Forever Hers Walters, Ednah (best novels for teenagers .TXT) 📖

cookies.” She went to get the cookies and thought she heard Eddie enter the room, but when she turned around, no one was there. She hoped the children didn’t scare him off. While they worked on their snacks, Amy brought out her laptop, fired it up and settled on the fourth chair.

Keeping an eye on Raelynn and her friends, she read her e-mails. When she spied Eddy through the glass wall, she put the laptop down and joined him in the kitchen. He had a notebook and pen, which didn’t make sense until he started walking through the pantry and began scribbling. He was making a grocery list. He acted like he’d be around for months, not just weeks.

“Your cousin restocks the wine every time they’re down here,” she explained after she showed him the wine rack. “There’s also half a case of beer in the garage.”

“We’ll replenish both. What do you prefer? Wine or beer?”

Her drinking days were so over. “Water.”

“Oh.”

She noted the frown and chose not to explain. “Feel free to raid the fridge any time. Just make sure you tell me if we’re out of anything.”

“I’ll just put it on a list.”

“You do that and tell me too.”

“You don’t believe in making a list before you go grocery shopping?” he asked, opening the cookie jar.

“No. I keep it all in here.” She tapped her head. Considering she bought the same few items every week, making a list was useless. Gone were the days when she’d fill her cart with nonessentials.

She left Eddie with a smoothie and cookies in the kitchen and went back outside. Lunch came and went. While she and Raelynn took the kitchen counter, Eddie ate on the patio under the umbrella. Raelynn kept staring at him as though expecting him to pounce. He didn’t try to join them and when he brought his plate and glass inside, he didn’t bother them, he just disappeared into his room. Again, his sensitivity impressed her.

Once her daughter settled down for a nap, Amy moved to her writing corner in the living room. Sounds came from the master bedroom, but she tuned them out. Nap time and evenings after Raelynn went to bed were her moments to get some writing done. Hopefully, Eddie wouldn’t interrupt her. Unfortunately, the incident by the boat just refused to let her be.

She was a firm believer in instant attraction. She had her share of those during her college years and before Raelynn was born, but life had taught her to tread carefully with men. Watching Eddie charm her daughter had done something to her insides. But when their gazes had connected as he drained the drink then ran his tongue across his lips, a different kind of heat had rolled through her and suddenly, Amy had felt afraid. Afraid of repeating past mistakes, afraid of feelings that would lead to nowhere. She was supposed to be strong, mature, smarter, but something about Eddie Fitzgerald threw her off kilter. She didn’t like the feeling.

After wasting time analyzing her feelings, her muse finally took over. Lost in her fictitious world, Amy wrote for two hours straight before Eddie walked into the room with animal litheness. He’d changed into jeans and a plain white T-shirt, which hugged his masculine chest and showed off the corded length of his arms. In his hand was a thick book with a picture of a motorcycle.

This was her time, damn it, and she refused to be distracted.

But ignoring him was like walking into a panther’s den then pretending it’s a domesticated feline. Her focus disappeared. Her dialogue became corny. She snuck a glance at him from the corner of her eyes and found him studying her.

“Do you know it’s rude to stare at people?”

“Do you know you talk to the screen when you work?”

Her face warmed. “That’s because I read the dialogue aloud. Do you need help with anything?”

“I called several stores in Sandpoint about the parts for the boat and none of them seem to have the right propeller, so I ordered it. It should be here in a couple of days.”

Amy nodded, though she didn’t see why this concerned her. “Okay.”

“That means I can go grocery shopping with you.”

Not what she wanted to hear. The less time they spent together the better.

“Unless you think that will be a problem. I do have to pay for the groceries.”

“Your groceries,” she corrected. “And no, it won’t be a problem.” Now go away.

Amy faced the laptop, hoping he got the hint. Now, where was she before he interrupted her? Vanessa, her heroine was about to tie the hero to her bed for a night of decadence. Amy grinned, leaned forward and started typing. She liked her heroines bold and adventurous in and out of bed. Weaving all her fantasies and yearning in each story, she lived vicariously through them.

A persistent prickle in the back of her head kept distracting her and she knew the cause. Eddie hadn’t left. He’d settled on the couch, stretched his feet and propped his book on his chest, but instead of reading it, he was busy studying her from above it with an unnerving intensity. She sat back and eyed him with narrowed eyes.

“Yes?” she asked, striving for politeness.

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Depends on how personal it is.”

“A yes or no would have sufficed,” he rebuked gently.

“Maybe I’m not a ‘yes or no’ girl.” She leaned against the chair. “Okay, shoot.”

“What do you do for a living?”

She cocked her eye brow, not liking his tone. “Why do you have to ask it like that?”

“Like what?”

“With suspicion.”

“Hardly.” He got to his feet. “It’s not important. I was just curious.”

“I write.”

“Excuse me?”

“I write books. I’m an author.”

A look she couldn’t define crossed his face. Horror? Disbelief mixed with revulsion? She wasn’t sure.

“I see,” he mumbled.

Insulted by his reaction, Amy got up and moved closer. Usually she got that reaction after she explained what she wrote, not before.

“From your expression, I think you misunderstood. I said