I batted her away but couldn’t help laughing when she did the same. “Get out of here.”
“Oh, if you plan to use candles, keep them away from Charlie’s tail. He might be able to breathe fire but he isn’t fire-resistant.”
“Charlie will be fine,” I said with an exasperated sigh. “And thanks. You’ve been a huge help.”
“Have fun,” she threw back over her shoulder, reaching for the front doors as she did. “Don’t do anything I would do.”
I shook my head again and watched her go, doing my best to ignore the butterflies in my stomach and the very small window of time I had left to finish up for tonight.
One hour down, seven hours to go.
So long as I didn’t get bombarded with new customers or folks looking for Cassidy, I’d be able to finish before she walked in the back of the shop.
Time to have some fun.
Chapter Sixteen
Charlie, as my sister liked to call him, was the absolute pinnacle of decorations. Getting him to fit just right on the ceiling took a ton of thumbtacks and more time than I’d care to count. But it was done, and as he looked down on me with his big golden eyes, I shivered with anticipation. Some folks liked to sleep under the stars, but tonight? Tonight, Cassidy and I would sleep under the mouth of a dragon.
It was silly and lame all at the same time and exactly the kind of thing I would’ve loved if she’d done it for me. I only hoped she’d feel the same way. Of course, if Charlie did freak her out, there were plenty of other places we could hide inside the store, including the front lounge once I closed up for the night.
There were other decorations as well, from the lights woven along the edge of the stairs to the dozen candles I’d strategically placed on each of the shelves inside the tower.
Not knowing what she was planning to bring, I’d made sure to pack an extra set of blankets on my ride in this morning.
Standing in the doorway, I took a moment to admire my handiwork. I truly loved this room, and considering how much time Cassidy spent in the tower, she did as well. And after tonight, there will be one more happy memory inside this shop.
It’d been a long time since I’d had something to look forward to, not including Cassidy’s almost-daily visits.
When the butterflies in my stomach grew too large for me to stand, I took a deep breath, then returned to my place in the lower level of the store. Fortunately, it’d been a rather slow day. Bad for the business, but fortunate because it gave me some time to clear my hear.
The nerves, however, never stopped. From the moment I drove in this morning to the second I locked the front door, my stomach churned with nerves. I honestly wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but just the thought of spending more time with Cassidy had my stomach doing somersaults around my ankles.
As always, Cassidy arrived just in time, her tiny knock on the back door sending my heart rate into overdrive as I finished counting out the register for the day.
“Did ya miss me?” she asked in a cheerful voice, throwing her arms around me once she dropped her overnight bag inside the door.
“Always.” I kissed her on the cheek and sunk in her embrace.
This was what I needed. This was what I’d been waiting for all day—not her staying over for the night, not cuddling in the tower, but this—her arms around me and her chest pressed close to mine. I could almost feel her heart beat next to mine, its rhythmic beat just as erratic as my own.
“So, I was thinking we could order in,” Cassidy said, kissing me on the lips before drawing us apart to meet my gaze. “Unless you’ve already got something planned, that is.”
“No plans,” I told her, taking her hand in mine before she could take her things up to the tower. “You can just leave those there for now.”
“Still not letting me go up there, huh?” She cocked an eyebrow at me and smiled the same mouthwatering smile she’d given me the day she walked inside my shop.
“It’s for later,” I said, taking a breath when she finally turned away from the stairs. “You wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise, would you?”
“I can’t imagine what you’d have up there that I haven’t seen already.”
“And you’ll get no more hints from me.”
She crossed her arms over her chest with a huff but her straight face only lasted so long. In the next moment, she leaned into me and kissed the sensitive spot behind my ear, smiling when it sent a shiver down my spine.
“What if I persuaded you?” she asked, her voice low.
I swallowed. Hard. “Not until after dinner,” I said again, clenching my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering.