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Rose had no excuses to avoid Xander any longer. As she approached, she noticed he was poring intently over a newspaper someone had left on the counter earlier. He didn’t even notice her approach. Apparently, he was more firmly embedded in her thoughts than she was in his. Sadly, that didn’t surprise her at all.
She set his milkshake and tea on the table and he looked up, startled. “Here’s your milkshake. It will be about ten more minutes on your food.”
“Thank you.” He looked down at the milkshake with an amused expression on his face. “No cherry?”
He remembered, too. “I didn’t think you liked them.”
“I do. I always did. I just knew you liked them more.”
It was a small thing, trivial, really, and yet the realization was enough to soften her knees beneath her. Those were the kind of things he did that made her succumb to him. His thoughtfulness and giving nature far surpassed his good looks or bright future. She braced her arm on the back of the booth to steady herself. “Would you like me to bring you one?” she asked.
“No, I’d rather you chat with me for a little bit.”
Rose sank into the seat, giving her knees a much-needed break. She tried not to fidget nervously while she sat there, but she couldn’t help smoothing out her uniform and picking off stray bits of lint. It was easier than looking him in the eye. “So...” she began. “How’ve you been?”
Xander shrugged. “Busy. I pretty much haven’t stopped running since the day I moved away. School was brutal. Law school was worse.” He took a heavy draw of his milkshake and smiled. “This is great. You always made the best chocolate shakes. I ended up working for Congressman Kimball,” he continued, “and before I knew it, I was taking his place. But that’s all boring stuff. What about you?”
Rose arched an eyebrow at him. “I assure you that whatever you’ve done in the last few years is far more exciting than what I’ve been up to.”
“What happened to school? I thought you wanted to be a teacher.”
“And give up this glamorous life?” Rose laughed. “I finished a semester and had to stop. Life got complicated and I never went back. Mom died that spring and I took that pretty hard. I stayed in Danbury for a couple of years and then moved back home when my dad was having some...issues...and helped him run his shop. When my brother, Craig, took over the garage and Daisy’s owner offered me my job back with benefits, I couldn’t turn it down. So here I am.”
“Have you married? I was certain someone would’ve snatched you up by now.”
“Uh, no. Not much happening on the love front, but that’s nothing new. You were the only man in this whole town to ever notice I existed. Once you left, I went back to being invisible.”
That wasn’t entirely true. There was one male in town that noticed her. One that loved and adored her. Unfortunately, he looked at her over the kitchen table every morning with the same hazel eyes that were watching her now. He was one of several complications to her love life, none of which she had any interest in mentioning to Xander.
“You could never be invisible. The men in this town are just blind if they don’t see something great right in front of them.”
Xander knew just what to say and just how to say it, but it didn’t help. She’d pushed him away to avoid more heartbreak. Going with him to D.C. never would’ve worked, as much as he’d insisted. He’d had a big life ahead of him that she wasn’t a part of and she’d understood that. She’d needed to stay with her mother and forge a new life without Xander. Finding out she was pregnant a week after he left hadn’t changed anything. It had just made it harder to cope.
“That’s sweet,” she said, “but a girl can’t believe a word you say. You’re one of those slick politicians.”
“Not entirely,” Xander said with a smile. “I’m also an author.” He reached down beside him on the booth and placed a book on the table. “I brought this for you.”
Rose reached out and picked up the book. A grinning, handsome Xander stared back at her from the glossy cover. “Fostering Faith,” she read aloud. “This is great, Xander. Congratulations.”
“It’s about my childhood and the path that brought me to Washington. It ties in with my work at the Fostering Families Center. The center provides support, training and social activities for foster parents and children in the system.”
She cracked open the book and flipped through a few pages. She stopped when she caught a glimpse of her name in the sea of text. “I’m in it?” she asked. Her heart skipped a beat. What on earth would he have written about her in here?
“Yes. I only used your first name, but I couldn’t tell the story of my life without including you. You were such an important part of my high school years.”
His hazel gaze focused on her, making her chest tighten. She didn’t know what to say and even if she had, she couldn’t have spoken when he looked at her like that.
