“Stop talking,” he says and crosses to me, wraps his arm around my low back, and pulls me to him. “I’m staying, Brooke. I don’t know what this is exactly, but I feel it all the way to my bones, and I’m not willing to leave until we figure it out.”
“Oh.” I swallow hard, watching his mouth. “Okay.”
“Are we on the same page?”
I nod, unable to say anything more when I’m pressed body-to-body with him. He brushes his lips to mine in a chaste, but still hot, kiss, and then backs away.
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
My fingers are still on my lips when I hear the screen door close behind him.
Chapter Six
~Brooke~
For the past three days, Brody and I have spent time together at the shop, delivered flowers, and stolen kisses here and there, whenever we found time alone.
Which, to my chagrin, hasn’t been as much as I’d like.
He’s had to spend time at the hotel in the evenings, working on his regular job, since I’m monopolizing so much of his days.
Part of me thinks I should feel a bit guilty for that, but I just can’t bring myself to. I’m enjoying him, more than I expected.
Brody and I were friends when we were kids. We always got along well, and if I said I never had even a tiny crush on him, I’d be lying. But I was a young girl, and before I knew it, Brody stopped being my friend.
And then he was gone.
But I’ve quickly learned over the past few days that the young man I enjoyed so much is still there. Not only that, but he’s grown into a sexy, kind, smart man, and it seems my body is more than a little hot for him.
I haven’t felt tingles in my nether regions like this in, well, ever.
Brody Chabot is potent.
“How many of these are we doing?” Brody asks, pulling me out of my sexy reverie.
“Nine,” I reply, then laugh at his look of shock. “This bride has nine bridesmaids. I already finished the bride’s bouquet last night.”
“You worked late?” he asks.
“Oh yeah, it was Thursday. I always work late into the night on Thursdays and Fridays in the summer. Saturdays are always booked up with weddings, and they take extra care and time.”
“I offered to stay and help,” Micah reminds me, his eyes pinned to the boutonniere that he’s painstakingly putting together.
“You need rest too,” I remind him. “Plus, you help me out a lot by spending all day on Fridays here.”
“If I wasn’t taking college classes this summer, I’d work full time,” he says and then shrugs apologetically. “But you’re the one who insisted I take the stupid classes.”
“Because you’re brilliant and that’s what you should be doing,” I reply, setting the finished bridesmaid bouquet aside and immediately starting the next. “I’ve thought about hiring weekend help.”
“I have a friend who could use the work,” Micah says, looking up at me now. “She’s my age, she’s smart and reliable. I can vouch for her.”
“Have her drop in to talk to me,” I suggest and smile at the sweet boy. Micah’s been with me for a year and a half now, and frankly, I don’t know what I’ll do when he goes away to college.
“Cool. She needs the money. Her dad’s a jerk.”
I feel Brody stiffen beside me, but he doesn’t say anything. Micah takes the box of finished boutonnieres to the cooler.
“You okay?” I ask Brody.
“Fine. Who chooses sweet peas for their wedding flowers?”
I laugh up at him. “That’s what the bride wanted. They are a challenge, though, because they’re fragile. Much more so than roses or peonies. But these should be fine for tomorrow.”
“What happens after we do these?” he asks. He steps back, crosses his arms over his chest as he examines his handiwork, then returns to it, tweaking it just a bit.
My God, I want to climb him. He just fits here, tall and sexy, and frowning a bit as he concentrates on getting the bouquet exactly so.
I wonder if this is the look on his face when he’s designing bridges.
“These will go in the cooler, and then we take the heartier flowers to the venue to decorate the space. The whole space. It’ll be a late night for us, but I love it so much.”
“I’m fine with that,” he says with a grin. “Everyone’s out of my office for the weekend, so I’m all yours.”
All mine.
If only.
I admit that I don’t just like Brody. I’m falling hard and fast, very fast, for him. I can’t help it.
“Well, good, because I have plenty of work for you.”
“Tell me what you love about weddings.”
“What’s not to love?” I ask with a chuckle. “Maisey and I have loved them since we were little, which is convenient, given the professions each of us chose.”