Free Body Work by Bonnie Edwards Page B

cousin’s wedding. I told her I’d take Jason to the auction with me to give her a couple weeks off. I doubt she’ll take them, though.”
    Enjoying the comfortable memories, they prepared the rest of the meal together. Eventually, they sat across from each other at the island, and served each other. She offered him ice tea and he took it gratefully. “I was looking for a beer in the fridge earlier.”
    “ It’s in the bar fridge in the den. I’ll get you one.”
    When she returned, he was putting the finishing touches on a bouquet of roses he ’d obviously filched from the vine beside the kitchen door. “It looks funny,” he said around a rueful grin. “I wanted it to be perfect.”
    “ They are perfect, just like your thoughtfulness.”
    “ Then what’s wrong with them? They don’t look right.”
    She smiled at his desire to give her perfection in the blooms. “They’re not long stemmed roses. They’re climbers. More leaves around the blossoms and short stems. It may be better to put them in a shorter vase.”              
    He pulled one out and smiled. “Do roses float?” He went through the cupboards until he found a cereal bowl. He filled it with water and roses and set it on the island.
    When the roses looked presentable, he wrapped his arms around her, looking pleased with himself. He plucked a stem out of the bowl, removed the thorns and twined the bloom behind her ear. His warm brown eyes studied her, taking in everything from the crown of her head to the tops of her breasts, now plastered against his chest. He snugged her hips close to his and held her there. His hands massaged her behind, sending signals to every part of her body.
    If she wasn’t careful, she could get addicted to this kind of attention. It had been too long since she’d shared a simple meal in the kitchen with a man.
    “ Beautiful,” he said, sliding his hands under her robe so he could palm her backside without the terry in the way. “You haven’t told me how your Mom’s doing.”
    Talk about a mood wrecker. She shifted away from him.
    “I think I’m sorry I asked,” he said.
    She might as well tell him. “The drinking caught up to her a couple years ago. She’s gone.”
    “ Sorry. I didn’t know. She moved out of the park a few years back.”
    “ Harris paid for her care but she was past help.” She shrugged. “She loved the bottle more than anything. She used to say it was her best friend.”
    He nodded and went still. He blew out a breath. “I knew about her screaming at you.”
    She turned, looked into his face, saw nothing but the kindness she ’d seen back in the trailer park. “So that’s why you let me hang out at your place?”
    “ At first. Then you became useful.”
    “ Now you’re teasing me,” she said, suddenly glad and wanting to share the burden of her memories. “It was safe at your place. Like I said, I always liked your mom. As tough as it was for Jenny, I used to watch her with Jason and tell myself if I ever had children, I would be like her.”
    “ Not like your mom?”
    “ Never. I rarely drink. I see exasperated mothers in the mall and hate it when I hear them scream at their kids.”
    “ Jason wasn’t always the polite kid you see today. Jenn had her moments, but she always pulled back, reined in when she got too hot.”
    “ Drinking can take that away from some parents.” She rubbed her arms, determined again to be even handed and consistent if she was ever lucky enough to find a man who wanted to give her children.
    “ I don’t drink much,” he offered. “I like to keep my hands steady.” He grinned. “You know that saying, ‘one day at a time’?”
    “ Sure.”
    “ For me, it’s one beer at a time, always will be. My old man was a drinker. Left us flat.”
    “ I don’t remember him.”
    “ Neither do I, but my mother was steady as a rock. Jenn started too young, but she did a great job with Jason, so things worked out fine. My mom invested