Seven-Year Seduction. Heidi Betts

she’d been alone in the house…just her and Dom Pérignon…and not expecting guests.

      “I could ask you the same thing,” Connor responded, setting his mug on the countertop and grabbing a paper towel to blot at the stain on his shirt, just above the waistband of his low-slung jeans.

      Lord, he wore denims like no one else she’d ever seen. Even out in L.A., where every waiter or valet was an aspiring actor or model, the men didn’t have waists and hips and buttocks like Connor Riordan. They would never be able to pull off the open flannel shirts over faded T-shirts the way he did, or the worn blue jeans and work boots.

      Not that it had any effect on her whatsoever. She was merely making a mental observation, the same as she might be slightly awed by a famous, high-powered celebrity who waltzed into her office back on Wilshire.

      “In case you’ve forgotten, this is my house.”

      “Since when?”

      She lifted a brow, her annoyance growing in direct proportion to the pounding in her skull. What she wouldn’t give for a cup of that coffee and fifty aspirin right about now.

      But she couldn’t have those things just yet. Not until she’d finished this argument with Connor and kicked him out on his tight-but-aggravating butt.

      “Since I grew up here. Remember?”

      “That was a long time ago,” he remarked, picking up his mug once again and taking a slow sip of the black coffee that was making her mouth water. “Seems to me it’s not so much your house anymore. Your parents moved to a smaller place on the other side of town, and you moved all the way to Los Angeles. It’s your brother’s place now…his and Karen’s.”

      Beth’s teeth gritted together and she felt her right eye begin to twitch, which it only did when she was resisting the urge to clobber somebody.

      “I’m still family,” she told him, jaw clenched tight so that her words sounded half growled, even to her own ears. “This is my family home, and I’m sure Nick won’t mind me staying in my old room for a few nights while he’s on his honeymoon.”

      Like she owed him any explanation! Honestly, this was her house—her family home, at any rate. He was the interloper. He should be the one defending himself and offering up explanations for why he was here.

      “Well, sweetheart,” he drawled, “that’s where we might have a problem. Because Nick told me I could stay here until he gets back.”

      Scowling, she let his words sink in, all the while wishing her brother were nearby so she could wring his neck. Was it too much to ask that she be allowed to stay in her childhood home while she was in Ohio? Alone. To rest and recuperate before going back to her mile-a-minute world and no-rest-for-the-weary occupation.

      “Why do you need to stay here?” she wanted to know. “Don’t you have a house of your own to go to?”

      She could have sworn he blushed at that. His cheekbones turned a dull red and he refused to meet her gaze.

      “Yeah,” he said in a low rumble. “You’d think that would make a difference.”

      “Excuse me?”

      “I got kicked out, okay?” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and slouching against the counter cabinets.

      He was pouting. And looking decidedly embarrassed, Beth thought.

      Oh, the day was taking a turn for the better, after all.

      She perked up, fighting the urge to giggle at his obvious discomfort and reversal of fortune.

      “You got kicked out,” she repeated, trying not to sound too gleeful. “Of your own house. Why?”

      The flush disappeared from his face, then was replaced by the flat, grim line of his mouth.

      “Never mind why,” was his terse reply. “The point is, I needed a place to stay, and your brother offered the use of his house until he and Karen get back from their honeymoon.”

      It was her turn to cross her arms. At this point, she didn’t even care that the gesture pushed her breasts up and caused the flimsy satin and lace bodice to bunch and reveal a fair amount of cleavage.

      If the sight offended him, fine. If it turned him off, so be it. And if it turned him on…good. Maybe he would feel intimidated by his attraction to her and hightail it to the nearest hotel.