Keith, still blushing, gave her a shyly hopeful smile. He thought he might explode from nervousness, but he still said, “Ears are pretty great for nibbling, so…is it terrible if I am?”
A little color crept up around Stacy’s cheeks, too. “No. No, it’s not terrible at all. It might even be kind of great.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” He stepped up to the booth and, as straight-faced as he could, said, “One elephant ear to nibble, please.”
CHAPTER7
Stacy burst out laughing. “Elephant ears?Elephantears?Thoseare the ears you’re thinking about nibbling?”
“I’mhungry!” Keith managed to come across as entirely innocent and sparkling with wickedness at the same time. “Why, what wereyouthinking?”
“Oh,nothing!” Stacy laughed again even as her cheeks heated up. She knew he was teasing, and loved it, but she’d had a pretty great fantasy going there, one in which he brushed her hair away from her neck, one in which she imagined the softness of his lips exploring its tender skin as he worked his way up to her ear. “I was totally thinking of elephant ears. Obviously!”
“Obviously.” Keith grinned at her so widely Stacy felt like she could fly, somehow. “Cinnamon and sugar or honey?”
“Oh, cinnamon. Honey’s too sticky and messy if we’re only nibbling on elephant ears.”
Keith fumbled his wallet, sending it flipping across the counter. Stacy gave a smug little wiggle. That would teach him to tease her. Not that she really minded, but it was good to get her own in, too.
The young woman on the other side of the counter caught the wallet and handed it back with a dry, “I think she’s got your number, buddy.”
“I hope so. I gave it to her yesterday.”
Both Stacy and the food booth girl, who wore a name tag that saidMissy, and who also had a fryer with funnel cakes on the go, laughed. “I guess she really does, then. Here you go.” Missy handed over a paper-wrapped piece of fried dough, still so hot the cinnamon and sugar stuck to it. “Enjoy.”
“I always do.” Keith tore off the first piece and offered it to Stacy, who had to dance it on her fingertips as steam rolled off it. She nibbled—nibbled!—a bite, hissing air through her teeth to cool it, then tried a bigger bite and immediately burned her tongue.
“S’good. Ow. But good. Ooh. I’m hungrier than I thought!”
“You want me to get you one?” Keith hesitated before they stepped away from the booth, but she shook her head.
“No, I’d rather be hungry for dinner. Assuming you’ll still want it after eating a piece of fried dough bigger than your face.”
Keith’s voice dropped into a low rumble. “Trust me, I could eat all night long.”
Stacy’s knees went weak and heat flashed over her whole body, curling low in her belly, but when she looked up at Keith, wide-eyed, he was ripping a bite of fried dough off the rest with savage glee. It was only when he gave her a super quick sideways look that she was sure he’d done that on purpose. She gave another laugh, this one higher and softer than usual. Keith Raleigh was gettingwayunder her skin, and the truth was, Stacy liked it.
She liked it enough, in fact, that she momentarily considered skipping dinner and taking him straight home, but two things stopped her. One was the fact that one night stands hardly ever went anywhere, and she thought she might like this guy enough to try going somewhere with him.
The other was that he ate the entire elephant ear in the time it took them to get back to the end of the line, and from the way he glancedatthe line, she thought he might get in it again.
If she brought him home without a full meal under his belt—Stacy was momentarily distracted wondering about whatwasunder his belt, and if it was proportionate to the rest of him—but no, if she brought him home without him eating a real meal, he was apparently going to spend the whole night starving for something that wasn’t her. That wasnotwhat she wanted out of their first date night. “Do you need another one?”
“I think I can make it to the restaurant now.” Keith sounded like he was both kidding and completely serious.
Stacy looked up at the sky, as if there was a sun still up to tell her the time, but it was winter, and the sun had set twenty minutes ago. “What time did you say you’d make reservations for? Six? Are you sure you’ll survive another hour?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Well, let me know if you’re going to faint from hunger. I don’t think I can drag you to the restaurant.”
“That’d be a sight, wouldn’t it? So you’ve been in Virtue four years? Man, that’s my bad luck. You must have moved here right after I left. What brought you here?”
Stacy, deadpan, said, “A car,” and Keith cackled.
“I see we’re both smartasses. A match made in…Virtue, I guess.”
“A virtuous match, you might say?”
