She’d never looked more gorgeous.
Will moved quickly toward her, grabbing the sack before it fell. And then, without a word of greeting, he planted his mouth on hers. The kiss was sweet and closemouthed in front of her brother, but it still made his heart beat faster. Especially when she leaned into him, as though she was glad that he was there to put his arms around her.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said as she drew back. “I forgot we needed milk. The lines at the store were atrocious.”
“I want to talk to you about that. But later. Right now, you need sustenance.”
He took her jacket, laying it over the back of the sofa. Then he stashed the milk in the fridge and pulled out the wine he’d been chilling.
“Oh my God.” She stopped dead in the kitchen. “You did the dishes. But how?”
“Believe it or not, I’ve loaded a dishwasher and washed dishes plenty of times,” he said wryly. She seemed to have the mistaken notion that he’d been brought up privileged. Then again, he hadn’t exactly shared the truth about his childhood with her, had he? So why would she think any differently?
“I helped,” her brother piped up.
“That’s great, Jeremy, thank you,” she said. But she was glancing warily at the dishwasher.
“Don’t worry,” Will said. “I also know the dry soap goes in the machine and the liquid is for the hand-washing.”
“I didn’t mean to doubt your dishwashing prowess…it’s just that you’ve already gone to so much trouble tonight.” She rubbed a hand over her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about what the house looked like when I sent you over or that you’d need to do the dishes so that you could have plates to eat with.”
“I told you not to worry about anything tonight, Harper. And I meant it.” He held up the bottle of Riesling he’d picked up. “I’ll pour a glass of wine and fix you a plate.”
“You don’t have to.” She clearly wasn’t used to having anyone take care of her.
He pointed to the couch and put on his best boss voice. “Sit.”
She shook her head at his tone, but he caught the way her lips were curving up as she relaxed into one end of the sofa. Slipping off her high heels, she leaned back with a sigh, obviously admiring the newly tidied room.
They’d also cleaned up in there, sorting Jeremy’s crayons by color into the huge box. Will had learned that coloring was homework, likely a hand-eye coordination exercise.
“Can I watch Animal Planet?” Jeremy dashed across the room and picked up the remote, but stood motionless, his finger on the button, until Harper nodded. Then he plopped down on the carpet in front of the TV and started flipping channels.
“Not so close, please,” Harper chided.
As Jeremy spider-walked backward, Will poured her wine. Between them, he and Jeremy had unloaded the dishwasher, found where everything went, and stacked all the dirty dishes in the machine. Which meant that Will not only knew where her wineglasses were, he also knew that she had too many cans of baked beans and an empty peanut butter jar, as if she always forgot to make a grocery list and couldn’t remember what she needed when she got to the store. He’d also found the bag of white chocolate truffles in the cupboard next to the fridge, probably the only treat she let herself indulge in.
But most of all, he loved that her house was clearly a home, full of warmth and messes and laughter and love. His own spectacular compound seemed cold by comparison.
“This should ease the day’s tension.” He handed her the glass of wine.
She sipped gratefully, closing her eyes to savor either the flavor or the relaxing effects. “This is just what I needed. Thank you.” She glanced up. “This is the same wine I had at Cannelli’s.”
“I remembered you liked it.”
“You’re too good to be true,” she said softly, and something tightened in his gut. The same tightening that occurred when she’d called him sweet over the phone. Because if she knew the truth about the things he’d done...
Forcing the thought aside, just as he had so many times before with her, he plated a portion for her from each carton and finished off with a spring roll covered in sweet-and-sour sauce.
“Aren’t you eating?” she asked when he sat on the couch empty handed.
“Jeremy wouldn’t eat unless I did, too. And since I wasn’t sure when you’d make it back—”
“I’m really sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. In fact, as I recall, I promised that if you did it again—”
Will took her mouth in a second kiss that was a heck of a lot less sweet and soft than the first of the night had been. Jeremy might still be in the same room with them, but he was glued to the TV and wasn’t paying any attention to them at all.