He entertained well, she mused. It must be in the genes.

He came out with a tray loaded with cartons and plates. At least he’d buttoned his shirt, she noted. She wished she didn’t like his looks quite so much. She’d be able to get a handle on her emotional response if she didn’t find him so physically attractive.

Or vice versa.

“I figured I’d eat this with ESPN and some paperwork. This is better.” He put a place setting in front of her, opened cartons. “Rehearsal tonight, right?” He sat and began to take samples from every carton. “How’d it go?”

“Fine, I imagine. They didn’t need me, so I did some prep for the weekend.”

“I’ll be at the commitment ceremony Sunday,” he told her. “I went to college with Mitchell, and I wrote up their partnership contract.” He ate while she sat, sipping her beer. “So what’s the cake?”

“Chocolate butter cake, with white chocolate mousse filling, frosted in broad strokes with fudge frosting.”

“Triple threat.”

“They like chocolate.All that’s offset with alternate layers of red geranium blossoms on flower foam trays. Emma’s making interlocking geranium hearts for the topper. Now should I ask about your day?”

“No need to be bitchy”

She sighed because he was right. “You stole my shoes,” she pointed out, and gave in to the scent of the food.

“Stole is a strong word.”

“They’re mine, you took them without permission.” She bit into a pot sticker. God, she did have a weakness.

“How much are they worth to you?”

“They’re just shoes, Del.”

“Please.” He made a dismissive noise as he waved one hand. “I have a sister. I know the value you people put on footwear.”

“Okay, okay, what do you want? Money? Baked goods? Household chores?”

“All viable options. But this is nice for a start. You should try the sweet-and-sour.”

“What, this is nice? This?” She nearly choked on the beer. “Like this is some kind of a date?”

“Two people, food, drink, pretty evening. It has datelike elements.”

“It’s a drop-in. It’s a ransom drop. It’s . . .” She stopped herself because the jitters were back. “All right, let’s clear the air. I feel I started something. Something or ...”

“Other?” he suggested.

“Okay, something or other. Because I was in a mood, and I acted impulsively, which caused you to reciprocate the impulse. And I see now, I certainly see knowing you, that the ‘we’re even’ remark was a gauntlet thrown.You couldn’t leave that alone, so you took my damn shoes. And now there’s Chinese and beer and the whole dusk falling light show, when we both know perfectly well you’ve never thought about me this way.”

He considered for a moment. “That’s not accurate. An accurate statement would be I’ve tried not to think about you this way.”

More than a little stunned she sat back. “How’d you do with that?”

“Hmm.” He lifted a hand, turned it side to side.

She stared at him. “Damn you, Del.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

HE COULDN’T SAY IT WAS THE REACTION HE’D EXPECTED, BUT WITH Laurel that was often the case.

“Damn me for what, exactly?”

“Because it’s exactly the right thing to say.You’re good at saying exactly the right thing, except when you say the completely wrong thing. But it’s usually the right thing anyway, just that I didn’t want to hear it.”

“You should’ve been a lawyer.”

“I’m eating another pot sticker,” she muttered.

She’d always delighted him, he thought, except when she’d irritated him. It was probably the same thing.

“Do you remember when we were all over at Emma’s parents’ for Cinco de Mayo?”

“Of course I remember.” She scowled at her beer. “I had too much tequila, which is only natural under the circumstances because, hello, Cinco de Mayo.”

“I think that’s hola.”

“Har-har. You played big brother and sat with me on the front porch steps.”

“It’s not playing big brother to have some mild concern for a friend in a tequila haze. But anyway.” He scooped some sweet-and-sour onto her plate with his chopsticks. “Earlier Jack and I were standing around, and I was scoping the crowd, the way you do.”

“The way you do.”

“Okay. I spot this blue dress with a great pair of legs and ...” He made a vague gesture that gave her a clear picture of the and. “I thought, nice, very nice indeed, and made some mention of same to Jack. He pointed out that the legs and the rest I happened to be scoping were yours. It gave me a hell of a jolt, I admit.” He gauged her reaction, judged surprise led the way. “In the interest of full disclosure, I also admit it wasn’t the first time. So whether or not it was the right thing to say, it was accurate.”

“I’m not a pair of legs, or an and.”

“No, but they’re still very nice.You’re a beautiful woman.That’s also accurate. Some have a weakness for pot stickers, some for beautiful women.”

She looked past him, toward the deepening shadows. “That should piss me off.”

“You’re also one of my oldest and most important friends.” Teasing no longer colored his tone. “That matters, a lot.”

“It does.” She pushed her plate away before she made herself sick.

“I think it’s also accurate to say something unexpected, or at least surprising, hit when you acted on impulse the other night.”

As dusk thickened, his garden and patio lights sent out a soft glow, and in the distance a loon’s eerie wail echoed. It struck him as oddly romantic, and somehow suitable.

“You’re being awfully delicate about it.”

“Well, it’s a first date,” he said and made her laugh.

“I just came for the shoes.”

“No, you didn’t.”

She let out a breath. “Maybe not, but I had this plan, banking on you being out on an actual date where I’d sneak in, take back my shoes, and leave you a clever note.”

“Then you’d have missed all this. So would I.”