“I’m a kindergarten teacher. Reading people is kind of the job description.”
“Fair point.” Posy sat back, tapping her fingers against her cup. “So seduction is out. What’s the plan?”
Sara didn’t have a plan. That was the problem. She’d spent the past week replaying their conversation in Ben’s office, analyzing every word and expression, trying to figure out how to navigate the minefield between them. He wanted her—she was certain of that now. But he was so tangled up in guilt and fear that he couldn’t let himself have what he wanted.
“He’s scared,” she said quietly. “Not of hurting me, not really. He’s scared of being that person again. The one he described.”
“But he’s not that person anymore,” Nina said, her voice gentle.
“I know that. You know that. Flora probably knew it the moment she saw him.” She sighed. “But he doesn’t believe it.”
“Then make him believe it,” Posy said simply. “Show him who he is now, not who he was then.”
The idea settled in her mind, taking root like a seed in fertile soil. Not seduction, then. Something else. Something that would bypass all his defenses and speak directly to the male hiding behind the walls.
A commotion from across the hall drew their attention. Flora had commandeered the box of the rabbit figurines and was arranging them in what appeared to be increasingly suggestive poses on one of the booth displays. Several younger volunteers were either laughing or covering their eyes.
“You know,” Flora’s voice carried clearly across the room, “this is actually quite accurate for rabbit mating behavior. Very athletic, rabbits. Impressive stamina.”
Sara’s face went nuclear.
“Flora!” someone called. “The children’s booth is three feet away!”
“What? It’s educational!”
Posy was cackling, Nina had buried her face in her hands, and Sara was seriously considering whether it was possible to die of embarrassment.
“Oh, to be young and in the spring of life,” Flora continued, undeterred. “I remember when my Herbert was in his prime. The male could go for hours. I often wondered if he had a rabbit Other somewhere in his family tree?—”
“And that’s my cue to leave,” she announced, standing abruptly. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. “I have… things. To do. Somewhere else.”
“Are you going to start Operation ‘Convince the Bunny?’” Posy asked, her eyes twinkling.
She nodded, then hurried out of the room. Flora’s commentary ringing in her ears.
Very athletic. Impressive stamina.
She really needed to stop thinking about it, but the walk home did nothing to cool her heated thoughts.
Every time she tried to focus on something else—the lesson plans she needed to finish, the groceries she should probably buy, the fact that she still hadn’t unpacked the last three boxes in her spare room—her mind circled back to Ben. To their kisses. To the feel of his hands on her body.
She pressed her cool fingers to her burning cheeks. She was being ridiculous. She was a grown woman, not a teenager with a crush. She’d had relationships before, but none of them had left her this… unsettled.
None of them had been Ben. None of them had held her with such desperate tenderness, or pulled away with such obvious reluctance. None of them had made her feel like the most dangerous, most precious thing in the world.
By the time she reached her cottage, she’d made up her mind. She’d agreed to give him time, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t give him a little encouragement along the way.
The brownies were easy. She’d probably made them a dozen times since moving to Fairhaven Falls. She moved through hersmall kitchen on autopilot, measuring and mixing and folding, letting the familiar rhythm soothe her nervous energy.
The chocolate melted into the butter. Sugar whispered against eggs. The whole kitchen filled with the rich, sweet scent that had become synonymous with her attempts to reach her impossible neighbor.
Brownies,she thought wryly.The universal language of courtship.
Her mother had always said the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. She wasn’t sure that was true with human males, but it certainly seemed to be true with Others.
The batter went into the oven. She set the timer and then stood at her kitchen window, staring across the yard at the house next door.
Ben’s windows were dark, but she could see a faint glow from somewhere in the back. His office, probably. Or maybe his bedroom. She wondered if he was playing guitar, if the music was drifting out into the cold night air where she couldn’t quite hear it.
