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“Can we, please?” Aria said.
I waved my hands at the plants. “We’d better get picking.”
Aria began loading strawberries into the basket at record speed.
I laughed. “A little eager, are we?”
“Not at all,” she said with an innocent expression on her face.
We picked until our basket was brimming with fruit. Afterwards, I made a pitstop in town, then took her to a quiet wooded area. I threw a blanket onto the ground beneath a large sycamore tree and we sat on it. The dappled sunlight hit Aria’s hair and I noticed touches of gold through it.
“Now are you going to tell me what you bought?” Aria eyed the paper bag I had.
I removed two items from the bag. “The two perfect things to accompany strawberries.”
“Dipping chocolate and champagne! Brilliant choices,” Aria gushed.
I handed her one of the plastic flutes I’d also bought. I tore the wrapper off the top of the champagne bottle. “Ready?”
Aria took the foil lid off the dipping sauce and licked her thumb. “Yep.”
I shook the bottle a little and the cork popped out into my hand. Aria giggled as the champagne fizzed over and quickly held our glasses underneath the liquid. I set the bottle aside as Aria clinked her flute against mine and said, “Here’s to a beautiful day and to whatever this may be between us.”
We both sipped the bubbly liquid. I didn’t miss the way she lowered her line of sight to the blanket.
I gently brushed a stray curl of hair out of her eyes. The action drew her attention back to me and I held her in my gaze. “I hope it’s what I think it is.”
“What do you think it is?” Aria asked.
Instead of voicing my thoughts, I brought her lips to mine. It was a chaste kiss, though it held so much promise.
“Oh,” she whispered as her blue eyes grew wide.
I was pleased she understood my meaning. “Please know I’m not trying to push you or influence you in any way. I do want to be clear about my feelings for you. But I—”
“Me, too. I feel that, too.” Her fingertips toyed with my chin, my stubble scratching against them. “You’re not pushing me, Logan. I want this, too.”
“Are you sure I’m not too old for you?” I asked half-jokingly.
Aria slapped my chest. “Will you stop it? Thirty-five isn’t old. Besides, I’m twenty-three, not barely legal. There’s nothing wrong here.”
Twenty-three. It was the first time she’d told me her age. I knew from the start she was younger, and I guessed a lot of guys my age would have bailed right then and there. But hearing it now didn’t change my mind about her. I was falling in love with a woman twelve years my junior, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Because then she wouldn’t be Aria.
“Nothing at all, sweetheart.”
She kissed me again and then brought a chocolate-dipped strawberry to my mouth. “Taste.” She whispered the word so erotically, I could imagine myself tasting something much sweeter than this sweet treat she was feeding me.
“Do you mind if I stay with you again, tonight?” she asked sweetly, as though, even after all of this, I’d actually tell her no.
“Of course, you can.”
