I wonder if Colt is thinking about last night too, or if he's already forgotten about our unexpected sleepover. Maybe for him it was just an inconvenience. Just a weird situation with his hippie-witch neighbor that he'll laugh about later.
But the way he looked at me when I touched his knee suggests otherwise. There was heat there.
A desire that matched my own.
7
Colt
Although I haven't spokenin person to my curvy neighbor since our night in the walk-in storage room, we have exchanged several friendly waves during the week, which is an improvement from our previous norm. Well, to be honest, Serena was always the friendly one, and I was always the resistant responder to her bubbly waves and greetings.
The following Saturday, Tessa helps me at the Farmers Market for several hours, giving me more freedom to steal glances of the voluptuous witch I've finally admitted to myself who I have a crush on. When we have a moment of quiet, the teen giggles and says, "Damn. You have it bad."
"What?" I glance at her, pulling my eyes away from watching my neighbor help a customer.
"You keep looking over at Serena. I've caught you several times today. You've got it bad," the teenager says in all her worldly wisdom.
Feeling my cheeks catch fire for being so obvious, I brush it off. "Remember, she and I are sharing a booth next weekend. I just like seeing that she has regular customers, is all."
Tessa snorts, but whatever thought pops into her mind, she keeps to herself.
On the day of the Harvest Festival, it's just Serena and me at the booth. Tessa is helping her family with the pumpkin patch and petting zoo. When Goldie first mentioned allowing more outside vendors to take part, I wasn't sure how I felt about that. But after the day Serena and I have had with sales, I now realize the genius in the manager's plan.
When the festival ends before dinner, the two of us slowly pack up our booth as throngs of visitors make their way to their cars. Standing in front of our setup, I begin taking down my signs while Serena boxes the handful of teas she has left over. A man who appears to have had too many pumpkin ales shuffles by, stops, and looks over at us, reading the signs with squinting eyes. When he reads Serena's tea signs, he snorts.
"A witch... A bitch of a witch. I should have known I'd see this shit if I visited Corvid Valley. Fucking California," the drunk spits out while slurring.
My head fills with an angry buzzing, and I jump down from my stool, hovering over the drunk piece-of-shit.
"This is Corvid Valley, and we don't put up with that bigoted bullshit, you stupid fuck."
The man gives me a weak smile, flips me off, and then walks off with a drunken sway.
Turning, I find Serena standing directly behind me, looking at me with an expression on her face I have never witnessed before. The next thing I know, her arms are looped around my neck, and she pulls herself up, smashing her lips against mine. Going with it, I wrap my arms around her, feeling her brieflymelt into me until her body stiffens, and she jumps back, her hand slapping across her mouth.
Staring at her, my head continues to buzz while my lips feel like an electric fire just consumed them.
"Shit. I'm so sorry," Serena says, her gorgeous brown eyes wide.
"I'm not," I say, grabbing her hand and pulling her to me.
The curvy witch looks up at me, her gaze bouncing between my eyes and lips, then she rises on her tiptoes as I lean in, capturing her mouth with mine. My entire body swirls with an electric heat as our kiss deepens, and I'm only pulled away when I hear a squeaky wheel pass by, followed by a familiar giggle.
"I totally knew it," Tessa says when we look over at her as she pushes a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins.
My face burns with embarrassment, but I don't let go of Serena's hand. If anything, I pull her closer to my side, feeling protective in a way that surprises me.
"Tessa," Serena says, her voice breathless. "We were just..."
"Finally kissing?" the teen grins. "About time. You two have been doing this weird dance around each other for months."
I clear my throat, trying to regain some composure. "Shouldn't you be helping your family with the pumpkin patch?"
"I am helping. I'm delivering these to the parking lot for loading," she says, gesturing to her wheelbarrow. "But this is way more interesting than pumpkins."
Serena squeezes my hand, and I feel that electric jolt again. Even with Tessa standing there grinning like she just won the lottery, I can't focus on anything except the way my neighbor's lips are still slightly swollen from our kiss and how she keeps glancing at my mouth.
"We should probably finish packing up," I say, though the last thing I want to do is let go of her hand.
