Page 69 of Honey Be Mine
“Hi.” Halley waved, seemingly unbothered. “I’m here to watch that reality dating show, but Nova’s too young.” It was bad enough that Kerrielynn had heard all of that. But Halley, too?
Rosemary was mortified. Everything Tansy had said...Oh no.“Tansy was teasing.”
“She does that.” Nicole nodded.
“Nova teasesallthe time. Sisters can be a pain, Aunt Rosemary.” Halley shrugged.
“Have fun.” Kerrielynn grinned, but there was definitely pink in her cheeks.
They meant well, but Rosemary wished the floor would open and swallow her. “Did you hear everything?”
“You mean the part where you’re in love with him?” Nicole asked.
Halley and Kerrielynn nodded.
“We won’t say a thing,” Kerrielynn added. “Don’t worry.”
“My lips are sealed, Aunt Rosemary,” Halley followed up. “It’s cool. Everett is super sweet and cute. We think y’all would be a cute couple.”
“It’s true.” Nicole grinned. “They’ve been talking about it since you two had your standoff in the ballroom—in front of basicallyeveryone.”
She’d been so caught up in Everett she hadn’t stopped to think about who else might have seen them or what they’d think about it. Before things got even more awkward, she said, “I... I should go.”
“You look great.” Kerrielynn smiled.
Halley gave her a thumbs-up.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Nicole fluttered her fingers at her.
By the time she pulled the hotel room door shut behind her, her face was flaming. She leaned against the door and took a deep breath. She wasn’t exactly nauseous, but her nerves were on high alert, so she took another deep breath, then another.
“Rosebud?” Everett was sitting in a grouping of chairs at the end of the hall by the elevators, the convention program open on his lap.
She pushed off the door. “Hey.” With another deep breath, she headed down the hall. “I’m sorry if I kept you waiting. Astrid was sick.”
“She okay?” He stood, his dark hair falling onto his forehead when he looked down at her.
“Yes. She’s pregnant.” Try as she might, her reaction to him was instantaneous. Breathless. Weightless. The molten shift in the base of her stomach. The uptick in her pulse. The urge to reach out and touch him. She clasped her hands behind her back. “Tansy is with her. And so are Nicole and Halley and Kerrielynn.”
“Sounds like she’s covered.” His gaze swept over her face. “You want to go? I tried to find us someplace cool to go but there’s highway construction. So traffic is real bad, and there’s some sort of festival going on in town. The only place I could get a reservation was downstairs.” He held out his hand.
“Sounds good to me.” She took it, her every nerve ending acutely aware of the way his fingers slid between hers.
He glanced down at their hands, the muscles in his throat working as he swallowed.
She and Everett had never had a hard time with conversation. Even the last few years, they’d pick up right where they left off and share snippets of their everyday life. But she waited until they were being taken to their table to start. He held the chair out for her, then sat opposite her—but didn’t take her hand again.
Her nerves had her diving into conversation. “Tell me what’s been going on with you. Not the stuff I know about—the other stuff.”
“What other stuff?”
“I don’t know.” She paused, thinking. “When was the last time you went fishing?”
He glanced at her, his crooked grin putting crinkles at the corners of his eyes. “Fishing?” He shook his head. “Too long.”
“That’s your recharge time.” She frowned. “Considering everything you’re dealing with, I think you should schedule a fishing trip.”
His brown eyes flashed. “You think?”
