After she’s literally asked me to have sex with her? Yeah, I’m not discouraged now, either.
26
CARMEN
“Itold you that this wasn’t a date.”
Jamie’s grinning face looks entirely unchastised.
“What? Just because I brought flowers, that seemsdate-yto you?”
The coyness in his voice and the way he’s playing up his boyish naivete have me biting back a twitch in my lips.
“Yes.” I fold my arms.
His grin notches higher. “That’s a little outdated, don’t you think? I give flowers to plenty of people who I’m not dating. I brought Sebastian flowers when we met for lunch the other day because I passed a bouquet in front of the flower shop that reminded me of his eyes. Flowers don’t necessarily mean romance.”
“Or you have a crush on Sebastian that you’re in intense self-denial over,” I reply, finding it increasingly challenging to keep my smile at bay.
Jamie cocks his head with a thoughtful expression. “Dang, I never thought of it that way.”
“If you want, we could always postpone our …plansfor later, while you work out some personal questions.”
He steps past the threshold of my door, and my tiny apartment fills with electricity as his green eyes grow a shade darker. “No need.”
His voice is a low, direct rasp that has me swallowing hard past a clogged throat.
Just more of that classic Jamie whiplash I’ve come to know. Timid virgin one minute, panty-meltingly provocative the next.
“I know exactly what I want to do later tonight, and I know exactly who I want to do it with.” Another step closer, annihilating the space between us. The breath I pull in is suffused with his woodsy, masculine flavor. “And it’sdefinitelynot Sebastian.”
My brain is momentarily discombobulated by the sudden weight of his gaze, the sudden smolder in his voice. “Oh … that’s good,” I blurt out.
His grin turns cocky and self-satisfied. “I’m glad you think so.”
Jamie walks past me to set the flowers he brought on the counter of my kitchenette. When he turns around, his cheeks are colored in a way that tells me the pendulum of his demeanor has swung in the other direction.
“I, uh, brought you something else, too,” he says, some of his bashfulness returning.
“What?”
He reaches into a bag he’s carrying and pulls out a package of tea.
“I ordered this online a little while ago, and it just arrived. It’s tea. It’s supposed to be the best kind to help you fall asleep. If you’re having trouble with it. I researched it.”
A tender feeling splits behind my chest.
Pink flush crawls up his wide neck. “I read a bunch of reviews and Reddit threads and stuff. I wanted to find something that’sactually helpful. I mean, I know you might have tried this already, but …”
I take the package from his hand and examine it. I haven’t tried this. Honestly, my sleeping troubles have been so chronic that I stopped really trying to find things to help years ago. I’ve just accepted it for what it is.
I can’t say I’m optimistic that this will be a silver bullet after all these years. But I can say I’m touched that Jamie cared enough to do research on his own time and buy something for me.
I’ve had unusually good sleep for the last couple nights, thanks to the relief of finishing my chapter. But I know I can’t expect that for long. The next sleepless night is probably right around the corner, and I won’t have anything to lose by giving this tea a try.
“Thank you,” I say. The softness in my voice almost catches me off guard.
The tips of Jamie’s ears turn red.
