Best of My Love (Fool's Gold, #20)(40)

Unfortunately thinking about the problem only made it worse. And bigger. So he suffered through several cold showers, a few stern talking-tos and another log-splitting session back at Nick’s. If this kept up much longer, his brother was going to have firewood for six winters.

The following Friday, he followed Charlie to the front door and opened it to find Shelby on his porch. The cold weather was less intense and she’d replaced her down jacket with a lighter leather coat. She had on high-heeled boots, instead of ones designed for snow, and tight jeans. A sexy package.

He told himself none of that mattered and that he should instead focus on the basket she carried.

“Come on in,” he said, taking it from her.

She relinquished the surprisingly heavy basket and stepped into the house. After hanging up her jacket, she crouched down to greet an ecstatic Charlie, then straightened.

“We’re blending,” she said with a laugh. “I like that.”

He led the way into the kitchen. “I know how to compromise.”

They were having dinner together and just talking—a girl thing. Followed by the second half of a basketball game—a guy thing.

Two months ago he would have groaned at the thought of sitting around and talking. What was the point? But now he understood the appeal. He wasn’t going to call his friends and suggest they have a boys’ night in. But every now and then it was good to talk things over. Not just problems, but what was happening in life. He liked Shelby’s perspective on everything from the latest festival to who was pregnant or dating.

Shelby picked up Charlie and hugged him. “How’s my best guy?” The little bichon licked her chin and gave a happy yip.

While they greeted each other, Aidan emptied the basket of a casserole and four tall dessert glasses filled with what looked like parfait. Because dinner with Shelby always meant amazing dessert.

“What did you bring?” he asked.

She set down Charlie and walked into the kitchen. “That’s the taco casserole that won the Great Casserole Cookoff,” she told him. “I got the recipe in my email this week and decided to try it.”

He chuckled. “Yet another difference between men and women.”

“What do you mean?”

“I got that email, too.” The same online service that sent out information about their two singles events sent out recipes. “I never thought about making any of the casseroles.”

“After tonight, you’re going to change your mind. It wasn’t hard.” She motioned to the dessert. “Chocolate bread pudding parfait. The recipe said to use bread soaked in espresso and rum, but I used chocolate pound cake instead. I think the texture will be better.” She smiled. “Of course I still soaked it in rum.”

“That’s my girl.”

Since meeting Shelby, Aidan had been forced to step up his workout routine. His job kept him pretty active, but he still tried to get to the gym a couple of times a week to get in a long run and lift some weights. But with the desserts, cookies and cakes she was forever bringing around, he’d found himself having to add another day of exercise.

He had no idea how she kept her weight exactly the same, but being a guy and therefore visual, he happened to know she never gained an ounce. No harm in looking and Shelby was a beautiful woman. He knew every inch of her...at least the inches he could see. Under her clothes was another matter. Not that he hadn’t imagined, but a guy never knew for sure until he—

He firmly squashed that line of thinking. They weren’t going there, he told himself. Not now, not ever. Friends. Good, platonic friends.

He left out the casserole, but put the parfaits in the refrigerator. She turned on the oven and checked out the bottle of wine he’d chosen for their dinner.

“I need to learn more about wine,” she said with a sigh. “I’m forever guessing at what is good. I wonder if I could take a class or something.”

“Talk to someone up at Condor Valley Winery. They’d know where to start.” He leaned against the counter. “I don’t know that much, either. We could take a class together.” He thought about the dessert they were having. “What about learning about different wines to have with different desserts? People are always pairing wine with food, but what about sweet things? It would be a fun event to have at the bakery.”

She nodded quickly. “You’re right. And with the winery as a cosponsor, we could get the wine at a real discount. I wonder what it would take to get a license to sell wine in the store. If Amber was interested...”

The last sentence nearly sounded like a question. “You’re not sure.”

“I think I have too many ideas for her. She and I are partners, but I’m only a minority shareholder and things have been done a certain way for a long time. Not that she isn’t great. She is. I really like working with her. But I try to be careful—to not push things too far.”

He opened the bottle of wine. “It was like that when I first went into the business with Mom. I’d always worked there part-time, but when I took things over, I had to balance what I wanted with what my mom thought was right. It was much easier when I bought her out. Everything was on me.”

“Your ideas.” She took the glass of wine he offered. “So you succeeded and failed on your own.”

“Right. No one to blame and no one else to take the credit. It works for me.”