Anticipation Read Free

she could smell his aftershave. God, he smelled good—spicy, musky and all male. His imposing frame blocked out the sun, dwarfing her own five-foot-nine-inch height. He might’ve gone through some rough times, but Jonas’ charisma had magnified a hundredfold over the years. With a mere glance, he caused her body to heat in instant response.
    Handing her the bag of groceries, he said in a low voice, “You’ve always been special,” before he headed toward his police car. Once he reached the vehicle, he opened the door and called across the parking lot, “Do you still make those oatmeal chocolate chip cookies?”
    She nodded. “I’ve tweaked the recipe a half dozen times since I graduated from culinary school.”
    His dark eyebrow rose. “I liked the original version. I’ll stop by and check on you tonight.”
    When he drove past, his gaze locked with hers for a brief second, causing Deidre’s skin to prickle. I liked the original version. The way he’d looked at her when he drove past made her wonder if he was taking about cookies with that comment.
    She’d never been more aware of a man and her reaction to his presence than she was of Jonas Mendez. No man had ever come close to affecting her the way he did. From his smoldering gaze to his magnetic heat, he made her breasts ache, her stomach tighten and her breath hitch whenever he came close. Did he sense it? The crinkle of the paper bag underneath her fingers pulled her out of the seductive haze Jonas had created the moment he invaded her personal space.
    After she opened her car door and set the groceries in the passenger seat, Deidre sat with a heavy sigh and acknowledged that her emotional response was part of her problem. Since she’d never been with Jonas, she wondered if she’d subconsciously built him up and put him on a pedestal, leaving the other men she’d dated lacking in many ways. Could her imagination be that cruel?
    After she caught Jeremy kissing his co-worker, she’d kicked his sorry ass out. He’d begged forgiveness and said he wasn’t perfect—that people make mistakes. Did she expect perfection? All she knew was she wanted the same wonderful, trusting marriage her parents had. She never planned to accept anything less for herself.
    Squaring her shoulders to ward off the bitter memory, she put the key in the ignition and started her rental car with a determined twist of her wrist.
    And now Jonas was a free man.
    “I’ll stop by tonight to check on you,” he’d said.
    Excitement coiled within her as she backed out of the parking space.
     
    * * *
     
    Deidre smoothed her knee-length, pale-yellow linen sundress then opened the front door, intending to let the summer breeze blow through the screen door as she fixed a batch of fresh oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Of course Snowball chose that moment to squeeze past her legs and bolt outside.
    “Snowball!” Deidre’s sandal heels clicked across the porch’s wooden floorboards and down the stairs.
    The cat meowed and took off toward the barn. As Deidre made her way across the pebbled lot, her shoes turned this way and that with the rocks’ movement. Rock dust stirred over her bare toes, dulling the shine of her newly polished toenails. Annoyance surged, along with fear for the indoor cat’s safety. “My parents will kill me if anything happens to you. Come back, you silly cat! I have to start baking.”
    Snowball never even looked back. Instead, his white tail disappeared through the old barn’s partially opened door.
    Deidre blew out an irritated breath and trekked the rest of the way to the barn with determined steps. She knew the cat was mousing.
    Sliding the creaky door fully open, she peered into the barn’s dim interior. “Snowball. Stop this nonsense.”
    As she walked inside, a light, bouncing sound above her head told her Snowball had already made his way up the wooden ladder and was in the upper loft.
    She approached the ladder and stared up the length, knowing full