Second Chances: Love Nibbles (2 page)

His eyes, as clear and translucent as green glass, gazed into hers and her entire body contracted then expanded like a fist full of fingers opening. Again he smiled, flashing those charming dimples, and her heart nearly stopped beating. Oh, he meant her all right. It was definitely an invitation, to coffee and maybe more.

Camilla exhaled. And inhaled. And exhaled again, collecting her scattered thoughts.

“I think it’s time you got back to work.” She didn’t mean to sound chilly like some lady of the manor putting a servant back in his place, but she was nervous so the words came out more sharply than she’d meant them.

The gorgeous smile disappeared and Ryan nodded. “You’re right.”

He stood and the sharp odor of clean sweat and male pheromones made her body weak. Her pussy clenched and then released, buttery soft and warm, open and yearning as she dreamed of the things a cup of coffee might possibly lead to.

His eyes met hers as he passed and they held the promise of something new and exciting if she only dared reach out and take it.

She returned to the box containing the coffeemaker and sealed it shut.

As the moving men continued trudging in and out with stacks of boxes on their dollies, Camilla remained in the kitchen. Under normal circumstances she’d be preoccupied with the safety of her china or her curio cupboard, but she was afraid to have contact with Ryan again. She hadn’t imagined his interest in her. She kept replaying their brief conversations, analyzing every word like some student’s mid-term essay she must grade.

Did this guy make a habit out of seducing widows by playing the sympathetic listener? A man that handsome could have a pretty young hottie just by crooking his finger at her. Why would he bother with someone more seasoned? Maybe it was a joke or bet between him and his friend—dupe the vulnerable older woman into agreeing to a date then stand her up for a laugh, or else see how easily she tumbles into bed.

Or maybe he
was
honestly attracted to her. Camilla’s self esteem wasn’t so low she’d ruled that out as a possibility. At the very least, this little adventure with the moving guy had distracted her from what would otherwise have been a miserable afternoon of watching her former life being dismantled.

A knock on the kitchen door broke her from her reverie.

Ryan opened the door and wheeled an empty dolly into the room. “Are you ready for us to take down the kitchen boxes?”

“Yes, please.” She leaned against the counter and watched as he loaded cartons of dishes, pots and pans.

He paused, resting his arms on top of the dolly. “I’m sorry about hitting on you. Trust me I don’t usually come on to strange women, especially not ones I’m doing a job for. I’m not like that. It was inappropriate and I apologize.”

He bit his lower lip, and the sight of his teeth biting into pink flesh made her swallow hard. He fixed his green gaze on her again. “I just wanted you to know I was interested and to find out if you were too.”

She shook her head. “Why on earth would you be interested in me?”

Ryan gave a scoffing snort. “Why not? You’re beautiful.”

Her eyebrows shot up. She’d never considered herself beautiful. Attractive maybe, or striking with her bold features and dark eyes and hair, but certainly not conventionally beautiful.

He smiled. “Come on. You have to know you’re pretty. You’re also sad and I want to see what you look like when you smile.”

If he was playing her, he was winning. Camilla’s stomach did another series of somersaults at his compliment, the likes of which she hadn’t heard in years. Not that Sam hadn’t told her she looked nice when dressed to go out or thanked her for cooking a meal. But there was an automatic quality to his appreciation. She was giddy with pleasure at being told with absolute sincerity by a handsome man that he saw her as beautiful.

“Well, thank you,” she managed. “You’re very sweet.”

“Ah, there’s the smile,” he teased.

After that she couldn’t have kept the corners of her mouth from curving up if she tried. She felt like a wallflower who’d gained the attention of the most popular boy at the dance.

Ryan straightened and walked around the box-laden dolly which stood between them. He approached her slowly, as if she were a bird that might take flight, and stopped in front of her to gaze down into her eyes.

“I’m going to do something to try to convince you that going out with me is a good idea. If I’m overstepping, I’ll apologize again and we’ll pretend it never happened.”