“I autographed it to you,” he added. “That’s why I came down here. I wanted to give it to you in person.”
“Thank you,” she managed. “I look forward to—”
“Have dinner with me,” he blurted out, his eyes widening as though he’d surprised even himself.
The suddenness of his query caught her off guard, too. “I can’t. I have to work.”
Xander frowned. “You work every day?”
“No,” she admitted. “But I’m not off again until Sunday. I figured you’d be long gone from Cornwall by then.”
Xander smiled wide and Rose quickly realized that her alibi wouldn’t be good enough. “As luck would have it,” he said, “I’m going to be in town for a while. A few weeks at least.”
“Oh.” Knowing Xander, he would ask her to dinner every day until she relented. She didn’t have the strength to fight him off for that long.
“So I can take you out to dinner Sunday night?”
No. No, no, no. Her brain could see the problems a mile away. Eventually, she would slip up and say the wrong thing. She’d mention school or Little League or her dad.... That or she’d lose her mind and think it wouldn’t hurt to sleep with him again. Then he would leave and she would be crushed. History could not repeat itself. Her heart couldn’t take it.
Rose caught a whiff of his cologne. It was a warm, spicy scent that reminded her of hot summer nights and foggy windows. “Okay,” she said before she could stop the words. Her body seemed to have different plans from her brain and at the moment, it had control of her vocal cords.
“Great. Where are you living now? I’ll pick you up.”
“You can pick me up here,” she said a touch too quickly, and then felt the need to explain herself. “I live a couple towns over. There’s no sense in you driving all the way out there.” That was true enough, although there were more reasons for not wanting Xander at her apartment.
“Fair enough, although it’s no imposition.”
Rose shook her head and glanced down at her watch. She needed to check on his food, warm up Gary’s and Pete’s coffees, and get some distance between her and Xander so she could think straight again.
“I’d better go grab your burger,” she said sliding out of the booth with the book in her hands. With an awkward parting smile, she disappeared into the kitchen. Safely hidden away, she whacked her forehead against the refrigerator door and groaned.
“Order’s up,” Oscar said, sliding the plate across the counter. “Don’t whack your head so hard you forget which table to take it to.”
Oh, there was no way she was going to forget, no matter how many times she hit her head. She also couldn’t forget that she was an idiot. She was playing with fire. Somehow the idea both thrilled and horrified her. She glanced down at the book in her hands and the handsome face staring back at her before taking a deep, calming breath. It didn’t help. Nothing would.
Rose had a date with Xander Langston.
Two
At exactly 7:00 p.m. Sunday, Xander pulled his Lexus back into the gravel parking lot of Daisy’s Diner. The restaurant was closed on Sunday nights, but there was one vehicle in the lot—a four-door Honda Civic. A smart choice.
That was one thing he’d always appreciated about Rose. She was practical. She’d always been embarrassed by the fact that she had to leave after school and work while the other girls went to cheerleading and band practice. Xander had thought it was industrious of her. She wasn’t frivolous with her time or her money. He’d been proud to date a girl who was hardworking and appreciated what she had.
There had been a time when Xander was spoiled. His father had had a good job; his mother had stayed at home. He and his brother, Heath, hadn’t wanted for anything. And then, in the blink of an eye, he’d lost everything. Going to live with the Edens had been like a whole new world. They hadn’t had a lot of money, but they’d taught him the value of working hard and having pride in what he accomplished. Each member of their patchwork family had helped run the farm. Come December, he’d do nothing but bag and haul Christmas trees and he’d be happy to do it. It had taught him the skills he needed to fight the good fight on Capitol Hill.
Rose hadn’t had it easy, either. Her mother had been diagnosed with stage IV cancer her senior year and her father hadn’t made much money as a mechanic. She and her two siblings had both worked because they’d had to. Because of it, she’d appreciated things most people took for granted.
