Familiar Stranger. Sharon Sala

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СКАЧАТЬ calmly told the girl to go molest someone else, which had made everyone laugh, including David. After that, the rest of the morning had been fairly innocuous. But now there was this. She glanced at David, judging his expression. To her surprise, he was looking at her.

      “What do you think?” Cara asked.

      “It smells good in here,” he said.

      She smiled. “The food tastes as good as it smells.”

      “Then I think you made the right choice, and I think those people at the table near the window are trying to get your attention.”

      Cara sighed. “Yes, I know. What do I do…about you, I mean?”

      An eyebrow arched. “What do you want to do…about me, I mean?”

      She grinned. “One thing has certainly changed since I first knew you. You have a wicked sense of humor. Now be serious. Is it, uh, safe to introduce you as David or should I—”

      David slid his hand along the length of her spine and gave her a gentle push in their direction.

      “I am who I am. If it was dangerous for me to surface, I damn sure wouldn’t have brought it to you.”

      She looked startled, and he realized she hadn’t considered that aspect of his life having a negative impact on hers.

      “Cara! Dear! How wonderful to see you.”

      Cara smiled. Obviously they’d stood too long at the door waiting to be seated. Her friend Debra Shay had been too curious to wait.

      “Good to see you, too,” Cara said.

      “Well…aren’t you going to introduce me?” Debra asked, and then glanced coyly at David.

      Cara smiled. “If you promise not to pinch him on the backside, I will.”

      Debra giggled and patted David’s arm in commiseration. “Oh, no! You must have been at Ream’s Salon. That Janis female is lethal around good-looking men.”

      David smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said smoothly. “I’m David Wilson. It’s a pleasure to meet one of Cara’s friends.”

      “David, this is Debra Shay,” Cara said. “Ray worked with her husband, Roy.”

      David nodded congenially while thinking that he felt like he was playing a part. Normal chit-chat, ordinary people, having lunch in a tearoom in Chiltingham, New York. It was a far cry from subterfuge and espionage. And then the hostess arrived and the moment ended.

      “I’m sorry for the delay,” she said. “Please follow me.”

      “Nice to meet you,” Debra gushed, giggling again as David and Cara were shown to their table.

      David seated Cara, then took the chair beside her. As soon as the hostess left, he took Cara’s hand.

      “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

      She made herself smile. “No.”

      “Why do I feel like there’s a but just waiting to come out?”

      She sighed. “Because there is.”

      “Then what?”

      “This doesn’t feel real.”

      He started to smile, which was the last thing Cara would have expected him to do.

      “What’s so funny?” she asked.

      “I’d forgotten that we used to think alike.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “Just a few moments ago I was thinking the very same thing. I feel like I’m acting a part and any minute now someone is going to yell cut and I’m going to turn back into—”

      He caught himself before he said the word Jonah and looked away, but the message was clear. Cara put her hands over his and gave them a squeeze.

      “It’s all right, darling,” she said quietly. “If you’re uncomfortable, we can go home. I’ll make us some sandwiches and we can—”

      “Hell, no. I’m not fragile, just out of practice,” he said, and then handed her a menu. “Now, tell me what’s good.”

      The smile on her face was worth every uncomfortable moment he’d had thus far. When she bent her head to study the menu, he watched her changing expression as devoutly as he’d watched the sunrises over the Rockies. He didn’t know how this journey was going to end, but he would never be sorry he’d made it.

      “How hungry are you?” Cara asked.

      He blinked. Telling her the truth about what he really hungered for would probably embarrass her, but when she started to blush, he figured she’d just read his mind.

      A small grin tilted the right side of his mouth, then as quickly disappeared.

      He leaned across the table until their foreheads were almost touching. “I’m starving,” he said softly

      Her blush heightened. “Just don’t lick the corner of my mouth again until there’s a really good reason.”

      His eyes glittered warmly as he sat back in his chair. “You’re safe for now,” he promised. “Now, since you’re the expert here, why don’t you order for me?”

      “Really?”

      “I think I’m secure enough as a man to let a woman order for me without feeling threatened. Besides, I’m curious as to what you think might appeal to me.”

      “What if you don’t like it?”

      He thought of the times he’d eaten grubs and insects to survive and decided against mentioning it.

      “I’ll still eat it.”

      She beamed. “My kind of man.”

      The teasing disappeared from his eyes. “Sweetheart, I was always your man.”

      Unprepared for the gentleness in his voice, Cara’s eyes teared, but she blinked them away.

      “Just for that, you’re going to get their famous dessert, too,” she said.

      “What’s that?”

      She grinned. “Cake. It’s called Better Than Sex.”

      David thought she was putting him on until she pointed to the dessert portion of the menu.

      “No way,” he muttered, wondering what else had changed in this world while he’d been hiding behind the generations of Jonahs who’d gone before him.

      “Oh, yes, and when you’ve finished your meal, I’ll prove it,” Cara said.

      At this point, David’s sense of justice СКАЧАТЬ