Camilla was transfixed by his lips shaping those words. She knew what his mouth was about to do, but even he moved slowly giving her time to step away, she was shocked when Ryan covered her mouth with his.

I haven’t been kissed by any man but Sam in almost twenty years.
The thought floated in her mind, while her body responded naturally to the soft pressure of the handsome young man’s mouth on hers. Her lips moved in a soft, grasping motion, plucking on his and tasting them. She pressed her hands to his solid chest, not pushing him away but not clutching at him either.

She burned with excitement and the heat of his body only inches from hers. Her nipples drew tight, and her pussy tensed, aching for the fulfillment it had been denied for too long. His kiss was careful and questioning but hovered on the verge of growing more demanding. She wanted that. She leaned irresistibly toward him like a dry leaf being sucked into a whirlwind.

Ryan broke off the kiss and stepped back. His cheeks, already flushed from physical exertion, were even redder, and his eyes had gone from bottle green to deep emerald.

When Pat suddenly pushed open the kitchen door, both of them jumped.

“I’m done in the bedroom. You ready in here?”

“Uh, yeah.” Ryan flashed a smile at Camilla before taking hold of the dolly and wheeling it out.

Standing in the center of her old, familiar kitchen which suddenly seemed like a foreign planet, she watched Pat pile boxes onto the other cart. She looked at the red numbers on the stove clock: four fifty-three. One minute ago her world had shifted, a box inside her had broken open and things had spilled out. Now at four fifty-three, everything was different—all because a strange man had kissed her.

An excited, fluttery feeling replaced the dull blankness that had shrouded her for months. She thought of an illustration in one of her mythology books for the story of Pandora’s Box—the little spirit of Hope flying out of the empty chest. Hope fluttered around her now, beating its airy wings. Possibility. An intriguing new future. And another chance to experience things she’d forgotten she was capable of feeling.

Chapter Two

Camilla’s sense of anticipation remained as the two men finished emptying the house before closing the back of the truck and securing it. She followed the Bert and Ernie truck across town to the storage unit and waited while Ryan and Pat stacked the boxes inside. Then she drove to her new place. The apartment was farther from campus and located on a street with a laid-back, bohemian flavor.

When she’d first checked out the building, she’d been intrigued by the assortment of people coming and going. The slightly seedy district took her back to younger days, a lifetime away from the upscale, tree-shrouded neighborhood she and Sam had called home for most of their married life. This rental had seemed like a good place for new beginnings. Now, as she shoehorned her sedan into a cramped parking space, she wondered if she’d made a mistake in choosing a neighborhood that skewed younger.

The Bert and Ernie truck double-parked on the street in front of the building while Camilla stood in the front hall of the apartment, directing the movers. She exchanged no pregnant glances with Ryan. It was as if the kiss had never happened as he focused his energy on getting everything inside quickly before the truck got ticketed.

By the time they’d emptied the truck, Camilla’s apartment was so overcrowded with furniture and boxes she felt as if she was drowning in her possessions. There was only a maze to get from room to room. She’d miscalculated the space everything would take. The thought of delving into even one box tonight was too much to contemplate, and she thought she might get a motel room to escape the mess.

“You have someone coming by to help you with all this?” Ryan’s voice startled her and set her heart pounding. He approached her, clipboard in hand, as he surveyed the disaster of her living room.

“A couple of friends are supposed to come by tomorrow to help unpack and organize. I didn’t think I’d feel like it by the end of today.”

“Good call. No one ever does. But you might need to find a few things. I could help with that.” Spoken in a husky tone, the offer sounded suggestive.

The silence after he finished speaking dragged on a few seconds too long before Camilla replied. “Don’t you have another job to get to after this?”

“Nope. This is it for the day. After we return the truck, I’m free. I could pick up some carryout and bring it over.”

