He gave a nod. “Okay.”
I lifted my hand and stopped just short of touching his arm. If it was any other date with any other person, I’d have touched his arm without thinking. Hell, if it was anyone else, I might have even given him a kiss on the cheek.
But it wasn’t. It was Deacon.
I pulled my hand back. “Sorry.”
He looked at my hand and swallowed hard. “You can touch my arm,” he whispered.
“It’s fine,” I said. “Habit I’m trying to break.”
“I think . . . I want you to.”
He wanted me to touch his arm?
“You want me to?”
“Yes.” He gave one nod, his gaze on the wall, and he kind of held his arm out as if he was steeling himself for contact.
So I very slowly, very carefully lifted my hand again, and this time I gently put my palm on his forearm. I gave the barest of squeezes before I took my hand away.
My heart was hammering, and I think I’d forgotten to breathe. “Goodnight, Deacon,” I murmured.
He nodded again, blushing, staring intently at the wall. “Yes. Goodnight, Winter.”
I opened the door then and rushed to my car. My insides were a jumbled ball of nerves and excitement, and I was still grinning when I got home.
Merry and Bright were snoozing in their pen by the fire, and Ro was curled up on the couch with a blanket and a book. She glanced at the clock. “Oh, you’re home early.”
I walked in, plonked myself down beside her on the couch, and sighed dreamily.
“I take it dinner went well,” she said.
I turned my head so I could meet her gaze. “Yep.”
She smiled. “You really like him, huh?”
That little ember behind my ribs, of something warm and lovely, burned a little warmer. “Yeah, I do. He held my sleeve.”
“He what?”
“He held my sleeve. Here,” I said, holding out my wrist and showing her how Deacon had grabbed my sleeve. “Like this. And he led me to his room. And again when Mildred gassed the room, but this. This is the sweetest, most romantic thing ever.”
“Mildred gassed the what? Is that... is that his Grandma?”
“No, their dog.”
She grimaced. “Oh.”
“He led me by the sleeve to his room, Ro,” I said.
She raised her eyebrow. “Okay, so anyone else and I’d be asking for details but you going to a guy’s bedroom raises more questions than answers.”
“He showed me his bookcase.”
She snorted. “Wow. So that’s like second base for you.”
I ignored that. “And their bookcase in their house is one entire wall, floor to ceiling. And the house is all warm greens and browns. Imagine if Bilbo Baggins owned Belle’s library.”
