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She snickers. “Don’t you worry about what’s on my bed.”
“Impossible. My curiosity is piqued,” he drawls. He gestures at the camera. “What’s that for?”
“Oh, Piney Peaks always looks so pretty after it snows, so I thought I’d take some pictures for our database. Productions won’t come if they don’t know what we have to offer.” She holds the camera and pretends to snap a picture. “Click! Spotted in the wild: a New Yorker acclimatizing to the magic of a small town and unwillingly enchanted by local toy shop.”
His neck gets hot. “Quit it. You’re encouraging the ogling.”
“Hmm.” She brings one hand to her forehead, shading her eyes and scanning their surroundings. “Nope. Don’t see any ogling going on here. You’re not as interesting as you think.”
Ves tuts. “There you go, lying again. You think I’m fascinating.”
She throws her head back and laughs but doesn’t deny it. At the hollow of her throat, her tiny cursive E sparkles. “You beat Bentley and helped us win trivia once, and now you’re so full of it. By the way, you do realize Riley wasn’t kidding, right? If you aren’t with us next trivia night, he will show up at your house.”
A vision of the blond team captain trying to drag Ves out the door floods his mind. Maybe the whole team will crowd his doorstep, Elisha cackling in the background as he’s swept to the pub. He mentally swipes away the image. “But your team is full.”
“Well, as it turns out, Adhira would rather spend her Friday nights with her husband, Sam, and their daughter, so... looks like we have an opening. I mean, it’s up to you. It’s just twice a month, and obviously, we’ll be on the lookout for someone to join us in the new year, but until then, we could spend some—I mean, you could have some fun. Get out of the house before you get old and creaky.”
A commitment of just a couple more game nights? He can do that, can’t he?
Her eyes take on an evil glint. “Unless it would cut into your reading time,” she says sweetly.
Thank god she doesn’t know he’d been more focused on her than the words in front of him that night. Ves clears his throat, relieved, and mentally congratulates himself for having the wherewithal to play it so cool. “I’ll think about it,” he says.
“Awesome,” she says brightly. Then, “You know, I wasn’t expecting you to join in the fun at the party last night. Not that I’m complaining—watching you win was pretty hot.”
“Pretty hot?” he echoes.
“Scorching.”
His mouth forms around the word, barely stopping himself in time.
As though she hasn’t just sent all the blood rushing straight to his cock, she asks, “Can you wait here just a second? I need to run in really quick.” She squeezes his arm like it’ll anchor him in place and slips inside the toy shop. She doesn’t seem to realize he’d do whatever she wanted right then, just because she was the one to ask.
Through the glass he sees her pick up the bear she’d been admiring, take it to the register, and hand over a credit card. It’s only a couple of minutes before she’s back, toting the bear in a sparkly red gift bag stuffed with silver snowflake tissue and gently swinging it while they start to walk.
“Thanks for waiting. Want to grab lunch? I did promise to treat you one day.”
He is pretty hungry. “Yeah, okay,” he agrees. “Did you buy a companion for your bear?”
“Oh, no. It’s for the Chocolate Mouse’s toy drive. We have this big Giving Tree and on Christmas Eve my parents throw another party for the whole town and any of the kids can take a toy. There’s usually a lot of swaps, and a ton of wrapping paper strewn everywhere later,” she says with a tiny wince, “but that’s part of the fun. Everyone deserves a present.”
Ves typically writes a check to the children’s hospital and area food banks back home, but it feels so impersonal compared to what they do here. When he’s back in the city, he resolves to donate his time, too. Maybe become a Big Brother or offer a scholarship to someone who wants to study English in college.
“That’s really nice, Elisha. I’d love to contribute.” Belatedly, he realizes it’s come out as a statement and not a question, and he rapidly worries he overstepped. “I mean, if that’s okay,” he tacks on.
“Of course it’s okay! It’s more than okay!” Her eyebrow is doing something weird, like she’s puzzling out why he thinks it wouldn’t be? “Just something to keep in mind, most of the kids are under twelve, but honestly, anything is appreciated. And don’t wrap it beforehand! We do it at the store. Oh, here’s my car.”
She stops at a red Chevrolet, an old model that’s clearly been well maintained, squished between two fancier cars on the slushy street. “Want to just drop your stuff in the trunk before we head to lunch? I can drive you home after.”
Home. The word makes him feel a little funny. “Sure.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ves
Elisha takes him to a cute little hole-in-the-wall bistro, the kind that wouldn’t stay secret for long in the city. Concrete floors, iron barstool seating, and huge Edison bulbs dangling from the exposed rafters. The server, wearing both a rainbow and a trans flag pin, leads them past a wall plastered with flyers advertising local bands and karaoke nights, seating them right at the window.
“So, running into you was a happy coincidence, but I did have an ulterior motive in asking you to lunch,” says Elisha. She waits a beat until he nods at her to continue.
