“Someone to help. Wouldn’t it be easier?” He replied as he washed the vegetables and started cutting awkwardly. Cooking was not one of his best skills.
He almost sliced through his finger as she burst out laughing before answering, “In my experience, boyfriends aren’t exactly helpful.”
She was amused, but Simon could hear a touch of hurt in her voice. “Bad experience?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
She put the steaks in the broiler and bumped him out of the way. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. Twisting the top off, she handed it to him and shooed him away to the island sitting area. “I’ll cut. You’re likely to amputate a digit or two.”
Simon frowned as he took a seat and watched her profile as she sliced and diced like a professional. “So, what happened?”
She sighed. “I dated Chris for five years. I thought we would end up married. Unfortunately, I came home from work early one day and caught him in bed with the person I thought was my best friend.”
Was the guy totally insane? He had Kara in his bed every night and he wanted someone else? “He was an idiot.”
“It wasn’t meant to be. I’m actually thankful that I wasn’t married to him.”
“It still hurt you.”
She shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”
“Bastard.” Simon couldn’t help himself. He wanted to hurt the ass**le.
“What about you?” She glanced toward him as she scraped sliced green peppers into the salad bowl.
“What about me?”
“Girlfriend? I feel like I might be cramping your style. Me living here, I mean.” She didn’t look at him as she started on the tomatoes.
He shrugged. “I’ve never had one.”
She stopped slicing and gaped at him with a look of astonishment. “Seriously?”
Simon didn’t include the one woman who had changed his life forever, at the age of sixteen. He hadn’t spoken her name or talked about her in years. Not to anyone.
“Nope. I’m not exactly a social kind of guy. Sam is the compulsive dater. He’s got the looks for it,” he replied dryly, taking a swig of his beer.
She mumbled something that Simon didn’t quite catch.
“What was that?” he asked, wondering why her face was turning beet red.
“I said that you’re better looking.”
Simon almost dropped his beer, barely catching it before it fell into his lap. “Have you seen Sam?”
She breezed out to the dining room to put the salad on the table, calling out behind her. “Sure. You have pictures of him and Helen everywhere.”
His jaw dropped and he waited until she came back to check the steaks before replying roughly, “Then you know that’s not true.”
“In my opinion, it is,” she told him stubbornly. “Just don’t get a fat head over it.”
Simon grinned. Only Kara could throw out a compliment and then immediately deflate him. Still, he couldn’t believe she actually found him attractive. “What about my scars? Sam is a movie-star-handsome blond with green eyes. Women seem to love that.” Women loved Sam…and Sam loved women. All of them! He charmed women of all ages. Too bad that he couldn’t seem to keep that adoration after they started dating him.
“I guess I prefer my men tall, dark and grouchy,” she told him lightly as she pulled the steaks from the oven.
He grabbed a potholder, his grin broadening as he took the sizzling steaks from her, dropping one on each of the two plates that she had set out. He watched her from hooded eyes, trying to figure out if she was actually flirting with him. He didn’t have a clue. Maybe she was just being nice. After all, she didn’t know Sam and she was living in his house. Still, her comment warmed him, made him feel special. No one had ever considered him handsome when compared to Sam, except possibly his mother. The women who had sex with him did so for financial gain. A mutual agreement that had suited him just fine…with those women!
Kara was an altogether different story. Instinctively, Simon knew an arrangement with Kara that was similar to his previous ones would destroy him.
As they settled at the dining room table, Simon suddenly remembered what he had managed to obtain for her earlier. “I have something for you.”
He nearly laughed as she frowned at him, shaking her head as she said, “Simon, I’m not taking one more thing. You’ve done enough. Way too much”
He didn’t think he had done nearly enough, but he replied, “You’ll take this.”
“No…I won’t.”
God, he loved that stubborn look on her face. He tipped the dining room chair back and reached into the front pocket of his jeans. He held out his hand, but Kara was still shaking her head tenaciously, so he dropped the object on the table.
“Oh, my God,” Kara breathed softly, her voice filled with awe and delight. She reached for the ring with trembling fingers, sliding it on her finger slowly. “My mother’s ring. I didn’t think I would ever see it again. How did you find it?”
“Pawn shop,” he replied, glad that he had made some of his employees troll all of the area stores for the ring. “I knew it was the one thing that you were sad to lose.”
“It’s not expensive, but it means a great deal to me. It’s the only thing I have left that belonged to my mom,” she choked, her voice wobbling with emotion.
Simon would never tell her that her roommate only got a few dollars for the piece of jewelry on her finger. It was an inexpensive ring shaped like a butterfly with a tiny amethyst chip in the center, but Simon had seen Kara’s sorrow over losing it.
“I’m glad we could find it.”
Simon never saw her coming. She flew from her chair, her delicious ass landing in his lap and her arms flung around his neck. His arms tightened around her waist to keep her from sliding as she peppered him with kisses. On his face, on his hair, everywhere that she could reach. He could feel the excitement radiating from her body, joy oozing from every pore. “Thank you, Simon. You’re the most wonderful man on earth.”
Oh, Christ! As much as he loved her enthusiasm and treasured her happiness, if she didn’t stop bouncing that luscious rear end against him, he was going to come in his pants. Her ample br**sts were rubbing against his chest and her scent was making him want to devour her. Every delightful inch of her. “I think I deserve a real kiss. I told you that you would accept it,” he mentioned softly, his voice sultry.