Even on a day when Marsh’s plan had meant an all-day headache and a temporarily ruined voice, Wade had brightened up her life. She already knew that when she remembered all this later, she wouldn’t remember almost crying in frustration about putting up with a straight hour of screechy “Jingle Bells.” She’d remember Wade coming over and giving her a break. She’d remember him dancing with the kids to keep them occupied.
And she’d obviously remember him introducing her to the best garlic bread of her life.
As the food came—and she was faced with the bestfettucine alfredoof her life—Mira steered Wade onto the subject of woodworking. She wanted to hear more about what he did for a living.
He’d been self-conscious about his fiction idea, but he was apparently fine talking about wood. So fine, in fact, that he kept asking her if she was sure he wasn’t going on about it for too long.
Mira gave him the thumbs-up every time. The truth was, she was fascinated. His work sounded interesting in its own right, but even more than that, she loved how vibrant and engaged Wade got when he talked about it.
She could spend all night listening to him talk about how beautiful wood grain could be and how carefully he chose the right kind of wood for each project.
At any other restaurant, Wade’s dinner would have gotten cold in front of him, but it was clear that nobody let that happen at Nonna’s. Even though Wade got caught up talking about his vocation, he still remembered to take a bite from time to time.
He wound down as they finished up, giving her an apologetic smile. “I probably got carried away.”
Mira shook her head as adamantly as she could. That still didn’t feel like enough, so she risked a little more actual conversation: “Not at all. I promise.”
“Well, next time, when your voice isn’t on the brink of going out completely, you’ll have to give me the rundown onyourfamily andyourjob.”
“You know a little already.”
“A little’s not enough,” Wade said, with such sweet sincerity that Mira just wanted to climb across the table and—
—hug him. She would go with that. That was almost an appropriate thing to do in public.
But you know what? They were going to get the check any minute now, and Nonna’s, as glorious as it was, didn’t have a dessert menu. They were almostdonebeing in public. If Mira stuck to the sensible, levelheaded plan that had seemed so feasible just a few days before, she would let that be the end of the night.
That idea still made sense. They could reconnect after the holidays, once she was less stressed. She had never rushed into a relationship before. And was right now the best time to rush anyway? More and more, anything she said was coming out in a strained whisper.
I don’t need my voice for what I’ve got planned, though, she thought, with a little shiver going down her spine.I’ve never been that good at dirty talk anyway.
She had a lot of perfectly sound reasons to go home alone, and only one reason not to: Wade.
But Wade was reason enough for her.
“Do you want to go back to my place for dessert?” she said, hoping the hoarse whisper was more “seductively husky” than “bad impression of Batman.” “I’ve been meaning to make Christmas cookies.”
That couldn’t possibly be the best she could do. She racked her brain for some more appropriate euphemism, something dessert-themed but less misleadingly wholesome, but she wasn’t coming up with anything.
Well, if she couldn’t set up an actual seduction, at least she could continue the fully clothed part of the date.
“And I know I can’t talk much, but I can listen. We can finish our conversation from before?” she added. “About shifters?” Just to be on the safe side, considering how shy he’d been about anyone else hearing his idea, she mouthed the last word instead of saying it.
Although with the way her voice was wavering in and out, it might not have been audible even if shehadsaid it.
“We can do that,” Wade said. He pressed his lips together for a moment, like he was getting ready to leap off a diving board. “I don’t know if you can see where I’m going with this, but—I can show you? If that helps?”
It took her a beat to realize that he must be talking about the manuscript. He must have a copy of it saved on his phone.
Well, it wasn’t theonlything of his she was hoping to see tonight, but sure, she would still be delighted to take a look. She couldn’t get over the fact that he was writing something. That was fantastic.
“I see where you’re going,” Mira confirmed. “And I can’t wait.”
Wade gave her sunniest, most joyful smile she’d ever seen: he must havereallybeen waiting for someone look at this for him.
“I hope you won’t be disappointed,” he said. “I guess I should ask in advance if you like bears.”
Oh, his shifters turned into bears? It was funny how perfectly that gelled with what she’d been thinking about for him. He would made a lovely werebear, so it didn’t surprise her that that was the kind of character he’d written.
