“How about ice cream tonight?” I asked as we stood outside of the large window of the coffee shop.
“Sure. Text me when you’re off shift.”
I nodded and glanced through the window, catching the women staring again. I started to lean forward, intent on kissing her on the cheek, but before I could, she popped up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips quickly against mine.
It was a chaste brush of her lips, but it awakened every nerve ending in my body.
She smiled. “See you later, Mountain Man.”
I stood stock still as she turned and walked away. The need to really kiss her penetrated deep, and I cursed under my breath.
She wasn’t ready to date, I reminded myself, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure I was either. If I said it enough, eventually it would sink in.
Chapter Seventeen
VIOLET
As I expected,the arson investigator had nothing useful to tell us other than to start back at the beginning. So Dylan and Aiden had started canvassing again and I’d watched hours upon hours of video footage. This would be my life for the foreseeable future, or until we found something.
Thankfully, I could leave for the night and go get ice cream with Seth. I smiled thinking about earlier at the coffee shop. The surprise on his face when I’d given him a quick kiss. I’d seen him noticing the women looking at us, and I’d just assumed he was leaning in to kiss me. But then he’d stared back at me in surprise…and something else I couldn’t discern.
Oh well. Hopefully, I hadn’t made things awkward.
I continued through the police station and out the door that led to the sidewalk. I glanced both ways before spotting Seth leaning against the front of his car a few spots away. He looked up and sent me a smirk. One I wasn’t sure I’d seen yet.
Actually, that was a lie. It was similar to the one he’d given me at dinner Saturday night when Ashley asked me why I hadn’t just climbed down the ladder.
“You ready?”
I nodded. “I’m always ready for ice cream.”
He grunted and opened the passenger door. Nothing felt awkward, thankfully. And the playlist he’d made me was already playing from his car’s speakers. I smiled thinking about him listening to it even when I wasn’t in the car with him.
He pulled out into traffic and glanced over at me. “Do you get the same thing or change it up?”
“I am definitely a mood ice cream eater.” That new coffee drink I’d ordered earlier made me want something with caramel. “I’ll probably get their salted caramel.”
He chuckled. “That doesn’t surprise me since you ordered that brown sugar caramel latte today. Are you a pumpkin spice girl too?”
Wow. He literally didn’t miss anything. Was he that observant with everyone else or just me? “Will you think less of me if I said yes?”
“Not at all.” He lifted his hand from the steering wheel and pinched his thumb and forefinger together, almost but not quite touching. “Well, maybe a little tiny bit.”
I rolled my eyes. Silence followed, and I was surprised I didn’t feel the need to fill it with useless chatter. Maybe because I was starting to understand he liked lulls in conversation. That just sitting and listening to music, or being in a big group,observing and listening, felt more like his speed, so I didn’t need to constantly find things to talk about.
It was…refreshing. Almost relaxing.
I sat back and closed my eyes listening to “Feel Like This” by Abra. Some of the songs he picked I wouldn’t have thought I’d like, but I actually did.
I still hadn’t gotten over that he made me a playlist. I glanced over at him, studying him, and wondering again what his story was.
“How come you’re still single?” tumbled from my lips without much thought.
His back went ramrod straight.Shit. Whatever it was, it didn't seem like something he wanted to talk about.
But then he sighed, and his shoulders relaxed just a bit. “I had a girlfriend in Charlotte.”
Was that part of the reason he moved here? “What happened?”
