Читать книгу A Diamond For Christmas: Kisses on Her Christmas List / Her Christmas Eve Diamond / Single Dad's Holiday Wedding - SUSAN MEIER - Страница 15

RORY PULLED THE TREE UP and hoisted it over his shoulder the way he’d told Finley he would.

Shannon watched him. Her heart in her throat with fear that he might hurt himself, then awe at the sheer power and strength of him. He might work in an office all day, but he was still a man’s man. Still strong. Masculine. Handsome.

Oh, Lord, she had it bad.

And the worst part was, he knew.

Thanking God for the built-in chaperone of Finley, she scrambled up the stairs behind him. She could hear Finley’s little voice saying, “Okay, turn left, Daddy.” She squealed. “Duck down! Duck down! You’re going to hit the doorway!”

Shannon quickened her pace.

Rory dropped the tree to the living-room floor with a gentle thump. He grinned at her. “You women. Afraid of a little bit of dirty work.”

Shannon glanced down at the pine needles around her feet. “A little bit of dirty work? I’ll be vacuuming for days to get these needles up.”

Rory laughed. “Where’s your tree stand?”

“It’s by the window.”

He made short order of getting the tree in the stand. After removing her boots and coat, Finley stood on the club chair nearby giving orders. “It’s leaning to the left.”

He moved it.

“Now it’s leaning to the right.”

They were so cute, and it was so wonderful to have them in her house, that her heart filled with love. Real love. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had fallen in love with them. Especially Rory. Finley would grow up and move on. But she could see herself growing old with Rory.

And that was wrong. Really wrong. So she ducked out of the living room for a minute or two of private time in the kitchen.

Busying herself with making cocoa for Finley, she chided herself. “So you’re falling in love. Big deal. He’s gorgeous. He’s good with his daughter. And—” She sucked in a breath. “He likes you, too. Is it any wonder you’re being drawn in?”

The kitchen door swung open. Rory walked in. “Are you talking to yourself?”

Her blood froze in her veins. This was a consequence of living alone for the past few months. She did talk to herself. Out loud.

Hoping he hadn’t heard what she’d said, only the mumbling of her talking, she brushed it off. “Old habit.” Turning from the stove to face him, she said, “Not a big deal.”

Then she looked into his eyes, saw the attraction she’d been denying and avoiding, and her pulse skittered. What she wouldn’t give to be able to accept this. To run with it. Step into his arms and look into his eyes and just blatantly flirt with him.

As if reading her mind, he walked over, caught her elbows and brought her to him. “Thanks for tonight. Finley had a great time and I did, too.”

His entire body brushed up against hers, touching, hinting, teasing her with thoughts of how it would feel to be held by him romantically. Her heart tumbled in her chest. Her brain said, Say you’re welcome and step away, but her feet stood rooted to the spot. She’d longed to be wanted for an entire year, yearned for it. And here he was a whisper away.

“Do you think we should have a little conversation about what I told you at the tree farm?”