Page 13 (2/2)

"It’s not much" He was suddenly e so personal He’d been in the store trying to decide if he should get her a scarf or a sweater He’d called Nick to ask for advice Of course his brother the playboy had assuested jewelry

Nohen Kay was looking at hi, innocent brown eyes, it seeotten her a necklace What if her boyfriend had gotten her so advice frootten her the stupid scarf

"It’s beautiful, Eli" She lifted it out of the box and held it up to the light

"It’s a mother’s pendant That’s Hope’s birthstone, isn’t it? I hope I got it right"

"It’s a garnet, right? You got it right" She looked so happy with the gift that Eli relaxed a little

"I hope I’ on any toes" When her brow furrowed quizzically, he added, "I’et you one"

"Boyfriend? If you’re talking about Craig, we broke up at the end of the summer" She fuet it on without breaking the clasp Can you hook it?"

Eli just stared stupidly for aher words He hadn’t liked the sli over the summer, but he would never wish for her to be hurt

"Sorry to hear that," he lied She was still waiting for him to hook the clasp, so hethe minuscule loop onto the hook Instead, he was so entranced with the curve of her neck and the fact that when she posed like that, holding her hair out of the way, it pushed her bottoed to get the necklace fastened correctly

Kay snorted "I’ was too in love with himself to have much room for me to like him"

Her description was so perfect that Eli s"

"I am," he replied

"You have a really nice smile You should do it more often"

Chris ran up and shoved his latest superhero toy in front of Eli’s face "Look what I got, Uncle Eli!"

He turned to his nephew and tried to show the appropriate amount of interest in the toy, but his attention was on the enig next to hiot under his skin in a way that no one had in years