In Bed with Beauty by Katherine Garbera Page B

reached out and caressed her face. “Don’t try so hard to understand me. I’m just a man.”
    “You are much more than that,” she whispered.
    He leaned forward, brushing his mouth over hers. She let him nuzzle her lips and caress her face. Aware that once again he used passion to distract her. But tonight, with the spirit of Halloween in the air, she didn’t mind.
    A knock on the door drew them apart. Harris picked up his wineglass and took a sip while she answered the door. “We need you out front. It’s time for the costume contest judging.
    “I’ll be right there,” Sarah said.
    She straightened her wig and then glanced over her shoulder at Harris. “Coming? We could use one more judge.”
    He got to his feet in one movement. “Go ahead. I’ll clean this up and join you.”
    She nodded and left Harris in her office. Whenever she tried to include him he always backed away. That’s okay, she thought. She would make him part of her community. She’d just keep trying.

    Harris drove Sarah’s car through the deserted streets of Orlando. Burt and Isabella had taken the limo to a party at Universal Studios so he and Sarah were alone. He’d managed to avoid the costume contest by making some business calls from Sarah’s office. He didn’t think she’d noticed his absence.
    But he’d felt it in his soul. There was a part of him—the lonely child who’d watched other kids in normal households go trick-or-treating—that had wanted to join in Sarah’s party. But joining in, putting down roots wasn’t for him.
    Sarah fiddled with the radio station. Her car stereo was standard issue and the speakers weren’t very good. He made a mental note to have a new stereo system installed in her car before he left.
    She settled on a jazz station playing Miles Davis. Harris let the trumpet riffs settle over him and tried to pretend this was like any other night. But it wasn’t. No night with Sarah was like any other and no one knew that better than he did.
    He pulled into her driveway and shut off the car. But made no move to get out. He wanted to go inside her house and make love to her. He wanted to hold her in his arms all night and wake them both up in the morning by sliding into her body. He wanted…more than just sex for the first time and that made him hesitate.
    Sarah opened her door but didn’t get out when he made no move to join her. “What’s the matter?”
    “I don’t want to give you the wrong impression,” he said. He’d made a decision tonight watching Sarah in her element. A decision to ensure that she didn’t change because of him. He didn’t want to leave her with his cynicism.
    Because there was something pure about her and her outlook on life. Something he’d never really had when he looked at life. And he wanted to preserve that. His world needed more people like Sarah.
    “About what?” she asked, she’d removed the Elvira wig. Her normal bouncy hair was a little flatter than usual, still curling around her face.
    “Us,” he said.
    She closed the door, leaning back in her seat. Crossing her arms under her breasts, she shifted slightly in the seat to face him. He knew she was trying to look serious. But she didn’t come close.
    “I’ve already been warned. You’re leaving in a few more weeks.”
    Why had he started this conversation? He slid his arm along the back of her seat and rested his hand on her shoulder. He rubbed his forefinger on the edge of the material at her neck, making teasing forays toward the flesh that beckoned him.
    “I thought you wanted to talk,” she said, shivering under his touch.
    No woman had ever reacted as quickly to his caresses the way Sarah did. Physically she was made to be his match. They were so attuned sexually it was eerie, but he didn’t dwell on that.
    “You distracted me.”
    “Please. I’m not a sex pot,” she said.
    How could she affect him so deeply and not be aware of it?
    “Woman, you are a living, breathing temptation. I