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“Thanks” She took a bite of her pasta and then licked the fork The teet when ra to hide his reaction to her innocent actions “One year you’d unraveled an entire knit scarf by the end of the progra back to expose the creamy column of her neck He wanted to reach out and touch the s?”

He stared Where was he going? “The bathrooot to the bathroo in the lared at his reflection “Knock it off Zoe’s off-li back at him looked unconvinced He splashed cold water on his face a second tiinally better Now, if Zoe would just refrain fro her fork, all would be well

He went back into the kitchen and sat down across froain She smiled He smiled back and nearly choked She’d picked up a piece of asparagus and was systeetable

“This is really good You sautéed these perfectly”

Her guileless comment mocked his randy response He hts, but it didn’t make his jeans anyof asparagus he eating and hard as a rock At this rate he wouldn’t be able to get up from the table when dinner was done

She looked at him, her eyes darkened with concern “Are you okay? You’re perspiring I hope you aren’t co”

“It’s too warh” He kneas a lie He hadn’t changed his ther his best friend eat her dinner had hih of unfettered relief when Zoe did not take a second helping of vegetables

Later, he got the longest T-shirt he could find for her to wear to bed and then headed for his office Why bother going to bed? He wasn’t going to get a wink of sleep, knowing Zoe’s too te body was down the hall nestled in his old bed She was going back to the Pattersons’ toled down under the quilts on Grant’s childhood bed Dinner had been very entertaining Granther, but he sure wanted to His gaze had strayed to her lips twelve and a half times She’d counted One ti away, thus the half She was certain that he’d wanted to look at her lips

She’dher best to eat her food as provocatively as she could At one point, she’d al that crack about kissing anyone but her

The followingteeth and the s It took her awas herself

Had they lost power last night in the storm? She could not believe that Grant or the foreritted her teeth and tossed back the covers She yanked on the sweats Grant had lent her, which she had refused to wear to bed with the oversized T-shirt She also donned a pair of thick socks, and went searching for a flannel shirt in Grant’s closet

After pulling on one of his shirts, that hung down to her knees, she went to the kitchen to find hi bacon She wrinkled her nose at the s andin here Did so for her coffee across the counter toward her “No”

“Then why is it so cold?” Zoe wrapped her hands around herthe heat seep into her chilled skin

“Is it cold? Doesn’t feel bad to reen turtleneck under a black flannel shirt, faded jeans and cowboy boots Of course he wasn’t cold The man was dressed to work outside He did a lot more work on the ranch this ti with their families But could he really be that dense? She walked into the hall and checked the therrees? Grant, are you nuts? No wonder I’ back in the kitchen and came to an abrupt halt at the look of satisfaction on Grant’s face Evidently he had a few little surprises of his own “This is about your kissing rule, isn’t it?” And dinner last night