Page 62 of The Scent of Happiness

“Who has to know?”

Brooke’s hand strayed to her pocket and she touched her phone. “That’s where it kind of falls apart for me. A guy you have to hide isn’t the guy for you. Emma taught me that.”

“Why are we talking about Emma?”

“We’re not.” Now was not the time to go into her friend’s history. She had to stay focused on the issue at hand. But Theo was making it difficult with the way he was inching his hands up her thighs.

“It’s not forever.” His hands were under her skirt now. “Just long enough for Dixie to go away. And if you want to tell your friends about us, tell them. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“They’ll think it’s weird.”

Theo raised himself to his knees to give her the softest, most tender kiss imaginable. She tilted her head back as he continued little butterfly kisses down her neck, making her feel tingly. Lust gathered in her core.

“I don’t care what they think,” he murmured. He lifted her at the waist and sat in her seat, positioning her on his lap. She slid off her glasses and placed them on the table, then put her arms around his neck and kissed him. This time, her kiss was insistent. The kind of kiss that held a promise.

He pulled the neck of her shirt so he could kiss her collarbone, his breath hot and his beard rough. “Why do you smell like you just left the coffee shop?”

“Hmm?” Brooke could barely hear him. She was thinking about his hands roving over her body, and how every touch sent her nerves in exciting new directions. “Oh. New soap. Lotion too.”

“I like it.” He kissed his way up her jaw to her ear. “It will wake me up.”

“Good.” She stroked his beard. “Because you can’t spend the night again. That’s the opposite of discreet.”

“Who said anything about staying the night?”

Brooke leaned back to look him in the eye. “Oh, so you think it’s okay to pleasure a lady and then leave?”

“You are a lady,” Theo said. “You’re my lady. And I am going to pleasure you.”

“Mmm hmm.” Yes, please.

“I’m going to leave you so satisfied that you won’t care that I’m gone.” Theo patted her backside to get her to stand. He swooped her into his arms to carry her to the bedroom. “You might not even notice.”

“I’ll notice.”

“Want to bet?”

“That you can completely wear me out?” Brooke asked. “Sure, I’ll take that bet.”

“Good,” Theo said with a wicked grin. “Because I’m going to love winning it.”

* * *

Between evening shifts and choir practice, Brooke didn’t have a chance to see Theo until Friday. She would have been happy to sneak him into her apartment—and directly into her bed—but he insisted on taking her out on a real date. “I want to do this right,” he said. “Dressed up, out to dinner, the whole ritual.”

Dating openly in Cannondale was out of the question, so they decided to drive the forty-five minutes to Columbus to eat at The Guild House. Brooke went into the deepest part of her closet to find the aqua blue dress she’d worn for New Year’s Eve, which had a low-cut bodice and a skirt that floated around her thighs. She paired it with dainty heels and silver jewelry, curled her hair into soft waves around her face, and wore her glasses with the little diamonds at the temples. She twirled her sexy self in front of the bedroom mirror. Not bad.

Theo showed up in a tie the same color as her dress which seemed uncomfortably like they were going to a high school dance together. Neither of them mentioned it. But Brooke relaxed as they drove out of town and he let her pick the radio station. He didn’t mind when she chose top 40 and they even had car karaoke with a few of the better songs. They talked about music and movies and politics. They discovered they both preferred Star Trek to Star Wars. Didn’t love rainy days or rainbows but had a thing for sunbeams. Liked dill pickles but not sweet ones.

Even though he was driving, Theo’s deep questions showed that he was truly listening. He asked her about work, tried to guess the grossest thing she’d ever found in the return bin, and laughed at her imitation of the teenagers who came to the library to “study” with boyfriends their parents didn’t approve of.

She asked for lawyer stories, but he wouldn’t tell her anything juicy. “You learn a lot in law school,” he said. “You know what you mostly learn to do? Make sure that the right piece of paper is in the right place at the right time.”

“That’s a lot like my job,” Brooke said. “Only our pieces of paper are bound between covers, and our clients mostly want whatever we don’t have.”

“Exactly the same,” Theo said. “Perhaps there’s a bit less crying in the library, though. Or righteous indignation.”

“We get that all day,” Brooke said. “The crying is from the toddlers and the indignation is from the middle-aged ladies who don’t like the homeless guys camping out at their favorite tables.”