Free In Bed with Beauty by Katherine Garbera Page B

control. Back to the one place where he knew all the variables and could react accordingly.
    “Most days,” he said, standing and walking out of her garden. Out of the little Eden she’d created with her home and her words and her soft eyes that beckoned him to taste the apple she held in her hand. Only this time the apple would bring man into Eden not expel him from it. And he knew he wasn’t meant to live in Eden.
    “I thought we were going to talk about us,” she said, following him.
    “Is there an us?” he asked. He’d never been part of an “us” before and there was a part of his soul that longed for her answer to be yes. But there was another part—a darker part that knew yes wasn’t the answer he was meant to hear.
    “I think there could be, but you’re going to have to trust me.”
    “I don’t trust easily, Sarah.”
    “Maybe you haven’t met the right person yet.”
    “Could be.”
    “I think I’m right. And I’m going to teach you all I know about trust.”
    He thought about it. Thought about the incredible ecstasy he’d experienced in her arms and about the longings she’d awakened in him. He should just say no. But he was only a man and the promise in her eyes made him believe that he could manage this.

    Harris avoided Sarah and her little house as much as he could over the next few days. Though her family called to him in a way nothing other than high finance ever had. He’d taken on a new consulting job in Tokyo as soon as this one in Orlando ended. If nothing else it would give him a good reason to leave.
    Halloween was on Thursday and then he’d only have a short stretch of time before Thanksgiving. He hated that holiday the most. Every year he’d watched that damned Macy’s parade from his father’s penthouse. So close to all those happy laughing families and so damned far away. Harris had a strict policy of being out of the country for all Holidays. This year would be no exception.
    He’d stay busy like he always did. And this year he’d keep his distance from Sarah, her restaurant and the family that she kept trying to make him a part of. To keep from remembering what it was like to hold Sarah in his arms and to dream for a moment of something that could never be.
    Ray had cajoled him into going to Sarah’s restaurant twice but Harris refused to go inside both times. Instead he’d been on the phone with Marshall Turner and the New Deal Developing Consortium who was purchasing Sarah’s rental property. Every time his conscience brought up that fact—that Taste of Home would be affected by this takeover—he quieted it. Business and personal lives didn’t mix.
    He wasn’t sure what the next steps were in his relationship with Sarah. Only knew that spending time with her made him ache in a way that couldn’t be good.
    He wanted her in his bed again. He wanted to exorcise the demon that she’d become to his soul. He wanted to let this obsession run its path so he could be free of it and get on with his normal life. But he didn’t want to burden her with his reality. To shatter more of her illusions of what life could be.
    And any woman looking for Mr. Right believed in the kind of fairy tales that weren’t possible in the real world. A life that didn’t involve caring and the emotions that kept roiling through him. But that showed no sign of happening. Because Harris had realized that sex with Sarah was different from sex with other women. It wasn’t even sex per se, it was more like making love.
    Ray stopped for the third night in front of Taste of Home. Since it was after ten, Harris suspected it wasn’t for dinner. Harris had deliberately worked late so that he wouldn’t be tempted to see Sarah.
    “Why are we here?” Harris asked Ray.
    “Sarah’s car is back in the shop. I told her we’d pick her up.”
    “Next time consult me first.” This is what came from letting staff eat a meal with you, Harris thought.
    “Yes, sir.” Ray had stopped being jovial