“My partner is perfect,” Jensen said gruffly, glancing over at Willow.
She nodded to him.
If she had wanted to not be seen with him, she should have been more thoughtful about this. Every eye in the vicinity seemed to be on them now. But it was too late to turn back.
At least he didn’t let them say I was a weakling,she thought with satisfaction.
Jensen grinned at her, and they kept moving. She tried to keep her eyes on the path between them and her booth to avoid another disaster. They managed to survive a near-miss with one of the ladies carrying in supplies for the hot chocolate stand, and though her muscles were burning, Willow felt good.
Just when they had almost reached the area with the stage, a lady came in with a little girl who seemed like she might be kindergarten age.
The little girl spotted the bench floating in the air and her eyes lit up.
Before Willow could say a word, the little girl was running for them.
“Yay,”the girl yelled, hopping onto the bench midair.
“Hallie,” the mom yelled.
Willow barely managed to hang on. Jensen met her eyes, and they lowered the bench gently to the concrete floor.
“You can’t do that, Hallie,” the mom said worriedly before turning to Willow. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Willow told her. “She’s so cute.”
“Thank you,” the mother said. “Come on, sweetheart.”
“Bye,” Hallie yelled to them with a big grin on her face as her mom dragged her away.
Willow met Jensen’s eyes. He was smiling at her with real warmth.
“You okay?” he asked. “I know this thing is super heavy. We can take a break if you want.”
“Itisreally heavy,” she admitted, laughing. “And my arms might be aching just a little bit. But we’re almost at the finish line. I can take it.”
They lifted the bench together, not needing a countdown this time, and she couldn’t help noticing that they moved in synch with the thing now, almost like they were doing a training march.
Before she knew it, they had placed the bench at the back of her booth, right where she wanted it.
“Thank you,” she said, straightening and rubbing her hands.
“Are your hands numb?” he asked, quirking a brow.
“Yes,” she admitted. “Yours?”
“A little bit,” he said, nodding.
There was just the tiniest beat of tension between them again. Willow knew for her it was all about hercrush. But she had no idea what it meant for Jensen. Maybe she was just imagining the whole thing.
“Well, thank you again,” she told him, trying not to meet his eyes.
They moved back to their respective spaces, and she decided to call the hospital to see about a supply donation.
I just need a little distraction,she told herself.It’s definitely getting easier to be around him.
But as the main office picked up, she happened to turn in Jensen’s direction.
He was gazing at her thoughtfully, a funny little smile pulling up the corners of his mouth.