As Xander pulled to a stop, the door of the Civic opened and his heart skipped a beat in his chest. Rose stepped out in a chic little black dress. It was sleeveless with a high, almost mandarin-style collar. It also clung to every curve like black liquid latex had been poured over her body. A bright pink belt encircled her tiny waist and matched the pink heels she wore. Rose had been one of the tallest girls in school at five-ten, and with those heels, she would probably look him right in the eye.
He couldn’t wait to find out how well their bodies would align with those shoes. Xander put the SUV into Park and got out. “You look lovely,” he said.
Rose smoothed her hand over her hair, which was down tonight, framing her face. She gave him a nervous smile. “Thank you.”
Xander walked her around his car and then opened the door for her to step inside. The movement made her respectable hemline inch higher, showing off a flash of her creamy, firm thigh. That was enough to make his palms tingle in anticipation of sliding over them. He hadn’t asked Rose to dinner with the end goal of sleeping with her, but he certainly wouldn’t complain if that was how it ended up. He needed to have a little fun while he was home. Once that drawing of Tommy was released, the rest of his time would be less than pleasurably spent.
He shut the door and got in on the driver’s side. “I have reservations for us at this Italian place in the next town. Molly recommended it.”
Xander had danced around who he was taking to dinner—that would’ve sent Molly into a tizzy—but he had asked about a nice place to eat. His foster mother was on a mission to get all of her children married off. Molly loved Rose and if she thought for a second they might reconcile, he wouldn’t hear the end of it until they were married with three kids. Cornwall had some decent dining choices, but he’d been gone so long he wouldn’t know what was still open. This place was on the new side, about a year old, but it had gotten rave reviews.
“Sounds great,” she said as they pulled out onto the main road.
“Have you been there before?”
Rose chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t really eat out much, unless you count Daisy’s. I usually work the lunch and dinner shifts because they have the best tips.”
Xander knew what it was like to work all the time. He was pretty bad about it. If he did eat out, it was with a colleague or he was attending some kind of political event. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d gone out to dinner with a pretty woman who had no connections to politics. That was sad. He needed to make it a point not to talk about his work at all tonight.
“I know what you mean. My days are pretty long, and unlike most of my fellow congressmen, I don’t have family to go home to. That just means I have no reason to leave and I work even longer.”
“So you’ve never married, either? Or did you run one off?”
Xander laughed. “If I had married, I probably would’ve run her off by now. But no, I’m single. Dating is nearly impossible with my schedule, but the pressure is on. Wade’s getting married this fall and get this—my brother Brody is engaged, too. Can you believe he’s beat me to it?”
“Really? Wow. Good for him.”
His brother Brody had been in the same grade as he and Rose. Brody was smart but painfully shy thanks to the scars left behind by his abusive father. He’d come to the Garden of Eden after his dad lost it and dumped battery acid on Brody’s face. He was never comfortable in his own skin and until recently was never comfortable around women. His fiancée, Sam, had hunted him down like a lioness stalking a gazelle. Brody hadn’t even known what had hit him.
“I know. I guess I’d always consoled myself with the fact that I wouldn’t be the last to get married. I figured I had plenty of time. I was wrong.”
“Don’t look at it that way,” she said. “It’s better to think that if Brody could find someone, there has to be a woman out there for you. You just haven’t found her yet.”
Or maybe he had and he’d been a fool and thrown his chance away. That thought had crossed his mind more than one time over the years, but even more so as two of his brothers had gotten engaged. Wade and Tori were getting married in a few months. Brody and Sam were marrying in the spring. Thank goodness his younger brother was not the settling-down type. Heath was always quick to find a flaw in the women he dated. He had some ideal that no woman could ever meet. Xander understood. Every woman that drifted into his life was measured against Rose and came up short.
“You were always good at putting a positive spin on things.”
“Spin is your department, Congressman Langston. I just call it like I see it.”
Somehow, her using his official title struck him wrong. He wasn’t even used to her calling him Xander, so his title felt completely alien. In high school she’d called him Z. No one else had ever called him that before or since. “Please don’t ever call me that again. With you in that dress, it makes me feel like a dirty politician out with a young girl.”
