Read Change of Heart for Free Online Page B

choice.”
    She reached out, snagging the cup with caramel syrup drizzled along the inside. “Mmm.” She closed her eyes to enjoy the drink. “I might have to rethink killing you for waking me up.”
    “I appreciate the effort.”
    He set the other cup onto the kitchen counter and made his way back to her small porch, retrieving several paper bags and bringing them inside.
    “What are those?”
    Gage lifted his arms, his lips curving into a slight smile. “Groceries. I figured with your car in the shop and you arriving early, Jessie hadn’t stocked your cabinets, and since I was already heading into town this morning . . . ” He shrugged as if the resulting bags were self-explanatory.
    Leah felt guilt slam into her chest. She’d been rude to him yesterday—okay, maybe even worse than rude—yet he’d still been thoughtful enough to pick up groceries for her, to do one more thing she couldn’t do for herself. Leah’s ability to remain aloof slipped as regret for her actions needled her. She’d been on her own, answering to no one, for so long she didn’t know how to react to the foreign feeling and the remorse irritated her. She clenched her jaw against the smart-aleck comment that tried to slip past her lips. She took a deep breath and buried the irritation.
    “Why are you doing all of this?”
    Gage took a drink of the coffee before setting the cup aside and leaning a hip against the counter. “All of what, Leah?”
    “The car, unloading my things, the groceries?” She frowned, trying to figure him out the way she would one of her patients.
    “I’m just being nice. Is there something wrong with that?” Gage didn’t miss anything and his grin widened. “Instead of complaining, I think this is where you say ‘thank you,’ ” he said.
    “Thank you,” she muttered.
    “See?” he said with a laugh. “That didn’t hurt, did it?”
    Leah rolled her eyes and reached into one of the bags, finding two boxes of cereal, pancake mix, syrup, lunch meat, bread, a head of lettuce, and tomatoes. She held up the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. “Do I look like a ten-year-old boy?”
    He plucked the box from her hands with a grin and slid it into an empty cupboard. “You don’t have to be ten to enjoy these. Plus,” he pointed out, “you’re probably going to have hungry boys showing up. You should have a few things they might like.”
    It wasn’t a bad idea, but she wasn’t about to admit it to him. Gage reached for the loaf of bread.
    “And I was thinking the two of us could get to know one another over lunch.”
    Leah crossed her arms and leaned against the edge of the counter, keeping the width of the kitchen between them, fixing him with a pointed look. “Get to know one another?” She took another sip of the coffee, stalling. “That’s the best line you could think of?”
    She couldn’t deny that he had the boyish charm down to an art form, but she wasn’t buying it.
    Gage’s eyes flashed with mischief as he opened the mayonnaise he’d bought for her and spread it on the bread he’d laid out on two paper plates. “What makes you think it’s a line?”
    “Gee, I wonder. Maybe it’s the ease with which it falls off of your tongue. Or the confident way you take over my kitchen.”
    He glanced at her. “And that makes you think I’m trying to seduce you with sandwiches?”
    “Maybe.” Leah shrugged. “Although you didn’t hesitate to point out yesterday that I wasn’t your type,” she reminded him, tipping her cup in his direction.
    He set the butter knife aside and closed the distance between them, forcing her to move backward, pressing herself into the counter in an effort to create some breathing room between them. Gage already filled the small space, making it feel minuscule, but when he approached, he erased the rest of the room. Her vision was engulfed by him—his broad shoulders, the expanse of well-muscled chest, his chiseled jaw that was shaved smooth this morning, his