The Trouble with Angels (Angels Everywhere #2)(29)

"Are you saying you don’t want to see me again?”

Maureen was fast learning that Thom Nichols didn’t ask questions unless he was damn sure of the answers. She could deny it, tell a bold-faced lie, but he’d know exactly what it was, and so would she.

This was what made dealing with this man so impossible. She couldn’t hide from Thom behind insults. He saw through her fears. He saw through her pain. He recognized the truth as if it had been tattooed across her forehead.

"Aren’t you going to answer the question?” he asked. His tone was gentle. Her heart melted a little then, knowing he could have mocked her and didn’t.

"No.”

He smiled broadly, apparently encouraged by her lack of response. Joining her at the kitchen counter, he lifted her hand and placed it on his shoulder. He felt solid and real beneath her fingertips. Then he leaned forward and pressed his mouth to hers. The kiss was slow and gentle and at the same time the most erotic one she’d ever experienced. It had been so long since she had been kissed. Really kissed. That was it, she told herself. Not the man, but the fact it had been years since a man had taken her in his arms.

When he broke away Maureen was shaking so badly she needed to sit down. Apparently Thom felt much the same way, because he claimed the seat next to her.

She noticed his breath was ragged. Neither of them spoke. For her part, Maureen couldn’t. At that moment she was incapable of uttering anything more than weak, unintelligible sounds.

Thom scooted his chair close to hers, angled toward her, and dropped a row of soft, delicate kisses along the underside of her chin and up toward her ear. Slowly, in heart-stopping increments, he brought his lips back to hers.

"I…think…you…should…leave…now.” Maureen swore it took five minutes for the words to untangle themselves from the end of her tongue.

"I haven’t had my coffee.”

"Coffee.” She’d almost forgotten about it. Surely the pot was ready by now. All she need do was pour him a cup and usher him to the door. Then her duty would be complete.

"Coffee.” She was about to stand but discovered, to her chagrin, that her arms were wrapped securely about him. She hadn’t clue when that had happened.

Leaving him proved to be far more difficult than it should have been. Her eyes fluttered open, and she stiffened immediately. There, standing just inside the kitchen, were Karen and Paula, staring at them with wide eyes, their young faces creased with approving smiles.

"Wow,” Karen whispered as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. "Your dad just kissed my mom.”

"He did? Great. This is really, really great,” Paula said in the same awe-filled voice.

"If they get married, does that mean we’d be sisters?” Karen wanted to know.

Apparently an answer wasn’t necessary for the two to celebrate. With their arms wrapped around each other, they let out a whoop and did a little jig about the kitchen.

"We aren’t getting married,” Maureen said forcefully, bolting out of her chair. She wanted to blame Thom for this, but she’d been as much a partner in the kissing episode as he.

He touched her, and the emptiness inside her echoed like a shout down a dry well. The years hadn’t lessened the pain of her marriage, and this evening with Thom left her to face the haunting self-doubts. Brian had turned to another woman. He’d found her lacking, found her inadequate. Another man eventually would, too. She dared not risk that again. She didn’t know if she could live through it a second time.

"Great going, Dad.” Paula gave her father the thumbs-up sign. Thom’s thumb went up in response.

"It might be a good idea if you girls let us two adults talk.”

"Sure,” Paula said, scooting out a chair and sitting down. She propped her hands in her face and looked to her dad. Karen sat next to her friend, her eyes as bright as fireworks against a dark July sky.

"Privately,” Thom whispered to the girls.

"They want to be alone.” Paula said this, apparently for Karen’s benefit.

As soon as the two left the kitchen, Maureen started pacing. "That shouldn’t have happened.”

"What? Us kissing or the girls seeing us?”

"Both.”

"The kissing really bothers you?” he asked.

Maureen knew this was another one of those incidents where he was well aware of her answer. "As a matter of fact, it does. If you want my opinion, I think you should be concerned yourself.”

"Well, to be honest, I’ll admit your kiss packs quite a wallop.” He rubbed his hand down the side of his face as if to say he’d been surprised by the impact she’d had on him.

Maureen ignored his comment. "We’ve had exactly one dinner together, not even a dinner date, and already our daughters are talking about becoming stepsisters. Frankly, I think this is a cause for concern.”

She breathed in deeply in an effort to gain perspective. Everything seemed to be happening much too fast. She wasn’t like other women who floated easily in and out of relationships.

Ever since her divorce she’d been living in a vacuum, living off her bitterness. Brian had taught her well, and she wasn’t looking for a repeat of that experience. "I won’t allow you to pressure me into a relationship,” she announced, her back ramrod straight.