Free With This Kiss by Bella Riley Page A

“I can take care of myself, you know. I didn’t starve before you showed up here.”
    Liking that spark inside of her way more than he should have, Sean didn’t let her snarky comment stop him from buttering a piece of bread and sliding it over to her.
    “I’ve never had such good bread anywhere. Mrs. Higgins puts even Parisian bakers to shame.”
    Finally, she grudgingly reached for it and took a small bite of the delicious bread.
    “Tell me about Paris while we eat.”
    It was clear that neither of them had forgotten she owedhim an answer to his question about why she’d come to Emerald Lake. But he wanted her to replenish some of those calories she’d burned off while cleaning the inn’s bedrooms like the Energizer bunny first.
    After all, he reminded himself yet again, she was a really valuable employee.
    “The architecture is amazing. Every time I go back, I’m surprised all over again by just how much visual stimulation there is.” He’d never been asked to put his feelings about Paris into words before, and he found that he was discovering his feelings at the same time as he was sharing them with Rebecca. “Throughout Europe, history is all around you, every moment of every day. Past and present, they all come together with perfect fluidity, from the ancient stone walls of the Louvre to the postmodern pyramid in the middle of the plaza.”
    Rebecca’s eyes were lit with interest. “I’ve read so many books about Paris that sometimes I feel like I’ve been there. I’ve even dreamed about walking along the Seine, about standing in the middle of Notre Dame Cathedral looking up at the buttresses and stained glass, and then going for coffee at Les Deux Magots to see if I can hear echoes of the great writers in the walls.”
    Sean couldn’t think of the last time he’d talked so much to anyone about something other than business.
    “You could live anywhere, couldn’t you, Sean?”
    He certainly had the money and contacts to start a business anywhere. “Yes, I suppose I could.”
    “Emerald Lake must seem so small compared to everywhere you’ve been.”
    “It’s small,” he agreed, “but this part of the world is nice, too.”
    “Even compared to Paris? Or Rome?”
    “There are so many beautiful places that if you tried to rank them you’d go a little crazy.”
    He could see the stars in her eyes as she tried to imagine all that beauty. It was obvious to him how badly she wanted to travel and see the world. So, then, why hadn’t she? He knew plenty of people who could barely scrape together the money for plane fare, but that hadn’t stopped them from traveling.
    More questions were on the tip of his tongue but he was momentarily distracted by how beautiful she looked with the sun streaming in over her silky hair, her lips plump and soft from where she’d been biting them.
    Upstairs in the bathroom he’d been schooling himself in how to proceed from here on out with Rebecca. He knew the right thing to do. Keep his distance. Don’t get any closer.
    Which meant keeping the rest of his questions—ones that had nothing to do with Stu’s disappearance—to himself.
    She put down her spoon and used a piece of bread to wipe clean her bowl before popping the bread into her mouth. She looked up and seemed startled to find him staring at her.
    Her cheeks turning that lovely shade of pink he was liking far too much for either of their sakes, she quickly chewed and swallowed.
    “I usually have much better table manners than that. Stu and I have known each other for so long, we’re pretty informal with each other. I guess I forgot for a moment that you and I have only just met.”
    Something inside his chest grew warm at the knowledgethat she was comfortable with him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt that kind of warmth.
    “Actually,” he told her, “I think you’re onto something.” He grabbed the heel off the loaf and broke it in half, using it to clean his bowl just as she