There were plenty of reasons to refuse his offer: he was a stranger, she wasn’t ready to date anyone, he was too young, she was too reserved. But the memory of that blazing hot kiss in her kitchen trumped all logic and made all those very good reasons moot.

She licked her lips. “I guess that would be all right. You don’t already have plans for tonight?”

“Not one. Do you prefer pizza, Chinese food or something else?”

Tilting her head to look up into his eyes made her dizzy, or maybe it was because she forgot to breathe. “Don’t worry about food. I’ll order in and have it waiting here when you get back.

“Sounds perfect.” His dimples made him seem even more boyish. How young
was
he anyway? The age of most of her students no doubt. Early twenties. But she swallowed that guilty, Mrs. Robinson feeling and returned his smile.

He gave her the clipboard.

She signed the paperwork and wrote a check

“I’ll be back soon.” Ryan suddenly bent and gave her a peck on the lips then whispered, “Don’t start second guessing your decision, okay?”

Her lips tingled and she pressed her fingers to them after he’d walked out. She’d just made a date with the moving guy. How had that happened? On this day of massive change and upheaval it was one more stir of the pot, which she didn’t need. But maybe the distraction would be good for her.

She took a shower and shaved her legs carefully, stubble swirling down the drain as she prepared for the evening’s possibilities. In her new bedroom, she searched for clothes to wear. A glance at the bare mattress on the bed made her flush as she pictured an erotic tangle of limbs. She should find her sheets and make it up. Even if nothing sexual happened between her and Ryan, she had to sleep there at some point.

As she poked through boxes and put away a few things, waves of anticipation and dread washed through her. She wanted Ryan to come
and
she wished she’d never met him. Why couldn’t he have been some dull, normal moving guy like Pat, who only wanted to get through the job and be on his way? What had triggered the chemistry between them? Seeing him sparked a fizzy feeling through her body like an electric current. She craved him with an elemental desire beyond her control. He must desire her, too, or he wouldn’t be coming here tonight.

The doorbell rang, an unfamiliar tone in an unfamiliar room. Camilla paid the delivery girl for the food and put it in the kitchen. After that she wandered from room to room carrying the painting her mother-in-law had given her, trying to find where it fit. The frame was too ornate and the still life too formal for any wall in this apartment. At last she realized she’d never really liked the painting, and no one would be hurt if she didn’t hang it. She should’ve put the thing in the storage unit or sold it.

The doorbell rang again and her fingers clenched the gilt frame. She leaned the painting against the wall and went to answer the door, pulse racing.

Ryan stood in the hallway, a bottle of wine in one hand. He wore a T-shirt with the logo of a band she didn’t know and a pair of jeans that made his long legs appear even longer. His hair was damp and the herbal scent of soap and shampoo wafted toward her. He offered her the bottle with a smile. “I don’t really know wines so I hope this is okay.”

Camilla matched his self-effacing manner. “I ordered Chinese. I hope you like that.”

She stepped aside to let him into the apartment and another whiff of clean male tickled her nose as he passed. Chills flashed through her as if she had a low-grade fever. The hair on her neck prickled, her body responding on a primal level to his proximity. She felt alive and hungry in a way that had nothing to do with the fact that she’d only had a few cups of coffee and a handful of grapes all day.

She closed the door as Ryan turned to hand her the bottle of wine. Trapped between the door and the solid wall of his body, Camilla looked up into his eyes. She lost her breath. He was so close, so potently male, and so
there
in her new apartment. When he smiled, she thought her bones would liquefy and she’d melt into a puddle on the floor.

“Hi.” He barely whispered but the word vibrated into her flesh. His gaze was on her mouth. She licked her lips in anticipation. Ryan reached for her waist with his free hand and inclined his head. Camilla lifted her face, rising on her toes and meeting him halfway. Their mouths pressed together in a kiss as soft and gentle as a spring rain, and her body unfurled like dry winter grass brought back to green freshness. Her hands slipped up his chest to grasp his shoulders, hard and warm beneath her palms.