when she came back she was beaming, and he couldn’t find the will to tell her to go and watch TV while he made dinner.
He took one look at the slogan on the front of her apron—Classy, Sassy, and a Bit Smart-Assy—and had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop the smile. He was not going to be charmed. Like Gary and Ben—and probably Marco. Iain. And the tinker, the tailor, the soldier, and the spy.
‘Come on, it’s cute—admit it!’ she said, possibly wondering about the strangled look on his face. ‘You know, I used to be called Sunshine Smart-Ass in school, so seeing this in the shop today was like an omen. Not a creepy Damien omen. I mean like a sign that I am going to nail this pasta thing.’
‘Smart-Ass. Why am I not surprised?’ Leo asked through his slightly twisted mouth. Damn, he wanted to laugh.
She’d messed up her hair, getting the apron on. He could see part of her temple, where her fringe had been pushed aside. He realised he was holding his breath. Because...because he wanted to kiss her there.
Half the male population of Sydney is in love with her, he reminded himself. And you are not—repeat not—going to become a piece of meat in the boyfriend brigade.
* * *
Leo unpacked his knives and chopping boards, liberated extra plates and dishes from the cupboard, unearthed additional gadgets from his magic boxes.
‘Come here so you can see properly,’ he said as he started arranging ingredients on the counter.
Sunshine moved enthusiastically to stand beside him. The wave of heat emanating from him was very alluring. She edged a little closer. Breathed in the scent of him, which was just...well, just him. Just super-clean Leo. Could she manage to get just a bit closer, so that she was just—nearly—touching him, without him panicking and hitting her with a cooking implement?
His arm, naked below the short sleeve of his T-shirt, brushed hers—that was how close she was, because there was no way he would have done that on purpose—and she felt like swooning. Wished, quite passionately, that she hadn’t worn sleeves so she could feel him skin to skin.
And it had absolutely nothing to do with exposure therapy either.
It was, plain and simple, about sexual attraction. Mutual sexual attraction—at least she hoped the impressive bulge in his jeans that had taken her by surprise earlier was Sunshine-induced and not some erectile dysfunction...like that condition called priapism she’d read about on the internet...
Not that she was going to ask him that, of course, because men could be sensitive.
But with or without erectile dysfunction, she wanted to have sex with Leo Quartermaine!
Was it because he was cooking for her? There was definitely something off-the-chain seductive about a man—a chef man—making her dinner.
But...no. It was more than that.
Something that had been sneaking up on her.
Something to do with the way he jumped a foot inside his skin when she kissed him on the cheek. The little tic at the corner of his mouth that came and went, depending on his level of agitation. The slightly fascinated way he looked at her, as though he couldn’t believe his eyes. And listened to her as though he couldn’t believe his ears. The way he gave in a lot, but not always. And how, even when he let her have her way, the way he did it told her he might not always be so inclined, so she was not to take it for granted.
How bizarre was that? She liked that he gave in—and also that maybe he wouldn’t!
She even kind of liked the fact that he tried so hard never to smile or laugh—as though that would be too frivolous for the likes of him. It was a challenge, that. Something to change. Because everyone needed to laugh. The average person laughed thirteen times a day. She would bet her brand-new forest-green leaf-cut stilettoes that Leo Quartermaine didn’t get to thirteen even in a whole year! Not good enough.
Now that she’d acknowledged the attraction it felt moth-to-a-flame mesmeric, standing beside him. No, not a moth—that was too fluttery. More like the bat that had flown smack into the power line a block from her apartment. She’d seen it this morning, fried into rigidity, felled by a jolt of electricity.
Poor bat. Just going along, thinking it had everything under control, contemplating its regular upside-down hang for the night, then hitting a force that was greater than it and—frzzzzz. All over, red rover.
Poor bat—and poor her if she let herself get too close to Leo. Because she had a feeling he could fry her to a crisp if she let him.
Not that she would let him. She never got too close. That was the whole point of her ‘four goes and goodbye’ rule. Protecting her core.
Leo had managed to move a little away from her—which she rectified.
‘This is a simple fettuccine with zucchini, feta, and prosciutto,’ he said, clueless.
He moved once more, just a smidgeon. And Sunshine readjusted her position so she was just as close as before. Poor Leo—you really should just give up!
He managed another little edge away. ‘We’re going to fry some garlic, grated zucchini, and lemon zest, and then toss that through the pasta with some parsley, mint, and butter. Finally we’ll throw in some feta and prosciutto—again tossed through—with a little lemon juice, salt, and pepper.’
He was—gamely, Sunshine thought—ignoring the fact that she was practically breathing down his neck.
He cleared his throat. Twice. ‘This—’ he was showing her a container ‘—is fresh pasta from Q Brasserie. I thought about making it here, but that might have been too much for a two-minute noodler to cope with.’ He shot her a teeny-tiny smile—more of a glint than a smile, but wowee! Be still my heart, or what?
Sunshine watched as Leo started grating the zucchini with easy, practised efficiency. There was a long scar on his left thumb, and what looked like a healed burn mark close to his right wristbone. Assorted other war wounds. These were not wimpy hands.
And, God, she wanted his sure, capable, scarred hands on her. All over her. It was almost suffocating how much she wanted that.
She kept watching, a little entranced, as Leo set the zucchini to one side, then grated the lemon rind. Next he grabbed some herbs and started tearing with his beautiful strong fingers as he talked...
His voice was deep and kind of gravelly. ‘...into strips,’ Leo said.
Hmm... She had no idea what the start of that sentence had been.
He unwrapped a flat parcel—inside were paper-thin slices of prosciutto—and put it in front of her. ‘Okay?’ he asked.
‘Sure,’ she said, figuring out that she was supposed to chop it, and grabbed a knife.
‘No,’ Leo said, and took the knife away.
Lordy, Lordy. He’d actually touched her.
Sunshine felt every one of the hairs on her arm prickle.
She was staring at him. She knew she was.
He
