As If You Never Left Me (Crimson Romance) by Katriena Knights Page B

pocket of the case for his digital camera. His USB drive was in another pocket, and he also had power cables for the computer. All set. With luck, he could get some work done while he was out, provided he could stay under Joely’s radar.
    The eggs were just the right side of done when Joely emerged from the bathroom, her porcelain skin even lovelier under a light application of cosmetics. He took a moment to absorb the sight of her, then turned back to his eggs.
    “We have to go,” she told him, coming into the kitchen with her giant purse slung over her shoulder. “You don’t have time to eat those.”
    “No problem.” He snagged two more pieces of bread from the loaf and dumped the eggs out of the skillet between them, making a sandwich. “I’m ready.”
    She smiled a little, and he was encouraged to see the softness in it. “I forgot you need more than toast in the morning.”
    “I’m a big, strapping man. I need protein.”
    She laughed. He grinned and followed her out the door.
    • • •
    From behind the counter, Joely and Perry watched Rey as he studied the merchandise in the front jewelry cabinet. He was squatting on the floor in front of the case, and the position did such marvelous things to his thighs and buttocks that it was hard for Joely to concentrate on Perry’s earnest advice.
    “Don’t stand there drooling at him and ignoring me and tell me you don’t still love him,” Perry finally said, in half-mock exasperation.
    “Lusting after him and loving him aren’t the same thing.”
    “I’m sorry, hon, but that’s not lust.” Joely looked at her in surprise. Perry shook her head with a tolerant smile. “There’s something in your eyes I’ve never seen before.”
    “Really? What?”
    Perry nodded sagely. “Fear. And lust, my dear, does not inspire fear.”
    Rey straightened and turned toward the shop’s high, wide back window, giving the women a view of his clean profile.
    “Look at him,” Joely muttered. “He’s not even that good-looking. I mean, look at his nose. It’s huge.”
    “Is he in proportion?” Perry’s eyes twinkled lewdly.
    Thinking about the wet cotton briefs and what they had failed miserably to conceal, Joely nodded. “More or less.” She sighed again, then shook her head. “I can’t throw him out. Not now. There’s too much — ” She broke off, unwilling to face the emotion her words had begun to evoke. “I have to give it a chance.” Rey stepped closer to the window, and Joely looked at Perry. “Do you think it’s the right thing to do?”
    “I think if it weren’t, you wouldn’t be agonizing over it so much.”
    “You might be right about that.” She crossed her arms firmly over her chest. Just then, Rey turned his head to look at her and smile. She smiled back, but she knew it looked forced, and her brow refused to unbeetle.
    But her soberness only made his smile widen. He knew, she thought. Somehow, he knew exactly what she’d been thinking, and he knew what decision she’d made.
    Well, good for him. That would save her having to actually tell him. Inexplicably angry, she wheeled and huffed into the office, slamming the door behind her.
    • • •
    Rey couldn’t help laughing a little at Joely’s vehement departure. He hadn’t been able to hear what she and Perry had been saying, but he’d known damn well they were talking about him. Joely was, he knew, agonizing over what could have been a simple decision. Keep him or kick him out. Yes or no. Why did it have to be so hard?
    He wasn’t being fair, though. He’d come out of nowhere, asking more than he should have. If he hadn’t been so desperate to get her back, he never would have forced himself on her like this. But living without her had been like living without part of his heart. He needed her back, and it was hard for him to imagine she might not feel the same way.
    In any case, it looked like she’d made her decision. He was going to get his probation period. The next