“What’s your house like?”
“Why?” He was looking at me as if I had lost my mind.
I shrugged. “Just curious is all. I’ve never heard you mention it before.”
“It’s just a cottage two blocks off of Main Street. I like to be close to everything.”
“Sounds cute,” I replied, trying to picture his house.
“It’s notcute.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Does that word offend you too?”
He groaned in frustration. “The only thing that offends me is people not answering their phones in the middle of a huge storm and forcing me to race down here to make sure that they’re still alive and not buried under a pile of snow in a ditch somewhere.”
I smirked and tilted my head at him. “You thought that I, Ms. Florida herself, was outside in this weather?”
“If you had just answered your phone to confirm that, then I would have known for sure,” he countered.
“Alright, I give. I’m sorry. I’ll keep my phone permanently glued to me from now on.”
“Good.”
He placed a bag on my table and then walked over to the closet that was still open. Grabbing the lantern, he moved back toward the table and removed the backing.
“You brought batteries?” I asked, hopeful.
He grunted in response as he continued to fiddle with the lantern. Seconds later, lamplight illuminated the room.
I frowned. “That’s barely stronger than my candles.”
“It is pretty old,” he said. “But it’ll have to do.”
“Did you bring anything else?”
“Like what?”
I sat down at the table. “Like a game or something.”
He cocked his head, and his frown deepened. “I was a little preoccupied with making sure you were okay.”
“Well, physically I’m fine, but Iama little bored.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s been less than an hour. You’re that reliant on technology?”
I jutted out my bottom lip in a pout and nodded. The light flickered softly over his features. He looked adorably disheveled right now. Although he was scowling at me, I couldn’t take my eyes off his mouth. The one that was on mine just yesterday.
“So yesterday…” My voice trailed off, and I hoped Giles would help me out here.
Instead, he crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to continue.
“It was-it was nice?” My words came out like a question I was desperate for him to confirm.
Unfortunately for me, his posture changed. He sighed deeply, running his hand over his face before looking at the floor.
“I shouldn’t have done that.”
My face fell. I relied on the dim light to hide my evident display of disappointment.
