“Yeah, I posed as Dillon’s girlfriend.”
Alec looked impressed. “Dillon, you sly dog. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“But the point is, that Lina and I are officially together now.” Dillon turned and held her gaze, hoping he’d phrased it right. He wouldn’t ask her if he’d overstepped, at least not in front of everyone.
Lina grinned. “You’re getting better at hiding the panic, Dillon.”
“What panic?” he asked, a laugh breaking through. She could read him better than he could read himself. “I’m not commitment-phobic, I swear.”
“I know you’re not. You’re assumption-phobic. Which is the most polite of all the phobias.” She patted his back.
Alec leaned over. “Holy cow, she did it. We’ve been trying to figure out what’s wrong with you for years. I could never put it into words.”
Dillon shoved Alec’s shoulder. “Good. Now maybe she can diagnose you.”
It was a little freeing to talk so openly about it, but it stung a little too. He was afraid to assume things? Was that even a thing?
Lina tugged on his jacket, turning him towards her. Everyone else had gone back to building.
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t change anything about you, and if my teasing made you think that, I’m so sorry.” She rested her forehead into the crook of his neck. “I’d change a lot of things about me, though.”
He lifted her chin just slightly so she’d look at him. “I ….” It was the wrong place and time for those three little words. But he wanted to say them. “You’re wonderful the way you are.”
She turned her lips to brush against his ear, whispering, “Let’s finish this and go for a walk.”
He turned and started unwrapping peppermints, giving them a quick dollop of frosting and pushing them against the sides, being careful not to press hard enough to make the whole thing collapse.
Trent looked over, his eyes narrowing. “I see Dillon is implementing the ‘I want to go make out’ method of design.’”
That was an embarrassingly accurate barb, though Dillon also wanted to talk to Lina, to figure out the distance between them that he couldn’t seem to breach.
One of the peppermints oozed down to rest on the cardboard base.
Josie snorted. “I’d defend you, Dillon, but Trent sort of has a point.”
Lina picked up the offending peppermint and popped it in her mouth. “We’re going to let our house set for a bit, and then we’ll be back to finish decorating. We still plan to win.” She closed the Tupperware lid on their batch of homemade frosting and stood, dragging Dillon up with her.
He ignored the jokes and whistles and followed her outside. “Where are we going?” he asked. She seemed very intent on her destination.
“To your favorite tree.” She took off at a run, the look on her face telling him she wanted to race.
She was fast too, but with her short legs, it was never going to happen. He got to the tree first and held up his hand for a congratulatory high-five when she reached him.
She slapped his hand and passed him up to climb onto a branch. He followed, finding a good place to sit next to her, both their legs dangling.
“So, we should talk about some things.”
She nodded, looking nervous.
There was so much to say, but he couldn’t decide where to start, and apparently neither could she.
She finally nudged him. “I bought the world’s worst thesaurus yesterday. Not only is it terrible, it’s terrible.”
Dillon ran his hands down his face, chuckling to himself. “Where do you come up with this stuff?”
“I can’t hold on to Spanish verbs, but my mind is very good at remembering corny jokes.”
“I love you.” The words sort of tumbled out, and he froze, not willing to take them back but a little horrified that they were out there and she wasn’t saying anything in response.
