Winter Interlude (10 page)

“Yeah
?”
The edges of his lips curled as he let out a long, slow breath
.
“Well
,
don’t let anyone in on the secret
.
It’ll spoil the effect
.”
Knowing he’d lost, he surrendered
good-naturedly.
“Okay, tell her to be ready by two
.
I’ll pick you up fifteen minutes later
.
I want to get out of the city before traffic hits
.
I’ll be in my office at five
thirty and working up until then to get in a full day.”

“Thanks
.
I knew I could count on you.”

Paul
said good-bye and
hung up
,
not at all happy about the turn of events
.
Being in love with that particular woman sucked at times
.
Judith expected people to be better than they were
, i
t was something he’d always admired about her
.
She demanded his best and he usually rose to meet those expectations
.
He couldn’t stomach the idea of disappointing her and truly appreciated being considered worthy of her esteem
.
But the fact that he now had to endure a
n extended
car ride with
Kate
along because she required it of him, chafed
.

At least she hadn’t canceled
.
Paul
chose to
focus on
the one
bright spot in this whole mess, rather than dwell on
her
insistence of
their
maintaining a
friendly relationship
.

He sighed, fought to push the memories aside
,
and grabbed the remote
.
T
he TV burst to life,
as
his thoughts strayed back to the woman he’d spent a lifetime loving, rather than on the show in front of him.

In college, Paul decided to make his feelings known and steadfastly pursued Judith
.
Over time
,
their friendship grew and he came to love the real Judith, not just the idea of her in his mind
.
Yet, she continually resisted his every attempt at intimacy, saying she loved him as a friend
.
At that point, he’d backed off and dated others
.
Hell, he had to because Judith expected it of him
.
But no one really interested him enough to change his mind about her, especially since she’d never shown interest in dating anyone and always made time for him
.

All this time he’d respected her wishes, figuring she just wasn’t ready
for a committed relationship
.
He could wait a little longer
.
Why
give up
now when she’d finally relocated to the
c
ity
?
Judith
was the one who made the comment about settling down and having kids, even warming to the idea of a stronger relationship
…he had simply followed up on it
.
But he realized too late he’d moved too fast
.
He should
ha
ve held off a bit before mentioning marriage
.

He prayed this weekend would bring him closer to his goal of having Judith realize they were
meant to be
more than friends.

The only damper was spending time with
Kate
.
Paul’s thoughts then shifted to the irritating woman
.
He snorted
!
How in the world had he gotten himself into this mess
?
He needed a drink
.

“God help me, I need the whole damned bottle to deal with her,” he muttered
.
Why did relationships have to be so difficult?

He padded to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of wine and wondered why his aversion to the woman was so intense
.
She always rubbed him the wrong way, like sandpaper over an open blister, right from the first moment he met her
.
H
e usually ignored people like that
, but
Paul found he could never ignore
Kate
, especially when he saw her with James
.
At those times, he always had a sarcastic comment for her, which was also something Judith gave him a hard time about
.

He sighed and took a hefty swig of wine
,
working to drown his misery
.
Nothing about the weekend was going as expected
.
He
grabbed the bottle
, retraced his steps to the living room
,
and plopped onto the sofa.

His gaze circled the living room, a room that cost a month’s salary to redo after he’d hired a decorator in hopes of impressing the woman he loved
…and
she hadn’t even seen it yet
.

He shot back another large mouthful of Murphy Goode without tasting the u
nu
sual nuances in his favorite
c
hardonnay
.
His expensive surroundings felt empty without someone to share it with
.

Deciding to view Judith’s news as a small setback, he dismissed all negative thoughts from his mind and reached for the latest business prospectus he’d been reading
.
His attention drifted to it while the television blared in the background
—
a filler noise keeping him company.

P
aul rang
Kate
’s buzzer promptly at one
fifty-five the next afternoon
.

Her voice shot through the intercom. “I’ll be right down.”

“Hurry,” he replied
.
“I’m ready to get on the road and we still need to pick up Judith.”

“You’re five minutes early, so cool it,
b
ucko.”

He chuckled and bantered back to the box, “Judith said you were supposed to be nice to me.”

Moments later, she came into view through the glass door
.
His grin widened to see such a short dynamo bogged down with skis, poles
,
and boots, along with an overnight bag slung over her shoulder that kept hitting her hip as she walked
.

He
wanted to rush
to help
,
remembering the
feel his mother’s flick on his ear when he didn’t jump fast enough to be courteous to a woman in need
.
Unfortunately,
he was stuck on the other side of the locked door
.

She had on snug jeans and a tight sweater that hugged her compact body underneath an open ski parka
.
The bulky jacket did little to hide her curves
.
Curves in all the right places that any male who wasn’t dead couldn’t fail to notice
.
And he noticed
.
He’d always thought she was put together well
.

Kate
made it to the entrance, dropped the boots
,
and leaned the skis up against the wall
.
Now having a free hand to open the heavy door, she pulled it at the same time Paul pushed, which almost knocked her down
.

Oops, he thought, letting go and stepping back, only to realize the doorknob she held almost jerked out of her hand as the door started to slam shut
.

“Sorry, I was trying to help,” he said, halting it in the nick of time with his foot.

“Wait, take these
.”
Kate
p
ush
ed
the door open wider and
held
it with that sexy tush,
then
reached in for her skis and handed them to him, following suit with the boots
.

Carrying them with ease, Paul headed
toward
his car
.
He
open
ed
the trunk
,
dropp
ed
the boots inside,
then
turned and undid the straps to the ski rack
.
Kate
walked up beside him as he lifted the skis to the top of the car, fastening them into place along with her poles.

Paul g
lanc
ed
down and
,
seeing the bag she still held, grabbed it and placed it next to the boots
.

He closed the lid
.
“Is that it
?”

She nodded.

“
L
et’s get this show on the road
.
We’re burning daylight
.”
He moved to open the passenger door and bowed
.
“Your chariot awaits, my lady
.”

“Thanks, but don’t you think you’re overdoing it a bit
?”
She took off her jacket, laid it in the backseat
,
then
slipped
into the car.

“Just following orders,” Paul said
,
before closing her door and running around to the driver’s side
.
Seconds later, the BMW shot off into traffic
.