“Oh, Jonas, the roast.” She grabbed two pot holders and pulled open the oven to retrieve the pot roast. Black smoke filled the small kitchen, and Stephanie waved her hand to clear the air. “So much for that,” she said, heaving an exasperated sigh.
“What is it?” Jonas joined her, examining the charred piece of meat.
“What does it look like?” she said hotly, then stared at the crisp roast and slowly shook her head. “If you have any kindness left in your heart, you won’t answer that.”
Chuckling, Jonas slipped his arm around her shoulders. “There are worse disasters.”
“I imagine you’re referring to an unassembled bookcase with instructions in a foreign language.”
Amusement glinted in his blue eyes at the belligerent way her mouth thinned. Stephanie couldn’t help pouting. She was furious with herself for ruining a perfectly good piece of meat, and what was even worse was to have to face this disgrace in front of Jonas.
“Come on,” he prompted. “There’s a fabulous Chinese restaurant near here. The kitchen can air out while we’re gone, and when we get back, I’ll finish putting that bookcase together.”
“All right,” she agreed, and her mouth curved into a weak smile. Jonas was right. The best thing she could do was to draw his attention away from her lack of culinary skill. If he continued to see her, she’d know for certain that it wasn’t her talent in the kitchen that had attracted him.
It was not until Stephanie had buckled the seat belt in Jonas’s Mercedes that she realized she was still wearing her faded, washed-out jeans and her tennis shoes. “This Chinese restaurant isn’t fancy, is it?” She placed her hand over the knee that showed white through the threadbare blue jeans.
Jonas’s gaze followed hers. “Poor Stephanie.” He chuckled. “You’re having quite a night, aren’t you?”
She folded her hands in her lap and crossed her legs. “It’s an average night.” Better than most. Worse than some. It wasn’t every day that Jonas Lockwood held her in his arms and kissed her until her world spun out of its orbit. Just thinking about the way he’d held her produced a warm glow inside her until she was certain she must radiate with it.
“You do enjoy Chinese food?”
“Oh, yes.”
“By the way, do you often wear purple tennis shoes?”
Startled, Stephanie glanced down at her feet and experienced another minor twinge of regret. “I bought them on sale—they were half-price.”
Jonas chuckled. “I think it was the color.”
“I usually only wear them around the apartment,” she said, only a little offended. “They work fine for The Twenty-Minute Workout.”
“The what?”
“The Twenty-Minute Workout? It’s on every morning at six. Don’t you ever watch it?” She wasn’t sure the neighbor in the apartment below appreciated her jumping around the living room at such an ungodly hour, but Mrs. Humphrey had never complained.
“I take it you’re referring to a televised exercise program.”
“Yes. Have you heard of it?”
“No, I prefer my club.”
“Oh, the joys of being rich.” She said it with a sigh of feigned envy.
“Are you going to complain about your wages?’’
“Would it do any good?”
“No.”
“That’s what I thought.” Her gaze slid to him, and again she marveled at the man at her side. The top buttons of his white business shirt were unfastened, exposing bronze skin and dark curly hair. The long sleeves were rolled up, revealing the eagerness with which he’d helped her with the bookcase. He stopped at a red light, and seemed to feel her eyes on him. His gaze met hers, and Stephanie noted the fine lines that feathered out from the corners of his eyes. The grooves at the side of his mouth, which she had so often thought of as harsh, softened now as he smiled. Jonas, Lockwood was a different man when he grinned. It transformed his entire face.
Stephanie was astonished how much his smile could affect her. Her heart stopped, then started up again, pounding the blood hotly through her veins. If given the least bit of encouragement, Stephanie would have impulsively eliminated the small space that separated them and pressed her mouth to his, revealing with a kiss how much being with him had stirred her heart.