Her Charming Heartbreaker (12 page)

“Come on. I’m starting
to feel light-headed here.”

“Let’s not get ahead of
ourselves,” she said. “We don’t know if this will work.”

He watched her try to
hold on to her straight face but he could see her eyes crinkling at
the edges. Then she relaxed and gave in to the laughter he’d seen
swimming in her eyes.

“Honestly, I don’t
understand how you ever took Joyce seriously,” she said. “What’s
the worst that could happen?”

“I couldn’t even hazard
a guess. You know her better than anyone else. What do you think
she’s capable of?”

She shrugged. “Nothing
I wouldn’t do. We’re sort of like two peas in a pod. You know,
great minds and all that jazz but with a pinch of pepper. Think
superheroes with evil alter egos. It’s a balancing act, but we
manage to pull it off.”

“Am I actually supposed
to take comfort from that?” he asked.

“Take it easy. Don’t
break into a sweat. Deep down, she really likes you.”

“She has a strange way
of showing it. And saying you’re alike has my second thoughts
kicking in here. Remember, I’ve seen what you can do. Joyce only
threatens, but if she’s like you... Well, you take action,” he
said, the near miss with the dart still fresh in his mind.

“And don’t you forget
it,” she said wagging her finger in warning. “Now, are we going to
do this, or not?”

The lifted eyebrow look
she gave him had his ego all riled up.

“All right. Let’s at
least talk strategy. I think we should walk in holding hands.
Either that, or I’ll make an obvious gesture like putting my arm
around your shoulder. Something to let Joyce know you’re on my
side.”

“Hang on.” She bit the
edge of her lip and threw her gaze up and down the street. “There’s
something I need to get off my chest first.” She looked around
again as if to confirm no one else could hear her. “This is about
the other day.”

She could only be
referring to the day they’d stopped by the side of the road. A part
of him wanted to interrupt and offer an explanation or even an
apology but she held her hand up.

“I understand how spur
of the moment, unexpected things can sometimes happen,” she said,
“Especially if you’re feeling frustrated the way you seemed to be a
few of days ago. I’ve been there. Confused and not quite
myself.”

It sounded like she’d
been doing a lot of mulling over.

“I need to confirm that
kiss was all about you being a bit muddled and…”

He shook his head.

“No? Yes?”

He wished he could go
back and…

Do it differently.

He’d been caught off
guard. If he’d ever planned on kissing Eddie, he would have worked
up to it after a dinner date, definitely not out in the middle of a
dusty road…

“I’m sorry about that.
You’re right. I wasn’t exactly myself that day. Do you think we can
put it behind us?” For the time being, at least. Once he got his
mind back in working order, and his body responding to his
mind...

The lumpy couch had
gone a long way toward keeping his attraction at bay. Pain could be
an effective lust killer. Also, now that he’d sorted out the
business with Claire, he needed to stay focused on Ben. But that
didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy Eddie’s company, and take it one step
at a time while he figured out a way to find some joy without
breaking hearts or leaving wounds that took forever to heal. Some
facts were inevitable. When Claire Muldoon returned from her trip,
he’d be on the next plane out of the country.

He shook his head
again. The kiss had been impulsive. Selfish. Even reckless.

He had rules, yet with
Eddie…

He wanted to break them
all. To plunge headlong into a steamy night of indulgence and
satisfaction. And not because he wanted to work Eddie out of his
system.

When Claire returned,
he insisted…

He had no idea what
he’d do. For the first time in his life, he could feel doubt
creeping in and making a mess of his golden rules. He knew and
understood himself inside and out. And because of that, he knew he
couldn’t do something he’d live to regret. When he looked back on
his life, he wanted to reflect on fond memories. Not regrets. And
the only way to achieve that was to make sure his actions triggered
positive consequences.

“I know it sounds lame,
but for now, can we not talk about it?”

She held his gaze for a
long moment. Eventually she nodded and said, “I’ll put it down as
an aberration. We can move on from there without any awkwardness or
misunderstandings.”

