Sprinkled with Love

He turned to face her. He should tell her that he’d do it, but the words were stuck in the back of his throat. Of all the things she wanted, did it have to be this?

Jillian fidgeted with a silver ring on her middle finger. “I can tell by the look on your face that you’d rather have all of your teeth pulled out than do this.” Disappointment reflected in her eyes. “Don’t worry. You’re off the hook.”

“Is it really that important to you?”

She shrugged. “My mother RSVP’d that I’d be bringing someone.”

“Can’t you just tell them that you’ll be alone?”

She shook her head. “The wedding is this weekend. With it being this close, everything has been planned out. But don’t worry, it’s not your problem.”

It sure felt like his problem. He’d told her that he would do whatever she needed. “What happens if you go alone?”

“My mother has a fix for that. She wants to set me up with a friend’s son. Did I mention that most of her friends are much older than my mother and therefore their sons are much older than me?”

“Ouch. Sorry about that.” He supposed he could go for just a little bit. “But it won’t be a date?”

“What won’t be?”

He realized that he’d vocalized his thought. He cleared his throat. “I’ll go with you, but it won’t be a date.”

“But you don’t have to—”

“We aren’t going to have that conversation again, are we?”

Jillian smiled. “I suppose not. Thank you. And no, it’s not a date. You’ll just be my plus one.”

Plus one? He thought about it for a moment. It didn’t sound so bad. There were no romantic implications or anything.

His gaze met hers. “That’s me. The plus one.”

“Now that we have the details all worked out, how about we get started on the baking tomorrow evening? Because right now, I need to take Romeo home before my upset mother hunts us both down.”

When she stood up to take her now empty mug to the kitchen, Avery stepped forward and held out his hand. “I can take it.”

As she handed over the mug, their fingers touched. It sent the strongest sensation zinging up his arm. The fuzzy warm feeling settled in his chest before it emanated throughout his body. As their fingers continued to touch, his gaze met hers. Did she feel it too? She must have felt something or she wouldn’t be looking at him the way she did.

And just like that snowy night not so long ago, he wondered what it would be like to kiss her. His gaze dipped to her lips. They were glossy and tempting.

Why exactly had he waited this long to kiss her? At that particular moment, he couldn’t remember. Whatever his reason, it didn’t seem so important now.

His heart picked up its pace as he moved closer to her. All he could think about were her lips. It was time to put an end to all of the questions in his mind—

Thunk!

The sound of something falling drew Avery out of the spell Jillian had cast over him. All too soon, she withdrew her hand from his. Disappointment assailed him.

They both turned to find a stack of magazines from the coffee table had fallen to the floor. Romeo sat on the coffee table and stared down at the mess.

Avery cleared his now dry throat. “I’ll clean it up as soon as I take these to the kitchen.”

He moved to the kitchen and placed the mugs in the sink. He couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if the cat hadn’t interrupted them. Would Jillian have welcomed his kiss? It really bothered him that he’d never know.

Avery drew in a deep, calming breath and then returned to the living room. He was immediately greeted by unhappy meows. “What’s going on in here?”

Jillian held out the cat carrier. “Just to be sure that Romeo doesn’t pull another disappearing act tonight, my mother sent along his cat carrier. As you can tell, he’s not too fond of it.”

“Marshmallow doesn’t like those things either. She howls the whole way to the vet’s office.”