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I gave her a nod and followed her out of the house and toward the activity center. Sure enough, it was a space complete with all the things she’d mentioned when we were out to lunch a few days ago.
There was a basketball court, a playground for young kids, corn hole, and a rock-climbing wall. We’d made our way across the basketball court and over to the rock-climbing wall. That’s when I leaned my palm against it and assessed her. “How often could I come here and find you climbing up this thing?”
She shook her head. “Never. You need a partner.”
“What?”
Hanna let out a laugh. “To use the rock-climbing wall, there needs to be two individuals. It would be dangerous to just hang onto these ropes or tie them around your waist. I have harnesses inside the registration house, and each person that wants to the use the wall has to learn how to be a belayer. That’s the person responsible for making sure that whoever they’re climbing with doesn’t come crashing to the ground.”
Nodding my understanding, I returned, “That makes sense. Safety first, right?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, maybe one day I can come over and try it out, if you wouldn’t mind being my partner,” I said.
Just like that, Hanna’s expression changed, and she went right back to showing me that shy girl. “Sure,” she whispered.
Part of me wanted to act on what I was feeling between us, because even if I could see her clamming up a bit, it was starting to come across differently now. Hanna didn’t seem so timid because she was naturally that way or because she was fearful. Now, it seemed she was dealing with fighting against an attraction. That was something I thought I could work with, but since I didn’t want to throw too much at her at one shot, I decided to back off just a bit.
So, I brought the conversation back to what we’d been discussing this morning. “Well, you’ve got me sold on this place. Can I stay in the smaller house on Friday night? I’d rather see you keep the bigger one for potential guests.”
“You really want to stay here?” she asked. “It really isn’t necessary if you want to just come and watch a movie.”
I shrugged. “I’d like to try it out. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll want to downsize my place, and this will be the perfect way to figure out if that’s a possibility for me.”
Her eyes roamed over my face. “If you want to stay, I’ll get you booked in the house for Friday night. Why don’t we head back to the registration house to do that?”
“Works for me.”
Fifteen minutes later, I was in my car and on my way back to work. But there was no question I was feeling an overwhelming sense of excitement about what tomorrow night would bring.
TEN
Hanna
It was movie night.
I was beyond excited about the night ahead, but I was also feeling the nerves, too. My insides trembled at the thoughts I had, none of those thoughts even remotely close to being related to fear.
So, I knew the trembling was all about excitement and anticipation. And while this would normally make me worry, it didn’t this time. I had a feeling that had everything to do with the man I was looking forward to seeing so much.
Leo Webb, the man I was going to have to myself tonight.
Even if movie night was open for anyone else who was staying as a guest at Short and Sweet, I currently only had two couples here that were friends. About thirty minutes ago, I’d seen the four of them walk out to their vehicles, all dressed up. I could only assume they were leaving to head out for dinner and a night on the town. This wasn’t a big city, but Steel Ridge still offered plenty for people to do.
So, Leo was all mine tonight. I only hoped he’d be as excited about it as I was. Part of me believed I didn’t have anything to worry about, because Leo had made it clear he liked me.
I didn’t think I was reading too much into the things he’d done to indicate I was on his mind, even just a little. The fact he’d shown up here a couple of days ago, leaving work not long after he’d gotten there, was a pretty good first clue. But the notion that he might feel some sort of attraction to me was solidified when I caught him checking me out, and his gaze was lingering on my ass.
In the moment, I didn’t know how to react, so I simply didn’t. But seeing him looking at me like that had given me the biggest boost of confidence, and the look on his face had flashed through my mind several times since then.
That wasn’t the only thing I saw, though. Leo was quickly becoming a big distraction for me. Whether I was in the middle of paperwork or cleaning inside or keeping up with the grounds outside, I thought about him. If I was out running an errand or simply sitting down for a few minutes to catch up on my daily dose of the news—something I still hadn’t managed to give up—thoughts of Leo invaded my mind.
It didn’t matter if he wasn’t physically present. Leo still existed in so many of my thoughts throughout my day, and that was impossible to ignore.
I couldn’t get over how just the little bit of time and attention Leo put in had gotten me to this point. Had I really been holding myself back from experiencing something like this for so long for no reason at all? Or did this feel the way that it did because it was Leo who was making me feel this way?
As I was in the middle of having these revelations about Leo, my phone rang. When I looked at the display and saw his name on it, my stomach immediately sank.
