“Remember, I have first dibs?” Sandra muttered under her breath.
I softly shoved her.
“I’m serious,” she hissed under her breath.
“You came back,” I said, as he neared us. My heart was pounding in my chest. My intention was to ask him if there was a problem with the delivery, but just as he had yesterday, he caught my gaze and held it.
And I became completely enthralled. Every rational thought flew out of my head. Speechlessly, I stared into those mesmerizing eyes.
He watched me without blinking, as though he couldn’t look away either. I felt my skin begin to burn. I stood there totally lost, staring at him like an idiot, until Sandra stepped forward with her hand held out.
“I’m Sandra,” she introduced herself. “I run the shop with Willow.”
It took him about two seconds before he was able to drag his gaze away to respond to her, and something extremely warm began to pool at the pit of my stomach.
“I’m Caleb,” he said.
She gave him her best smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Caleb. How may I help you today?”
He returned his gaze to me as he held up a brown bag that he’d walked into the shop with. Incredible that I had not noticed it until now. “I have a cactus plant that needs repotting.”
“Ah,” she cooed. “Come with me, I’ll take care of you … I mean the cactus.”
By this point, I was wisely staring at the area behind him, rather than risk looking at him and losing myself in the vortex of his eyes. I recovered slowly. However, after Sandra’s offer of help, the room went strangely silent and tense and I dragged my gaze back to his.
“Could you help me?” he asked.
I frowned. Why was he asking me when Sandra had just offered her assistance? My gaze moved between his intensely beautiful eyes and Sandra’s startled ones.
“Um … uh,” I began. “Sandra would actually be the better person for this job … around here, she does the repotting and I stick to flower arrangements.”
“I forgot to mention I also need a custom bouquet. Could you help me with that?”
I chewed my bottom lip and glanced at Sandra. Her mouth was agape with surprise.
“Of course,” I said. My voice sounded hoarse and strange even to my own ears.
He turned around and handed the bag with the cactus to Sandra.
“Thank you,” he said to her.
Her reply was through gritted teeth. “No problem.”
As she stalked off to the back of the shop where repotting was done, I swallowed hard and, turning away from him, began to walk towards the small rows of wooden shelves where our flowers were displayed. “What do you have in mind?”
“I’m not sure,” he replied from behind me. His voice was quiet, almost thoughtful, and perhaps too near to me.
I took a deep breath, steeled my spine, and turned around to face him.
I was startled by how close to me he was. There was hardly a foot between us. He had thoroughly invaded my space, but the strange thing was I didn’t want to move away. As my gaze collided with his, my breath caught in my chest, and I felt as if I’d turned into stone.
To my surprise, I suddenly felt that total and complete sense of safety that I’d only ever known in my dreams envelop me. My mouth dropped open with astonishment and I just stared at him. God knows how long I stood there like some mindless goldfish gaping at him. It was only the sound of Sandra banging something so hard it reverberated all the way to the front of the shop that I was jolted out of my awkward trance and found my voice again.
“What’s the occasion?” I croaked.
“It’s just a present, of appreciation for my solicitor’s assistant.”
“More Red Magic Daylilies?” I asked, and I could feel an intense jealousy creep into my heart. I didn’t even want to admit it to myself, but I already hated the woman he had given the flowers to, unless, Sandra was right and that bouquet was for a female relative. I found myself holding my breath as I waited for his answer.
“No. That was not for her. That was for me,” he said softly.
I just about stopped myself from grinning from ear to ear with pure happiness. “Oh, okay. So what do you think she would like?”
He looked away towards the flowers to consider my question. I noticed then just how calm he appeared, and it made me feel like a fool. Here I was, unable to breathe, while he moved and acted as though haste or anxiety didn’t even exist in his dictionary. He slipped his hands into the pockets of his pants as his gaze moved across the floral displays in the small store.
I took my time too, and noticed the build of his body.