A Winter Wedding

She no longer wanted to be alone.

He was flattered that she felt she could recover with his support. But he wasn’t sure she was as safe with him as she assumed. Olivia or no Olivia, he couldn’t forget the jolt of awareness that’d hit him when Lourdes first stepped out of that rental car. And there’d been other instances when he’d felt the same attraction—like that night he’d had her in his arms.

“Um...”

“You could do the shopping and I could prepare our meals,” she said, trying to entice him. “I’m not much of a cook, but I’d make you a hot dinner to come home to every evening.”

A hot dinner after a day at work sounded nice. It was a luxury he hadn’t enjoyed since he was married. Even then, Noelle hadn’t inconvenienced herself to cook very often.

Besides, the arrangement was temporary, Kyle told himself. For all Lourdes’s talk about being done with Derrick, she could reconcile with him at any time, and that would change her plans completely.

So what was he afraid of? He couldn’t get too caught up with a woman who wouldn’t be around long enough for a relationship to happen...

“Now you’re speaking my language,” he said. “Why not? Sounds like fun.”

Her pretty but troubled eyes searched his. “Are you positive?”

His hesitation had spooked her, made her suspect he might not be too eager to have her around. “Of course,” he said. “I was just worried that you wouldn’t get the privacy you came here to find, but—”

“I feel comfortable with you,” she assured him. “I like it here.”

Having someone to buy her groceries protected her from the curious stares and whispers she’d encounter otherwise. If news of her breakup with Derrick hit the tabloids, she’d have additional reason to avoid the public eye. He wanted to shield her from that kind of attention. But he could always do her shopping if she was living in the farmhouse...

Or...maybe not. If they weren’t under the same roof, it was entirely possible that she wouldn’t feel comfortable calling him up to ask for the little things she needed.

“Let’s give it December and see how it goes,” he said. The least he could do was get her through Christmas...

She slipped under his arm and put her own around his waist as they headed to the door. “Thank you.”

Releasing a sigh, he curved his hand around her shoulder. She felt good tucked up against him. Too good. He should send her back to the farmhouse, because he was no friend. Even now he felt a heightened sexual awareness.

But she needed him, and he couldn’t let her down. “What are friends for?”

*

Noelle sat on the floor of her bedroom, painting her toenails with friend and fellow server Genevieve Salter. Noelle loved the bright red polish she’d bought. She planned to freehand some white snowflakes on top. Her red-and-white toenails would be perfect for the holidays, but it was tough to feel excited about Christmas or anything else when she was so angry with Kyle. According to her neighbor across the street, who’d called a few minutes earlier, he’d picked up the water heater she’d tossed in the yard and yet he hadn’t bothered to come to her door.

How dared he ignore her! Didn’t he care that she was upset? Wasn’t he going to do anything about it?

“I think he believes he can get Lourdes Bennett,” she told Genevieve. “Isn’t that the biggest joke you’ve ever heard? A country music star? I mean, Kyle’s good-looking and has a nice build and all that. But let’s be realistic. Lourdes can get a man with real money. A star like herself. Why would she settle for some small-time solar panel manufacturer who won’t leave this shit town even though there are so many better places to live?”

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