53

Rafe held up his hands. “By all means, though I’m not so sure we ought to be having a discussion about sex with half the town listening in.”

“Half the town?” Cara echoed, then turned in her chair to find that the restaurant had begun to fill up. Several fascinated gazes were turned in their direction. She was going to kill Rafe for not warning her sooner. Or maybe Peggy, who was just passing by with a smirk on her face. Cara snagged her hand. “Why didn’t you tell me we had customers?”

“You were sitting right here. I figured you weren’t either blind or deaf,” Peggy responded with an unrepentant grin. “I guess something else had captured your attention.”

“Have you taken their orders?” she asked, barely resisting the desire to grind her teeth in frustration.

“I’m doing that right now,” Peggy said cheerfully. “Everybody’s been pretty happy just to watch the floor show.”

Cara caught the amusement in Rafe’s eyes just then. “Don’t say another word,” she told him. “And don’t go anywhere. This conversation is not over.”

He gave her a mock salute. “Take your time. I’ll be right here.” He winked at Peggy. “Bring me a glass of Chianti when you have a minute, okay?”

“You’ve got it,” Peggy said. “It’s on the house. I haven’t had this much fun around here in ages. By comparison, Tony and Francesca are totally boring.”

“You can’t give away wine,” Cara snapped, losing patience with the pair of them and their amusement at her expense.

“I’ll pay for it out of my tips,” Peggy said. “Something tells me they’re going to be real good today.”

Cara bit back the desire to respond and headed for the kitchen. It was too bad she’d done all the chopping and dicing earlier. Right now the prospect of slamming a really sharp knife down into something and cutting it to shreds held a whole lot of appeal.

It was more than two hours before she got back to Rafe. In addition to all the customers who’d seemingly been drawn in by reports of the lively discussion she and Rafe had been engaged in earlier, Karen had appeared, looking downcast and confused. She had been joined by Lauren and Emma. All three of them had regarded Cara with curiosity when she had emerged from the kitchen.

“Maybe you’d better sit down here and tell us what’s going on,” Emma advised. “Why are you working here?”

“Tony needed to take Francesca to Italy. I’m filling in.” “For how long?” Karen asked.

“I’m not sure.”

“Are you thinking of staying here permanently?” Emma asked. “If so, we need to talk. It would change certain things.”

Lauren, who was back in town again, immediately picked up on Emma’s circumspect choice of words. “What things?” she asked. “I can totally understand if Cara wants to stay here.”

All three of them stared at the glamorous superstar, whose visits were more and more frequent. They had assumed it was because of Karen. Now Cara wasn’t so sure.

“You can?” Cara said.

“Well, of course I can,” Lauren responded. “Wherever we go, this is still home. Why wouldn’t we want to come back? It’s like a safe haven.”

Cara stared at her. “Why would you need a safe haven? Has something happened we don’t know about?”

“No, of course not,” Lauren said impatiently. “I was just saying that if we needed one, this is the place we’d be most likely to come.”

That said, she leaned toward Cara and asked in a conspiratorial tone, “So, is it true?”

Cara’s composure slipped. “Is what true?” she asked, even though she was pretty sure she knew precisely what was coming.

Lauren glanced pointedly across the room. “Were you and Rafe having a very public discussion about the fabulous sex you’ve been having?”

“Not intentionally,” Cara said, though she could feel the embarrassed heat climbing into her cheeks.

“But you were talking about it?” Lauren persisted. “There has been sex and it has been fabulous?”

“Yes,” Cara admitted. “And a few people might have overheard. I thought we were alone.”

The other three exchanged glances. “Interesting,” Karen said, grinning. “Isn’t it, though,” Lauren added.

“I thought I told you to stay away from him,” Emma said. But despite the disapproval in her tone, her eyes were glinting with amusement.

Karen and Lauren turned to Emma. “Why would you tell her that?” Lauren asked.

“Because it’s inadvisable for the two of them to get mixed up at this particular moment in time,” Emma said, again being very circumspect.

“Why?” Lauren repeated. “Is he in the middle of a messy divorce or something?”

“Of course not,” Cara said. “Rafe has never been married.”

“Then I don’t get it,” Lauren said. “He’s gorgeous. He’s interested.” Suddenly her enthusiastic expression faded. “But when he came here, he was after something. A deposition, wasn’t it? That’s why Emma objects to you seeing him.”

“I am not going to talk about this,” Cara said. “The deposition is no longer an issue. We’re partners,” she reminded Emma.

“I don’t have that paper,” Emma said.

Cara waved that off as a technicality. “It’s a moot point anyway. Rafe and I are not an issue. That’s what we were discussing when half the town decided to eavesdrop, then spread the word.”

“I’m confused,” Karen said. “The two of you are having fabulous sex, over Emma’s objections, but you’re not going to keep on seeing each other. Have I got that right?”

“Pretty much,” Cara said.

“Is Emma the reason you’re splitting up, then?” Karen asked.

“No,” Cara said. “There is nothing to split up. There is no relationship.” “Just that fabulous sex,” Lauren said, a gleam in her eyes. “I’m beginning to

get it.”

Karen stared at her. “You are? Explain it to me.”

Lauren nodded. “Happily. Our friend Cara is running scared. For the first time in her life, she is attracted to a man who might mean more to her than preparing succulent feasts for strangers. Her priorities are all topsy-turvy, after years and years of knowing exactly what she wanted. What better way to fix things than to get rid of the distraction?”

Cara listened to the explanation first with indignation, then with dawning shock. Was Lauren right? Was that what she’d been doing—running scared because Rafe had been a threat to her goals? Obviously it was true that he’d been a threat when he’d first come to town. But that issue was all but dead, and he still posed a very real threat. She was beginning to want him a little too much, to want what they had together. Hell, she had all but thrown herself at him, she wanted him so badly.

“Well?” Lauren demanded, poking her in the ribs with an elbow. “How did I do? Am I good or what?”

“You’re good,” Cara admitted slowly. “Just one question. Now that you’ve psychoanalyzed me and nailed it, what the heck am I supposed to do about it?”