I plopped down on the stone ledge and tucked in close to Zeke. His arm settled across my shoulders to give me space to lean my back against his chest, and I did as instructed when Sadie asked me to bring my left leg up and rest my foot on the edge of the stone.
She stepped back to appraise her work and gestured at her head. “Jericho, could you—”
“Ah, yeah, sorry.” I tugged my hood off, and Zeke smoothed the material down so it didn’t bunch up behind my neck. I tipped my head back to look up at him. “Thanks.”
“Your hair is really pretty,” he said in response. Judging by the hint of blush that sprung to his cheeks, it wasn’t what he’d meant to say.
“Hey, a guy’s gotta make up for his boring brown eyes somehow.”
A little crinkle formed between his brows, and his gaze dropped from my hair to my eyes. “They’re not boring.”
I couldn’t bite back a grin. “Oh, no? How would you describe them, then?”
He fell quiet a moment, and his eyes searched mine in a way that felt appreciative rather than critical. Like he was savoring the opportunity to get to know even that small part of me.
“They’re warm,” he said finally, softly. “Deep. Kind.”
My grin softened into a shy smile of my own, and my face flushed as hot as Zeke’s looked. That wasn’t the sort of answer I was expecting. And turns out, I’d been wrong before, because he only got more and more adorable by the moment.
“Well. Thank you.” I reached up to tug on his fingers resting on my shoulder, and my heart thumped when he caught my hand and held on. My mouth went dry, and my voice came out a croak when I finished with, “You have beautiful eyes, too.”
I finally broke the visual lock and hazarded a glance at Sadie, who grinned down at her camera.
“I can’t wait to show you some of these,” she said, and turned her grin up at us. “Jericho, can I have you turn your face to the left, like you’re looking out at the trees? Perfect. And Zeke, just… keep looking down at him like that.”
“And how exactly are you looking at me, sir?” I said through a smile.
“Shush,” he hissed, and his fingers tightened around mine.
Sadie rearranged us a couple more times before she announced that we were ready to move on to the next location.
I hopped up and kept hold of Zeke’s hand, pulling him along behind me to crowd around the photographer while she clicked through a few of her favorite shots on the little screen on her camera so we could get a peek. It was strange to see the looks Zeke and I shared, like we’d had months to get to know one another. Like there existed history between us longer than the half hour that was our reality.
Then we were off down the trail again, ahead of Sadie per her request, heading for something she called “the old tree.” Zeke made no move to pull his hand from mine, and I had no intention of breaking contact, so we kept close as we walked.
“I just noticed, your ears have a little point to them,” he said. He reached over with his free hand to brush a fingertip against the shell of my ear, eliciting a shiver that definitely couldn’t have escaped his notice. “It’s cute.”
“It’s genetic.” Which was theleastattractive response I could have possibly given, but my mouth was moving without my permission. “My mom’s are even pointier. I take more after her than after my dad.” I gestured to my small stature as if that was all the explanation needed.
“It suits you,” Zeke said as he let his hand fall back to his side. “Makes you pocket sized.”
I let out the most undignified snort of my life and slapped a hand over my face to hide the hot blush that chased his implied sentiment.I would let you put me in your pocketanytime, I thought. When I cut my eyes over, Zeke was smirking, looking entirely too satisfied at having flusteredmefor once.
“So,” he said, “you know what I do. What about you? Aside from hiking orsomething like that.”
I blew out a long breath and scrubbed my hand over my cheeks as if that could wipe away the lingering blush and impure thoughts. “I’ve been apprenticing under a master chocolatier.”
He glanced aside at me with both brows arched in an unspoken question.
“My family owns a sweets shop up in Minnesota. I got my culinary degree up there, then came here to KC for my business administration degree to make sure I could run it well when the time came. The apprenticeship was mostly for fun, so I could help us branch out into handmade chocolate when I go back.” For the first time since I got the call about my parents retiring, my anticipation of my return bore no lingering hint of apprehension. It put a bounce in my step. “I’m actually heading back in about two months to take over.”
“That’s exciting. Are you looking forward to it?”
“I am.” I smiled over at him, and caught Sadie snapping a photo of us out of the corner of my eye. “Just not the packing-loading-physically-moving part of it.”
Zeke tipped his head back and groaned. “Tell me about it. I’m neck deep in boxes and half of my life is packed away, and I keep needing things I’ve already packed, and it’s a pain in the ass.”
“My worst nightmare,” I said through a chuckle. “So, your residency isn’t in town?”
