The mint garnish on a mojito. Not really needed, but still fun.
“Just so I’m perfectly clear here, I meant you are more interesting than any book I’ve read.” Gavin reached up to scratch at the hairline of his neck, like that little snippet of news made him uncomfortable.
“I’ll help you pick out some better novel selections, then. Next time we go out, let’s hit up The Tattered Cover.”
“See? You did it again.”
Ugh. She sort of had. It really stunk that Gavin was right.
“Molly, hear me when I say that you’re a good reason to get dressed up and go out.” He doused her with the intensity of his brown eyes, and she didn’t mind at all.
Which was why she totally missed the last letter-number combo.
“You’re distracting me from the game.” She refocused on her cards and the screen at the front of the room that posted the current game pieces.
“Molly, some things are important enough to interrupt bingo for.” He caught up more quickly than she did and leaned back, hands linked behind his head like he was super comfortable here and played the game regularly.
Just like that, she saw Gavin. Really saw him. Saw him for more than Rachel’s ex, or the guy who jumped in the lake after her kid, or the guy who drove her to the automotive garage when her car choked. She could see who he would be as an old man. Still handsome, probably playing bingo, and content with himself and a book…or Molly.
She cleared her throat. “Thank you, babe, for the vote of confidence.”
That got her a wry grin. “Of course…babe.”
B-2 got called, but Charlie’s hand on Agnes’s knee caught Molly’s attention as she dabbed the sheets of thin paper that were her bingo cards.
Charlie, the cad, was totally putting the moves on Agnes.
Was this good because it meant they were moving forward into la-la-love land? Or bad because he might take things further than Agnes was ready for? Or was itreallybad because he was only putting on a show and didn’t mean it?
If he didn’t mean it and Agnes thought he did, it would be a whole thing and Agnes’s heart would get broken and—
“Do you see that?” Molly asked softly so only Gavin could hear.
“The bingo ball?” he whispered back.
“No.” She tilted her head toward Charlie and Agnes.
Gavin followed the length of her gaze with his own.
“He’s making his move,” she said.
Gavin slung his arm around the back of Molly’s chair like they were actually a couple and were having an intimate conversation.
“Maybe he’s just picking lint from her slacks,” Gavin murmured next to Molly’s ear.
What he said was not sexy. He was talking about lint. But something about the timber of his voice and the proximity of his body and the scent of his cologne mixed with everything else about him had her skin tingling from forehead to toe.
Molly turned her head and, oh, hey, Gavin was so very much right there.
And his arm was still slung over the back of her chair, his hand laid on her shoulder again, and she didn’t feel at all like cubic zirconia. She felt like a sapphire. No. Not that. A diamond.
A rough diamond, for sure, but still a diamond. That feeling? It was…lovely.
Also, uncomfortable. More uncomfortable than searching for both G-6 and N-1 at the same time.
“Agnes’s slacks don’t have lint. She’s a huge advocate of the lint roller,” Molly said, shifting her body forward as though her focus on her cards was absolute. In truth? She did it so his hand slid from her shoulder.
Because the foreign feeling of desire made her edgy and the goosebumps prickle.