He wanted to argue, to
explain, but he stopped himself. She seemed okay with the idea. If
he thought for a moment that he’d hurt her…

She gave him a brisk
nod and they strode inside the café, making a beeline for the table
Ben had settled into.

“I started without
you,” Ben said around a mouthful of pancakes. “And I told Joyce to
keep the food coming.”

* * *

Eddie wondered if Theo
was the type of man who spent hours on end shopping or if he made
haphazard choices when selecting his clothes. Everything she’d seen
him wearing looked tailor made for him. She tugged at the hem of
her dress, which had seen better days. It was one of two dresses
she owned and had no trouble finding in her minute wardrobe. He
probably had a walk-in wardrobe the size of a bedroom and a
personal shopper to keep it stocked and up to date with the latest
trends.

How did she feel about
a man who had more clothes than she did? Inadequate came to mind
and she didn’t want to think she’d had a lucky escape, because that
meant she had to own up to feeling she’d missed out on the
opportunity...

She gave the hem of her
dress another tug. She always wore one of her dresses on Sundays.
Today, however, she’d known she’d be joining Theo and Ben for
breakfast at Joyce’s Café and had hesitated, scrunching it up in
her hands, calling herself all types of fool for entertaining a
barrage of thoughts that led nowhere. She’d been afraid Theo would
think she’d worn a dress for him. Her back teeth gritted together.
Why had she asked him about that blasted kiss?

Shaking her head, she
fished around for another thought. Something. Anything to take her
mind off the fact she’d tackled the subject she’d been avoiding all
these days. At least she’d brought it out into the open. Although,
she wished she hadn’t needed to clear the air. Now he knew she’d
been obsessing and making too big a deal out of… a kiss. Just
because he’d made her feel all tingly and—

It had been the first
time she’d touched him...

“Should I assume it’s
worked?” Theo asked, “I don’t want to get my hopes up and start
imagining sinking my teeth into a stack of pancakes and then be
told to take a hike.”

“If it comes down to
that,” Ben said, “It’s every man for himself. You can leave, but
I’m staying until I have to undo the top button of my jeans.”

“Tell me you’d at least
smuggle out a chocolate chip cookie for me.”

“I might. What’s it
worth to you?” Ben asked.

Eddie tuned out of the
conversation. In every other respect, Theo sounded as regular and
singular-minded as any guy she knew. Then again, last night he’d
been true to his word and had cleaned up their dinner plates
without being reminded. A small gesture, she knew, but she couldn’t
help being impressed.

How had Claire met him?
It couldn’t have been recently. The relationship had to go back a
long way. More than nine years...

“Mitch says you have to
watch out for the quiet ones,” Ben said.

“She looks like she’s
switched off.”

Ben grinned. “She’s on
sleep mode. Like computers…”

“I haven’t seen her do
that before.”

Eddie snapped out of
her dead-end mental conversation. “Please stop talking about me.
I’m right here,” she said as Joyce approached their table.

“Another stack of
blueberry pancakes for you,” Joyce said smiling at Ben. “The usual,
Eddie?”

“Sure. Thanks.” They
held a quiet dialogue, communicating with their eyes, stretching
the moment to the maximum.

Then Joyce nodded and
looked at Theo. “You’re on probation. But that could be revoked at
a moment’s notice. So be on your best behavior,” Joyce said.

“In that case, I’ll
have a full English breakfast, followed by pancakes, and a couple
of muffins to go. Thank you and I hope I don’t disappoint you.”

They all waited for
Joyce to move on to the next table.

“Laying it on a bit
thick,” Eddie said.

“I feel like I should
kiss your ring finger, or pay some sort of homage. But… um, what
was that silent exchange all about?”

“Would you ever reveal
your secret handshake or break your male code of honor?” She smiled
at the cautious shake of his head. “What makes you think I would
betray my own sisterhood?”

“You’re right. I hang
my head in shame. And thank you again. I need all the energy I can
get to keep up with Ben. He has a busy social schedule today.”

