Page 18 of The Great Maple Mistake

“Ramona.” The voice is Eleanor’s, and the warning in it is clear.

With a twinkle in her eyes, Rae winks at us. “Whoops. Busted. Enjoy your romantic date, boys.” She points at Cody. “Careful with the maple.”

Just as quickly as she appeared, she ducks behind the booth divider, and Cody and I are left blinking at each other. Then we burst into laughter. I shake my head and lean closer to him so I can keep my voice low. “She means well, but sheistenacious.”

He looks bewildered. “She never lets me get a word in. I feel like I’m lying to the entire town, and I didn’t even say anything.”

I rest my hand on his arm. “I think we’re going to have to conquer this one resident at a time.”

Cody nods reluctantly and turns back to his menu, but he settles against me in the booth, like maybe he’s drawing comfort from me. I lean into him, letting him know I’m here for support. We review the menus for a few more minutes before Bethany shows up again. “Okay, ready?”

I glance at Cody, who gestures for me to go first. “I’ll have the cheeseburger with fries. Everything on the burger except please hold the onions. And I’d like that done medium rare.” Bethany scribbles that down on her order pad, takes my menu, and then smiles expectantly at Cody.

“Does the pot roast have maple in it?”

She scrunches up her nose. “Ooooh, yeah. You’re allergic to maple! That’s such a bummer.”

Rae’s voice comes from behind us. “No maple in the pot roast.”

“Ramona Ann Bixby!”

I widen my eyes in surprise at Eleanor’s sharp tone. Cody turns toward me, mouth open in shock before he presses his lips together to stifle a laugh and turns back to Bethany. She grins and shakes her head. “No maple in the pot roast. You’re safe with that.”

“Thanks. I’ll have the pot roast with mashed potatoes. Gravy over everything, please, and a side of whatever veg you have tonight, as long as it doesn’t have maple.”

She laughs. “Good thing tonight we aren’t serving our roasted maple carrots! Is broccoli okay?”

Biting his lower lip, Cody just nods and hands her his menu. When she strides away, he turns to me and drops his forehead on my shoulder with a whimper. This close, I can smell his yummy cologne. It’s warm and masculine, and I really want to press my nose against his neck and inhale deeply. Instead, I slip my fingers into his hair and gently massage the back of his head. “Why does it bother you so much that they think you have an allergy to maple?”

It takes almost a minute before he answers, and I’m not sure if he’s reluctant to tell me, enjoying the gentle massage, or trying to find the words to explain. Maybe all three? Slowly, he sits up and catches my hand as it slides from his hair. “As Rae pointed out twice now, allergies can be very serious. Yeah, I’m a firefighter, but I’m also an EMT, and claiming an allergy to something I’m not actually allergic to, when it could be deadly to some people, doesn’t instill trust. If everyone thinks I’m allergic and then they find out I’m not, I could lose all credibility. And maple is so much a part of this town that it’s probably put me, and my supposed allergy, on people’s radar.”

I cup his jaw and stroke my thumb over his cheek, not wanting to confirm that he’s probably right about being on people’s radar in this gossip-hungry town. But the way he leans into my palm has all kinds of fluttery feelings exploding in my chest, and Idesperately want to pull him close and comfort him. God, how can one man be so absolutely adorable and so deadly sexy at the same time? “Iknow you didn’t start this rumor. And Finn knows. Which means Charlie and Drake probably know. I haven’t mentioned it to my family yet, but I can. And your aunt Viv knows too. Right? I’m assuming you told her what happened.”

Cody nods. “Yeah, and I told the chief, too.”

“See? You’re getting the word out. And pretty soon everyone will know.”

He nods again and turns his head, placing a gentle kiss against my palm. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Reluctantly, I pull my hand back and turn sideways on the bench so I can lean up against the windows and look right at him. We have things to discuss, and if he touches me, I’m going to lose my train of thought. “So, as this is our first date, I believe we have some required questions that need to be answered.”

Cody grins and turns as far as he can in the booth. We probably should’ve taken one of the high-tops because the poor guy is gonna get stuck or hurt himself. “Therearethings I want to ask you, but I didn’t know we’d be having a Q and A session.” He settles and waves me on. “Okay, hit me.”

Before we can get started, Bethany shows up again, this time with our food. “One burger, hold the onion, and one pot roast and mash loaded with gravy.” She points at Cody’s mashed potatoes. “That’s the mash. Joe is teaching me diner lingo. That’s when you don’t use the normal names for the food. Like, your cheeseburger? Joe says that’s ‘One cow, drag it through the garden!’” She laughs and shakes her head. “Do you believe it? Some of them aren’t so pleasant. Like ketchup? He says it’s called a hemorrhage.” She grimaces. “Yeah, I’m never saying that.” She leans in conspiratorially. “Sometimes, I think he makes the slang up and tries to get me to believe him.” Shestands up straight and shrugs. “Anyway, can I get you anything else?” We shake our heads. “Okay. I’ll be back to check on you in a bit.”

We dig into our food, and I’m happily munching away when Cody makes the filthiest moaning sound. I freeze mid-bite, my eyes snapping to his blissed-out face, and my mind drops into the gutter as other parts of my anatomy take a very keen interest. With how fast my body is reacting, you’d think I was eighteen again. I stare at him, gripping my burger a little too tightly so I don’t reach down and give myself a quick squeeze. Iama grown-ass adult.I’min control of my hormones, dammit. I can’t be obsessing about ways to get Cody to make that sound again! Mr. Too-damned-sexy-for-my-own-good slowly opens his beautiful eyes and must feel me staring. He turns, hitting me with the full potency of his attention, and damn, that’s not helping. I finish chewing and swallow my bite. “Good?”

His cheeks get slightly pink, and he nods. “Yeah. This is incredible.”

“Oh.” I stare at the splash of gravy at the corner of his mouth and want to lick it off. My heart races, blood pumping so fast I can feel it throbbing between my legs. Fuck. Not helping, Alex.

I quickly glance up again and meet his gaze. His pupils are blown wide, and he’s looking at me with so much heat it’s difficult to breathe. “How’s yours?”

“Good.” I glance away, focusing on my burger and taking slow, deep breaths. “Really good. They have great burgers here.” I take another bite, trying to ignore the ache in my groin. “Actually, I’ve never had anything here that wasn’t amazing.” I feel Cody shift, and his thigh presses against mine. No, not just our thighs. We’re pressed together from knee to hip, and our arms keep brushing against each other. And every time it happens, little jolts of pleasure race all over my body.

Cody clears his throat. “So, um, you’ve lived in Maplewood all your life?”

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