Nothing In Common Read online

At least Rivka wasn’t shrieking any more. This new tidbit of information about Lila’s private life had temporarily distracted her from her own problems.

  "Yes, on his cross-country skis." Lila was being deliberately obtuse.

  "He skied through a blizzard to talk about menu options for my opening." Rivka’s voice clearly stated she didn’t even believe it herself.

  "And some other things." Lila couldn’t resist teasing her sister. Actually, she was happy Rivka had discovered the truth about Tom. Her sister, while overbearing, would be ecstatic for her.

  "Lila-love." Rivka’s voice was filled with admiration. "Is there something you should be telling your big sister?"

  Tom grabbed the phone away from Lila, playfully holding it up so high she couldn’t reach it. "Didn’t your sister tell you she’s in love with me?"

  Lila couldn’t hear Rivka’s response. Her face had become an oven anyway. She hadn’t told him yet herself, but she couldn’t find it within herself to get angry at his audacity.

  "Since your showing," Tom was saying. "Yeah, I thought so, too, but I won her over."

  Then he was soothing Rivka in a way Lila never could. Somehow, he just knew all the right words to settle the artist’s fears about her upcoming opening. Within five minutes, Tom had hung up the phone.

  "I told her the food is completely under control." He pulled her into the crook of his arm. "I said we were planning on cooking all day."

  "She knew you weren’t referring to the kind of cooking one does in the kitchen, I presume." Lila snuggled in close.

  "Of course."

  They sat in comfortable silence for a time. The fire crackled, the sofa was soft, and the snow falling outside the picture window was soothing. Lila, who hadn’t had much sleep the night before, began to doze in the warmth and serenity of Tom’s embrace.

  "You don’t mind what I said to your sister, do you?"

  Lila’s heart thumped. "No."

  "Because it seemed pretty presumptuous of me, after I thought about it. I mean, since I don’t even know if it’s true."

  Now her heart thumped even more fiercely, and her palms began sweating a little. The fire, which had seemed pleasantly cozy before, now felt more like an inferno. She licked lips gone suddenly dry. "I love being with you."

  Say it! her mind screamed. Nothing could be more perfect than this moment. The fire, the snow, every detail made for a romantic scene. Yet, somehow, the words wouldn’t come.

  "I love being with you." Tom linked his fingers through hers in a gesture so natural it made her smile. "But that’s not necessarily the same thing, is it?"

  "No."

  They sat in silence for a few more moments, hands linked. Content to feel the thump of his heart against her cheek, Lila laid her head on his chest.

  "I don’t want to pressure you, Lila." Tom pressed a kiss to her temple. "I don’t want to do that at all."

  She twisted to look up at him. The sun was too bright for the firelight to be anything more than a hint reflected in his gorgeous hazel eyes. In any light, though, he was still the handsomest man she’d ever seen. His looks no longer bothered her.

  "You’re not. I’ve been thinking a lot, since last night."

  He brushed his fingers through her hair. "Good things, I hope."

  "Very good." At once, it seemed very important that she reach up to kiss him. Lila pressed her lips first to his forehead, then each of his eyes, and finally his mouth. She lingered there for a long moment, feeling the softness of his lips beneath hers. The kiss was sweet, gentle, but with the undertone of desire she had come to recognize so well. And yet, when it came right down to saying what she needed to…she couldn’t.

  Fear froze her tongue and closed her throat. She wanted to tell him she loved him, but the memory of William’s face kept her from speaking. Instead, she kissed him again.

  "What was that for?" His tone was pleased.

  "Because you’re a big goofball."

  Tom sat back on the sofa, arms behind his head and rolled his eyes. "Nice. Always dreamed of a woman calling me that. You’ve just made my dreams come true."

  She tilted her head as she reached out to push away the long bangs from his eyes. "You’re crazy, you know that?"

  He captured her hand. "Crazy for you."

  She moved forward and kissed his mouth, then pulled back enough to look into his compelling hazel eyes. "I think my furnace is on the blink. It’s a little chilly in here. Any ideas about how I could get warmed up?"

  Tom curled his arm around her neck. "I think I could arrange something."

  "Another thing I like about you," Lila told him. "You’re very resourceful."

  He waggled his inky eyebrows at her, then quirked one and put on a fake, posh accent. "Indubitably."

  That made her laugh. She put his hand on her breast and curled the fingers around her already taut nipple. "Let’s get make out and watch old movies."

  "Make out?" He looked like he was pretending to think. "With you? I don’t know, Lila. That’s awfully presumptuous of you."

  She knew him well enough by now to have been prepared for a smartass reply, and she greeted it promptly with a pillow to the head. He ducked and yelped, then grabbed the pillow from her and threatened her with it. He didn’t hit her, though, just held it up before tossing it unceremoniously to the floor and gathering her in his arms.

  His tongue parted her lips and she giggled, then relaxed into his embrace. His mouth moved over hers with sweet perfection, fitting with her lips the same way he fit her body. Like they’d been made for each other.

  "Lila."

  She blinked. "Yes, Tom." He sighed and brushed a kiss along her cheek before finding her lips again. "You think I’m a big dork, don’t you?"

  "Of course not!" Shocked, she sat back and searched his face for signs he was joking again. "Are you serious?"

  Tom only stared before nodding. "You expect me to be more…suave. Don’t you?"

  Actually, she found his lack of ego endearing and charming, as well as flattering. She shook her head. "No, Tom. I don’t think you’re a dork."

  For the first time, she had a better appreciation of what being judged on his looks had done to him. "I think you’re smart, and funny, and incredible in bed. I think you’re kind and generous, and you make a great omelet. I most definitely do not think you are a dork."

  He grinned. "How about when I do this?"

  He made the stupidest face she’d ever seen on a man, but it made her laugh out loud. "Except when you do that."

  He rearranged his features into a more normal expression. "Just checking."

  He reached for the remote control and turned on a classic movie station. Then he pulled her onto his lap. "Didn’t you say something about making out?"

  She’d been joking, a little, but readily accepted his kiss. "Sure."

  And make out they did. She hadn’t kissed for so long at a time without getting naked since…well, since high school. Back when a boy’s hand on her breast was an advance to be gracefully fended off, rather than an expected pleasure.

  Back then, hours of kissing on the rec room sofa had left her stomach a tight mess, her panties damp, her breasts aching for a release she didn’t really understand. A lot had changed since high school. Now, though the affects on her body were the same, Lila knew exactly what she was missing.

  Tom had pulled her legs over his lap, but though one strong hand moved back and forth from her thigh to her hip, he hadn’t even made a move to touch her anyplace else. His entire concentration focused on her mouth, her lips and face, the curve of her neck, the lobes of her ears.

  Lila slid her leg closer, over the hard bulge in his pants. Tom’s breath caught in his throat, and he paused in kissing her to cup her face in his hands. She thought he would say something, but he didn’t…just bent back to brush his mouth lightly on hers in a teasing kiss that made her groan in frustration.

  "You’re driving me crazy," he whispered.

  Lila laughed. "Me? Dr