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You’ve been bad again… and you’ve left a bad taste in my mouth.”
“Well, you’ve picked up on the bad theme,” she said.
“How about this?” he said.
“You make one wrong move, and I’ll steal your dog from you… now I’m your little Miss Demeanor.”
“Ooh, that’s good,” she confessed. He cracked a grin at her ensuing giggles. He’d definitely been listening in for a while. He knew the pattern of her song. “Here’s what I came up with:You’re not all that bad. And I’m Little Miss Miss-ing you.”
When he didn’t react, she tried again. “Or?You’ve got a way of making your bad feel so good. Our little Miss-stake was the best one of our lives.”
His arm slid behind her shoulders. “I like that ending,” he said with a decisive nod.
“Really? Because I really like the part about stealing your dog.”
“Sounds like the big bad wolf needs to convince Little Miss Small town to stay with him.” His cheek ran next to hers as he brought her closer. He’d still try to kiss her? There were no cameras here; no one to impress. Her heart raced with sudden anticipation. “Little Miss-Conduct, huh?” his low voice grumbled in his throat. “What did you have in mind?”
Trust that to be one of his main takeaways from her song.
“Fireworks!” Dakota ran outside, screeching at the top of his lungs. Lizardman bounded behind him on his heels. “I’ve got fireworks!” He waved sparklers in front of their faces. They weren’t lit yet. He fully trusted the grownups to scramble for lighters.
Nash gave Emily a look that heated her blood before pulling away. He reached into his jeans pocket. “I think I might’ve prepared for this moment.” He took out his lighter and set the sparklers on fire in the small boy’s hand.
Dakota was enchanted. His brown eyes glistened against the dancing flames as he waved the sparklers around in the darkness.
Lizardman let out a scared yelp. Emily set her guitar aside and caught up the scared pup. “It’s okay, Lizardman.” She snuggled the poor, whimpering creature against her neck.
Nash’s arm went around them both. “I see you’re already working on stealing the dog,” he whispered into her ear.
“I’ve got my work cut out for me,” she said, leaning into his strong embrace. Cuddling the fluffy puppy with Nash holding her felt so natural. “He already can’t get enough of you,” she said. Lizardman licked at Nash’s stomach, finding something that he liked on that jean button-up shirt.
The screen door screeched open, and Millie propped it open with her hip. She held the pie that she’d pulled out of the oven earlier. The aroma was mouthwatering. “We can’t have a celebration without food!” she called out.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Nash straightened. “What do you think of spicing up these sparklers with some skyrockets?”
Emily groaned. “Did you hear that, Lizardman? The mean old man brought more loud things to make you love me more.”
“Oh my!” Millie grinned. “You’re telling me you brought along some fireworks? Youareyour daddy’s son.”
“Maybe… I might have some roman candles and cakes in the back of my truck, too… if that’s something that you like.”
She set the pie down on a round table to the side of them. “Do it. We need to liven up these skies.” Millie was an adventurous soul.
Emily’s hold tightened on Lizardman. He was in for quite the surprise.
Nash went to work setting up the fireworks. He’d brought quite the display… just like last year. She stifled a shiver. “This had better not be a repeat of last year,” she called over the driveway.
“No, no.” Nash wasn’t worried. Of course, he never was. That was the problem. She watched his athletic movements as he set off the first aerial into the sky.
The colorful explosion was magnificent… and loud. The puppy tried to climb into her jacket. She rubbed Lizardman’s stiff back while Dakota cheered loudly. Nash had found the way into his heart, and consequently his grandmother’s. He was good at that.
Was that another song in the works?You’ve won me over?
Nash set off the large stash from his truck. The man was in his element. Millie wandered onto the gravel to join him. She insisted Nash teach her how to set off the fireworks on her own.
Emily smiled, rocking Lizardman back and forth like a baby, bumping Dakota with her hip. The young boy hopped up and down in anticipation. His grandmother was also thoroughly enjoying herself. Emily wasn’t sure how much this mixed the lines between business and pleasure, but it seemed like Trout’s people did a lot of that with their parties anyway.
At least in this case, this felt like good, clean fun.
Millie ordered Nash back while she tried out the fireworks for herself.
Nash retreated from Millie to throw his arms around Emily and Lizardman. The puppy licked his chin, as if asking if he was still in one piece… or maybe he just liked the taste of gunpowder.
Millie set off a cake. She cackled loudly as the aerial shot into the night sky. The loud blast was followed by a beautiful spray of sparkles, like a flower made of light before it burnt itself out.
Nash cheered and kissed Emily’s cheek. Her stomach lurched, and not in an unhappy way, though he’d startled her again by his abandon, and with no cameras.
Did he mean these familiar touches or not?
Lizardman followed that with some doggy kisses of his own. She laughed, and at that very instant decided to just enjoy the moment.
