She knew what he wanted but was curious to know what he was thinking at this moment. He was staring at her with such intensity, such longing and such greed. Then she thought, maybe it was best that she didn’t know. It would be safer to just imagine.

Swallowing hard, she broke eye contact with him and thought changing the subject was a good idea. The discussion of a possible marriage between them was not the way to go right now.

“At least I’ve paid for the appliances they are delivering next week,” she said, glancing over at her stove that had seen better days. “I think that stove and refrigerator were here when my Dad lived here,” she added.

“Probably.”

“So it was time for new ones, don’t you think?”

“Yes. And I think we need to get those broken pieces of the teacups off the floor,” he said.

“I’ll do it later. It will give me something to do after you leave. I’m going to need to stay busy for a while. I’m not sleepy.”

“You sure you won’t need my help cleaning it up?”

“Yes, I’m sure” was her response.

“All right.”

“I have beer in the refrigerator if you’d like one,” she offered.

“No, I’m straight.”

For the next ten minutes they continued to engage in idle chatter. Anything else was liable to set off sparks that could ignite into who knows what.

“Bella?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not working.”

She knew just what he meant. They had moved the conversation from her appliances, to the broken teacups, to him not wanting a beer, to the furniture in her living room, to the movie that had made number one at the box office last weekend like either of them really gave a royal flip. “It’s not?”

“No. It’s okay to feel what we’re feeling right now, no matter what decision you make a week from now. And on that note,” he said, standing, “if you’re sure you don’t want me to help clean up the broken teacups, I think I’d better go before…”

“Before what?” she asked when he hesitated in completing the statement.

“Before I try eating you alive.”

She sucked in a quick breath while a vision of him doing that very thing filtered through her mind. And then instead of leaving well enough alone, she asked something really stupid. “Why would you want to do something like that?”

He smiled. And the way he smiled had her pulse beating rapidly in several areas of her body. It wasn’t a predatory smile but one of those “if you really want to know” smiles. Never before had she been aware of the many smiles a person’s lips could convey.