Rather, it was a brief and totally unexpectedbump.Of lips, yes. But not at all kiss-like, really. Barely enough to merit usage of the word.
Still, it sent an electric charge shooting from the top of her head down to the soles of her feet.
With a gasp and an “Oh!” of horror, Luna sprang back. Distantly, she heard the clatter of the pruning shears hitting the ground, but it seemed to come from very far away. Her vision blurred, her head whirled. She spun swiftly, hoping to make her escape out from behind the counter, to flee . . . somewhere.Anywhere. The kitchen. Garden. Out into the street.Anywhere not here.
Before she could take two steps, however, Mr. Grimm’s fingers closed around her elbow. Hard.
He yanked.
She pivoted on heel, staggered, faced him, stared up into his eyes.
Wide. Blue.
Burning.
He drew a ragged inhale. His eyelids lowered, and his gaze zeroed in on her lips, which were parted around a strangled gasp for air. His own breath came too fast. She could hear it. Panting. His chest rose and fell heavily beneath his green apron.
He inclined his head toward her. Withdrew it again. Tilted it gently to one side.
Leaned in a little closer.
Luna’s lashes felt weighted. She let them lower, even as a small, quivering exhale escaped her throat. She tipped her head softly, lifting her mouth a tiny fraction of an inch, felt his lips hovering just above hers, and—
The shop bells rang, a tinkling chorus of brass.
Luna jumped back a pace, painfully aware of Mr. Grimm’s grip still on her elbow. She whirled to face the door, heart jolting.
“Oh!” she gasped again, a sharp expulsion of sound. “Officer Ward!”
At this singularly inopportune moment, Luna burst into a fit of coughing.
It was so violent, she could do nothing but give herself over to it completely, hiding her face in her arm and turning to one side. By the time the fit passed, Mr. Grimm’s hand was gone from her arm, and he seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving her alone behind the counter.
And John Ward was approaching across the shop floor.
Luna shook her head. What was she to do? What was she to think? What was she to . . .feel?Every particle of her awareness seemed concentrated on that cold place on her elbow where Mr. Grimm had gripped her so tight.
But he was gone. And Ward was coming. And . . . and . . .
Pull yourself together, Luna!
She smoothed out the front of her apron with both hands. “Well,” she said brightly, pulling her face into a smile, “look what the Gronk Cat dragged in.”
At least, that’s what she tried to say. And it would have been very cool and breezy. Only her voice caught at “Gronk,” and she erupted in another bout of ragged coughing.
When this too, eventually passed, Ward was directly in front of her, leaning one elbow on the counter. “You all right?” he asked.
“Yes. Fine.” Luna waved a hand in the air in front of her face. “I might have a touch of something. You should probably stand back.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Standing back wasn’t really what I had in mind in coming all the way down here. I planned to ask you to dinner. Tonight. At The King’s Crown.”
Luna gaped at him. The gears of her brain seemed to have caught on something; she could feel them straining to turn, but nothing was happening. She gave her head a quick shake to loosen them, and they all seemed to tumble back into motion. “I haven’t seen you in over a month!” she blurted.
“I know. I was on assignment. Remember?”
“And . . . you only just got back?”
“Yeah. Last night, actually.” He leaned his other elbow on the counter, pushed back his hat, freeing that dark curl to bob across his forehead, and grinned at her, all insouciant charm. “I would have stopped by to see you then, but I don’t happen to know where you live.”
