Page 49 of Melt His Heart

“Oh great! I thought you’d say no, and then I’d have to third wheel with Sam and his wife.” He says, and we both laugh.

“I’m sure you, of all people, could get a date,” I mumble shyly as we’re arriving at the location I gave him.

“Yeah, but I want you to be my date.” He responds, stopping the car and gazing at me. Carson reaches over, wraps his hand around the back of my neck gently, and pulls me closer to him, kissing my cheek lightly.

“Have a good class, love. Let me know if you want me to pick you up later.” He whispers into my ear, and great now my body wants to stay exactly where we are. I’ve forgotten all about the class as I nod up at him. A tempting silence hangs in the air between us for a while before Carson breaks it, “You should probably get going.”

“Right.” I say softly, “I definitely should.”

Before I climb on top of him.

Get it together, Julian.

* * *

When I get to the class, Liam and Kevin have a few other students, and they’re well underway with making their arrangements. Now I feel like a complete idiot for arriving so late. Liam walks over to me and gives me a little hug.

“I’m so glad you came!” He says, thank god, he doesn’t seem upset.

“No. I’m so sorry for being late!”

“Oh gosh, Julian, you’re literally fine! I know how busy you are with practice. It’s amazing that you made it out. Means a lot to us.” He grins.

“I’m glad I made it too. Everyone’s work looks so beautiful.” I glance around the room, attendees fiddling with their arrangements, the lush scent of fresh flowers fill the small space.

“Yeah, let’s get you started, actually.” He smiles.

The class is being held at a recreational center where Liam and Kevin hold monthly, sometimes weekly, classes on floral arrangements for beginners, depending on their schedule, Liam says. I missed the first few, but I promised I would come to at least one this month.

They have tons of stalks set up in buckets around the room. I feel like I’m in heaven; there’s every flower I can think of right here at my fingertips. I walk up to the buckets and start to choose my stems for my arrangement. I think I want to use peonies; they’re my favorite flower.

Liam comes over after I’m done picking all the stems I want to use; he catches me up to speed on what he’s already taught the class. Kevin is doing his rounds in the room when he finally gets to me as I’m starting on my bouquet.

“Oooo, you picked some good ones.” He says, “Glad you could make it too!”

“Yeah, me too. Thank you, guys, for having me. Sorry, I was late.” I smile.

“No, you’re good, Liam told me how busy you are with skating. It’s like having a famous person in our class.” He laughs, and I shake my head. Me? Famous? No, I mean back home, I did a few endorsements and magazine features, but nothing too crazy. I haven’t made it there yet, and I’m not sure that’s something I want to do. It was a nerve-wracking experience.

“You’re so crazy.” I laugh.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it.” I nod, and he walks over to another table of students.

The rest of the class goes by super fast, I mean, Liam did say it’s only about a little over an hour, and I was behind, so it felt even faster. But I was able to make a really beautiful arrangement, I think, and I can’t wait to show Carson.

After all the students are packed up and heading out, I start to help Liam clean up the room, “Aww, Julian, you don’t have to!” He says.

“No, I really want to. Besides, I didn’t really get to chat with you.”

I think I’m starting to become ok with admitting I was hoping we’d get to chat. The class was just so busy. I didn’t want to distract him from everyone else.

“That’s true! So how’s things been going with your guy?”

“My guy?” I repeat.

“The guy you had asked me about before.” He tilts his head.

Oh, right, I definitely did ask him for advice about Carson back at home. It felt like so long ago that I completely forgot I shared that, “right! Oh, we’re great. I mean, he sorta confessed.”