“No, that was me,” she said firmly. “You’re tall, broody, attractive, emotionally complicated. Classic hermit behavior.”
“What kind of bird am I then?”
She grinned. “Either a Blue-Footed Booby or a Kookaburra.”
“You just wanted to say booby.”
She shrugged and grinned.
“That tracks.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why does that track?”
“You vibrate at a frequency most mammals can’t hear, and you panic if left alone with your feelings for more than six seconds. Yet, you’re playful but feel the need to hide it.”
Her mouth fell open. “How dare you be observant?”
“You asked.”
She stabbed another mushroom. “You’re supposed to say I’m graceful and ethereal.”
“You fell into a lake two weeks ago.”
She pointed her fork at me. “I was lured. By water.”
“You were not lured.”
“It was siren water!”
I shook my head, smiling harder than I should. “You’re unbelievable.”
“Thank you,” she said primly, taking a sip of her drink. “I try.”
Dinner stretched into something warm and steady, each exchange building on the last, with teasing intensifying and sparks getting hotter. I felt myself leaning toward her without meaning to, drawn in by the quickness of her wit and the softness she didn’t realize she showed when she wasn’t guarding herself.
She reached for the salt just as I moved my hand, and her fingers brushed mine, light as a match strike.
She froze.
I froze.
For a moment, the world narrowed to the soft press of her fingertips against my skin.
Sienna pulled her hand back slowly, like the contact had shocked her.
“Sorry,” she murmured.
“Don’t be.”
The words left my mouth lower than I intended.
Our server came back with the bill, and I reached for it. She protested. I ignored her protests. She accused me of chivalry. I said I couldn’t help it. She said chivalry was suspicious. I told her she was suspicious.
God, I loved her laugh. Too much already.
As we stepped onto the porch afterward, the night air settled around us, carrying the scent of lake water and pine. The string lights above cast soft gold across her hair. She wrapped her scarf a little tighter and looked up at me with a hesitant smile, like she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to run forward or backward.
I offered my hand.