Eddie tried to avoid
thinking about the unfairness of finding someone she liked, someone
she could respond to and engage with, only to have to keep him at
arms’ length because he belonged to someone else. She really tried,
but she could already sense her mind engaging in a little
fantasy.

It was wrong. Wrong.
Wrong.

How would she feel if
another woman had fantasies about her man?

It wouldn’t be so bad,
so long as it remained a fantasy, she reasoned.

Are you done
justifying, Eddie?

Argh!

He had to have some
fatal flaw, something that would put her off him. Although for
Claire’s sake, she hoped he didn’t have any major failings. He and
Ben got along so well, it would be great to finally see Claire
settle down with a decent guy.

Eden was a small town.
If Theo extended his stay, she’d have to sort herself out. Both for
her sake as well as Claire’s.

The kiss had been a
mistake. And it hadn’t been one-sided. She couldn’t play down her
own part in it. At least it had happened before he’d come to an
understanding with Claire. She could live with that. And it looked
like he could live with it too. Otherwise, he’d be doing his best
to avoid her. Any other guy might have crossed the street at the
sight of her, but he’d been grown up about it. She had to remember
he’d been driving away from Claire’s place, all hope lost, so in
his mind, he hadn’t done anything wrong…

Just great. Now she was
justifying his actions.

Eddie looked down at
her hands and realized she’d shredded her paper napkin into tiny
pieces, a sign of her increasing frustration. Surely he had to have
some sort of shortcoming she could grab hold of.

Finding a gap in the
conversation, she asked, “So what’s on for the rest of the
day?”

“Ben has a couple of
friends to catch up with. Then, we’re having a game of pool with
your brothers,” Theo said.

Well, she’d wanted to
find a flaw and there it was. “You’re going to expose Ben to
Mitch’s unique brand of philosophy?”

“The boy has to learn.
Maybe I can pick up a few useful hints too.”

Now the flaw was
festering. “Such as?”

His eyes dropped to her
mouth. “How to avoid getting blacklisted in this town. There has to
be a trick to walking the straight and narrow line,” he
shrugged.

Her wayward thoughts
took over again. Eddie tried to stay calm, but her body rebelled,
tap dancing across her best intentions with a happy jig. He’d been
clean-shaven when he’d kissed her but she could see a light bristle
around his mouth and she couldn’t help wondering what it would feel
like...

That kiss had a lot to
answer for.

The man was taken.

He belonged to someone
else. And she was a grown-up, not a teenager dwelling...

So why did he kiss
me?

Had it boosted his
ego?

She’d tried to put the
pieces together and had come up with a head full of conjecture.
Theo had come to Eden looking for Claire. She had no idea how
they’d met. And somehow, he’d managed to win Claire over, getting
her to trust him with her son while she went overseas.

She could almost live
with the idea that he’d kissed her when he’d thought he couldn’t
find a way to win Claire over. That should have been her
Sleeping Beauty
moment and the first step toward some sort
of happy experience. But instead, he’d found his solution to
whatever problem had been keeping him apart from Claire.

Bottom line. She’d had
a hand in pushing him back on track.

She could live that.
Put it down as her Good Samaritan deed for the day. As for spending
so much time thinking about the kiss…

She had to get it
sorted out, at least in her head.

And as for thinking how
good it had felt to lock lips with him...

She drew in a deep
breath.

It actually felt good
to think about it.

But did it make her a
bad person? Claire Muldoon was a friend. Not a close girlfriend
like Joyce and the Wright sisters, but a friend nonetheless. Seen
from that context, she knew her wayward daydreaming risked being
construed as—

Stop it,
Eddie
.

“I suppose you’ll be
having dinner at the pub.”

“Unless you have
another suggestion—”

“I’m working tonight,
so you’ll have to sort something out yourself.” And tomorrow she’d
have to come up with another excuse to avoid spending more time
with him. The next time they met, their conversation would be
shorter. Then Claire would return and he’d be busy with her...

* * *

Over the last couple of
days, Eddie had become accustomed to seeing Theo and Ben together.
However, the start of the week meant Ben would spend his days at
school, leaving Theo to roam around town, taunting her with his
unavailability—