“I didn’t buy one,” he interrupted. “I was too…distracted.”
Was that a wink? Did he just wink at me? “Distracted?” The word came out as a squeak.
“I’d run into this lovely young lady, you see, and I hadn’t caught her name, and I wish I had.”
Oh. I… “Uh.” I realized I’d stopped breathing, and now sucked in a gulp of air. “I thought about you too,” I admitted before lifting the mug to hide my blush.
I told myself the hot chocolate was why I was suddenly feeling quite warm, as his gaze dropped to my lips almost speculatively. He didn’t look up when he murmured, “I’m glad I found you again, Brooke.”
Pretty sure my inner monologue made a noise likegaaaakat that, because how could I not? I think my brain had stopped working as my libido focused on that simple phrase.
I’m glad I found you.
Had anyoneeversaid that to me? I mean, anyone I wasn’t related to and thus obligated to like me?
“What are you drinking?”
Work, brain! Tongue, words! Lips, move!
Right, I could do this. I forced myself to pretend nonchalance. “It’s today’s special hot chocolate,Mistletoe Mistake. Cherry and mint.” I pushed it toward him. “You want to try it?”
Idiot. Now he’s obligated to say yes! What if he doesn’t want to and?—
But Sylvik hadn’t hesitated to scoop up a spoon and reach for the mug. He dipped it in almost eagerly, then lifted it to his lips.
My mouth was definitely hanging open as I watched him pull that spoonful of cocoa and whipped cream into his lips, that spoon disappearing between those small tusks. I realized I was jealous of a spoon. Aspoon.
And then he hummed in approval, and I swear to you that sent a flood of liquid straight to my core. I had to press my thighs together to contain it, and when his nostrils flared—and I remembered what I’d read about orc senses being so acute—I found myself blushing again.
But also? Kinda not minding it.
“This is delightful,” Sylvik announced as he pulled the spoon from his lips, and I swallowed, wishing I could hear him say something like that aboutme.
It took a few tries to get my throat to work. “Do you—uh, do you want the rest?”
“Don’t be silly, it’s yours.” He pushed it back across the table to me. “But I’m definitely going to order my ownMistletoe Mistakeas you tell me how I can help you with the wedding.”
I found myself staring in shock. He wanted to help? I mean…yes, Riven had asked him to, but she also praised his organization and whatever, and I assumed that meant he’d…you know. He’d take over the planning.
But instead, he was offering to helpmewith the wedding?
Sylvik turned the binder so it faced me and pulled out his phone. “I’ll take notes, if you don’t mind. Just tell me what you need help with, and I’ll do my best.”
Oh wow. He reallywasgoing to defer to me, even though he was all type-A? Ethan had never once deferred?—
Stop comparing Sylvik to Ethan, FFS!
Right. I cleared my throat again and pushed aside the hot chocolate. “Well, since I don’t know anything about orcish wedding traditions, why don’t we start with that?”
“Excellent.” His fingers flew competently across the screen. “I’ll ask Garrak for suggestions, and in the meantime, I’m going to go out on a pretty obvious limb and saygreenery. Abydos in particular really cares about and reveres the natural world, so if it’s possible to include some fresh greens, that would be great.”
Like Christmas trees. Still, I busied myself with a quick note in the margin of one of my pages. “Totally doable. What else could we include?”
Alice eventually brought Sylvik his own hot cocoa, and then I ordered some of the diner’s amazing fry baskets for us to split, as I explained where I was in the planning process. The wedding would be small, so although we only had three weeks until New Year’s, I was fairly confident I could pull it off.
And now that I had Sylvik’s help? I was certain of it.
I just had to make it through the next three weeks without doing anything else embarrassing, like dropping a tree on him or throwing myself in his arms and demanding he kiss me.
