The Home Is Where The Heart Is Collection. Maisey Yates
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“He was killed in a one-car accident. He had been drinking, something he usually didn’t do, and struck a concrete barrier on the 101.”
“Oh, El. I’m so sorry.”
She pressed her lips together at the way he said her name, like an endearment. Suddenly she wanted to tell him all of it.
“He was out of town on a business trip. San Jose, California.”
He sat back, brow furrowed. “Really? Wow, that’s a coincidence.”
Not at all. She sighed. “It was...a very difficult time. Arranging for his body to be flown back, dealing with the police investigation.”
“Investigation? It was a one-car accident. That couldn’t have been too complicated.”
She felt cold suddenly, even though the fire merrily cranked out heat.
“Not really. Just lingering questions. There was no indication he braked before the accident.”
He watched her in the firelight, that blue-eyed gaze intense. “Do you think he killed himself?”
“I don’t know. The hard truth is, I never will. He was a good man but toward the last few years of our marriage, things were strained. He wasn’t happy. I have to believe it was something inside of him. He couldn’t be content. I do know his business trip didn’t go well and he was...upset about it. He wanted so much to be a good provider for Maddie. He was trying to sell this brilliant idea for a new app he thought would be the answer to all our problems.”
His gaze sharpened. “An app?”
“Yes. But apparently Caine Tech wasn’t interested.”
“Caine Tech?” His jaw dropped and he uttered an oath, looking vaguely ill.
She shrugged. “Trent wanted to deal with the best. That’s you. He met with a couple of your minions. I don’t know their names. He said they didn’t even listen to the whole idea before they shut him down. The meeting lasted all of ten minutes.”
“Eliza. I had no idea, I swear.”
She liked it better when he called her El. Or even Ellie.
“I know you didn’t. Believe me, I know. None of it was your fault. Oh, I might have blamed you and your company for a while. It was easier than facing the truth, that my husband had a problem that was rapidly spiraling out of control. Not drinking, he rarely did that. But he was obsessed with money and success and refused to see everything he was losing along the way. The way things were going, I don’t think our marriage would have survived another year or two.”
She gave a tremulous smile. “So when you say the loss is still too painful for me, I don’t know how to answer. I still grieve for Trent Hayward and the part of me that loved him once always will...but I grieve more for the loss of Maddie’s father than for my husband.”
“Maddie’s father, who died after an unsuccessful meeting with my company.”
“Aidan, don’t go there. Your company’s involvement was incidental in the whole mess. He made his choices all along the way, first to drink when he knew he didn’t have the head for it and then to get behind the wheel of a car.”
“Regardless, I’m so sorry. And then I basically mowed you down on the street.” He swore again, so emphatically she had to smile a little.
“Also not your fault. We’ve established that was an accident and I’ve suffered no lasting effect.”
Except the loss of her heart, if she wasn’t very, very careful over the next few days, she added silently.
“From the very first, I wanted to tell you about Trent and his last meeting with your company. It seemed like an uncomfortable secret I didn’t want to keep but I didn’t know how to bring it up.”
“I’m glad you did. I can’t believe you would come to work at Snow Angel Cove at all. You must be sorry you ever heard of me.”
“How could I be?” she murmured.
He gazed at her, blue eyes glittering with emotions she couldn’t name, and the moment seemed to stretch between them, as thick and heady as the chocolate he had melted for her.
This was dangerous territory, she knew. She had to go, before she made a mistake she would regret for a long time.
“And now I think I had better go to bed. I find confessions exhausting, don’t you?”
He stood up as well. “Here’s a confession for you, then. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that kiss the other night.”
She stared at him, the empty mug heavy in her hand. Oh, yes. Dangerous territory.
“If we’re being frank with each other,” she whispered, “neither have I.”
His gaze shifted to her mouth and she swallowed, already tasting him there. He made no move to kiss her, though, only continued to let the moment stretch out between them.
He was giving her control, letting her make the decision about whether there would be another kiss between them, she realized.
She tried to order herself to move away. The smart choice would be to take the mug into the kitchen, rinse it out and then escape to her bedroom.
She was tired of always making the smart choice. Why couldn’t she dance close to the fire, for once in her life? Okay, maybe her toes might get burned, but at least she would be warm for a while.
When she was old and gray, she could see his face on a magazine somewhere and remember the time when he had wanted her, if only for a moment.
For all she knew, that kiss the other day had been a fluke. Didn’t they owe it to each other to find out for sure?
With a sense of inevitability, she set the mug back down on the table with fingers that trembled and then, without giving herself an instant to talk herself out of the insanity of it, she stepped forward and lifted her mouth to his.
He let out a little groan, as if he hadn’t been sure which course she would take, and wrapped his arms tightly around her.
His father’s cocoa was delicious enough straight out of the cup. It was absolutely intoxicating when it flavored their kiss and turned it into a sensory experience of chocolate and heaven.
If the kiss the other night had been a shock of heat and fire, this one was slow and sensual, a soft, delicious exploration, learning each hollow, each curve. Completely devastating.
She was in deeper waters than she expected, with heavy, terrifying currents. Any moment now they would be closing over her head.
Desperate to return things to safer ground, she forced herself to pull away with a shaky breath.
“There.” She forced a casual smile, though it made her teeth ache. “Now we’ve got that out