When he started to lean in, I put my hand on his chest.
Yes, I wanted our first kiss to happen right here. It would be all romantic-like, right on the sidewalk, with the snow falling and every passerby getting to witness this magical moment. But it wasn’t the right time.
“Is this a date?” I asked.
He blinked at me and pulled back.
“Yeah,” he grunted. “Yeah, fine. It’s a date.”
“Well, then, I don’t kiss until it’s over.”
“It’s not over? We’re done eating.”
I snorted and shook my head.
“Take me to the candles, stud!” I demanded as I slipped my hand into his and practically dragged him down the sidewalk, right past his truck, and to the store the waitress had mentioned.
“God dammit,” I heard him mutter, but he didn’t let go of my hand.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Killjoy
What was he doing to me?!
I couldn’t figure it out.
Danny had been dropped in my life like a damn bomb, exploded all over my solitude, and somehow had started to bring me out of my shell.
And the fucked-up thing was, I didn’t hate it. I didn’t know what to do with it, clearly, but I didn’t hate it. I wasn’t ready for it to stop. That said, I didn’t have the first clue where to go from here.
I thought I’d been reading the signals right. I wanted to kiss him, and I was damn sure he wouldn’t have minded if I’d done it. But then he stopped me, and in a teasing way, hit pause on the whole thing. I’d never been edged for a kiss before, but fuck if I didn’t kinda like it.
There was hope…
Hope that by the end of the night, I might have a chance to get this right. Hope that his lips would be as sweet as I imagined. Hope that I would find out…eventually.
A bell chimed when he pushed in the door to the small bookshop.
I was instantly hit with warmth and the smell of ink on paper, along with wood burning and dried orange peels. I didn’t hate it, but at the same time, it wasn’t something I’d want to constantly smell.
No, I was jonesing for the scent of… sugar and fresh-baked cookies.
I rolled my eyes at myself. I couldn’t imagine where I’d gotten that craving from.
“This place is so adorable,” Danny said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Oh my god, look at all the candles.”
He rushed over to the wall with the shelves that were floor-to-ceiling full of candles. There were a ton of different scents, if the pictures on the front were anything to go by.
It took over twenty minutes, but he smelled every damn one of them. There were a few he thrust in my direction, holding them up as if he wanted me to smell. By the faces he’d been making through the whole process, I knew those were the ones he thought were the good scents. I gave in and sniffed a few. It wasn’t my thing. I much preferred the scent of my cabin. The icy wetness from the flurries followed me inside when I came into the house. The lingering scent of smoking wood. Whatever I’d cooked earlier. In the bathroom, I liked smelling the steam and my body wash. I just thought that was the way things should be. It was my house, and those were the scents of me living in it. What wasn’t to like about that?
It took him another five or so minutes after that to decide on which one he was getting. I noticed he held two in his hand,lifting one up and then the other, as if he were literally weighing the decision.
I wouldn’t ever admit it, but I found it cute.
In the end, he put one back with much hesitation.
And when he’d turned his back to me and wandered off to look at some homemade ornaments for sale, I snatched up the other candle and discreetly bought it. Good thing my jacket had deep pockets. Oh, and that he’d grabbed it for me before chasing my dumb ass down the street.
