SUSAN MEIER - His Expectant Neighbor

Gwen said, “Great!” Each ate two cookies, then Gwen sent Nathan on his first assignment. “There’s a freezer in the basement,” she said. “Would you please go down there and take out a package of hamburger?”

Nodding energetically, Nathan bounced off his chair and ran to her basement.

Gwen’s chest puffed out with pride. Not only had she solved a problem for a sweet little boy, but she now had company for dinner. Unfortunately, because she felt she had to find some work for them to do to make Nathan feel his position was legitimate, she and Nathan got involved in organizing her closet and before she knew it it was after six o’clock. She wouldn’t have glanced at the clock even then, except for the second time that day someone was knocking on her door.

“That’s probably Ben,” Nathan said authoritatively as he helped her maneuver herself out of the jumbled mess of clothes, shoes and boxes.

“Already?” Gwen said, dispirited. All afternoon she’d been looking forward to having company for dinner, and because she’d lost track of time she wouldn’t have any. The disappointment that settled over her was acute and severe. Which caused her to realize she was much lonelier than she was letting everyone—even herself—believe and convinced her that she had made a very wise choice in hiring Nathan to be with her every afternoon.

But that didn’t get her someone to share dinner with tonight.

“I told him I would call him when I wanted to go home, but he must have thought I forgot,” Nathan said, following Gwen down the steps to her front door.

Expecting to see Ben, Gwen’s mouth nonetheless fell open in surprise when she opened the door and he stood before her. Not because it was him, but because he looked absolutely magnificent. Dressed in a dark suit, complete with white shirt and raspberry-colored tie, Ben took her breath away. His short, neatly styled black hair accented a face that was all clean angles and smooth planes. His dark eyes pierced her with his usual no-nonsense stare. His munificent mouth never smiled.

“Hi,” she said, then mentally chastised herself for the quiver in her voice. Yes, the man was attractive, but she was twenty-eight, not a schoolgirl. And he wasn’t her type. After her disastrous marriage, Gwen had vowed to shift her choice of men from cool and demanding, to sweet and mellow. This guy was not mellow.

“Hi,” he said distantly, his tone relaxing Gwen somewhat. Having reminded herself of what she wanted in a husband, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she didn’t have to worry about her attraction to this grumpy man. She wouldn’t marry another difficult man on a lost bet.

“I’m here for Nathan.”

“Actually, he’s not ready yet,” Gwen said, an idea forming in her head. “I promised him supper.” She flashed Ben a winning smile. Her attraction to him no longer a consideration, she had no compunction about pulling out all the stops to retain her companionship for dinner. Besides, if she looked at this logically, all she was doing was being nice to her neighbor, her landlord. Certainly that couldn’t hurt. “It’s only hamburgers, but there’s plenty if you’d like to join us.”

She put her hand on Nathan’s slender shoulder at the same time Nathan looked up at Ben and grinned. “Please,” he said sweetly, and Gwen almost laughed. They couldn’t have done that better if they’d rehearsed it.

From the expression on Ben’s face Gwen could tell that he’d been all set to refuse her as he had the night before, until he looked down at Nathan’s smile. The kid was good. Very good. No adult with an ounce of compassion could look at that angelic face and refuse him anything.

“All right,” Ben said, but he sighed.

Gwen decided she couldn’t even give him two minutes to debate this or he would change his mind. “Come on, Nathan, let’s get the hamburgers on the grill.”

“You can’t grill. It’s getting dark,” Ben protested, but Gwen turned and smiled charmingly.

“It won’t be dark for another hour, but the grill is on the deck and the deck has a light. If it gets dark, we’ll turn it on.” She smiled again. “Would you like a short-bread cookie while you wait?”

That seemed to confuse him. “Before dinner?” he asked incredulously.

Her smile became a grin. “I’m pregnant. I eat what I want, when I want. It’s the only perk.”

Though she thought he might have criticized her for that, Ben Crowe actually laughed, and a strange bubble of delight rose in Gwen’s stomach. She told herself to ignore it, but it was hard not to be proud of yourself when you made such a surly man laugh. When he joined them in the kitchen and quietly, almost formally asked if he could assist with the dinner preparations, making him laugh again started to feel like a goal.

So she faced him and gave him her most genuine smile. “Do you like lettuce and tomato on your hamburger?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Well, there’s a tomato in the refrigerator and a head of lettuce. You could wash those,” she said, then shifted her tone until it was serious, almost melodramatic. “But you would have to take off your jacket. Maybe even your tie.”

It was the first time in her life Gwen had ever seen a man blush, and though she found his embarrassment endearing, it also puzzled her. Either he didn’t know how to handle someone teasing him, or he was so unfamiliar with cooking that he didn’t realize he needed to remove his coat.

“But Nathan and I can do that,” she said quickly, hoping to make up for embarrassing him so he wouldn’t get uncomfortable and change his mind about staying.

He shook his head and shrugged out of the black suit coat. “I’ll do it,” he said firmly.

Gwen decided to let the subject drop and went out to the deck to check on the hamburgers. “How’s it going out here?” she asked Nathan.

Spatula in hand, he grinned up at her. “Really good.”

