My parents, unsurprisingly, adored her. I’d told them a little about her own family, mostly as a warning not to ask about them during dinner, so their usual warmhearted charm was dialed up to the max. As a result, Eden slipped straight into chatting and joking with them throughout the meal.
And that night, after we got home, every trace of the shell she’d tried to retreat behind was gone. My sweet Eden was back, both vulnerable and bold.
I wasn’t sure whether she and Adelaide had smoothed things over, but Eden was still planning to come hang out during Olivia’s game night at Dueling Dragons, so I figured they must have made up one way or another. Addie and Olivia were the first to show up, holding hands and sending covert-but-heated looks at one another, and Eden slipped in just before I locked the front door.
The first thing she did was curl one hand around the back of my head, fingers threading through my hair, and kiss me. The kiss was everything Eden—daring and intrepid, yet exposing the tenderness underneath.
I didn’t hear the chorus of cheers until she drew back.
Eden’s cheeks were pink, but she grinned up at me as Liv and Adelaide whooped and whistled behind us. My arms had shifted around her as soon as she got close enough to initiate that fiery kiss, though I’d been justifiably distracted. The thing she was wearing—a romper or jumpsuit, I couldn’t remember if there was a difference—was simple and black, but the fabric was impossibly soft under my hands.
“Hi,” Eden whispered.
I threw back my head and laughed, tugging her closer against the front of my body. “Hi. Can I just say you have a permanent invitation to greet me like that any time you wish?”
“Noted. So, nerd mentors, is there anything that needs to be done before you get started?”
Olivia and Addie were in the midst of setting up the table, but Eden and I jumped in to help bring folding chairs out from the storage closet. Eden found little ways to brush up against me, running her fingers over my arm as she passed or nudging me with the sweet curve of her hip.
As the handful of players arrived, Liv introduced everyone to Eden and Adelaide. I watched for any signs of discomfort, but Eden was her usual charming self through the short stretch of small talk before the game got started. The two of us then retreated to a corner of the store, though Eden refused my invitation to make out where no one could see us.
“Hands to yourself,” she whispered, attempting to scowl through her quiet laughter. “I want to check out the store. You’re usually too distracting for me to look around.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Hmm. Well, it did prevent me from admiring this,” she mused.
I grinned as she lifted a heavy pewter dragon statue from the shelf by the front window. The statues weren’t a top seller, but they were eye-catching, each one holding a twenty-sided die in its claws. The one Eden picked up had mother-of-pearl scales inlaid within its wings, glittering opal eyes, and a die made of iridescent resin that sparkled like Eden’s eyes.
“These are gorgeous,” she said, inspecting it carefully.
“I met the creator at a Comic Con a few years back—she isn’t from Spruce Hill, but she lives close enough to deliver new stock every so often.”
“It weighs a ton.” Eden hefted it in her palm, then set the dragon carefully back on the shelf. “What’s your favorite item in the store?”
I tilted my head, considering. “That’s a hard one. I like the t-shirt that says ‘Bard Kitty’ with the cat playing the lute, but Liv’s artwork is probably my favorite. That watercolor of Carrie Fisher, in particular. I have a poster-size copy at home that I need to frame and hang up.”
Eden’s gaze lifted to the art, positioned throughout the store, and she said, “Maybe I can commission her to do something for my shop. There’s another artist Addie introduced to me who did the stuff I have hanging up, but I could diversify.”
“Milo? I hate to interrupt, but do you have aPlayer’s Handbookcopy that Addie could borrow? I meant to bring mine and must’ve left it on the table at home,” Olivia called.
“Coming right up.” I leaned in to nuzzle Eden’s cheek, saying, “Be right back.”
“No worries, I’m sure I’ll find something to entertain myself,” she replied, turning back to the pewter dragons.
As I headed toward the shelf of Dungeons & Dragons books, I made a mental note to see which dragon Eden liked best so I could sock it away as a gift for her birthday at the end of February. I grabbed the book for Addie, flipped to the page she needed, and delivered it to her spot at the table.
Just when I started to head back toward Eden, a flash of headlights from the street outside nearly blinded me.
Eden was perfectly illuminated where she stood by the window. She turned to look out toward the street as the car revved its engine, then it pulled forward along the curb and a deafening crash echoed through the store as something smashed the window.
With a tinkling rain of shattered glass, I watched Eden lift her arms to cover her face and everything slowed as the fall of glass glinted like snowflakes under a streetlamp. Dimly, I heard the thud of something heavy hitting the floor of the shop, a squeal of tires outside as the car raced away down the street, and someone shouting that we needed to call 911.
I bolted toward Eden, crunching the broken window pieces under my sneakers, but I froze when I reached her side. Fragments of varying sizes glimmered in her hair and over her shoulders like fairy dust. The urge to brush it off of her as quickly as possible was tempered by the realization that it might slice into her delicate skin if I wasn’t careful.
“Fucking hell,” I whispered as she slowly lowered her arms. “Are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so,” she said dazedly.
