"You still didn't tell me why you've been standoffish. I thought we agreed to be friends and see what happens?” I say, steering the conversation back.
"I have been doin' that," he says quickly, sounding more defensive than I expected. "I just–I didn’t want to make you feel things you aren’t feeling, or have you feeling pressured to feel them too soon.” If I didn't already know I liked him, I'd be one hundred percent sure of it now.
“So you’ve been givin’ me space without lettin’ me know you’re givin’ me space and I’m overthinkin’ it?”
“Or maybeI’mthe one overthinkin’ it. Ever thought ofthat?” he says, a wry smile tugging at his lips.
“I do like you, Tobes.”
His lips tug up. “Kinda hoped you did.”
"I'm just not someone who jumps in head first and hopes I'll stay above water. I wanna know what's under the surface, if there are rocks, could there be sharks in there, are there–"
He reaches up and presses a finger to my lips, gently stopping me from speaking. A searing heat jolts through me from my mouth straight down the middle of my body, distracting me from my thoughts. "Dee?"
“Ymmh?” I mumble, earning a sexy smile that has my insides melting.
He dips his head so our eyes are in line with one another. "I know you. I know the kind of person you are. You feel everythin’ deeply, you research, you analyze. Yeah?"
I nod again and deep-seated tingles that have my hairs standing on end start spreading through my body.
Toby's voice drops to a low murmur, his eyes never leaving mine. "I respect that about you, Dee. That and your need to understand and feel secure before divin’ into somethin'. You want' to know that it's goin’ to lead down a common path andthatmeans somethin' tome. Me givin' you space is just me not wantin' to rush or influence you. Lettin’ you feel what you feel without a timeline. When you give yourself to me it'll mean everythin'. And not to put you on the spot, but I'm already there. Have been for a while now. But I'm prepared to wait however long it takes for you catch up. Slow burn, remember?"’
I swallow hard, my mind spinning with his words. The tingling sensation intensifies, spreading from my lips to the rest of my body, making me acutely aware of his proximity. My heart pounds in my chest, drowning out any other noise in the room.
Toby removes his finger from my lips.
"How will I know? Or how will you know, I know?"
The corner of his mouth curls up into a devilish smirk. "I'm sure you'll find a way to show me, Skippy," he says before pushing off the bed and holding out his hand. "Now I've got a big drive to Moose Mountain ahead of me, and I think that if you stay in here any longer, I'm gonna forget everythin’ I just said which won't do either of us any good," he replies with a wicked grin that has me clenching my thighs together.How does he do that?
He walks me back to my bedroom doorway before letting me go. "I'll see you when you get to the festival?"
"Yep," I say, losing myself in his dark hazel eyes.
"Sweet dreams, Skippy."
"Bye, Tobes," I say before stepping inside and leaning my back against the wall, waiting for my body to calm itself down and my mind to clear.
That's when it hits me. Toby distracted me from asking about Aster and the Seers and... wait... does this mean… Could the Mountain Call be real after all?
Looks like I have a night of reading ahead of me to find out.
17
DEE
“So, you’re tellin’ me that the whole time I’ve been readin’ these books of yours, you’ve been writin’mystory?” I asktheAster Hollingsworth as she sits across from me in the Little Shop of Borrowers bookstore near Moose Mountain.
It's been twenty-four hours since Toby and the rest of the Bull Mountain ranch men left to come here for the Christmas Snowflake Festival and after our girl's lunch at the diner ended up leaving me with more questions than answers, Cora, Star, and Lee decided that we'd hit the road earlier than planned and then surprised me with this impromptu meeting with the woman herself when we arrived.
Aster giggles. “Something like that.”
“But how did you know I liked Toby?” I ask without thinking.
“Called it,” Star says.
“Knew it,” Cora adds.
