Page 39 of Not the Plan

“Thank you again,” she managed. “Um…you said I was breathtaking earlier. I have to admit you’ve taken my breath away as well.”

“I have?”

“Yes. I really like this.” She slid the back of one finger down her cheek to indicate his stubble.

“You do?” He rubbed his chin. “I was worried it looked too unkempt. Almost shaved this afternoon.”

“Well, I’m very glad you didn’t.” She hadn’t meant to whisper, but she was happy he had to come closer to understand.

“Thanks, I’m glad you like it.”

“And contacts tonight?”

“Yes,” he said. “Just to change things up. Sometimes I feel like the glasses aren’t formal enough.”

“I like your glasses. They give you a rather…endearing quality. But the contacts are good too.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s nice to really see your eyes. The color, the shape. You have beautiful eyes.”

He glanced at the railing, and she saw a flash of that shy-boy smile he’d given her during their first meeting. “You keep talking like this and my head’s going to get so big it won’t fit in my car.”

She laughed.

He rolled his lips and tapped his fingers once on the railing. “I’d like to invite you to dance. But…”

A tingling wave shifted up from her lower back and over her shoulders. It took her breath away for a moment. “But?”

“Montagues,” he said.

She nodded. “Capulets,” she said.

He glanced toward the open doors leading back inside.

“Maybe the very edge of the dance floor?” he asked.

“We can try.”

He turned to go back inside, then stopped. “We’re alone out here,” he said.

She looked around. He was right. They’d been alone for a while. Her heart rate kicked up again. “That’s true.”

“Wanna risk it?” he asked, reaching for her.

She swallowed against the lump in her throat and let him lead her to a corner of the balcony that was out of the direct light coming from the party inside. The music was still loud enough to dance to. She tried to calm the tremble in her arms as he took her in his.

“What’s the deal with the Capulets and the Montagues thing?” he asked.

“Ha.” Her chuckle felt forced. “It’s weird, right? I don’t know who came up with it or when. But it kind of stuck.” She hesitated to say more. She thought she’d read him right, he seemed like his own man, not the type to run to his boss and tell him every word she’d said. After all, he’d just asked her to dance. It would be safer to consider him an enemy. But God if he wasn’t making her absolutely weak in the knees. And Glenna had told her to give him a chance. Her brain was buzzing. She needed to find something to say.

“I like your outfit.”

“You do? I hesitated about the shirt. I didn’t want to look too gloomy. And Julian asked if I decided to come as Johnny Cash.”

“He was probably just jealous,” she said.

“Jealous? Why?”

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