Family in Progress by Brenda Harlen

Author:Brenda Harlen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2008-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

While painting Steven’s daughter’s bedroom wouldn’t have been on a top-ten list of Samara’s favorite things to do on a weekend, she was happy enough just to be with him. And, as they made their way to his house early Saturday morning, she was just a little bit worried that a man she’d known for such a short period of time could make her feel so much.

Or maybe it wasn’t Steven but a natural part of the healing process. She’d been so hurt when she’d found out about Kazuo’s betrayal, devastated to see all of her hopes and dreams crumble, and adamant that she would never let any man trample on her heart again. But over time, the humiliation had started to fade, the pain had eased, and while she wasn’t anxious to experience another heartache, she’d realized it was worse to feel nothing at all.

She didn’t need to worry about that with Steven. From the first—their first touch, their first kiss—he’d stirred something inside her. And while she was determined to move forward carefully and cautiously, she was also relieved—after spending the better part of the past two years in an emotional limbo—to be finally moving forward.

Okay, so maybe sleeping with a guy she’d known only a few weeks wasn’t particularly careful or cautious, despite having taken the usual precautions, but it had been necessary to take the edge off the attraction that had been building from the beginning. Necessary and—her lips curved at the thought—fabulous.

Besides, she knew full well that physical intimacy and emotional intimacy didn’t necessarily coincide. And while she had feelings for Steven, she wasn’t going to fall in love with him just because she’d fallen into bed with him.

But, as adamant as she was about that, she knew her heart wasn’t immune from danger. The more time she spent with Steven, the more she got to know him, the more she realized that there were a lot of reasons a woman could fall in love with him that had absolutely nothing to do with fabulous sex.

“Having second thoughts?” Steven asked gently.

The question startled her out of her reverie. “What?”

“Do you wish you hadn’t agreed to come?” he asked, pulling into the drive in front of his house.

She shook her head. “I think it will be fun.”

“Fun?” he asked skeptically.

“Not the painting part,” she said. “The part where you show your appreciation for my help.”

The heat in his eyes sent tingles dancing along her skin. “Can we do the appreciation part first?”

She laughed and reached for the door handle when he reached for her. “I want a tour first.”

So he gave her the tour—a quick walk-through from the ground level to the top floor, with a not-so-quick stop in the master bedroom to show off the new bed he’d bought a few weeks earlier.

When they finally got to Caitlin’s room, she saw that the furniture—an elegant white four-poster bed, a wide dresser and matching armoire—had been moved into the center of the room, the floors protected with drop cloths, and the supplies were all set out and ready for them to begin.

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