AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He squinted at the floor, and in the next moment, the door opened. Gretchen stood there, and it was Will who had to find something to hold onto to keep himself upright. He already found her gorgeous while wearing a T-shirt with an apron over it and a pair of shorts.
Tonight, she wore a black dress that swelled in the chest and hips and went all the way to the floor in layers of fabric. Wide straps went over her shoulders, and as he stood there staring and mute, she said, “Good evening, Will,” and reached for her jacket.
He sprung into gear then, helping her into the denim coat with plenty of silver buttons down the front. “You smell nice,” he said, unable to censor himself. Horrified, his tongue swelled and rendered him mute again.Probably for the best, he thought.
Gretchen grinned at him. “Thank you. It’s a perfume I bought out in this tiny town in Louisiana. It’s supposed to be—no, wait. You guess what it is.”
Will took the opportunity to lean closer to her again, a gray tabby weaving between their four feet. He didn’t mind the feline, as he hadn’t come here to see it. He took Gretchen right into his arms, and she came real willingly too. He lowered his head to get his nose closer to her neck, and he took a long breath in.
“Smells like oranges and honey,” he said. “Maybe some lemon. Vanilla.” He reminded himself the date hadn’t started yet, and he didn’t need to be kissin’ her yet. He put proper distance between then and looked down at the cat.
“You’re right,” she said. “It’s an English tea party—the perfume. Orange scones and butter and honey.”
He met her eyes again. “I like it.”
Her blue eyes danced with merriment. “I like your shirt.” Her gaze moved up to his hat. “And your hat.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” he drawled out, reaching up to take off his hat and put it right back on. “What’s the cat’s name?”
“Elvis,” Gretchen said, toeing him back into the house. “You stay here, buddy. I’ll be back later.”
“Yeowl,” Elvis said, but Gretchen paid him no mind as she stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind her.
“I like your wreath,” Will said, reaching out to touch one of the flowers. He saw little faces on some of the snowballs too, and he realized they were snowmen.
“Thank you,” Gretchen said. “I’m not great at decorating, but my sister-in-law and I did a wreath class one year when I was visiting them in Fort Worth. I have one for every month now, and that’s about what I can handle as far as putting out holiday décor.”
She slid her hand in his, and all of the jagged and upset pieces of Will smoothed and aligned. “I was thinking we’d try Italian tonight,” he said, stepping to move down to the sidewalk. “You mentioned you like pasta, right?”
She had said it in a text last night. Will hadn’t been on a date in a while, and he really wanted tonight to go well.
“I love pasta,” Gretchen said. “Where were you thinking?”
“Wherever you want,” he said. “Do you have an idea in mind?” He went with her to the passenger-side door and opened it for her.
She pressed in close to him. “I love the Cheese-It Bakery in Castleton. It’s only twenty minutes from here, same as town.”
Will swallowed, because she stood so near to him. She put one hand on his chest, and all Will had to do was lower his head and he could kiss her. “I’ve been to Castleton,” he said instead, his voice made of gravel and dust.
Gretchen grinned and stepped up into his truck. He closed the door while she reached for the seatbelt, and Will took a couple of extra seconds to round the truck to get behind the wheel, needing the cooler night air to help lower his internal temperature.
Calm down, he told himself.Be cool. Cool and calm.
He started the truck and lowered the volume on the radio. “Cheese-It Bakery,” he said as he lifted his phone to type it into his maps. Once he had that set and running, he added, “Only seventeen minutes from here,” with a smile in Gretchen’s direction.
He backed out of her driveway, thinking maybe the hardest part of the night had ended. Then she said, “So, Will,” and he realized he’d have to talk to her tonight. All night. And he never liked sentences that started with “So, Will.”
“Mm,” he said, tamping down his annoyance.
“I told you a little bit about who I’ve dated in the past,” Gretchen said, her voice made of light and air. “What about you? Who’ve you been out with recently?”
Will’s hand jerked on the wheel, and he dang near drove them off the road. He blinked and looked at Gretchen. “Did Travis set this up?” he asked.
Gretchen’s smile faltered. It was false anyway, even if Will couldn’t quite see all of it in the orange lamplight. “No,” she said. She folded her arms across her chest. “It’s fine. Never mind.”
“No, it’s okay,” Will said, swallowing back his idiocy. “Sorry. It’s fine. Let’s see…” He pretended to think about who’d he’d been out with. It wasn’t a long list, that was for sure, and he certainly knew the name of the last woman who’d carved his heart from his chest and sent him down this five-year-long road of celibacy.
He sighed, because he really couldn’t lie very well. “The last woman I went out with was named Tara Wells,” he said. “I fell in love with her pretty fast, and pretty deep, and it wasn’t very pretty when she rejected my proposal.”
