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kissed her, sweet and long.
    Cassandra watched the show out of the corner of her eye. She’d tell them, she thought. She’d tell them when they came up for air that with her sisters occupied otherwise—though she didn’t begrudge them their happiness—she needed to see this family thing through for herself.
    With no Gabe to distract her—
    The bells on Malibu & Ewe’s doors rang out again. Jay and Nikki broke their kiss and all three of them watched the newcomer enter the shop. A glance at the clock showed it to be the usual time—the exact hour she’d come to expect her landlord’s daily visit. Gabe would drop by with a large latté and then idly shoot the breeze or silently brood sourly, depending upon his mood. She’d pretend she wasn’t drinking the beverage down and he’d pretend he didn’t see her enjoy the caffeinated, non-soy beverage that she’d deny imbibing to her dying breath.
    The man striding over the threshold carried the coffee all right, though whether it was indeed her landlord she wasn’t entirely certain. Because this man had shaved. And his hair appeared to be combed and was slicked back in damp waves. The post-bender, green-around-the-gills part was familiar, though, as well as the grim set to his mouth.
    It turned even grimmer when Nikki announced in a perky voice, “Check out what the jaws of hell have barfed up.”
    Jay winced again. “Bad Cookie,” he murmured, then cleared his throat. “How’s it going, Gabe?”
    “Fine,” the other man answered absently, his gaze shifting to Cassandra’s face.
    That flutter was stirring back to life in the pit of her belly. She watched him set his cup beside Nikki’s on the counter. Why was he here? Hadn’t she made it clear she wanted him to stay away?
    “Did you forget—”
    “Yeah,” he answered, skirting the cash register to join her on the other side of the counter. “Yeah, I forgot something this morning.”
    He stepped closer, invading her personal space. Gabe never got this close, unless he was reeking of booze and crowing over his elephantine endowments.
    She swallowed. “You forgot what?”
    “To thank you.” He smelled like sandalwood soap, the bars she’d bought for him herself at the organic festival in Ojai last summer. Cool fingertips, Gabe’s cool fingertips, burrowed beneath her hair to touch her nape.
    Startled, her muscles froze. “Oh. You’re, um, welcome.”
    His fingertips applied pressure to the back of her neck, and she found herself forced into stepping closer. “Not that kind of thank you,” he murmured, and she could taste the hot-cinnamon toothpaste on his breath. “This kind.”
    And then he kissed her.
     
     
     
    Cassandra’s mouth. It was soft and warm and Gabe had surprised her into a little “oh” that gave his tongue the perfect opportunity to glide—
    Pain poked his lower leg. “Ah!” He jerked from the kiss, his gaze shooting down to catch Nikki rising from a crouch, a knitting needle in her hand.
    She’d learned an innocent eyelash flutter from her big sister, and she used it on him now, pretending a quasi-apology. “I dropped my needle, and then . . .” She shrugged. “Did I hurt you?”
    “Not really.” But she’d given Cassandra time to back-pedal. The yarn shop owner had retreated a good five feet away and was staring at the wall to the right of his shoulder, her expression dumbstruck.
    “Too bad,” Nikki murmured, her eyes narrowed. “Because—”
    “Because then she’d have to make it up to you by baking a batch of her vanilla-cherry cookies,” Jay interrupted. “And with all the wedding planning, she really doesn’t have the spare time. As a matter of fact, maybe we should—”
    “Stay right here,” Nikki said sweetly, doing her own interrupting. “I need Cassandra’s help on the naughty little number I’m knitting to wear on our wedding night.”
    Jay’s eyebrows rose, obviously derailed by the words “naughty little number.” A smile quirked the