Dying To Play. Debra Webb

believe I was so stupid I didn’t realize he was seeing someone else.”

      She peeked through her fingers at him, steeling herself for a look of pity. Instead, he looked sympathetic and…interested? “You never struck me as stupid,” he said.

      She lowered her hands. “I didn’t? I mean…I never thought you noticed.”

      His smile could have melted icicles. “I noticed.”

      The words set her heart to pounding and she had trouble catching her breath. Please don’t anybody pinch me, she thought. Any minute now, she’d wake up and this dream would be over. She slowly slid her hands from her face and risked looking at Guy full-on. He was still smiling at her, a heart-melting look that sent rational thought ducking for cover before a full-fledged assault of giddy fantasy and old-fashioned lust. Oh, God, what had she gotten herself into?

      The new Cassie might be ready for this, but the parts of old Cassie that still hung around belonged to a coward. “Uh, I didn’t mean to barge in on you like this. I’ll go now and get out of your way.” She lunged toward the door.

      Guy’s hand on her arm stopped her. “You don’t have to go. To tell you the truth, I was feeling kind of lonely before you showed up.”

      So she’d been right. He was lonely. But how was that possible? The man had dozens of friends, hundreds even. He could have any woman he wanted. Maybe he was only being nice…. She squared her shoulders and mentally shook herself. What did it matter why he’d invited her to stay? He’d invited her. It’s what she’d wanted all along, wasn’t it?

      She forced herself to meet his gaze and faked a confident smile. “I’d love to stay.”

      He came closer. She would have moved back, but already the fire was in danger of singeing her legs. He reached for her and for one heart-stopping moment, she thought he might gather her into his arms and kiss her, as he had so many times in her fevered fantasies.

      Instead, he took hold of the straps of her backpack. “Why don’t you take this off?”

      She let him help her out of the pack while she tried to find her voice. The realization that she was here—alone—with the man of her dreams made it hard to breathe, much less talk. She grabbed hold of the fireplace mantel to steady herself.

      “Can I get you something to drink?” he asked.

      Drink. Right. Maybe a drink would help. “There’s some champagne in my bag.” No reason to let it go to waste.

      She bent and fumbled for the backpack, but he was quicker. Unzipping the bag, he pulled out a pair of white silk panties and the bottle of champagne. “Nice,” he murmured.

      Was he talking about the underwear or the wine? She grabbed the panties from him and stuffed them back into the pack. “Sorry.”

      He grinned. “I’ll go get some glasses.” As he headed for the kitchen, she could have sworn he was whistling.

      GUY SMILED TO HIMSELF as he hunted in the cupboard for glasses. Of all the crazy things to happen. Just when he’d been ready to give up on the weekend, cute little Cassie Carmichael showed up. Except she wasn’t so little anymore, a fact he’d noticed a while back at the coffee shop.

      When he’d first walked into Java Jive a few months ago, he hadn’t even connected the curvy clerk behind the counter with his kid sister’s school friend. But as soon as she’d said his name and smiled, he’d remembered. What a difference a few years had made.

      More than once since then, he’d thought of asking her out, but he wasn’t sure how his sister would feel about it. Amy and Cassie apparently weren’t friends anymore, so maybe there was bad blood there. Before he could find out, he’d heard Cassie was already involved with someone and he figured he’d missed his chance.

      Now fate had literally delivered the lovely Ms. Carmichael to his door. He wasn’t about to blow a second chance to get to know Cassie better. Amy would have to understand.

      He shook his head as he rinsed glasses. Funny, he’d thought of Cassie as the quiet, shy type. Obviously, he’d been wrong, judging by the contents of her pack and her plans to surprise her lowlife boyfriend.

      By the time he returned with two glasses filled with champagne, she’d settled into a chair by the fire, arms wrapped around her knees. He handed her a glass of champagne and offered a toast. “Cheers.”

      “Thanks for being so cool about this,” she said. “I was upset after seeing Bob with that woman and not thinking clearly, and there wasn’t another room available and I didn’t have anywhere to go—”

      “It’s okay.” He settled onto the sofa, at the end nearest her. “It’s all right with me if you stay here.” It was more than all right, really. Suddenly his lonely weekend didn’t look so lonely.

      She glanced toward the window. Snow was coming down in great drifts. “I guess none of us will be going anywhere for a while.” She sank back into the chair and stared at the bubbles in the champagne. “We’re trapped here.”

      “Hey, don’t make it sound so terrible.” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I know I’m not Bob, but I’m not such a bad fellow.” If you asked him, Bob was a first-class creep to skip out on a woman like this one. The thought made his jaw tighten in anger. How often did you come across such sweetness and sensuality wrapped up in one neat little package? “I don’t mind sharing the condo with you until the storm passes.” Which, with any luck, wouldn’t be for a couple of days.

      She looked around the room, perhaps taking in how small it was. Intimate. “I feel like I’m intruding. I mean, you obviously came up here to be alone.” She flushed. “Or maybe you’re expecting someone.”

      He shook his head. “I’m not expecting anyone.” He shrugged. “It was sort of a last-minute thing. I had some vacation coming and decided to take the weekend off. You know—read, think about things.” Even before he’d gotten the invitation from Dave, he’d been restless. Like something was missing from his life. Or somebody…

      She ran her finger around the rim of her glass and looked glum. “I guess I’ve got a few things to think about now, too.”

      “You mean Bob.”

      She nodded. “I can’t believe I was so blind. So trusting. Good old Cassie.” She gripped the arms of the chair, white-knuckled, jaw clenched. “He must have been laughing behind my back the whole time.”

      She glanced at Guy. “Jill calls him ‘Boring Bob’ sometimes. Never one to get excited about anything. Always so predictable. Boy, did we have him wrong.”

      “We all make mistakes.” It was one of those platitudes that don’t really mean anything, but it was all he could think of at the moment. He wanted to take away her hurt, to see her smile again. She had such a sweet smile. There was a better coffee shop closer to his office, but Cassie’s smile always drew him back to Java Jive.

      “I wanted to surprise him this weekend,” she said, green eyes snapping with rage. “I thought I’d shake him up, put a little life back in our relationship. Hah!”

      Guy braced himself. Any minute now, the waterworks would start. He felt in his pocket for a handkerchief, just in case.

      Cassie Carmichael didn’t burst into tears. Instead, she shot up out of the chair and began to pace. “When I think of all I did for that man! Oh, he owes me. Big time.”

      Guy followed her with his eyes as she stalked back and forth in front of the fireplace. Cheeks flushed, hair tumbling about her shoulders, she was a woman overcome by passion, though not of the romantic kind. You didn’t see that kind of emotion every day. Most people sleepwalked through life, not allowing themselves to feel much of anything, but not Cassie. Here was a woman who wasn’t asleep.

      He was getting turned on watching her, had in fact been turned on since the moment she’d showed up at his door. He could still recall the feel of those silky panties