Benny opened the fridge and placed the Champagne inside next to the rest of the groceries they’d brought. “I’m going to move my car so they can back the truck up to the porch.”
Knowing that the rest of the Sorensens were descending on the house, Payton desperately wanted to make herself scarce. It would be too painful and embarrassing seeing them now. Remembering how thrilled and happy and excited she was when she’d last seen them.
She wondered what they thought about her now, about her actions. What had Cruz told them? But she didn’t worry too much on that end. He never spoke unless he had to. Especially about his personal life. Which might be why Benny had brought her here in the first place, to pump her for information, even if she hadn’t reached the subject. Yet.
No way was she prepared to face everyone.
She glanced at her watch. Almost five. She should be going if she was going to meet Brad for dinner by six. “I think I’m done here anyway. I’ll get out of everyone’s hair.”
“Oh, really?” Benny looked crestfallen and glanced down at her cell phone. “Would you do one last favor for me, then? I bought a whole load of votive candles and little holders for them and wanted to set them up around the room. You know, help with the ambiance? Can you get me started on that? I have no sense for that kind of stuff.”
Payton glanced at her watch again and bit her lip. “Five more minutes but then I really have to go.”
“Great,” Benny said, her face slipping into a wide smile, her blue eyes suspiciously bright.
Benny traipsed up the stairs to the upper landing that led, due to the slope on the mountain where the house sat, out to the driveway. Leaving Payton alone in this little piece of heaven nestled away from the world. Kate was very lucky.
Payton grabbed the bag that Benny left and looked around the room. The vista outside the window in the main room was gorgeous. The sun was setting across the treeline before the windows, giving the room a warm, homey feeling. Finding a seat on the couch, she opened the first bag of candles and began the task of dropping them into the holders. She was on the third bag when a ruckus from the top of the stairs alerted her that Benny was back.
“I think you bought enough candles to set the whole mountainside ablaze,” she said looking in the bag at the endless amount of candles still packaged as Benny reached the bottom step. She looked up. “I didn’t know how many—”
Only, it wasn’t Benny.
Her heart felt like it was ricocheting in her chest and the only sound she could hear now was the rushing of blood as it pumped erratically sending a whooshing through her ears. Thank Heavens she was seated because she was certain she’d have slumped to the floor otherwise.
No, the hulking giant before her could never be mistaken for the smaller woman.
Crap. Why did he have to look so good?
His hair was shorter, even and clipped above the ears, but still long enough where she could tousle it with her fingertips. His eyes, now wide in disbelief as he caught sight of her, were that same deep chocolate brown that had looked at her like he wanted to shove her out of the car one second, and then like he wanted to kiss her senseless a second later. His jaw was dark with growth, showing it hadn’t seen a razor in at least two days, maybe longer. She wondered if it would be soft to touch, or rough, stinging her chin like it had that morning when he’d woken her up with—
Dear Lord. What am I doing?
The seconds continued to pass and the giant just stayed there unmoving. It made sense now, why Benny wanted her here. Had distracted her enough until Cruz could get here.
Had he wanted to see her? Did he know—of course he didn’t know, judging by the slack in his jaw.
Why didn’t he just say something?
“Cruz. Hello.” Lame.
Lame, lame, lame.
He blinked a couple times, almost like he hadn’t believed she was there until she spoke. “Payton.” Hearing him speak her name, so soft, nearly undid her. He blinked again. “What are you doing here?”
He didn’t sound happy. He didn’t sound angry either. She couldn’t tell anymore.
“Your sister, Benny. She asked me to help set some things up for Kate and Dominic. Do some staging,” she said and swept her hand toward the pile of votive candles next to her.
He nodded but didn’t take his eyes from hers. “So. How are things with you? You look…well,” he said, hesitating slightly before the last word.
“You too.” Only she said it in a near whisper as it seemed like she was struggling just to breathe under his intense gaze. She rose, needing to do something other than sit there like a rock. She walked back to the kitchen island and began fussing with the flower arrangement again. “I doubt either Kate or Dominic are going to even notice any of this when they arrive tonight, but Kate will appreciate it in the morning when she’s wanting half and half for her coffee that’s not a week past its expiration.”
Why was she blathering like an idiot? Cruz didn’t care if Kate had half and half in her coffee.
She turned to him, forcing a bright smile.
And realized he had closed the space between them somewhere in the last few seconds and was standing so close she could see the pulse at the side of his neck. Smell his wonderful sensuous scent.
“Payton, I—”
Only whatever he was about to say was cut off by the sound of voices from upstairs. A high-pitched female one that was insisting she bring down the box herself and didn’t need to wait another minute for anyone to help her.
Cruz blanched ever so slightly and glanced over to the figure coming down the stairs. Payton’s eyes followed. She recognized the bubbly brunette balancing a wide box in her arms, having met her months before at Kate’s birthday party. With Cruz.
She pinched the flesh between her thumb and index finger, trying to keep the tears from surfacing.
Oh. Goody.
Cruz had brought a date.
Cruz was still stunned from the unexpected sight of seeing Payton, here, looking so gorgeous and cheerful—something that had been in short supply for him—when he heard Becca making her way down the stairs.
He cursed himself for even taking her call yesterday. Or agreeing to go out with her for, as she put it, old time’s sake. But he’d been feeling lonely and angry and thought any company was better than stewing about the woman he could never have.
He glanced up at the cute brunette trying not to fall down the stairs in the teetering heels she was wearing and couldn’t help but find her short on the appeal that Payton had. He looked back at Payton, trying to gauge her reaction. Did she even care anymore? Was she already back with Brad?
“There you are, Cruz,” Becca said and dropped the box she was carrying not very gently to the floor, her interest more on the meeting going on over at the kitchen island. She almost ran to his side. “Hi there,” she said, possessively tucking her arm through his.
He didn’t pull away, watching Payton’s expression instead. Looking for anything. Some sign that she still felt something for him.
But her face stayed bright and she widened her own smile. “Hi. It’s Becca, right? I’m Payton, I think we met a few months ago at Kate’s party.”
“That’s right, you were there a little late. Is your fiancé around—”
Any further conversation was interrupted again, this time by his nephew and nieces who were running down the stairs now, their mother and the rest of the family hot on their heels. He’d make bets they’d been holding everyone outside for as long as they could to give him and Payton a moment.
This was a total set-up.
But little did they know that when he agreed to help tonight, he wasn’t coming alone. He should have known something was up by the panic in Daisy’s eyes when she caught sight of Becca. He’d just chalked it up to her disappointment he wasn’t with Payton. Which he had no idea why, since they barely even knew her.