Bid Me Now by Rebecca Gilise Page A

call it a night. I’ll drive you to your house. You’ll be too shaky to walk in those shoes.”
    She smiled weakly and tried to match his tease, although it was lost in her lingering embarrassment. “Cheeky devil.” Nick seemed so good at diffusing awkwardness. He’d done that so efficiently with Marcus. And now with her. Miri doubted if there was anything in his life that he couldn’t manage with total ease.
    He lifted her across to the passenger seat, then took her hand again. “If I don’t get you home now, I’ll have to start with you all over again.”
    It was on the tip of Miri’s tongue to say something flippant, but she stayed silent.
    Nick drove the car the short distance to her house, gliding to an almost silent stop in front of the gate. “The living room light is still on. Will your friend Bree be watching out the window, like when I arrived?” he asked with a grin.  
    Miri stared at the bright rectangle of light between the half-closed living room drapes. “Maybe. Her boyfriend Abe is here tonight, cooking them dinner. They usually watch television until after midnight.” She groped around her feet and found her purse and pashmina. Her coral comb seemed to have disappeared.
    “Well, we’d better give them something to look at,” he said, planting a soft kiss on her lips as she sat back up.  
    Nick got out of the car and walked around to open her door. Walking beside him to the front door, Miri felt as if an empty space had been hollowed out inside her chest. In another minute, Nick would be gone from her life. It seemed all wrong now.
    “A lovely evening, Ms. Jamieson,” he said as she slid her key into the lock. When he squeezed her hand and looked down at her with his dark, warm eyes, Miri had an overwhelming urge to wrap her arms around him and beg him to stay.  
    “I hope you enjoyed it, Miri. All of it. No regrets, right?”  
    “No regrets,” she repeated, carefully opening the door so Bree wouldn’t hear.
    He didn’t kiss her. He left her standing on the doorstep with a wink, a cheery grin, and a “sleep well.”
    As if that were likely.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    Hell, this wasn’t working. She might as well make a cup of tea.
    Miri sat up and rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands, wondering why her eyelids felt so crusty. Oh, right, last night’s mascara. One of the many perils of neglecting the beauty routine, as Alex would say. Freeing her legs from the comforter, she sat on the edge of the bed and stared hopelessly at the clock. Seven-thirty already. Far too late and far too futile to try to sleep.  
      Thank you, Lord, for English Breakfast , was about the limit of her thoughts as she stumbled through to the guest kitchenette next to her room and boiled the kettle.  
    Slipping back into bed with a mug of Twining’s, Miri sank into her pillows and thought about last night. As if she hadn’t picked over every infinitesimal detail since saying goodnight to Nick on her doorstep. But then, five days of knowing him called for a lot of thought, not least what all this was doing to her quiet, routine-driven life. One thing was for sure, Nick was all new territory. Quite frankly, he was the first really grown-up man she’d ever been out with. So self-assured, in control of his life, with a hard, rough masculine edge. An edge that was flexing her pulse right now.  
    It was all very distracting, not to say silly. He wouldn’t call. He’d have figured out by now she was one big bag of personality disorders. After she’d thrown herself at him, it wouldn’t be any wonder if he opted out. But even if she never saw him again, Miri wasn’t about to regret any of it. For the first time in two years, she felt as if every nerve in her body had come alive. Her Nick experience had put her in a whole new place, and she loved it.
    But in any event, she would have to worry about her whole new place some other time. Sunday was committed to completing the Egg Beater, followed by