Two-Step Temptation Read Online Free PDF Page A

as he set a cup of coffee in front of her.
    “Non-fat soy, two sweeteners,” he said, and sat two chairs away.
    Warmed that he’d remember, she tapped the spoon on the rim of the cup, then tasted. “Perfect.”
    “How did you know that?” Jill asked Eric.
    “Know what?” Eric asked, smile in place, though Haven could see the realization of what he’d done in his eyes. Not panic, precisely, but caution.
    “How she takes her coffee.”
    “I—um—I heard her order it last night.”
    “You weren’t sitting by her when we were in the bar,” Jill pointed out. “And she didn’t have coffee last night.”
    He frowned. “Are you sure? I had to have heard it. How else would I know?” He turned to Haven, the corner of his mouth quirked daringly. “How else would I know?”
    Haven scrambled for an explanation. “I came down and got some when I couldn’t sleep.”
    “Right. And I was in here.” Eric sat back, relieved. “Drinking a beer.”
    “You got coffee when you couldn’t sleep?” Jill asked.
    “Decaf. Still tastes the same.”
    Jill regarded Haven carefully. “Well, it seems to have done you good. You look well rested.”
    “Yep, ready to go.” She would not look at Eric as she said that, because they’d barely slept at all. God, she was going to blow it. Though if she was honest with herself, she’d admit that the secrecy added to the thrill. She popped out of her chair. “I think I’ll see what they have at the breakfast bar.”
    Eric, damn him, followed her like a puppy.
    “You’re not really one for discretion, are you?” she chided as she picked up a plate from the end of the buffet.
    “I don’t care if everyone knows.”
    She plopped a bagel on her plate. “Because you’ll be leaving and I’ll be the one who’ll have to answer all the questions about when you’re coming back, and if it’s okay to invite you to things, and why you don’t call. I don’t want to deal with that.”
    His lips thinned. “So if someone does find out, so what? You think Jared and Christine are going to hate us forever? You know they won’t.”
    “No, of course they won’t.” Honestly, she got the idea that Christine would be pretty happy. But that didn’t stop Haven’s desire to protect her heart, and shielding the happy couple from their drama was the best reason she could come up with. Funny that she’d been able to be honest with Eric last summer, but was having difficulty now. How could she tell him her feelings had been deeper than she’d intended? She couldn’t, that was the answer.
    “So what does Jared have you guys doing today?” she asked brightly when one of the other bridesmaids, Colleen, joined them at the buffet.
    “I think we’re going to play a few holes of golf.”
    Haven rolled her eyes at Colleen. “Isn’t that just like men? Going off to have fun while we get our hair done and pedicures and all that.”
    “I think that is fun,” Colleen protested. “Besides, we want to look our best, right?”
    Like that would happen with the orange-sherbet-colored dresses they’d be wearing. Haven forced a smile. Colleen slid half a spoonful of fruit onto her plate and returned to the table.
    “Thank you for not being like that,” Eric said.
    “Like what?”
    He pointed to Colleen’s retreating back with a serving spoon. “You eat. I like a woman who eats.” He dropped a serving of eggs onto her plate.
    Warmth slid through Haven before she recognized it, and she squashed the feeling like a bug. “So do you really play golf?”
    “Had to learn so I could schmooze people to get funding. I get more funding during a golf game than from a grant.”
    “That’s sad.”
    He lifted a shoulder. “Fact of life.”
    “And now? Are you here going after more funding?”
    “Not this time,” he said. “Biscuit?”
    She had a feeling he was holding back, but she didn’t know how to push for information. She wasn’t sure she even wanted to know.

    Haven lined up with the other