“Ooh, that does sound like me,” she says, and my chest warms thinking that I was right, that I was able to read her. She puts a hand on my cheek and scratches my beard before pausing.
I love how much she touches my beard.
Her smile shifts from playful to purposeful, and then she leans forward.
Is she coming in for a kiss?
My heart roars to life, hammering like it was caught sleeping on the job and needs to make up for lost beats. I’d rather not risk a kiss getting cut short, considering there’s no one in front of us, but I’ll take what I can get. Her nails slide to my jaw, and I catch a hint of shimmer to her lip gloss that I missed earlier.
I wonder what it tastes like.
I angle my face as she comes closer, but she smirks and feints, instead planting her lips on the tip of my nose.
“Tease,” I grumble when she backs up.
She laughs, low and delighted.
“Can I take y’all’s order?” the girl behind the counter says, smiling like she’s watched the whole show and is rooting for us.
“Yes! I’ll take a Green Goals and my husband will take … what was it, Captain?”
I pinch her side, and she flinches, but she doesn’t drop my gaze, staring at me with those wide, deceptively innocent eyes.
“Peanut butter banana.”
Kayla screws up her face, like she doesn’t know what I’m talking about. “Aren’t there two peanut butter smoothies on the board? Or are you wanting a custom-made smoothie?”
“No, I want the one on the board that has peanut butter. And bananas.”
The girl behind the counter nods and is about to push a button when Kayla stops her. “Sorry, babe, what one are you talking about? I don’t think I see it up there.”
I point, but she shakes her head, grinning like she’s backed me into a corner. So I wrap my arms around her back, slide my hand down her arm, thread her fingers in mine, and use our pointer fingers to line up exactly with the smoothie I’m ordering.
I put my mouth right up to her ear, feeling her shiver in a way that makes my chest clench with satisfaction, and with my lips right on her skin, I say, “That one. Right there.”
I think her knees might buckle.
“Oh,” she whispers, like she’s too weak to voice anything more. “That one.”
The cashier has already rung us up, and I hand her my card before Kayla can. She looks back at me.
“Is that how it’s gonna go?” she asks, a hint of challenge in her raised brow.
“Unless you develop faster reflexes, yeah, that’s how it’s gonna go.”
“Pfft. I’m practically a ninja. My reflexes are legendary. Everyone knows it.”
“Everyone except the cashier,” I say quietly. Then I take my card back and smile at the girl behind the register, who’s watching us like she wonders when her prince will come.
A moment later, we’re heading to a small table tucked in the back corner.
There’s a potted plant on the table with a tiny chalkboard that says “Love Grows Here.”
She’s about to grab her chair, but I get there first, pulling it out for her.
“Wow, you’re really committed to the bit,” she mutters.
I squeeze her shoulders and put my lips right next to her ear. “Wait until I build you a dresser.”
