Love for Beginners: An Under the Hood Novella by Sally Clements

it, but putting voice to his thoughts set his convictions in stone. If they were going to go ahead with these getting-used-to-a-man’s-touch lessons, she better understand the ground rules going in. He’d been the cause of a woman’s tears before. Never again .
    Heath glanced back at Betty.
    Her watchful eyes had softened, maybe recognizing the honesty of his response. “She means a lot to me,” she said softly. “And she looks like she’s bulletproof…”
    “But she’s got a marshmallow center. Yeah, I get that.” He rubbed his hands on a rag hanging from the pocket of his overalls. “Believe me, I won’t hurt her.” He could have explained his life wouldn’t be worth living if he did—his sister would have his hide for sure, but the truth was a lot more profound. Mel was safe. There was no way in hell he’d break another woman’s heart.
    Though she might just break his.

Chapter Five
    It had been a hell of a week. Mel had done everything possible to avoid Heath since that day in the garage. Of course, there were legitimate reasons for working at home on paperwork, and at a push, it was reasonable that she’d volunteer for all of the jobs outside the office, too. She’d been so distracted she hadn’t even cared when the realtor had told her the latest interested party hadn’t gotten mortgage approval and they’d have to keep looking for a buyer. Betty’d tried to question her about what exactly was going on between her and Heath, but Mel had managed to fudge her answers and brush it off.
    She hadn’t been totally honest in the moments before she kissed him in the garage. She’d said she only wanted to learn how to fake it, but there had been more than logic driving her. There had been curiosity. It wasn’t his fault, but things had changed when she kissed him. Instead of the usual shudder, she’d felt as though she wanted more, as though she wanted to feel him kissing her back.
    When she was young and stupid, she’d rebelled against her mother’s advice to choose with her head, not her heart, and after her first disastrous sexual experience, had suffered the heartbreaking pain of rejection when he moved on to the next girl. After that, she vowed to do things differently. To guard herself.
    She’d chosen men to date who she thought would be reliable and honest—with her head, not any other part of her anatomy. Men who didn’t make her feel breathless and aroused, fearful of losing control and risking her heart.
    And now, she and Heath were sneaking off to the cabin for the weekend. Two whole days alone with a man she had no hope of resisting. Mel groaned as she flung her closet door open wide.
    She felt so damn confused. Other women had sex-only relationships. Affairs with men they knew weren’t long-term prospects. Mom had always warned her against believing that was possible, but could she be wrong?
    She was in the kitchen drinking coffee when the phone rang.
    “Hey,” Alice said. “When are you leaving?”
    Guilt tore at Mel’s gut. She’d asked Mark for the keys to the cabin—something she’d done before when she wanted to escape for the weekend—but hadn’t told either of them that Heath would be joining her.
    “As soon as I’ve pulled my boots on,” Mel said.
    “Um,” Alice’s voice sounded nervous. “I wanted to talk to you about Heath.”
    Mel swallowed. Yikes . She felt guilty already. “Uh-huh?”
    “Listen, tell me to shut up if it’s none of my business, but Betty mentioned something about you and Heath and… Well, I’m not sure you and he would be good together. He’s had a lot of partners, and you…” She cleared her throat.
    “I haven’t.” There was no reason why Alice’s words should make Mel’s stomach dive. “There’s nothing going on between me and Heath. He’s a nice guy, but he doesn’t do anything for me.”
    A memory of that kiss flashed through Mel’s memory. I practically jumped him . Her lips tingled hot with the remembered warmth of