonished himself. “Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not the entire time she’s there.”
And please, God, let that not be for long. He vowed to call the plumber himself first thing in the morning and offer all sorts of incentives for him to get that bathroom at Abby’s whipped back into shape in record time. He’d go over and lay the new tiles, if it came to that. Maybe he could even install the new tub, though he had no experience doing such a thing. Desperate times called for desperate measures. This was one of those times.
He heard a tap on the door and cast a frantic glance in that direction. The second tap, however, came not on the door to the hallway, but on a door he hadn’t really paid attention to before. It apparently connected his room to Abby’s. Blast it all, he thought, staring at it in dismay. Now what?
“Seth, are you in there? I’m ready to go out to dinner if you are.”
Dinner, he thought with relief. Thank goodness! He jumped up and opened the door.
Unfortunately, though Abby was, indeed, dressed, she was wearing some slinky little dress that barely skimmed over her curves. She looked sophisticated and hot. Very, very hot. Take-me-to-bed hot. He swallowed hard. How was he supposed to go on resisting her—protecting his already wounded heart—if she looked so blasted sexy?
“Aren’t you going to freeze in that?” he asked in a choked voice.
She held up a jacket. “I’ll be fine.” She met his gaze, then held it for several endless beats. “And you keep telling me you’re up to the task of keeping me warm,” she added, her voice a soft caress. “I’m not worried.”
Well, he was worried. The game was getting wildly out of hand. Sex with Abby he could handle. Falling in love, which seemed to go right along with it, spelled disaster, and all of his many excuses were wearing very, very thin.
“Let’s go,” he said, closing the connecting door, then locking it firmly.
As they exited his room together, they ran straight into Grandma Jenny in the hallway. Her eyes glinted with amusement.
“Kelsey told me you were staying here, Abby. I wondered how long you’d be in