Rose laughed. “I was just using it for effect. I’ll stick with Xander from now on.”
He slowed and pulled the car into the restaurant parking lot. “Well, I hope you’re hungry. Home-style Italian food is not designed for dieters.”
“You know me,” she said with a smile. “Salads are for rabbits.”
Xander laughed, remembering their dates in high school. Rose had enjoyed eating, whereas some girls he’d dated picked at their food and complained they were fat. That had annoyed him then, and it annoyed him now. Back then it was because he’d worked hard to pay for the food they were wasting. Now he had plenty of money but it annoyed him because he didn’t enjoy the company of people who couldn’t indulge themselves now and then. Everything in moderation, of course, but he didn’t want a woman who would run in horror at the thought of splitting a piece of cheesecake with him.
Once inside the restaurant, he was very pleased with Molly’s recommendation. The space was warm and inviting. Nice enough that his tailored gray silk suit and tie weren’t out of place, but not so fancy that they couldn’t relax and enjoy themselves. The wine bottles on display behind the hostess’s station were high quality and not the kind you could buy at the liquor store or order down at the local bar, the Wet Hen.
Their table was intimate, in a dark corner of the restaurant. It was lit by the flicker of ivory candles that gave everything a warm golden glow, including Rose’s flawless complexion. He’d always admired her peaches-and-cream skin. She’d never worn makeup in high school and she didn’t need it now, although she’d lined her eyes and put a glossy color on her lips.
They quickly ordered and settled in. Their waiter brought their wine and bread with oil and herbs.
Rose pulled a hunk of bread off the loaf and moved it to her plate. “So what brings you back to Cornwall, Xander?”
That was a good question. What had brought him back to Cornwall? The truth wouldn’t work. He’d given Ken and Molly a lame story about needing to get away from D.C. for a few weeks and prepare for the launch of his book. Molly had eaten it up. Ken had been more suspicious, but he was glad to have him home for a while. That story probably worked just as well as anything.
“Congress is out of session. I was feeling a little burned out, so I decided to come home instead of staying in Washington. With my book coming out and a reelection year on the horizon, I needed it. Come the fall, it will be twelve solid months of campaigning and fund-raising on top of finishing out my term. It’s exhausting. I needed to get away for a while and recharge before I jump back into the fray.”
“That’s understandable. When you work that hard for that long, you’ve got to get away every now and then or you’ll go crazy.”
Xander couldn’t hide his smirk. “Pot, I’d like you to meet kettle.”
She shrugged away his dig. “I never said I wasn’t crazy. You just haven’t asked me the right questions to uncover the ugly truth.”
Xander took a sip of his wine and regarded her across the table. She didn’t look a decade older, but there were subtle changes. He could detect the faint lines of stress that life was etching onto her face, but he didn’t mind it. He preferred women with faces that actually moved. It was hard to come by anymore. But Rose was real. Fresh and honest and everything he remembered her to be. He’d thought for a while that he’d embellished her in his mind over the years, but she met his every expectation. He hadn’t been this entranced by a woman in a very long time.
“You wouldn’t be the first crazy woman I found to be incredibly sexy.”
Rose probably thought her blush would be disguised by the dim lighting, but he could still make out the pink tint of her cheeks. He wanted to reach across the table and stroke the pad of his thumb across her soft skin, but if he started touching her, he wasn’t certain he would be able to stop.
Later tonight perhaps he wouldn’t have to. He wanted Rose. He shouldn’t. She deserved someone who could offer her more than just a few weeks. But he couldn’t change how he responded to her. It was hardwired in his DNA somehow. What would it hurt for them to indulge? It would certainly make his time here more pleasurable.
All of this assuming, of course, that the reason he was home didn’t ruin it all.
Xander and his foster brothers hadn’t seen the sketch of the unidentified man buried on their property, but the odds were it would lead the authorities back to the farm. Anyone who knew Tommy Wilder back in the day would probably recognize him from the drawing.
