Page 15 of Dare To Kiss You
“You love me, and you know it. Now, tell me again about how he was your knight in shining police uniform. I swear, you two are living my secret crush fantasy.”
“I’mliving your fantasy? Having feelings for someone and obsessing over the fact they might not be returned? Girl, you’ve got issues.” I place the last ball of cookie dough on the sheet and put it in the oven. “Besides, since when do you keep secrets from me? Who’s keeping you up at night and why have you not told me?”
Lily’s eyes shift away from her screen. That’s odd. I was only joking, but it seems like I’ve landed on something.
“Lil?”
“I was just teasing you. There’s nobody. As if I could keep a secret from you.” Her laughter sounds way too forced, but I don’t push the issue. Not when I’m starting to panic that in twenty short minutes, the cookies will be done. Then I’ll have nothing left to delay this harebrained idea I had to take Hunter some home baked goodies as a thank you for helping me the other day.
“We’ll revisit that later. Right now, what the heck do I wear?”
“A trench coat with nothing underneath?”
“Seriously, Lily,” I groan. “Enough already. I’m not going over there for sex. I’m going to say thank you.”
“And I’m just saying the perfect thank youissex. Besides, it’s Christmas. Consider it your Christmas present to him as well.”
“I’m going to hang up now.”
Lily’s hand goes up in surrender. “Fine, fine, I’ll stop. As long as you promise to wear something just alittlebit sexy. Can’t hurt, can it?”
“Sometimes I wonder how we became best friends,” I say teasingly as I carry my phone down the hall to my bedroom.
“Easy. You tame my crazy side and I encourage your sassy side.”
A little while later, I’m chewing on my thumbnail and staring at a tin of cookies, trying to work up the courage to text Hunter.
You’d think asking him to the gala would have taken the edge off my nerves, but it hasn’t. If anything, him saying yes only made things worse. Because now I know there’s a chance he’s interested in me. A chance. Not confirmation, just a chance.
So, what if he thinks we’re just going as friends, when I want it to be more? With a sharp exhale, I press send on my message.
KAT: Hey, Hunter, it’s Kat. If you’re home, I wanted to drop off some Christmas cookies I baked as a thank you for helping me when my car broke down.
I’ve deleted and retyped it at least three times, trying to figure out how to not sound like a weirdo who happens to know he’s home because I can see his car in the driveway. Not that I’ve been checking obsessively for the last two hours while the cookies baked or anything.
It’s only been the last hour.
Yeah. Stalker mode engaged.
Almost immediately, I see those three dancing dots that mean he’s replying.
HUNTER: Hey Kitty Kat! Yeah I’m home. Come on over.
Well, okay then. Here goes nothing. I pull on my coat and boots, then pick up the box of cookies and trudge through the snow down my driveway and over to his, then along the shoveled path to his house.
When Hunter opens the front door and I see his huge grin, that dimple popping and his eyes twinkling, my nerves somehow disappear.
“Hi,” I say softly, holding out the box of cookies. “Thank you again for helping me the other day.” He goes to open his mouth and I hold my other hand up. “I know you’re going to say it was your job, but I’m still saying thank you. So just take the cookies, okay?”
“Only if you come in and eat some with me.”
My heart jumps. “Oh — okay.”
He stands back and I walk past him into his house. Despite being neighbors for a while now, I’ve never been inside.
As I pass, our bodies brush against each other and I get a hint of that unmistakable Hunter scent. Fresh and woodsy, all at the same time, and enough to stir up all kinds of pheromones in my body.
“Here, ah, make yourself comfortable. I’ll just…” Hunter drops his gaze as he bustles past me, straightening pillows and picking up a coffee cup that was on the table. His house is surprisingly clean, so I’m not exactly sure why he thinks he needs to tidy up.
