I swallowed all of them down and smiled instead. “From your mouth to the universe’s ears,” I said lightly. “Maybe if I post enough behind-the-scenes shots, a studio will manifest itself.”
“I’ll build it,” he said. “Whenever you’re ready.”
Warmth fizzed through me as my throat tightened. “Deal.”
Time slipped away.
We drifted from bridal spreads to travel books to a collection of vintage ads that made us both snort-laugh. He told me about the Nerd Night campaign—how their horses kept nearly dying and Brody kept looting cursed objects—and I offered my very serious professional opinion that their characters needed more capes and tighter leather pants.
Winnie barreled over at one point, backpack on, Selene shrugging into her coat behind her.
“Are you and Wes on a date?” she asked, blunt as only a kid can be, eyes flicking between us and our shared book and the two empty coffee cups on the table.
“Kind of.”
“Uh, no,” I said, my words stumbling over his, entirely too fast. Heat shot into my cheeks so fast it was dizzying. “We’re just hanging out.”
Wes smiled into his last sip of coffee as Selene’s eyes widened.
Winnie considered this, then nodded sagely. “Okay. It just looks like a date,” she said. “Bye!”
She skipped away before I could respond. Selene mouthedWe’ll talk laterand waggled her eyebrows as she herded her daughter toward the door.
I stared at the page in front of me without seeing any of it.
Kind of? What does that even mean?
We look like a couple.
We felt like one too—sharing a couch, trading quiet jokes, him refilling my coffee when I got distracted, his thigh pressed along mine like it lived there.
Dangerous. It was all so dangerously easy.
When I checked the time on my phone, I nearly dropped it. “We’ve been here an hour,” I groaned. “This was supposed to be a ten-minute stop.”
“Guess we got distracted,” Wes said, bumping my shoulder with his.
My eyes narrowed on him. “What did you mean bykind of?”
Wes’s eyes sparkled with a playful glint. “Caught that, did you?”
I bit back a smile. He was frustrating when he was moody, but when he was playful? Downright infuriating.
“We should talk about this.” I crossed my arms, pouting because I was reeling and he was smiling at me with that cocky grin that melted my insides.
He snorted as he stood and held out my coat. “Whenever you’re ready, Duchess.”
I shook my head and stood. We pulled on our coats and stepped back out into Star Harbor.
Dusk had slid in while we weren’t watching. The snowbanks along the street glowed blue in the fading light, streetlamps flicking on one by one, little halos of gold fuzzing the edges of our breath as it puffed into the air.
Wes automatically eased to the outside of the sidewalk, between me and the street, just like he had once before. Some old reflex of his—protective and unthinking.
This time I didn’t joke about it.
I just slid my hand into the crook of his arm, fingers hooking lightly around his biceps. He glanced down, then back up, a warm smile flickering across his face. Whatever he saw in mine seemed to answer it. His arm relaxed a fraction, his hand brushing against my hip with every step.
My throat went tight.If this is what our ordinary looks like, I want it. I want Tuesday coffee runs and farm visits and himwalking me down Main Street like it’s the most normal thing in the world.