The Drifter

She blinked in surprise. “Me?”

“Yeah, you.” Charlie shook his head. “I hadn’t seen you in five years. Hadn’t even really thought about you in five years. And then, there you were, clear as day, swimming around in my mind. And here I am.” He took a gulp of his wine. “I just want to figure it out.”

“So that’s all you want with me?”

“No.” Charlie grinned as he circled to her side of the table. “I’d really like to kiss you right now. But I’m doing my best to control my impulses.”

A satisfied smile curled the corners of her mouth. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. I just assumed you were only interested in—” Her gaze met his. “It’s nice to see you again, Charlie.”

“It’s nice being seen.” He leaned forward and dropped a kiss on her lips. He’d meant it to be a new beginning, a way to express the sentiment he’d just verbalized. But the moment his mouth touched hers, Charlie felt the ground beneath him shift.

He stared down at her mouth, his breath growing tight in his chest, his thoughts spinning in his head. He wanted to kiss her again, yet he knew it probably wasn’t a good idea. But Charlie had operated on sheer instinct for so long that he couldn’t stop himself, even if he tried.

He slipped his arm around her waist and gently pulled her body against his, their hips meeting. He found her mouth again only this time, the kiss was far from innocent. He knew exactly what he needed to answer all his questions. And at the moment, that’s all he wanted—answers.

Her reaction surprised him. She didn’t try to resist, but melted in his embrace, her mouth opening to his tongue and her body arching into his. He had one answer—Evie wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Charlie grabbed her waist and set her on the edge of the worktable, then pulled her thighs against his hips. Though she was four or five inches shorter than he was, this gave him perfect access to her face and mouth, to her neck and shoulders.

“We shouldn’t do this,” she whispered, twisting away from him and pressing her forehead into his chest. “After you leave, I won’t be able to walk into this kitchen without thinking about this.”

“I’m not leaving anytime soon,” Charlie said.

She looked up at him. “But you will leave,” she stated, her voice cool and emotionless.

“We can’t stay in this kitchen forever. I’m hoping we’ll both leave.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Eve countered with a weak smile.

“Right now, I don’t have plans to go anywhere. I’m happy right here.”

She sighed softly, then wrapped her arms around his neck. “A week,” she said. “That’s all I need. Just promise me a week.”

But as Charlie kissed her again, he knew that his stay in Boulder would last a lot longer than a week. He needed a new direction in his life and a strange vision on the top of the highest mountain had sent him here.

2

A WEEK WOULD NEVER be enough, Eve thought as she lost herself in the delicious warmth of his mouth. But if he stayed longer, she might be tempted to fall madly in love with him all over again. And if he disappeared too early, she’d be left unsatisfied and longing for more. No, a week would have to suffice.

She smoothed her hands over his chest, remembering how wonderful it felt to touch his skin. He was older now, but his body was still lithe and muscular, everything in such perfect proportion. Wide shoulders, narrow waist, long legs. If they’d been anywhere but her restaurant, she would have stripped the clothes off of him in less than a minute and dragged him to the nearest bed.

But Eve wasn’t that same impetuous young woman she’d been five years ago. Back then, she’d believed in love. Now, she was more apt to put her money on lust. There was something to be said for pure physical pleasure, without the expectations that romance brought. And even though she still bore the scars of their last affair, Eve felt confident she could handle whatever he sent her way this time.

She was in a different place in her life now, a place where her career came before everything else, including a relationship with a man. A short-term affair would fit right into her schedule. She had a few weeks before the meetings began with her Seattle investors. And the production team was putting together a final proposal on the television show and wouldn’t need her to do a sample episode until next month. Charlie Templeton had shown up at precisely the right time.

When he moved to unbutton her jacket, she impatiently completed the task, tossing it aside and leaving her wearing only a simple camisole beneath. Charlie pressed his mouth into the curve of her neck. Though Eve knew she ought to resist, there wasn’t any point. Why pretend she didn’t want him? They’d had a past together and the memories of it had rushed back the moment she saw him again.

Her fingers furrowed through his thick hair and Eve tipped her head as his lips drifted lower. But when he reached the last inch of skin above the top of her camisole, Charlie stopped his slow exploration. He stepped back and smiled. “I should probably go,” he murmured.

“No!” Eve said. She bit her lip, embarrassed that she’d reacted so vehemently. “I—I was just going to make myself something to eat. If you’re hungry, stay. I’ll—feed you.”

He stared at her for a long moment, then shrugged. “All right. Just don’t make me eat tofu,” he warned. “I can’t stand that stuff.”

Eve slid off the edge of the table, then handed him his glass of wine. “A sandwich,” she said, suddenly desperate to keep the evening going. Every instinct told her to beware, but all of that was overwhelmed by the desire that snaked through her bloodstream. “I have some wonderful bread.”

As she began to assemble the ingredients on the table, she studied him. When he’d walked into the restaurant that afternoon, Eve had thought she knew exactly what he wanted—sex. But now, she wasn’t so sure. The man who used to wait at the front door for her and tear her clothes off the moment she walked inside his house was now taking his own sweet time in seducing her. Had she not made it perfectly clear that she was ready and willing?

“So what’s on this sandwich you’re making me?”

Eve smiled. “Healthy things.”

Charlie growled softly. “You know how I hate healthy things. I like things that are bad for me.”

“Is that why you’re here?” she asked.

“I told you why I came,” Charlie said, reaching out to snag a cherry tomato from the container. “So, tell me what happened with you and Dan. Or Dave.”

“Matt,” Eve said. “His name is Matt.” Eve carefully sliced a long baguette in half, then smeared it with hummus. “He wasn’t the guy I thought I married. It just didn’t work out.”

“You realized you didn’t love him?”

