“So you’re like a mad scientist, but with roses?”
“I don’t know about the mad part, but the rest is accurate.”
“What are you working on now, Dr. Frankenstein?”
“What if it’s top secret?”
“What if I pinky swear not to tell anybody?”
“Since you’ve managed to injure both of your hands in the last twelve hours, I’ll forgo the pinky swear and just trust you.” I rolled my eyes and giggled as he pulled me deeper into the greenhouse.“I’m currently working on a hybrid that would be more accessible to the average grower.”
“What about the below-average grower?” I joked.
“Them too.” He smiled at me.
“Are roses really that hard to take care of?” I asked before lifting my rose to smell it again.
“Oh, yes.” He reached out and caressed one of the blooms. “Roses can be very temperamental and require a lot of hard work to maintain.” He shot me a sarcastic look, clearly indicating my prickly first impression. “But the joy they bring, the beauty they spread, the way they make you feel every time you look at them or hold one in your hands”—he shot me a wistful smile—“that makes them well worth the effort.”
I’d spent my career working with corporate titans, movie stars, and athletes, but Danesh Pednekar was by far the most fascinating person I’d ever met. He didn’t spend his days dreaming about hostile takeovers or winning Oscars; his deepest desire in life was to help people bring a little more beauty into theirs. The idea was so refreshing and wonderfully unique that it made me tear up. It also made Dan infinitely more attractive, which I wouldn’t have thought was possible.
“Emma?” he asked. “You look a little sad.”
“No,” I said, “far from it. That’s just so touching. I’m just so used to people being self-centered and greedy in their aspirations. It’s rare to encounter someone who genuinely wants to help people.”
“Well”—Dan reached out and brushed the lone tear racing down my cheek away with his thumb, flooding my body with heat—“I am planning to sell the roses once I’ve got it worked out, so I’m notcompletely altruistic. That fancy tea you love isn’t cheap.” He smiled down at me and something in his gaze shifted, making my heart race. His large palm was still resting on my cheek. “Maybe you need to encounter better people.” He lifted his other hand and was cradling my cheeks in his palms. He took the smallest step closer to me, and I could feel the heat radiating from his body, intensified by the warmth and humidity of the greenhouse.
“Dan?” I whispered.
“Yes, Emma?” he responded, his face inches from mine.
“Are you about to kiss me?”
“Well, that was my plan.” He smiled but he didn’t back away. “Would that be all right with you?”
“Yes, that would be extremely all right. Very, very all right.”
Dan let out a small chuckle. His breath smelled like blueberry muffins.
“But I should tell you something first.”
“Shit.” He blinked and leaned away. “You have a boyfriend. I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have—”
“No.” I pulled him close to me again with the hand that wasn’t bandaged. “That’s what I want to tell you. I… don’t have a boyfriend.”
He furrowed his brows in confusion.
“I did. I didn’t make him up, but we broke up… the day I came to the farm.”
Dan’s expression became pensive, and he nodded his head.
“I also didn’t take a leave of absence from my job… I was fired.”
“The same day?” His brows shot up his forehead in surprise, and I nodded. “Bloody hell.”
“I wanted to tell you this now, before anything happens between us, because I didn’t want you to think that this is some kind of knee-jerk reaction that doesn’t mean anything, or that you’re a rebound. You’re kind and thoughtful and so passionate about things that are important—real things, things that matter. You barely know me, and you’ve been more generous to me than…” My voice trailed off and I tried to refocus, but the words were tumbling out of my mouth faster than I could organize them into coherent thoughts. “I just wanted you to know that I see you. I mean, I really see you. I see what everyone in this town sees in you, what my grandparents must have seen in you, and—”
“Emma?”
