His arms come up around my back, and I feel him settle into the hug.
“You’re welcome,” he whispers back.
We stand like that for a long moment, the sun starting to heat, and I pull back and look at him. “Nobody has ever been this excited about one of my crazy ideas before.”
“It’s not crazy,” he says, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s going to be incredible.Youare incredible.”
I search his eyes for any trace of insincerity—anything to indicate he’s playing an angle here—but I don’t find one. Only genuine excitement and admiration.
“I should go,” he finally says. “You have work. I have work. Boring adult stuff.”
I smile up at him, looking around at this incredible gift he’s given me. “I really don’t know what to say, Miles.”
His smile goes soft, and he moves toward me, leans down, and kisses me on the cheek. He pauses there, face pressed to mine, and I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath. Time seems to stop with the realization that if I turn just a fraction of an inch, we’ll beright back where we were in the kitchen. But the moment is here and gone in a heartbeat.
When he pulls back and looks at me, heat rushes through my body, and I do everything I can to try to pretend I wasn’t just thinking about kissing him.
“You were thinking about that kiss,” he says, never one to miss a chance to make me squirm.
“What?” I look away. “I was not.”
“I was.”
My eyes snap to his. “You were?”
He lets out a low laugh. “Uh, yeah. I think about it nonstop.”
I subconsciously press my lips together, then realize I’m doing it to try not to smile. “You do?”
His eyes search mine as the smile falls from his face, a serious expression replacing it. “Yeah, I do.”
The mood shifts, a heavy tension threading the air between us.
“I think about how soft your lips are and how you tasted like strawberry ChapStick,” he says. “And how that kiss woke up something inside me that I put to sleep a long time ago.” He reaches up and touches my face, fingers sliding down to my neck. And then, in a simple, casual move, he leans in and brushes the softest, sweetest kiss on my lips. So quick I can barely respond, and yet, it leaves behind a longing I can’t quite process.
“But today, we both have to work.”
His words are an unwanted wet blanket and a much-needed wake-up call. “Right.”
He smirks, probably knowing that this whole brief encounter made me feel like a walking ball of exposed nerves.
“Have a good day.” He backs away, then turns and walks down the alley, leaving me standing there, stunned at how easy it was for him to turn me into a gooey mess before nine in the morning.
Imagine if I were with him for a whole twenty-four hours.
Chapter 34
I’ve always been a bit of an overachiever. So, in typical Claire fashion, I decided to attempt two huge things on the same day.
Turn my business around and turn my dating life around.
One I’m confident about my part in and the other I’m a nervous wreck.
You could apply that description to either.
When I walk out of my apartment, I half expect to find Miles there waiting to walk me to the bakery, but instead I get a text message:
Miles: I already got coffee. I’m setting up the Back Porch. See you when you get here.