Seeing how happy he was, Gwen ruffled his hair. “We should make a standing arrangement that you’ll eat dinner with me every day so that I’ll have help with the dishes.”

Nathan nodded.

Gwen felt her bubble of excitement again, then Ben appeared at the sliding glass door leading to the deck. With his jacket gone and the sleeves of his white shirt rolled to his elbows, he added a dimension to his good looks that Gwen had all but forgotten existed. Sex appeal. Her merry bubble of excitement instantly transformed into a shiver of awareness.

“You cold?” Nathan asked.

Ben only continued to look at her, and she dropped the oven mitt she had just used to open the grill lid.

This was not good.

“Should I turn them over?” Nathan asked, still trying to get her attention.

But Gwen was lost. It occurred to her that maybe Ben Crowe wasn’t as angry and intense as she thought. No one else in the town had a problem with him. Everybody else let him keep to himself without question or qualm. Yet she nitpicked at everything he did. With him standing on the other side of her sliding glass doors, holding a plate of sliced tomatoes, staring at her as if he couldn’t get himself to stop, Gwen suddenly knew why they didn’t seem to get along and she squeezed her eyes shut.

He found her as attractive as she found him.

And he was fighting it every bit as hard as she was fighting it.

If it hadn’t been for Nathan, dinner might have been eaten in complete silence. Luckily, neither Gwen nor Ben had trouble talking to Nathan. Luckily, Nathan didn’t seem to notice that the adults were so uncomfortable with each other they were using him to pass the salt so they didn’t have to speak directly to each other.

Being a gentleman, Ben helped with the dishes. The gesture reinforced that Ben Crowe was a very good man, but, unfortunately, it also reaffirmed the sexual attraction Gwen felt sizzling between them. She couldn’t stop noticing that he wasn’t merely a handsome man, he was a well-built man. She’d never seen him in a dress shirt and trousers, only a work shirt, vest and jeans. As he walked around her kitchen, putting away dishes and storing leftover food, his lighter weight apparel showed off his broad shoulders and his back which tapered into a trim waist. When Gwen realized that, she recognized her eyes were moving toward territory that was definitely off limits, and she refused to let herself even glance in his direction anymore.

When he shipped Nathan upstairs to get his jacket, Gwen also deduced that Ben had offered to help with the dishes so they would be too busy to be awkward around each other. Without the distraction of Nathan or the dishes, a thick silence stretched between them. Both tried to talk, neither could think of anything to say, and the peeks they stole at each other were so obvious and so telling, Gwen wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.

She nearly breathed a sigh of relief when Nathan jogged down the steps. “I’m ready,” he called, darting toward the door.

Obviously grateful, Ben followed him, and, relieved to have them going, Gwen followed Ben. But when the energetic nine-year-old slipped beneath Ben’s arm and out the door, suddenly Ben and Gwen found themselves face-to-face and alone again.

“Thank you for staying,” Gwen said, and made the mistake of looking up into his eyes. Lord, he had gorgeous eyes. Nearly black and as bright as stars, they looked down at her, pinning her into immobility.

“I appreciated dinner,” he said quietly. “And also appreciated your being so good to Nathan.”

“He’s a wonderful boy,” she agreed softly.

Ben’s gaze fell to her mouth, then returned to her eyes, and Gwen watched him swallow hard. For a fleeting second she feared that he would kiss her, then realized she wished that he would. What would it feel like to have that beautiful mouth pressed to hers?

Ben cleared his throat. “I’ve sort of taken him under my wing, so if he gives you trouble, call me.”

Gwen shook her head. “He’s no trouble,” she said. But you are, she thought, then realized that wasn’t true. This man couldn’t hurt her if she didn’t let him. If she got control of these odd, runaway feelings right now, there would be no problem between them. She took a step back, away from him, clearly telling him she didn’t want to be kissed.

He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “Thank you for dinner,” he said, being formal again. “Make sure your door is locked,” he added before he walked outside. He closed her door with a secure tug, and then the only sound Gwen heard was silence.

She listened to the engine of his truck start, listened as the noise spiraled into nothing as he drove away, then squeezed her eyes shut and groaned. What the hell was happening to her? How could she have been so stupid as to stare in his eyes like a lovesick puppy?

For heaven’s sake, how could she even be looking at another man when she wasn’t over the last one yet?

Besides, she was pregnant. She was fat. She didn’t even really walk anymore, she waddled. Just like with the cookies, the only person she was fooling was herself if she thought a gorgeous man like Ben Crowe would find her attractive in this condition!

Ben couldn’t have disagreed more. Driving Nathan home that night he realized that the thing that struck him about her was how happy she was. She seemed to blossom around Nathan, which proved she would be a wonderful mother. But even before Nathan entered the picture Ben had noticed that Gwen…well, glowed. Yesterday it was so obvious he couldn’t miss it. And tonight she virtually radiated light and energy.

He would have berated himself for staring at her all evening like some lovesick teenager, except when he saw her staring at him through the sliding glass doors, he realized she found him attractive, too. At first that had been nothing but good for his ego, then Ben reminded himself of his thoughts from the day before. Being attracted to an already pregnant woman wasn’t something to play around with.