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Slumber enveloped me, but not until I remembered, “He called me darlin’. I like it. Darling.”
I slept dreamlessly until half past two. I put spare clothes into my tote. Then I made my usual green smoothie. Packed up extra produce, too.
Before Davie and I saddled up for the short ride to the shop I told him, “I’ll be with Leighton at his house after work today. All night.”
He just smirked.
I floated through my list of opening tasks. It all went without a hitch.
Until Alex came in and made a happily snarky remark about ‘somebody getting some’, I didn’t realize I’d had a dreamy smile on my face.
Not yet, Alex. Soon.
Leighton came in as promised just as Amy unlocked the doors at dawn. He waved at her and came straight back to me. I’d told Amy to send him back, but not why. So she followed him, knowing something was up.
I was! Leighton picked me up for a big kiss and spun us around. I spied Amy’s huge grin as I twirled.
Alex joined the fun with a laughter-filled, “Get a room, guys!”
I shooed Amy back to the shop and wagged a finger at Alex to get back to work, too. I pulled out the platter I’d been preparing for Leighton and fed him breakfast.
He commented, with a full mouth and twinkles in his eyes (and I couldn’t tear myself away), “First time I’ve been back here since the vandalism. How’s the equipment working?”
I kept it short, “All good, actually. Except for your favorite deep fryer. I’ve ordered a new one.”
I asked him what he’d be working on today, with a mock zipper across my lips again. He said, “Oh, no, nothing top secret today. I’ll show you later.”
We walked out through the shop together. One more hug and a lingering kiss on the sidewalk. Eyes open, taking in every millimeter of his face, as he did the same.
He whispered, in that vibrates-down-to-there bass, “I’ll come get you at closing. I might have to pop in to say hi though before then. A whole day not seeing you? Dunno if I can do it!”
I watched him walk all the way to his building next door and he blew a kiss before disappearing inside. I let him see me catch his and blew one back.
I smiled all day.
He never made it over after breakfast. So when I had finished for the day, I started watching for him through the front shop window. He walked up and I let him inside. He pulled me into a soft kiss, eyes wide open.
I'd never get enough of looking at this man.
He pulled back a little bit to say, “You need dinner. I thought of two places, but you decide if they work or not. The Italian Bistro two blocks down the street past my building. Or the Vietnamese soup place, one block further down. What do you think?”
“Italian. With a glass of red wine.”
He nodded, “I never got into spirits, but I love San Pellegrino sparkling water. Let's go, shall we?”
He took my tote bag over his shoulder. I locked up. Arm-in-arm, we walked down the street.
Once seated, I joked, “Let'scloselyexamine this menu together, shall we?” and we both laughed.
We talked back and forth about what we liked on the menu. The food we liked and what we didn’t care for.
Then Leighton asked the waiter for a by-the-glass suggestion for my meal. But he let me decide.
I loved that, and because it made me think of my stalker, I told Leighton the burger stories, including ...
“Oh. My. God.” Leighton made to grab his crotch. “You …?!”
“Mmm …”
