Mr. Tux immediately grabbed his skewered cherries and deposited them across the rim of Haddie’s glass.
“Charge it to Room 801,” Haddie’s stranger said.
“See? It’s a sign I chose well,” she told him. “801 is my birthday.”
His expression grew pensive for a moment, and then his eyes widened. “August first,” he said. “That’s—today.”
Haddie nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat.
He smiled sweetly. Almost too sweetly, enough that it made Haddie ache for the last birthday she could remember where she felt really and truly loved. She had been five.
Mr. Tux held up his glass. “To you, Birthday Girl. I hope you get everything you want this year.”
Haddie pressed her lips into a smile and held her glass up as well. “To me,” she agreed, and they each took a sip. Then she set her glass down and reached across the short distance between them, tugging at his already loosened bow tie. A real one, not a clip-on. He looked like James Bond.
“I know what I want tonight.” She untied the tie.
“Do you know how many tries it took me to get that right?” he teased, his voice soft and deep. Sexy. Yet the admission also added a hint of endearment to his words.
“I promise to help put it back on if you need to make a finalappearance.” Haddie nodded toward the ballroom where Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family” now boomed.
He checked his watch, glanced over his shoulder and then back at her.
“I’m a dick if I don’t say goodbye before they run off on their honeymoon, aren’t I?”
The boyish sweetness to his tone now—the best friend not wanting to disappoint—was almost too much for her to take. He’d come out here for a drink and nothing else, and now he was considering disappointing his friend forher.
Haddie swirled the liquid in her glass. “How about this? We finish our drinks, and you head back inside for however long you need to. If I’m still here when you make your final exit, then this was meant to happen. If I’m not…” She shrugged. “Then I’m sorry about your tie.”
Mr. Tux swirled his own drink. Then he produced a key card from the inside pocket of his jacket, handing it to her.
“I feel like this way I’ve got a better shot of you not disappearing. You can even raid the mini bar. Drinks…nuts… I think there might even be an eight-dollar Toblerone in there.”
He had her at Toblerone.
She slipped both key cards into her purse, slid off her chair, and decided that her old-fashioned was now a to-go beverage.
“I’m eating that Toblerone,” she told him.
“Call the front desk for a replacement and eat that one too,” he countered. “As long as it means you’ll be there when I get back.”
She ignored the little cartwheel in her stomach and took a step toward him, their eyes not quite level even with him still sitting.
“Can I…um…do a little pre-assessment to make sure this is a good idea?”
He grinned. “Like a test? I love tests. Straight-A student here.”
And without ruminating on how his charm was growing on her by the second, she simply brushed her lips against his, ready to step away just as quickly. But his hands cradled her cheeks and his lips lingered on hers, and dammit she couldn’t ignore those extra cartwheels.
“I’m only using you for your Toblerones,” she whispered against him, finding it hard to catch her breath.
“Happy to be used,” he whispered back, and Haddie swore he sounded just as out of breath as she did. “Wait for me,” he added. “Twenty minutes, tops.”
I’ll wait twenty hours if what comes after the kiss is even half as good.
But she didn’t say that. “I can’t promise you anything,” she replied instead. Because that, at least, was the truth. “Other than—”
“Eating my Toblerone,” Mr. Tux interrupted. “I know, Birthday Girl. See you soon.”
