Jeanette immediately went on the defensive. “I left Saturday night because I was tired. I didn’t answer the phone yesterday because I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I had a lot on my mind.”
“Was this about buying the house?”
“Mostly.”
“And the rest? Did that have anything to do with me?”
“Why do you automatically assume that I think about you at all?”
He lifted a brow.
“Okay, yes,” she conceded grudgingly. “You were part of it.” She met his gaze. “Tom, you seem to want a whole lot more than I have to give. We hardly know each other and you want to share a house with me. Maybe you’re just joking—”
“I’m not,” he said evenly.
She shuddered. When he said stuff like that, she almost lost what little resolve she still had to keep her distance from him. She held up a hand as if to hold him back. “That’s what I mean. It’s too much, too soon.”
He frowned at that. “Will you sit down so we can actually have a conversation? I feel as if you already have one foot out the door.”
“I told you I need to get to work.”
He sighed with frustration. “Have lunch with me, then. Let’s talk this through. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. It’s just that I’m a decisive man. I don’t see the point in wasting time when I know what I want.”
“And what you want is me?” she asked incredulously. “Come on. That’s crazy.”
He nodded. “I’m a little thrown by it myself.”
“Yet that hasn’t slowed you down.”
He shrugged. “I don’t see any reason to slow down. I’ve always set goals for myself, then gone about achieving them. I don’t let obstacles stand in my way.”
“Are my feelings just one more obstacle for you to overcome?”
He winced. “In a way.”
“Well, let me know when you recognize that my feelings might have validity, that when I tell you I need time, you get that I mean it. Maybe then we’ll have something to talk about.”
She went to the unlocked door between his office and Teresa’s and yanked it open. She’d almost made it to the outer office, when Tom whirled her around and kissed her, a sizzling, lengthy kiss designed to leave her weak-kneed and breathless. Which it did.
“I’ll pick you up at the spa at noon,” he said quietly, ignoring Teresa’s openmouthed stare. “We’ll talk more over lunch.”
Jeanette regarded him with exasperation. “Did you not hear one word I just said?”
“Every one,” he assured her. “And that kiss just contradicted most of them. We’ll discuss the rest when I see you later. And don’t even think about standing me up, because I will find you and we will have this conversation.”
Before Jeanette could gather her wits, he walked back into his office and closed the door.
“Whew!” Teresa murmured, fanning herself with the minutes of the last council meeting. “I’d heard all about the fireworks between you two at the game Friday night—that was all over town by Saturday morning—but I had no idea...” She shook her head.
“Teresa, I’m begging you, please do not tell Grace Wharton about this,” Jeanette said, knowing that was exactly where Teresa would be headed in a couple of hours, sooner if she took a coffee break. “It will just add fuel to the fire. I know I started it by kissing him at the game Friday night, but that, well, it was impulsive. I don’t usually do things like that.”
“Honey, nobody’s holding it against you,” Teresa soothed.
Jeanette scowled. “That’s not what I meant. I had my reasons for that kiss, but it was a mistake. A huge mistake! I realize now that I don’t want to be the subject of town gossip, and even though he doesn’t seem to give two hoots about it, it won’t be good for Tom, either.”
Teresa regarded her with disappointment. “You want me to keep the kiss I saw just now to myself?”
Jeanette nodded. “Please. I’ll give you a free facial,” she said.
“You must want my silence a whole lot,” Teresa said with increasing amusement.
“I’ll throw in a massage, too,” Jeanette added, unable to keep a hint of desperation out of her voice.
Teresa couldn’t seem to stop grinning, which suggested Jeanette was compounding her mistake by making such a big deal of this latest kiss.
“To tell you the truth, Tom would have my hide if I accepted what amounts to a very generous bribe from you, so I’ll decline the facial and the massage, but the fact that you offered...” Her grin spread. “What that proves is that this relationship the two of you have is getting downright interesting. I’ll keep what I saw just now to myself, but something tells me it won’t take long before the whole town knows your business, anyway. It’s impossible to hide that kind of heat.”
That was exactly what Jeanette was afraid of. It was getting more and more difficult to keep denying it to herself, as well.
* * *
Tom was feeling rather pleased with himself when there was a tap on the door to the conference room. He opened it to find Ronnie on the other side.
“You and Jeanette finish your conversation?” Ronnie asked.
Tom nodded.
“Then maybe you have time to listen to a piece of advice from a man’s who made more than his share of mistakes when it comes to women.”
Since his current plan seemed to be having less success than he’d anticipated, Tom waved Ronnie to a chair. “I’d welcome another viewpoint.”
“Back off,” Ronnie said succinctly. “I talked to Jeanette before the meeting. She didn’t say much about what was going on with the two of you, but I picked up on one thing.”
“Oh?”
“She’s scared to death of what she’s feeling for you.”
“If I give her space, she’ll just think it to death,” Tom argued.
“If you don’t, you’ll lose her,” Ronnie said. “She’s feeling pressured. When I wanted Dana Sue back, I was in her face a lot. All that accomplished was
