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Yes, dammit, he had asked Katie to marry him. And she had flat out refused. Laughed and yelled at him. Pretty much told him it would be a cold day in hell…
“Why in God’s name did you do that?”
His gaze rose. “I love her.”
Matt cleared his throat. “Now Chris, don’t get me wrong. You know I like Katie a whole helluva lot. But she’s a wild filly, as wild as they come, and you think you’re gonna tame her?”
He lowered his head and fiddled with his napkin. “Was trying.”
“And how did you propose to do that? Katie made no bones about it when you started dating that she wanted to remain footloose and fancy free. I told you—and I won’t say that I told you so—that you were getting into deep water. You’re pretty new in town and Katie, well, she has this reputation. Katie Long can’t be tamed. Better men than you have tried. She’s such a damn contradiction, librarian by day, temptress at night. That was my biggest fear, that you’d fall head over heels in love with her and she’d break your heart.
“Dammit, I saw this coming.”
Narrowing his gaze, Chris looked at his friend. “For a man who said he wouldn’t say, ‘I told you so’, you just did a damn good job of it.”
Matt exhaled and looked away. They sat in silence for a moment. Looking back toward the library, Chris realized Katie was now gone. Shit. He’d missed her sway into the building.
“I can tame her.”
“Hm.”
“No, really. I can.”
Matt chuckled. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”
“Nope.”
“So how do you propose to tame her?”
“With the palm of my hand.”
“Excuse me?”
“She likes to be spanked.”
Silence.
Chris angled his gaze toward Matt, whose left eyebrow now sported a significant arch.
“You don’t say.”
“I do say. Now, nothing real kinky and I would never hurt her, but she seems to respond to a little hanky-spanky action in the bun area.”
Matt rubbed his chin. “I never would have thought.”
Grinning, Chris added, “and right about now, I’d like to lay my hand flat across those…”
“Hot cross buns?”
Startled at the female voice coming from his right, Chris looked first to Matt, and then to the woman standing beside them. Suzie Matthews,
“What?”
“Want to try my hot cross buns? It’s a new recipe and
Chris was definitely thinking about hot buns. And about crossing them with the palm of his hand. But what Suzie offered up at the moment wasn’t going to do.
He rose. “No thanks, ma’am. Maybe another time. I’ve got some business to tend to.”
He tipped his head, glanced at Matt, tossed a couple of bills on the table, and left.