Daniel grinned and reached into Avery’s pocket, pulling out a mint. With a wink, he slid it between her lips. “She told me later she couldn’t decide if she was more worried about me being a closet clown or having bad breath.”
“Halitosis,” she corrected, making us all laugh. “When I’m nervous, I eat mints. By the time Daniel kissed me, I had eaten twelve in less than thirty minutes. I only had one to spare in case I needed it for him.” She glanced at him, love blazing in her eyes. “But he was perfect.”
Daniel stroked her cheek. “She’s the perfect one.” Then he smiled at me. “We’ve been together ever since.”
“I love that! What a great story.”
Avery smiled. “And you guys?”
I smiled. “I got lost…” I trailed off, meeting Noah’s intense gaze. “And he found me,” I finished.
Noah lifted my hand and kissed it. “And I’ll never let her go.”
Chapter Twenty
Dani
Three weeks later
Noah turned his head at the sound of the door opening, his face breaking into that smile. The one he had only for me. Warm, brilliant, and so wide, his eyes crinkled at the corners. He came out from behind the counter, his arms opening, pulling me close and nuzzling the top of my head. “Hey,” he murmured. “I missed you. How was your day?”
I grinned up at him. “It’s been four hours, Noah.”
He dropped a kiss on my cheek. “Four long ones. I made you lunch.”
“Good. I’m starving.”
He drew me to the deserted restaurant, lifting the bag off my shoulder. “How’d it go?”
“Good.”
He placed a sandwich in front of me. “Got some things to show me?”
I smiled. He was always so anxious to look at my drawings or see if I’d brought home one of the bits of pottery I’d started making. I was still shy showing him since I was so out of practice, but I was proud of today’s pieces. I reached into my bag and dug out the set of bowls I’d made. Swirls of emerald-green, gold, and brown decorated the surfaces, the edges fluted and smooth.
“Dani, these are gorgeous,” he stated, lifting one up to examine it. “What a great design.”
“It reminds me of your eyes,” I admitted.
“Yeah?” He grinned.
I nodded. “When you’re happy, the green glows so vividly. If you’re close enough, you can see the flecks of gold and brown around your pupils.”
He leaned over, kissing my lips. “You’d be the only one close enough for that, Sprout.” Pushing my plate closer, he smiled. “Eat.”
He examined the bowl some more, running his long fingers over the pattern I’d created as I tucked into my sandwich.
“Mrs. Norton said I should make some more pieces using the same pattern.”
He nodded. “She’s right. It’s unique and really eye-catching.” He winked at me, and I giggled at his subtle joke.
Then he became serious. “You could sell these.”
“No, I couldn’t.” I scoffed. “Who’d buy a pottery bowl I made?”
“A lot of people.”
“You said the same thing about my watercolors. You’re biased, Noah.”
He shook his head. “Callie and my mom agree. You have an amazing eye, Dani. This could be your direction.”
“My direction?”
“I have a nice area in the back garden. We could build a studio. You could paint, draw—even do your pottery if you wanted.”
“And?”
“Sell it in the store. We were talking about that a few weeks ago. Adding some local artists to the one corner—letting them sell their wares. We’d move the store merchandise around during the off-season to fit it in. You could be one of them.”
“You think I should paint and do pottery as what…my job?”
He winked at me. “And bake for the restaurant. Maybe we could sell some of those cookies you made last week in the store as well. I bet they’d go fast.”
I pushed away my plate. “That’s it, isn’t it? You want me here. You’re trying to find ways for me to stay here.”
He didn’t even look ashamed at being caught. “Yes.”
I swallowed, forcing the words out. “I’m supposed to go back to work soon.”
He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. “Is that what you want, Dani? Do you want to return to SB Corp? Leave me and go back to the life you had? Working all the time, so stressed you let your body start to fall apart? Chained to your desk, alone all the time?” He waited a moment. “Well?”
I stared at him, surprised. He’d never been so blunt or direct, and he’d never used that cool voice before now—I didn’t like it, but it made me think.
I thought about returning to work and what it would mean. It only took another moment for my reaction. My heart sped up, and my hands clenched at the thought of leaving here—leaving him. Walking in the doors of that high-rise building so early every day. It was dark when I arrived and dark again when I finally left at night. The endless hours spent there and nothing else in my life. No Noah—no warm glances and gentle caresses. No solid shoulder to lean on when I was tired. No understanding glances when I needed to talk. Only emptiness.