She almost asked, but, when she glanced around for her mother and spotted her heading off to a different stall, one with artistic prints that Isaac liked, she both realized they had a moment alone and that Audrey only had one glove off. The one closest to Hallie. That had to be an invitation, right?
Without slowing or speaking or showing any other outward sign that anything was happening, Hallie slipped one of her gloves off and stuffed it into her pocket. Her heart hammered as she stepped closer to Audrey and, painfully slowly, she reachedher fingers out until they found Audrey’s hand. It was cold compared to Hallie’s, and Audrey jumped at the connection, but it was perfect too.
Over the last twenty-four hours, she’d touched Audrey’s hands a lot. She’d wanted to care for Audrey, to help her, but she’d also just wanted to touch her. Now, she was doing exactly that—touching her simply because she wanted to. And it was perfect.
She saw the way Audrey bit down on a smile, burrowing her chin further into her scarf, but, most of all, she felt Audrey’s hand flex, welcoming Hallie’s fingers between her own. They were cold but beautiful. Slender, long, and incredibly soft.
In recent years, Hallie hadn’t been much for holding hands. She did it, but it hadn’t felt electric or special, not like this did. Holding Audrey’s hand reminded her of being young, of falling in love for the first time, where every touch felt enormous and revolutionary. It felt like discovering life again.
Audrey caught her eye shyly and smiled. Hallie’s chest felt like it was exploding.
From that first conversation over balsamic vinegar, there had been a spark in Audrey that she’d been unable to resist. While being her cousin’s fake girlfriend undoubtedly complicated things a little, she couldn’t find it in herself to be sorry. If they’d simply been two people crossing paths at Horrocks, they’d never have had this. And maybe that was the only way to look at things. They had such little time together, but it had been more than she’d dreamed when she’d watched a woman she’d never met sipping balsamic vinegar in a store she’d never been to before.
Audrey had commented that this place felt like the perfect snow globe moment. Hallie couldn’t have agreed more. If she could hold this moment in an orb forever, she would—snow dotting Audrey’s clothes and hair, catching in her eyelashes,the festive bustle around them, and the glowing warmth that seemed to emanate from the place their hands were wound together. It was more perfect than any other snow globe moment she’d ever seen.
“Do you want a drink?” she asked, catching the scent of hot apple cider in the air.
Audrey breathed a laugh, clearly from Hallie breaking the delicious, aching tension that had been building in the quiet between them. “Absolutely.”
The entire time they waited in line and claimed their drinks and moved over to a standing bar, they kept their hands locked together. Hallie was ready to burst from the feeling of being with Audrey. To the rest of the world, they looked like a couple. Hallie wanted them to be a couple.
But she didn’t know if they’d even get a kiss.
They squeezed together at the bar and her eyes found Audrey’s lips again. They were darker than her own, soft, blissful, and desperately kissable.
Audrey laughed, pressing them together. “It is very hard not to kiss you when you look at me like that.”
Hallie put her cup down, worried it would shake in her giddy hand. “I’d love to tell you not to resist, but I don’t think that’s what you need.”
Audrey shot her a look she could have basked in for years. Something similar to the one in the car, something intriguing and exciting and more than a little teasing. “You’d be surprised how well I handle being told what to do.”
She almost choked. How did she even begin to reply to that? “Uh… huh.”
Probably not like that.
Audrey grinned and sank her teeth into her bottom lip, and that wasn’t helping anything. All Hallie wanted in the world was to kiss that lip, to nip and suck it.
She forced her eyes back up to Audrey’s. “I was hoping for a more eloquent reply there, sorry.”
Audrey laughed. “I probably should be, but I’m not sorry at getting to catch you off guard.”
“You definitely shouldn’t. Feel free to do that any time you want.”
Something flickered across Audrey’s face, something Hallie didn’t like. The fact that, in a few days, such offers were, by necessity, going to be off the table. Audrey rallied, however, shaking the thought off and trying to focus on the moment. “Good to know.”
“Not nearly as good as knowing you like taking orders.”
Heat flashed in Audrey’s eyes and Hallie was ready to melt into a puddle. And it only got worse when Audrey shot her a seductive look and said, “I’m probably not supposed to want to know if you like giving them…”
“Oh, no, you definitely are.” She sipped her apple cider, still a little too hot, her hands a little too shaky, but what did that matter when she was talking about what Audrey liked in bed?
“Right…” She bit her lip again and Hallie’s body strained with need. “So…?”
“I’m good with orders.”
“Yeah?”
“Absolutely. What kind, hypothetically, are we saying you like?”
