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"Yes"

"You knohen you smile and your face relaxes, you’re an attractive wo for complia, but I don’t want any part of it"

"Galass pot ater and poured all of it into the coffeepot dispenser "If you have the sudden urge to date again, I advise you to look elsewhere for companionship I’h just then, a low, ru sound, as if her words amused hi It sla, much louder than she’d intended

"What’s so funny? You, Maureen Woods You claiain, and we both know that’s a lie" Truth flashed in his eyes like a distant light

"You’re so sure of yourself," sheher "Youyou don’t want to seethat Thom Nichols didn’t ask questions unless he was damn sure of the answers She could deny it, tell a bold-faced lie, but he’d know exactly what it was, and so would she

This hatwith this man so impossible She couldn’t hide froh her pain He recognized the truth as if it had been tattooed across her forehead

"Aren’t you going to answer the question?" he asked His tone was gentle Her hearthe could have mocked her and didn’t

"No"

He sed by her lack of response Joining her at the kitchen counter, he lifted her hand and placed it on his shoulder He felt solid and real beneath her fingertips Then he leaned forward and pressed his entle and at the same time thesince she had been kissed Really kissed That was it, she told herself Not the man, but the fact it had been years since a man had taken her in his ar so badly she needed to sit down Apparently Thom felt much the same way, because he claied Neither of them spoke For her part, Maureen couldn’t At thatible sounds

Tholed toward her, and dropped a row of soft, delicate kisses along the underside of her chin and up toward her ear Slowly, in heart-stopping increht his lips back to hers

"I…think…you…should…leave…now" Maureen swore it took five le theue

"I haven’t had otten about it Surely the pot was ready by now All she need do was pour him a cup and usher him to the door Then her duty would be complete

"Coffee" She was about to stand but discovered, to her chagrin, that her arms rapped securely about hi him proved to be far more difficult than it should have been Her eyes fluttered open, and she stiffened i just inside the kitchen, were Karen and Paula, staring at the smiles

"Wow," Karen whispered as if she couldn’t believe her eyes "Your dad just kissed reat," Paula said in the saet married, does that mean we’d be sisters?" Karen wanted to know

Apparently an ansasn’t necessary for the two to celebrate With their arms wrapped around each other, they let out a whoop and did a little jig about the kitchen

"We aren’t gettingout of her chair She wanted to blame Tho episode as he

He touched her, and the emptiness inside her echoed like a shout down a dry well The years hadn’t lessened the pain of herwith Tho self-doubts Brian had turned to another wo, found her inadequate Another ain She didn’t know if she could live through it a second tiave her father the thuht be a good idea if you girls let us two adults talk"

"Sure," Paula said, scooting out a chair and sitting down She propped her hands in her face and looked to her dad Karen sat next to her friend, her eyes as bright as fireworks against a dark July sky

"Privately," Thoirls

"They want to be alone" Paula said this, apparently for Karen’s benefit

As soon as the two left the kitchen, Maureen started pacing "That shouldn’t have happened"

"What? Us kissing or the girls seeing us?"

"Both"

"The kissing really bothers you?" he asked

Maureen knew this was another one of those incidents where he ell aware of her answer "As a matter of fact, it does If you want my opinion, I think you should be concerned yourself"

"Well, to be honest, I’ll admit your kiss packs quite a wallop" He rubbed his hand down the side of his face as if to say he’d been surprised by the inored his coether, not even a dinner date, and already our daughters are talking about beco stepsisters Frankly, I think this is a cause for concern"

She breathed in deeply in an effort to gain perspective Everything see much too fast She wasn’t like other women who floated easily in and out of relationships

Ever since her divorce she’d been living in a vacuuht her well, and she wasn’t looking for a repeat of that experience "I won’t allow you to pressure ht

He opened hisjust then and he apparently changed his lared at the phone

"Go ahead and answer it," Tho

She walked across the roo she sounded nothing like herself