She laughs hard again, turning to walk down the aisle. Her flirty smirk reaches me from over her shoulder.
“Oh yeah. I know you could.”
Damn.
I jog to catch up.
“Send me a list.”
“Ask Trystan. We got him hooked last fall. Brynleigh says he’s learned quite a bit, and he’s happy to pass along the knowledge.”
“Oh, I’ll be asking. I’ll have a lot more time to read now.”
“So, what are you doing here? I thought you were moving in next weekend.”
She chews on the inside of her cheek like she wished she hadn’t asked.
“Keeping tabs on me, Sweetheart? I kind of like it.”
She scoffs at me.
“No.” Her face says otherwise. I grin wider. “Brynleigh told me, and I’m not your sweetheart.”
“Not yet.” I toss her a wink. She huffs again, glancing away quickly, but her eyes can’t stay away from mine for long. My internal maniacal laugh is having a heyday. “Trystan gave me the keys. I’m working on getting my things over here slowly. I have the next month off before I start here. I was already goingstir-crazy. It’s hard going from breathing and sleeping medicine for years to absolutely nothing.”
“You can catch up on sleep,” Holly notes.
Maybe I’m not interested in sleeping.
“I can.”
“What else do you have planned?”
You.
“I have absolutely zero ideas.”
Lie.
“I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
“Would you like to have dinner one night? Show me around Kittery? Give me all the deets on where the best eats are?”
She freezes, and I want to kick myself.No, no, no! Things were going so well.
“Umm, I don’t know.”
“What do I need to do?”
“What do you mean?” she queries like she has no clue what I just asked her.
“Going the coy route? Okay. I’ll entertain it.” I step closer into her space, watching as her breath catches. Man, oh man, do I enjoy seeing her breathless. Nervous in a good way. I step closer. She takes one step back against the shelf.
“I want to know exactly what it’s going to take to get you to take a chance on me and say yes. I’m not giving up.” I breathe in deeply, loving how her scent fills my lungs. Fills my being. “I need to know you. What makes you laugh, what you dream, what fills your heart with joy. The urge to claim your lips right here and now to reacquaint myself with how sweet you taste is driving me wild.”
The breath she was holding puffs out quickly against my skin, and she licks her lips. I watch the motion, letting out a throaty sound of desperation that’s barely discernable as shedrags her eyes back up to mine. She whimpers lightly in return, and I’m teetering along that ‘fuck it’ line again, grocery patrons be damned.
“I don’t know,” Holly whispers before pulling herself away from the shelf. She runs her fingers through her long locks in a desperate attempt to compose herself. Walking quickly across the aisle, she snags another bottle of wine, looks down at her basket and sees the other two, then puts the bottle back, clearly beside herself. Without another word, she leaves me standing in the aisle, mesmerized by how her hips command the space around her as she walks away.
