Wedding Vows: Just Married. Nancy Warren

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СКАЧАТЬ I ate earlier.”

      He yawned, still naked, like it was no big deal and then he headed for her kitchen. “Any leftovers?”

      “No.” She didn’t want to tell him she’d stuck a frozen diet entrée in the microwave. It seemed so lonely somehow.

      But Dexter seemed to think he had the right to entertain himself in her kitchen. Maybe he felt like he could still open her cupboards and fridge as though they were still married.

      Because she had to find her robe and slip it on, plus find slippers and run a brush through the red tangle that used to be her hair, by the time she got to the kitchen, naked Dex was standing with his head in the freezer section of her fridge.

      He turned to her with a look of disgust. “What is all this diet crap?”

      “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve put on a few pounds.”

      “No. You haven’t.” He shook his head and shut the door with the plastic thunk of a freezer that prefers to keep its secrets. “No wonder you’re always in a pissy mood. You don’t eat.” He went for his coat and for a sad, sick moment she thought he was leaving, but he emerged with his BlackBerry. A couple of clicks and he was dialing.

      “Who are you calling?”

      “Chinese. Found a great delivery place.”

      “Not Chinese,” she almost shouted.

      With a puzzled expression he ended the call before it completed. “You always used to love Chinese.”

      “I still do,” she moaned. “But I’ve used up all my calories today. I cannot watch you eat and not dig in.”

      “You need to quit this diet craziness, you hear me? You look fantastic. Even better naked than I remember.” He grinned at her. “And I’ve got a very visual memory. It’s an architect thing.”

      The thought of him comparing today’s naked body with that of five years ago was enough to send her into the bathroom to slam the door and lock herself in until he was gone. “You’re lying.”

      He shook his head and pressed redial. She heard him ordering all of her favorite foods and wondered if any woman would blame her if she killed the man by plunging chopsticks into his heart. So long as the jury was packed with women on diets, she knew no one would find her guilty.

      While they waited for the food to arrive, he poured them another glass of the wine and pulled his jeans on.

      They sat together, chatting, almost like old times.

      “Tell me about your project,” she asked.

      “I’m excited about this one. The original building is a perfect example of classical revival architecture. The Stockard was built in the 1920s as the headquarters for a trading company, then converted to a bank and then a law firm. Our challenge is to transform The Stockard into a twenty-four-story mixed-use building with office, retail and luxury residential.” He took a sip of wine and she knew he was picturing the project. “They’d already agreed to preserve the exterior façade and mezzanine, where most of the original historic details still exist. But we had to convince them that green building was the way to go. And we did.”

      “Congratulations,” she said, knowing that Dex, with his passion and vision, was hard to resist.

      “Thanks. We’re mixing smart design with the original architectural detailing. Retail at street level, a couple of floors of offices and a separate entrance leads to top of the line condos. I love mixing old and new.”

      She smiled at his excitement. “It sounds amazing.”

      “It will be. I might buy one of the condo units.” He shrugged. “See how they turn out.”

      She was surprised and she knew it showed on her face. “You’d move back to Philly?”

      He flicked her a glance. “I don’t know. Maybe. Or if I keep doing a lot of work here it might make sense to keep a place. I haven’t decided yet.”

      She didn’t know what she’d have said, wasn’t even sure what she thought of the idea of him spending enough time in the city to keep a home here, when the doorbell sounded.

      “Get the plates, will you?” he said, as he jogged down the stairs to answer the door.

      “Plate. One,” she muttered, even as she licked her lips in anticipation.

      He jogged back in with a shallow box containing far too many takeout containers.

      “What did you buy? Everything on the menu?”

      “Sex makes me hungry. You know that.” He plopped the box on the counter and flipped open a carton. Waved the thing under her nose. “Makes you hungry, too. Don’t think I’ve forgotten.”

      “Oh, I am a weak, weak woman, and you are an evil, evil man,” she said as she reached inside the container for a crispy chunk of ginger beef and popped it in her mouth where the spicy flavor exploded on her tongue.

      From that moment she was lost.

      They talked, they ate, and when she tried to stop, claiming she’d had enough, he started feeding her little pieces with his own chopsticks. When he dropped a fat, juicy prawn before it reached her mouth, so it slid down her chest, and then he went after it with his mouth, she laughed. “You did that on purpose.”

      “Maybe.” He leaned forward and undid her robe.

      “No,” she cried, trying to pull the lapels back together.

      “Let me look. You are so beautiful.”

      “After I lose five pounds.”

      “You’re crazy, you know that?”

      She shook her head at him.

      He got a cunning look in his eye, one she knew well, and that stirred her blood. “What are you planning?”

      “Maybe just a little peek.”

      She laughed, but the light in here was so bright. “You’ve already seen everything there is to see.”

      “Come on. I like to look at you.”

      But she let him ease open one side of her housecoat. Revealing one plump breast, the nipple already as round as a blueberry.

      He glanced up at her, then back at her breast. “I haven’t had dessert.”

      “Have a fortune cookie.”

      He reached for his chopsticks. “I have a better idea.”

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      “OH, NO,” she said, seeing where he was going. “Not the plum sauce.” But she was already giggling.

      He opened the little cello pack of prepared plum sauce, squeezed some out СКАЧАТЬ