"I'm fine," I mumbled.
"You are not."
"I just..."
I turned away from the crowd, taking slow breaths through my nose.
Debbie hurried over, “Honey?"
May frowned, “Do you need to sit down?"
I shook my head. "I think it's just the smell."
Azrael rested one warm hand against the middle of my back in a possessive little way and I leaned into it just a bit.
Debbie peered in closer, “You've gone pale."
"I'm Black,” I assured them. “I don’t really do pale…”
"A paler shade than you were five minutes ago,” Azrael agreed.
Despite myself, I laughed. "That joke still isn't medically accurate."
"No." He kissed my forehead. “But it got you to smile."
I had slowly startedto recover from the smell while loading everything into my cart when Ethan appeared.
He slowed the moment he saw me and his eyes flicked from my face…to the way Azrael's hand was still resting lightly against my back.
Concern crossed his features. "Everything okay?"
I nodded, “I think so. Just got a little overheated."
He smiled politely. "Farmer's markets will do that."
He accepted the explanation and smiled. He also offered a good morning to Debbie and May by name because this was Blackthorn Ridge and everyone knew everyone within approximately two weeks of arriving.
"Looks like I got beat to helping," he said, glancing at Azrael, who continued transferring bags to the cart without comment or acknowledgment.
"He's very efficient," I said.
Ethan smiled. "I noticed." He looked back at me. "I was wondering if you still wanted to grab dinner sometime. No pressure either way."
I opened my mouth to reply when I heard Azrael murmur, "I'll be across the street."
Then he set the last bag in the cart, and walked away. I watched how he moved and it was very much that he was giving me space to let Ethan’s ass down nicely.
My hot ass neighbor was giving me the choice to tell Ethan there would be not dating of any kind before he said something to him. I watched him go and felt something pull in my chest that I had not been expecting, something that sat uncomfortably between gratitude and longing and a third thing I did not have a clean name for yet.
Ethan followed my gaze and then looked back at me with an expression that was kind in a way I appreciated more than I could say. "Rain check," he said simply, and let me off the hook without making me ask.
I offered him a smile. “I don’t think I’ll be able to take you up on a dinner any time soon…
The bookshelf had been sittingin the second bedroom since moving day, still in the box, because it required more than two hands and a positive attitude to assemble and I had not yet found the right moment to admit I needed help with it.
I had been staring at the instruction sheet for four minutes when Azrael appeared in the doorway.
I looked at him. "Are you psychic?"
