Their Virgin Neighbor by Saba Sparks Page B

can
enjoy it while I ready the first course.”
    “ Course?”
    She grinned. “I’ve gone all out. We’re
having a three course meal.”
    “ Then we’ll do as you
say.”
    Both men ambled off to the sitting
room. Anna noted that they were dressed in jeans, just like the
last time she’d seen them, and once again, their tops differed.
Jack wore a checked blue shirt. Lee wore a brown sweater. They both
looked fantastic.
    She shook her head, more to put her
thoughts in order than anything else, and sorted out their coffees.
It was hot in the kitchen with everything on but Anna was wearing a
thin floral dress, so she wasn’t too bothered by it. She’d regret
it later though. It didn’t matter how hot the downstairs was the
upstairs was often really cold. Anna had taken to wearing layers
upon layers when she went to bed. It was probably due to the fact
that the cottage did not have a heating system. The fire seemed to
be the main source, followed by the small space heaters in each
room. But Anna didn’t want to leave the upstairs ones running. It
seemed wasteful.
    She took the two coffees into the
sitting room…halting before making it to the couch. Jack was on his
knees in front of the fire…and the kindling he’d placed inside it
was already burning merrily.
    “ Oh!” Anna said. “I
planned to try that out this week. I got the kindling and the fire
lighters from the general store. Sally said it was okay to use the
logs. I chopped a couple but…”
    Jack turned his head to shoot her a
grin. “I’ve lit this thing so many times when my sister’s
down.”
    “ And I’ll come down
tomorrow and take care of those logs,” Lee said.
    Anna could not refuse. She hadn’t
enjoyed trying to chop the logs into small enough pieces, and if
Lee was willing.
    “ It’s my first real fire,”
Anna said. “Thank you.”
    She placed the coffee on the table.
Lee smiled up at her. That smile…Anna swallowed before turning back
to the kitchen.
    Once there she got to work putting the
first course together. She could hear the men talking in the next
room, the crackle of the fire a counterpoint to their words. It
made her happy. All of it made her happy.
    Anna had spent the better part of the
day getting everything ready for her guests. She wanted everything
to be perfect for this meal, and the activity had given her
something concrete to focus on. She’d pulled out Grand’s cookbook
and picked the sort of meal she thought would appeal to
them.
    Time to find out.
    The dining room was accessible only
through the alcove on the far side of the kitchen. Anna grabbed her
oven gloves then heaved the pot off the stove. She placed it on the
table in the dining room, checked that all the plates were in place
then added the basket of bread. Everything smelled great.
Everything was great…and the men…
    Anna clenched her fists by her sides
as the thoughts that had kept her up late the past few days raced
through her mind. Anna wasn’t sure, God knew she had very little
experience either way, but at dinner she was almost positive that
she had seen something in both Lee and Jack’s eyes that suggested
interest.
    If Anna wasn’t mistaken
they liked her,
and not just as a friend. That thought thrilled her all the way to
her core but Anna had no idea what, if anything, she could possibly
do about it. She wasn’t sure she was in a good place emotionally to
respond to their interest, and then there was the fact that she
couldn’t have both .
    If anything was going to happen
between Anna or Lee, or even Jack for that matter, it would surely
have to be just one of them. And yet, Anna had no idea how she
would pick between the two of them. And she didn’t want to cause
any issues between them. The whole thing was a muddle, and Anna had
no idea how to handle it!
    Of course, she conceded, she would be
wrong. Jack and Lee might just be being friendly. In which case,
Anna really needed to get a grip on herself. Spinning fantasies out
of thin