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Oh, he was smooth, this one.

“I thought you said you hadn’t agreed to being a part of the auction yet.”

“Touché,” he said, nodding his head to her in appreciation of her comeback. “However, we’ll meet for coffee tomorrow morning.”

It wasn’t a question.

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a card. Noelle looked at it. White cardstock. Expensive white cardstock with only his name and phone number on it. No email address, no other contact information. “That’s my private number. I’ll see you at the coffee shop around eight?”

“Um. Sure.” Noelle held the card in her hand, looking from the stark black letters and numbers to his sky blue eyes.

“Good then. Nice to finally meet you.” He shook her hand again, as well as Franchesca’s, swept his niece into his arms once more, and walked out the door. Not without another glance back at her, however, as well as a wink in her direction.

Franchesca whistled. “Oh, sister. You’ve got your hands full with that one.”

Snapping out of her trance, she turned to her friend. “My hands are empty, thank you very much.”

Franchesca eyed the card still in Noelle’s grip. “I beg to differ.”

Noelle rolled her eyes, aware that she looked as childish as Holly when she did it, and went to her office. She placed the card in her purse. Hands on her hips, she shook her head and laughed. What in the world had just happened? One minute she was teaching a dance class, the next she was asked, or rather told, she had a coffee date with Cute Guy from Grey’s.

She blinked a few times to snap herself back to reality. The next class was about to begin. It was time to focus. She placed a hand over her mouth and laughed. As if she could focus. Confident her mind would be on Wes St. Claire the rest of the night, she went back to the studio to teach.

*

Once inside thewarmth of the car, Wes questioned consuming ice cream in Montana in the winter. But he’d promised his niece and he wouldn’t go back on that promise.

As Wilson drove them down Main Street, Wes eyed the storefronts. It was a charming town, for sure. He’d enjoyed visiting over the years. He and his siblings had even made friends in Marietta, like Jeff, his partner in crime at Grey’s. Not all his memories were bad ones.

So Wes could see his father’s reasons for wanting to stay in Marietta. It had small-town appeal. But it was so far from what they were used to in New York.

Annalise’s tug on his coat sleeve pulled him from his thoughts. The cold air as they exited the car was a shock to the system. Sure, he was used to New York in the winter, but this was different. There was a bite to it the city didn’t have. Without big buildings, the smallest breeze could add a chill his coat couldn’t fight.

They entered the Creamery, the scent of vanilla in the warm air a vast contrast to the outside, and most welcome to Wes and Annalise. Wes stuck with good old-fashioned chocolate as his choice while Annalise ordered a scoop of bubblegum, a scoop of chocolate chip, and had the entire thing covered with gummy bears. How anyone ever thought to add gum to ice cream, he had no clue. But he had a good idea he’d get an earful from Mike later over the stomachache Annalise was bound to have. Not to mention the sugar high and crash that was inevitable. But hey, that’s what uncles were for.

They chose a table near the window. Annalise chattered on about dance class, how there was some performance or something happening and the little kids might get to be involved. Moving to her school day she shared how kindergarten was tough but she only did half days for now, which she liked. She took a bite of a gummy bear, leaving the bottom half of its body stuck between her fingers as she continued to talk.

Any other time he had Annalise to himself she had his rapt attention. However, at the moment, a beautiful dancer named Noelle consumed his thoughts.Noelle. The name fit her. Graceful, feminine. As much as he’d thought about what her name could be, he’d had trouble coming up with anything that fit. But he liked how her named rolled off his tongue, like an uplifting melody.

He eyed his niece who still jabbered on, unaware of his mind wandering. The little schemer had actually tried to get Noelle to help him learn to bake. When his father first told him he was involved in the Bachelor Bake-Off auction, his head almost came off. He and his father didn’t speak for over a day.

And he was telling the truth, he hadn’t agreed to anything. Yet. With the possibility of a certain dance teacher helping him, maybe the Bake-Off thing wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Chapter Six

Noelle checked themirror one more time. There were only so many outfits a woman could come up with in the kind of weather that could chill you to the bone, but her favorite skinny jeans and light blue sweater seemed a good choice.

“Kind of ho-hum for a first date, don’t you think?” Holly came into Noelle’s room and plopped herself down on the bed.

Noelle frowned at her in the mirror. “No. It’s my most comfortable sweater and it’s freezing outside.”

“Comfortable is not the kind of word you want to be using when trying to snag a guy, sister.”

“I’m not trying to snag a guy, Holly.”

“You should be.”

Noelle laughed. It was all she could do when faced with Holly’s way of thinking. It’s not that she didn’t want a guy in her life. She was just fine to wait for the right guy, that’s all. Although she had to admit it did feel like she’d been waiting for him longer than she wanted to.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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