Chapter 13

"You're looking chipper this morning." Cilla stood in the kitchen, hands on hips, studying Pepper.

"Why shouldn't I? I had a good night's sleep."

"Really?" A grin teased at Cilla's mouth. "So, after the big dinner last night, you and your so-called fiancé came back here and you hopped into bed. Alone."

"Yes." Pepper concentrated on the scones she was plating. "Of course. And what do you mean, 'big' dinner? It was dinner with my folks. That's all."

"Oh, please." Cilla flapped a hand at her. "My phone rang off the hook last night, people who wanted all the gory details. Your mama gave a fine performance, fawning all over him while giving him the third degree."

Pepper snorted. "You got that right. I have no idea why he didn't run screaming into the night." She sighed. "I have to agree Mama can be a bit much." And wasn't that just stating the obvious.

Cilla giggled. "So did she have the date set, the venue booked, and the guest list done by the time dinner was over?"

Pepper filled a second plate with poppy seed muffins, today's flavor, and carried them into the dining room. Cilla had shown up at the crack of dawn, eager for gossip, and made herself useful by setting the table. The rest of the ingredients for today's meal - omelets, buttermilk pancakes, bacon, fragrant sage and pepper sausage, and sliced melons, strawberries and kiwi - were ready in the fridge for when the first guests came downstairs. And, for a touch of morning decadence, a chocolate layer cake. She loved gastronomically shocking the guests sometimes.

"She tried damn hard," Pepper told her friend. "But I'm getting almost as good at avoiding commitments as she is at trying to pin me down."

"At least it got you out of dinner with yucky Judd Wallace."

"Nothing, and I repeat nothing, would have gotten me to dinner with that jerk." She smacked a cake server against the sink. "Not even my mother."

"Okay, then." Cilla fixed a mug of coffee for herself, stirring in cream and sugar. "So you're telling me that after that hot kiss performance yesterday, nothing else happened?"

"Yes. Right. That's what I'm telling you."

Cilla cocked an eyebrow. "Even after spending the day holding hands?"

Pepper glared at her. "I see Gossip Central has been at it again."

"But isn't that what you want? It gets your folks off your back and makes your little fairy tale plausible, right?" She tilted her head. "It is nothing more than a fairy tale, right, Pepper?"

"Of course. Can you help me fold napkins?"

"Nice change of subject there." Cilla laughed. "Okay, I see my curiosity isn't about to be satisfied. But let me tell you, girl. If I had a hunk like that pretending to be my fiancé, I'd have a hard time not trying to make it the real thing."

Pepper scowled. "Marry a man I don't know?"

Everything else aside, she really didn't know Kyle Montgomery. Who was he when he wasn't playing tourist in Bayview? What did he do for a living beside "run a business?" Maybe he even had a wife who he was "taking a break from," as she knew some rat fink men did.

No. She might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but she knew she'd have sensed it if there was someone at home wondering where he was this weekend. Everything about Kyle Montgomery said "successful single businessman."

She realized that while her mind wandered, Cilla was still keeping up the conversation.

"Not necessarily. I'm just talking about taking advantage of the opportunity to play house while he's here."

"Can we please change the subject?" Pepper was having enough trouble wiping the previous night out of her mind as it was. She wondered how she'd pull it off when Kyle showed up downstairs, and what time that would be.

She could hardly believe she was so wide awake. Spectacular sex was exhausting. Plus, she'd had to sneak out of Kyle's room at five o'clock, before any of the guests were up, so she could shower and dress and get ready for breakfast. He had tried to talk her into staying a little longer, but, by that time, she was already nervous and maybe having second thoughts.

She was not a woman who fell into bed with a man without even knowing him for twenty-four hours. It just wasn't her style. She never, ever, ever fell into bed with a man she'd known for less than twenty-four hours. So, what had gotten into her last night?

Oh, wait. She could justify it by telling herself this was different. And it was, in so many ways. But the one way that frightened her was how intense the sex had been and the invisible thread that seemed to connect them from the moment he'd walked into Hibiscus House. But in a very few days Kyle Montgomery would be leaving. That was already set in stone. She could be setting herself up for a big fall, here.

It will be worth it. I'll just have to deal with the fallout.

Cilla helped her serve the first round of breakfast meals, three couples and two women. All were pleasant, and their rave comments about Bayview and Hibiscus House were music to her ears. She didn't care what her parents said. This place was her life. Her heart was here. She was going to build on its current reputation and make it a top B&B destination, at least in the South.

She was in the process of plating more scones and muffins and wondering what time Kyle would roll out of bed when she sensed someone behind her. In the next moment, warm hands cupped her shoulders and soft lips placed a kiss at the side of her neck. His breath feathered softly against her skin, sending heated messages to the rest of her body.

"Morning, gorgeous." The deep voice sent shivers rippling through her.