“I realized he didn’t love me,” she said with a shrug. “And I didn’t love him enough to put up with his cheating.” She’d seen enough of that with her parents’ marriage. She wasn’t about to make the same mistakes they’d made, living in a sham of a marriage, pretending to love each other.

“I always thought he was a first-class idiot,” Charlie said. “I only saw him that once, but I could tell he didn’t know what he had.”

“And what did he have?”

“You. He didn’t realize he got the best the first time around. But, hey, I could tell he was a real douche from the start.”

“Why didn’t you warn me?” Eve asked.

“I didn’t have a right to interfere,” Charlie said.

He watched her silently as she assembled the sandwich, his gaze drifting over her like a lazy caress. She layered on thinly sliced tomatoes and calamata olives, then made a salad of arugula and balsamic dressing and stuffed it in between the two slices of bread. She finished it off with a sprinkling of toasted sunflower seeds, before setting it on a plate in front of him.

The last time they were together, they hadn’t had time for cooking. They barely remembered to eat. But things were moving more slowly now and their appetites for other things could be delayed. At least for an hour or two.

Eve waited while he took a big bite of the sandwich. He grinned at her and nodded. “Good,” he said as he chewed. “Really good.”

She bit into her half of the sandwich. Though she wasn’t particularly hungry, eating gave her something to do while looking at Charlie. He was the most beautiful man she’d ever known. Maybe that’s why it had been so easy to discount what they’d had together five years ago. She’d just assumed the reason for her attraction to him was because of his physical perfection.

“I could get used to this,” he said.

“Eating this late at night really isn’t good for you,” Eve said. “But it usually takes me a few hours to wind down and I never get a chance to catch a bite when I’m working.” She poured a bit more wine into her glass, then refilled his. “Tell me about Everest.”

“I don’t know if I can. I still haven’t figured it all out yet.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It changed me. I went up knowing exactly who I was and came down a different person. Does that make sense?”

Eve laughed and shook her head. “No.” She reached out and wiped a bit of hummus from his lip.

Charlie grabbed her hand and playfully licked it off the end of her finger. But he didn’t stop there. He wove his fingers through hers and pulled her hand against his chest.

Their gazes locked and he slowly set his sandwich down to the left of his plate. Eve felt her pulse skip and for a moment, she forgot to breathe. And then, like a wave crashing on the beach, their need for each other overwhelmed them both. This was the way it had been between them five years ago. Nothing had changed.

Their frantic hands tore at each other’s clothes as their meal got pushed aside. Charlie pressed her back against the edge of the table, his palms skimming over her body, sliding beneath her shirt to cup her breasts and then moving on to unexplored flesh.

Eve felt dizzy, her knees weak and her mind unable to process what was happening to her. So she let her thoughts drift, focusing only on the sensations racing through her body.

He was gentle, yet determined, as if he knew exactly what they both needed. Eve clutched at the hem of his shirt, gathering it in her fists, holding tight as if it were the only thing keeping him close. She needed this, if only to remind her that she hadn’t lost everything in the divorce. She could still want a man, still crave his touch and his taste.

Charlie picked her up and set her back on the table, tugging her camisole over her head and throwing it over his shoulder. Eve glanced down, grateful to see that she’d managed to pick out decent lingerie that day. As he smoothed his hands over her shoulders, she took the opportunity to remove his shirt.

Eve swallowed hard as she took in the sight of him beneath the harsh lights of the kitchen. Though she’d seen his body before, nothing prepared her for the impact that a half-naked man would have on her ability to think—or breathe—or move.

With trembling fingers, she reached out and ran her hand over his smooth chest, his skin warm beneath her touch. It wasn’t wrong to want him. She was a grown woman, past the age when she had to worry about denying her sexual needs.

After her divorce, she’d worried that no man would ever want her again, that somehow she’d wasted her one chance at happiness. But Eve was happy now and that was all that mattered.

She waited for him to continue undressing her and when he didn’t, she reached for the clasp at the front of her bra. But Charlie caught her fingers and brought them to his lips. “Let’s wait with that,” he said softly. “We have time.”

But his idea of time and hers were two completely different things. For him, a week was a lifetime and a month, an eternity. He could be with her one moment and halfway around the world the next. Eve closed her eyes, waiting for her heart to stop pounding.

“Evie?” He hooked his finger beneath her chin and tipped her face up. “Look at me.” She opened her eyes. “We have time. I promise.”

Eve knew promises could easily be broken. But she also sensed Charlie was a man she could trust. Even though he’d left her, he’d never lied to her. “Would you like dessert?”

“Dessert?” He glanced at the remains of their meal. “We haven’t finished dinner yet.”

Eve slid off the table and walked to the pastry cooler. She pulled out a tofu white-chocolate-and-raspberry mousse that she’d perfected just last week. She found the whipped cream canister on the top shelf and grabbed it. “This is something new. You’ll have to tell me what you think.”

She added a generous topping of the cream and scooped out a spoonful and held it in front of his lips. He leaned forward and she pulled the spoon away. “Promise you’ll tell the truth?”

“I promise.”

“I can trust you?”

Charlie paused as he realized that Eve wasn’t talking about the dessert. “You can, Evie.”

Satisfied, she fed him the mousse and waited for his reaction. He swallowed, then opened his mouth. “More, please.”

“What do you think? Is it good?”

“One more taste.”

She scooped out another spoonful and waited. “Well?”

“It’s very good,” Charlie said. “I like the combination. And it’s kind of fluffy so you could eat a lot of it if you wanted to.”

“It’s made with tofu,” she said. “It’s a vegan alternative to white chocolate mousse.”

“I hate tofu,” Charlie said. “But I like this. A lot. So maybe I have changed since the last time we saw each other.”

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