and convince him anymore. She’d let Ewok and Wookie do it for her.
AFTER HELPING TANSY with doggie cleanup, Ben gestured toward the wood in a metal rack on the back porch. “Do you use your fireplace?”
“I sure do.”
“Mind if I build us a fire and we eat dinner in front of it?”
“Sounds great to me.”
He left his wet boots on a mat in the kitchen. Then he busied himself with logs, kindling and newspaper. Having something to do kept him from thinking about the bonehead comments he’d made about his lack of happy Christmas memories. He had no idea why he’d felt the need to reveal something so personal. Luckily she hadn’t pressed for details, but he’d have to watch himself from here on out.
The fireplace was great, and made him wonder why he’d never had one in any of the places he’d rented over the years. He’d seen them as an amenity for a vacation cabin or a ski lodge, not a home. He needed to remedy that.
While he tended the fire, she set up their dinner arrangement. Soon the fire was crackling nicely and they were sitting on the floor in front of it, bowls of steaming soup and warm bread laid out on her coffee table. She’d fed Ewok and Wookie when they’d come back inside, and they were now both zonked out, Wookie next to Ben and Ewok next to Tansy.
Ben sat beside Tansy with a few inches between them. He’d left that space on purpose. This was a dinner shared by friends, not lovers.
The energy in the room might go a notch past friendship on the relationship meter, but that only served to sharpen his enjoyment of the food and the cozy setting. He couldn’t remember ever being happier. “This is great.” He sipped his red wine and took a bite of the fragrant bread. “Thank you.”
Pausing with her spoon in midair, she gazed at him with softness in her blue eyes. “Got to treat my volunteers right.”
He wasn’t sure if he was the reason for that look in her eyes, but he liked thinking he made her happy, even if it was a friendly kind of happy. “I’m glad I played with the dogs, it seemed to be good for them.”
“It was, and I’m thrilled they got the exercise. They’ll sleep well tonight.”
“Good.” He took a mouthful of soup and realized exactly how hungry he was. He finished off more than half of what was in his bowl before he spoke again. “Does it ever get to be too much, living right where you work?”
“Never. This is my dream. I’ve wanted to help animals ever since I was a kid.”
“Brothers or sisters?”
“No, although my parents had planned to have more than one kid. It took them forever to have me. They were both in their forties. So they filled the house with dogs and cats, instead. Having a lot of animals around seemed normal to me.” She chuckled. “My folks still have quite a menagerie.”
“Here in Tacoma?”
“No, they got tired of the winters and moved to Arizona. They’d love it if I’d move down there, too, but I’ve found my bliss with this foundation. I’m not going anywhere.”
He was glad to hear it. As much as he worried about his intense emotional reaction to Tansy, he didn’t want her to leave town. “I’m pretty settled here, too,” he said.
“It has lots of good points.”
“Yep.” Tacoma had always felt like home to him, maybe because it was the last place he’d lived with Mickey. So, once he was on his own, he’d moved back here. His aunt and uncle had continued to roam, and last year they’d headed to Mexico in an RV. He’d had no word since then, but they’d never been big on keeping in touch.
“It’s great, what you’re doing with The Haven,” he said. “But don’t you ever get discouraged?”
She turned her head to look at him. “You mean because I can’t save them all?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“The fact is, I can’t save them all, but if I let myself dwell on the negative side of the ledger, I’m wasting valuable energy. Instead I think about all the ones I have saved.”
“The glass-half-full theory.”
“That’s me.”
Indeed. He looked into those luminous eyes and finally began to understand how strong she was and how perfectly suited to the work she’d chosen. “That’s inspiring.”
“Thanks, but I’m inspired by what you do, which seems a lot more complicated to me.”
“It’s not. I keep saying you could learn it.” He tried to keep from staring at her mouth, but it was so tempting. And so very close.
“I could learn the basics, but your talent can’t be taught. You work instinctively to capture the essence of your subjects. I can tell you operate by instinct—so do I with the animals.”
“I’m not always successful.”
She laughed. “Who is?”
“I know, but I get impatient.” He’d made a copy of the footage he’d taken of her at the station. He wasn’t satisfied with it. “Like with you, for example.”
“Me?”
“The camera work I did when you came to KFOR was okay, but you’re so much more…filled with light than what I managed to record. I need another chance.”
Her breath hitched and her eyes grew dreamy. “Filled with light?”
“Mmm.” He realized that he’d moved close enough that their shoulders touched. He risked a lot being this near to her and saying these things, but he couldn’t seem to help it. “You give off this subtle glow. I didn’t capture that in the footage I took.”
“That’s very flattering.” She spoke in hushed tones as she drifted toward him, closing the gap. “But I don’t think I glow.”
“Yes, you do. You’re glowing now.”
“I am?”
“Yes.” He breathed her in. “Here.” He touched his lips to her cheekbone. “And here.” He pressed his mouth against the space between her brows. “And here.” He feathered a kiss along her jawline.
He would have missed her soft gasp if he hadn’t been so close. But he didn’t miss it. “Tansy, if I don’t kiss you right now, I’m going to explode.”
Her lashes fluttered down, concealing those incredible eyes. “Ben, if you don’t kiss me right now, I’ll explode, too.”
“Can’t have people exploding, can we?” He cupped her cheek, his fingers sliding over the silky temptation of her skin. His heart threatened to pound right out of his chest as he hovered nearer. At last, when his breath mingled with hers, he closed his eyes and sought the velvet softness of her lips.
And when he settled his mouth over
