Could she ask for a better outcome?
Connor was still watching her. He had forgotten about their prior conversation…she hoped. “Yum, the pie is delicious and the lemonade refreshing. Don’t you think so? What is your favorite pie, Connor?”
He leaned closer. “Eden, I see right through you.”
“I have no idea what you mean.” She had dug through one generous slice of pie and was determined to keep digging into the second piece, and a third if it meant keeping her mouth full and her unable to speak. She was not going to discuss her lack of a first kiss.
But Connor was not through probing her about it.
Why did he care? It was not as though he was ever going to kiss her in the ways she had made up in her diary. Yes, she had written all about his splendid kisses, every word a complete fabrication.
“You cannot choose Aubrey for a first kiss,” he muttered.
She coughed. Or was it a sneeze? Maybe something of a snoffle. “Why are you remarking on this? What makes you think I haven’t been kissed a thousand times already? Well, perhaps not that many. Do you think I have not been kissed at least once in my entire life?”
He sighed. “It so happens that this isexactlywhat I think.”
“Well then, keep your thoughts to yourself,” she said, shoving more pie into her mouth.
“Fine, but I will say this… If someone is ever to kiss you, it needs to be me.”
Of all the conversations she had ever thought to have today, this wasn’t one of them. She hastily swallowed the last of her bite and stared at him. “Why must it be you, Connor?”
And why was she being stupidly defensive when this was exactly what she had been wishing for? Had she not written pages and pages of kissing scenes between them in her diary? Hot kisses. Sweet kisses. French kisses (whatever they were). Tender kisses. Blazing, singe-one’s-eyebrows-off kisses.
Hiskisses.
She had better burn that diary before anyone got their hands on it.
Here he was, offering her the very kiss she had only thought possible in her dreams. And there she was, rejecting it.
“Never mind,” he said, drawing back. “It doesn’t have to be me. After all, why wouldn’t you prefer a younger man? Just don’t let it be Aubrey.”
“Why not him?”
He raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. I just don’t trust him. Besides, a first kiss should be something special, given by someone who cares for you, someone you trust never to hurt you. I thought you trusted me, that’s all.”
“I do trust you.” She stared at her hands that were now clasped and resting on her lap. “I trust you more than anyone else in the entire world.”
She trusted him with her very heart. But what if she gave it to him and he did not want it?
She took a deep breath. To her horror, tears began to form in her eyes. “Oh, dear. Ignore me, Connor.”
He reached over and gave her cheek a light caress. “All right. Forget I ever brought it up. It was a stupid idea. I just did not want you to be kissed for the first time and be disappointed.”
“Nor do I. Let me think about it, will you?”
He cast her a Silver Duke smile, the sort that was beguiling and utterly heart melting. “All right.”
She cleared her throat. “Well, now that you know my humiliating secret…can you explain what I am missing and why it should not be anyone but you?”
He laughed. “Curious, are you?”
She nodded.
There was not a hint of teasing in his voice as he said, “Because of who you are, Eden. I know you are intelligent and independent, but you are also sweeter than anyone I know. Your heart is soft and vulnerable despite all the barriers you have erected around it. So a first kiss needs to be magical for you. More than that, it needs to be a perfect moment of enchantment. I understand this, and I understandyou. I am going to do this right for you. Moonlight. Music. Warm summer night.”
Her eyes widened as he spoke. “Tonight?”
