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She leaned closer to him, and Lee couldn’t help bending his back to get nearer to her too. “I’m a decade younger than you,” she whispered, her breath warm on the side of his neck. “Is that a problem?”
Relief rushed through him. “Not for me. You?”
“Not a problem,” she whispered.
“Isn’t that right, table six?” Jenni-Lynn’s voice cut through the soft moment between Lee and Rosalie.
He jerked his head up and met his friend’s eyes. “That’s right, ma’am,” he said without missing a beat. “The peach preserves here are second-to-none.” He gave her a mini-smirk, because he knew Jenni-Lynn’s spiel frontward and backward. After all, she’d been born and bred in Georgia, and she’d only lived in Texas for her whole life. But her blood was made of peaches and Southern manners. Which was why she didn’t cause a scene with him but smoothly went on with the rest of the treats they’d be tasting that afternoon.
“Once we finish the focus group,” Jenni-Lynn said. “We’ll split you into three groups, and you’ll each get to make one of the desserts to take home with you tonight.”
“We get to bake?” Rosalie hissed, just loud enough for Lee to hear.
He nodded, and his date laced her arm through his and squeezed as she laid her head against his bicep. “I love baking,” she whispered. “This is the best date ever, Lee.”
He wanted to ask her if it would end with a kiss, but their first item to taste arrived at that exact moment. “A double-chocolate fruit tart,” the woman said. She wore a black apron and slid a small plate onto the table.
Lee pulled it toward himself and then past to put it in front of Rosalie. “I won’t like that,” he said. “You taste it and tell ‘em what you think.”
“You’re not even going to try it?” she asked, reaching for one of the tiny tasting forks. It only had three tines, and not even a baby would find it big enough.
“It’s fruit and chocolate,” he said, shaking his head. That was explanation enough, but Rosalie continued to gape at him. “I don’t like fruit and chocolate.”
“You could try it.”
“Pass,” he said.
“Did you know what they were testing?” Rosalie forked off a tiny bite of the tart. The crust was dark and rich, and Lee would probably like that. A layer of lighter chocolate mousse rode in the crust, but it was the strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry atop the pudding that he couldn’t stomach.
“Yes,” he said. “Jenni-Lynn mentioned them.”
“You came anyway?” She put the dessert in her mouth, Lee watching every moment. He’d probably like the double chocolate fruit tart if he could taste it on her lips. His whole body heated in the space of a breath, and he had to look away.
“Yes,” he clipped out.
“Did you know I loved to bake?”
“No.” He nudged the plate closer to her. “Eat it all. I’m not going to have any.”
“I should’ve known you wouldn’t like this one,” Jenni-Lynn said as she arrived at his table. “Lee, you’re still so surly about things.”
“Somethings,” he said, giving her a sharp look he hoped would cut her vocal cords so she’d stop talking. “Like fruit with two types of chocolate.”
“What would you put on it instead?” Rosalie asked, which caused Jenni-Lynn to raise her eyebrows.
“I like this one, Lee. It’s a great question.” She folded her arms and waited.
Lee switched his glare from Jenni-Lynn to Rosalie. She blinked, her surprise evident in her expression. Instead of cowering from him, she stabbed the last tartlet and put the whole thing in her mouth, her eyes never leaving his.
So she could have an attitude too. She could be surly too.
“A peanut butter cup,” Lee said, looking up at Jenni-Lynn, already knowing she’d hate that answer. “That’s what I’d put on top of it, Jenni-Lynn.”
She glared at him with all the power of the sun. “We’re better than peanut butter cups, Leland.” She turned and walked away, and Lee sat there with his humiliation burning a hole in his chest. He never should’ve brought Rosalie to this, though he had suspected she’d like it.
He couldn’t think of a single thing to say while the tasting went on around him, and Rosalie filled out the feedback card by herself.
“I liked that,” she said as if they hadn’t been sitting in silence for the past seven minutes.
