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And six o’clock couldn’t come around fast enough. I finished some accounts at work, put in more stock orders before I shut everything down and locked up. I picked up some pasta and garlic bread on the way home for dinner, even grabbed a bottle of wine.
Yep.
So much for not getting too invested. I was well and truly in over my head.
I was fixing my hair in the mirror and telling myself not to get too carried away at ten to six when there was a knock on my door. A quick glance through the peephole showed me a nervous-smiling Linden and I pulled the door open.
“Hey.”
He sighed when he saw me, then threw his arms around me, his face in my neck. “Hey,” he mumbled.
I managed to shove the door closed, and then I just held him. For a few seconds, just with our arms around each other. He was on his toes, so I picked him up and gave him a bit of a squeeze before setting him down. He smelled amazing. He felt even better.
“I was trying to play it cool,” he said. Then he slid his hand up to my face. “But then I saw you.” He leaned up on his tiptoes again, this time so he could kiss me. A soft, slow press of his lips.
“I’ve been trying to play it cool too,” I admitted. Then I pinched his chin between my thumb and forefinger. I scanned his eyes, then took in every detail of his face. “Christ, look at you,” I mumbled before kissing him again. Deeper this time, lips parted.
He chuckled. “Something in here smells good.”
Oh, right.
I took a step back. “Dinner is warming in the oven,” I said. “Come on in.”
I showed him my very basic living room, my boring kitchen. “Ooh, Elizabeth is looking happy by the window,” he said, lightly touching the leaves. “And Sebastian.”
“You can see what I mean about needing a makeover though, right?” I said, gesturing to the couch and old coffee table.
He met my gaze. “This is all fine,” he offered. “But yes. Yes, I can.”
I laughed. “Oh, before I forget. I made you this.”
I took the paper flower and handed it to him.
He sucked back a quiet breath and set the flower in the palm of his hand. “Keats, it’s so pretty. You made this one too?”
I nodded. “Google is my friend. Well, actually, Lina found the design and printed it off for me.”
He gently touched the petal. “What kind is it?”
“A white hyacinth. It meansloveliness. Because that’s what you are.”
His eyes met mine. “It’s . . . perfect.”
My heart was about to burst out of my chest. The frantic thrumming was making me a little lightheaded.
I needed to change the subject.
“Oh, dinner is a roasted vegetable linguine and garlic bread. I’d like to claim that I made it, but we’d both know I was lying. I got it from Alberto’s.”
He rubbed his stomach. “Sounds perfect. I’m actually kinda hungry.”
But then he stood there and stared, and I stared right back. Not sure how to bring up the boyfriend conversation but desperately wanting to, and I was pretty sure he wanted to mention it too. “If you’re hungry, we should eat...”
He nodded, and setting the table gave us something to do. There was a definite elephant in the room, but it was an excited, nervous elephant.
When we had the food in the middle of the table and plates set, I held up a wine glass. “I have some pinot noir, if you want one?”
He smiled as he sat. “Sure.”