What would happen then? Xander, with his law degree, was pretty certain that none of the Eden kids would be charged or serve jail time. Tommy’s death was justifiable and the statute of limitations had run out on any stupid things they’d done after the fact. But they were more concerned with the truth coming out. It could kill their father. Break their mother’s heart. Ruin his career and the work he did with his charity.
And as far as Rose was concerned, he didn’t think she would be so keen on seeing him if he was implicated in the death of one of his fellow foster children. Really, calling Tommy a child was a misnomer. Nearly eighteen, he had been a large, dangerous, out-of-control teenager with sticky fingers and hard fists. The other children had only done what they had to do to protect each other and the home they loved.
Perhaps she would understand. Either way, he would figure it out. If the alternative was staying far, far away from Rose, he would just have to make sure that the Garden of Eden Christmas Tree Farm, and everyone who’d ever lived on it, came out of this squeaky-clean. That was why he was here anyway.
Making love to Rose would just be an exceptionally sweet bonus.
* * *
Dinner went by quickly. The wine had flowed, and so had the conversation. She’d tried to keep the conversation focused on his life now or on reminiscing about their childhoods together. Talking about her life was dangerous territory and she wanted to avoid it. It had gone well so far. Before she knew it, their creamy slab of tiramisu was gone and the check had arrived.
As they walked out to the parking lot together, she was surprised to find Xander’s black Lexus was the last car out there. The restaurant was so well designed for romance and privacy that you couldn’t tell if there were a hundred or a dozen people inside. Apparently, there were none. “I didn’t realize we closed the place down.”
Xander walked her around to the passenger side of the SUV but stopped short of opening the door. “I’m not ready for tonight to be over yet.”
Neither was she. She’d been hesitant to spend this time with Xander, but she’d had a nice evening. This was the first real date she’d gone on in forever. Adult time with nice clothes and good food and, for once, no worries. She had thoroughly enjoyed herself and she didn’t want to go home and start her old life back up again. “It doesn’t have to be,” she said.
The skies were dark and clear tonight. The nearly full moon hung overhead, casting everything in a silvery light. It made it hard to read Xander’s expression, but his tense body language made it clear he was holding something in. She wanted to put her hand to his cheek and urge him to tell her what he wanted to say.
“Rose...” he said, hesitating for a moment. “I’ve waited eleven long years to kiss you again. When I was writing the chapters about our time together, I realized how special you were to me. And the moment I saw you in the diner, kissing you again was all I could think about. I’ve missed the feel of your lips and the soft sounds you made when I touched you just right.”
Rose’s breath caught in her throat. Had he really been thinking of kissing her all this time? She didn’t know what to say. It was the most romantic thing she’d heard in a long time. Maybe ever. Every joint in her body softened like room-temperature butter as he spoke the words to her.
He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head softly. “I know I have no right to ask anything of you, because I’m not staying around for long, but I’d kick myself if I let you out of my sight and didn’t at least...” His voice trailed off. Then his gaze zeroed in on her own. “May I kiss you?”
She knew she should say no for a million reasons, but none of them mattered at the moment. Not with the intense way he was looking at her. His eyes were devouring her as if she were a cool glass of water and he were stranded in the desert. It felt nice to be that desired again. How could she turn that down? Besides, what could a kiss hurt? Just one harmless little kiss? It didn’t mean anything. As long as she kept the situation in perspective, it would be fine.
“How could a girl say no to that?”
Xander smiled and his elusive dimples appeared. Suddenly, she was seventeen again and his boyish charm melted away all her defenses. He stepped forward until her back was pressed against his SUV. He reached out to touch her face, cradling her cheek against his palm. Rose couldn’t keep from closing her eyes and leaning into his touch.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, his lips centimeters from her own.
She could feel the featherlight caress of his breath as he spoke. A chill ran down her spine, making her shiver softly. He brought his palms to her upper arms, gently rubbing up and down to warm her skin. His hands were large and masculine. Not rough, but powerful as they held her. He closed his eyes for a moment. Rose wondered if he was reconsidering kissing her. She couldn’t bear the thought.
“Xander?” she said, barely louder than a breath.