Read The Welcoming for Free Online Page B

I
hate
being lied to.”
    It was a simple matter to put two and two together. “You’re talking about the waitress . . . Mary Alice?”
    â€œOf course.” She spun around. “She came begging me for a job three months ago. That’s our slowest time, but I felt sorry for her. Now she’s sleeping with Bill Perkin—or I guess it’s more accurate to say she’s not getting any sleep, so she calls in sick. I had to fire her.” She let out a breath with a sound like an engine letting off steam. “I get a headache whenever I have to fire anybody.”
    â€œIs that what was bothering you all morning?”
    â€œAs soon as Dolores mentioned Bill, I knew.” Calmer now, she rubbed at the insistent ache between her eyes. “Then I had to get through the check-in and the breakfast shift before I could call and deal with her. She cried.” She gave Roman a long, miserable look. “I knew she was going to cry.”
    â€œListen, baby, the best thing for you to do is take some aspirin and forget about it.”
    â€œI’ve already taken some.”
    â€œGive it a chance to kick in.” Before he realized what he was doing, he lifted his hands and framed her face. Moving his thumbs in slow circles, he massaged her temples. “You’ve got too much going on in there.”
    â€œWhere?”
    â€œIn your head.”
    She felt her eyes getting heavy and her blood growing warm. “Not at the moment.” She tilted her head back and let her eyes close. Moving on instinct, she stepped forward. “Roman . . .” She sighed a little as the ache melted out of her head and stirred in the very center of her. “I like the way you look in a tool belt, too.”
    â€œDo you know what you’re asking for?”
    She studied his mouth. It was full and firm, and it would certainly be ruthless on a woman’s. “Not exactly.” Perhaps that was the appeal, she thought as she stared up at him. She didn’t know. But she felt, and what she felt was new and thrilling. “Maybe it’s better that way.”
    â€œNo.” Though he knew it was a mistake, he couldn’t resist skimming his fingers down to trace her jaw, then her lips. “It’s always better to know the consequences before you take the action.”
    â€œSo we’re being careful again.”
    He dropped his hands. “Yeah.”
    She should have been grateful. Instead of taking advantage of her confused emotions he was backing off, giving her room. She wanted to be grateful, but she felt only the sting of rejection. He had started it, she thought. Again. And he had stopped it. Again. She was sick and tired of being jolted along according to his whims.
    â€œYou miss a lot that way, don’t you, Roman? A lot of warmth, a lot of joy.”
    â€œA lot of disappointment.”
    â€œMaybe. I guess it’s harder for some of us to live our lives aloof from others. But if that’s your choice, fine.” She drew in a deep breath. Her headache was coming back, doubled. “Don’t touch me again. I make it a habit to finish whatever I start.” She glanced into the room behind them. “You’re doing a nice job here,” she said briskly. “I’ll let you get back to it.”
    He cursed her as he sanded the wood for the window trim. She had no right to make him feel guilty just because he wanted to keep his distance. Noninvolvement wasn’t just a habit with him; it was a matter of survival. It was self-indulgent and dangerous to move forward every time you were attracted to a woman.
    But it was more than attraction, and it was certainly different from anything he’d felt before. Whenever he was near her, his purpose became clouded with fantasies of what it would be like to be with her, to hold her, to make love with her.
    And fantasies were all they were, he reminded himself. If things went well he