Page 10 of Once Smitten, Twice Shy

“Will?” she presses, her smile faltering.

Shit, I’ve been staring, probably weirding her out. I clear my throat. “Sorry. I…um, twelve ounces. Please. And thank you.”

Her smile returns. “Twelve, it is.”

I watch her as she deftly operates the machine, trying and failing to think of what to say. It isn’t that I don’t have things to say, questions to ask—I just never know where to begin, what’s the right first move.Overwhelmeddoesn’t begin to cover it.

“Here we are,” she says, turning with my mug and hers, which is now also full and steaming. “Just going to help myself to a little creamer.” She walks past me to the fridge, drags open the door, and holds it with her elbow.

I take a step and reach for the door to hold it for her.

She blinks up at me, clutching the creamer. “Oh.” A smile lifts her mouth. “Thanks.”

“Mm-hmm,” I manage.

Mm-hmm? That’s the best you can do?

I shut my eyes and grimace as she pours a hefty glug of some kind of flavored cream into her mug.

Anxiety seeps through me as I stand there, holding the door, tongue-tied. She’s helped me, and now she’s going to leave, because why wouldn’t she when I’m just standing here, silent and still as a statue?

Say something, you ass. Just talk to her already!

She slides the creamer back into the fridge. I let the door drop but it doesn’t close all the way. She shuts it with a nudge of her hip and peers up at me, her mouth opening, like she’s about to speak.

This is it. This is when she tells me she’s leaving. When I fumble it again.

Just. Talk.

“Thank you,” I blurt. “For the coffee. I would have asked Petruchio for help—I’m not, you know, above accepting help, obviously, since you’re here helping me—but he’s still asleep…” I swallow nervously. “All the guys are. Not that any of them could work that thing, either.”

Her smile brightens her face, turning those dimples so deep there are shadows in her cheeks. “Happy to help, especially when all the night owls are sleeping the morning away. We early birds have to stick together! At least, I’m assuming you’re a morning person, unless you just got up to get on the road. You did say you had to leave first thing tomorrow—well, today.”

Something warm and fizzy spills through me. I talked. She talked back. I didn’t blow it.

Don’t mess this up.

I take a deep breath. “I’m not exactly a morning person, but I do get up early every day. And I had planned to get on the road…” I push past my nerves, determined not to mess this up like I did last night. “But I’ve got some time. I could, um…” I lift my mug. “Drink this. With. You?”

I want to slap myself. Why am I so terrible at this?

Her smile turns sparkling, wide and warm. “How about we head outside, enjoy the sunshine?”

I swallow thickly.Yes, my brain thinks, but my heart is pounding; my throat is tight. My hands are getting clammy.

She doesn’t seem to mind the silence that stretches out, just smiles softly, her eyes holding mine as she sips her coffee. “If you’re worried about going outside with me,” she says, “because you’re concerned I’ve got more garden-tool weapons waiting out there, they’re all locked up in the shed. You’re safe. Promise.”

Her playfulness, her patience, they flip a switch in me. Finding my voice, I tell her, “Outside sounds…nice.”

My voice catches before I can continue. I swallow, wetting my throat, then reach for the door, which puts me close to Viola, bathes me in her sweet, soft scent.

I open the door, and a warm morning breeze rushes in, whipping back her hair, making it dance around her gorgeous face. I stare down at her, my heart thudding hard, and tell her, “Ladies first.”

•Three•

Juliet

My stomach’s doing somersaults. Will holds the heavy back door open for me with just his fingertips, and it makes his arm muscles do obscene things. I swallow thickly and force my smile wider, then spin and rush out onto Christopher’s back porch before my horny thoughts are projected on my face.

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