“That’s so obviously not your hand,” he said as I checked the photo.
“It’s my boyfriend’s hand,” I said, stepping away to retrieve my coffee from where I’d left it on the edge of one of the stands normally packed with flowers and plants. “Which by extension makes it mine.” I hesitated. “But I could not post it, if you don’t want me to?”
“I kinda love it, actually,” Xander admitted, hiding a smile behind his coffee cup. He couldn’t hide his eyes though, or the way they lit up from the inside when he was happy. “You know I love your Instagram. Excited to be a part of it.”
“You’ll have to model for me more often,” I said. “Maybe I like your hands as much as you like mine.”
“Not possible,” Xander quipped, grinning behind his coffee now.
“Maybe I like them because they’re yours,” I said, and the laughter in Xander’s eyes softened to something else.
This time, Xander brushed his hand against mine. “Maybe that’s why I like yours, too.”
We finished our coffee slowly, as the sun went down—leaving a cookie each for Dawn and Mom, by silent mutual agreement—and then trailed back inside. My back cracked in about forty-seven places, so loudly that even Xander winced.
“Ouch,” he said. “Lucky I’m here to help.”
“I was thinking about taking a nap in the rocking chair before you turned up,” I admitted.
Xander wrinkled his nose. “No. You’re staying with me tonight, obviously.”
“Good,” I said.
“Might even find a way to work some of the kinks out of your back,” Xander said, flicking his gaze up and down my body with a smirk.
A coil of heat tightened in the pit of my stomach, but I still had work to do before I left and besides, Dawn wouldnotbe impressed if she ever found out I had sex with Xander in the nursery.
And she’d find out. Somehow.
Xander darted in to kiss me, whisperedlaterin my ear, and then grabbed me by both hands and dragged me into the nursery, laughing the whole time.
“Stay there,” he said as he closed the door behind us, plunging the room into almost perfect darkness but for the gentle lights of Main Street coming in through the open blinds.
A moment later, colored lights painted the walls, swirling slowly overhead.
While I was watching them in surprise, a slow dance started playing.
“This is ninety-nine percent for the twins,” Xander said, drawing my attention back to him. “But we never got that dance at the Spring Fling.”
He held out his hand. My heart leapt into my throat as I accepted it, letting him pull me closer and put his hands on my waist.
“You can touch my butt while we do this if you want,” Xander said as I rested my forehead against his, not entirely sure where to put my hands. “I know you love that.”
I snorted, and eventually settled one hand on his waist and the other tastefully on his hip, almost not touching his butt at all.
It wasn’t my fault it was really,reallytouchable.
“I’ve been doing it becauseyouseem to like it,” I said in my most innocent tone.
Xander chuckled. “Uh huh. Very self-sacrificing of you.”
“My generosity knows no bounds,” I teased as we swayed to the music, letting my eyes fall closed.
This was nice, just the two of us. Xander had known when he invited me to the Spring Fling that I knew what it meant for him to volunteer to be seen with me in public, but I didn’tneedthat.
I needed this. Just me, and Xander, alone in a little world where nothing could touch us for a little while.
“Sorry I’m not more of a dancer,” I said.
