Page 4 of Whispers at Seaside
Mira and Matt took off their shoes and carried them down to the water. How Matt managed to carry the bakery box, his shoes, and still put a hand on her back was beyond her, but she could see he was in protective mode. His eyes moved stealthily over the other people on the beach as he guided her a short distance away, where they sat by the water’s edge.
Mira set their drinks in the sand and inhaled deeply, blowing out a long relaxing breath. “Boy did I need this. Thank you for dragging me out of the office.”
“My pleasure. You do have me down as your date for the wedding, right?” He opened the bakery box, set it between them, and handed her a plastic fork from within the box.
Yes, please.“Yourdate?”
“I can’t exactly show up as the only single Lacroux. Women will be all over me.”
“You want me to protect you from all those handsy women?”
“Yes,” he said, dead serious. His gaze heated like it had in the Chocolate Sparrow. “I need you by my side, Mira.”
Either he was full-on flirting or she’d lost her mind. She narrowed her eyes, feeling mildly daring. “What ifI’mhandsy?”
“You’ll be my date, and my date can be as handsy as she wants.”
Oh boy, did she like the sound of that. Just as her hopes soared, she remembered her little man. “But I’ll have Hagen.”
“Lucky for me I have two hands.” He held up his hands as if to prove he owned two. “A double date, then?”
“Sounds great.” A double date? With her son? That was so…Matt. He’d always included Hagen when he’d asked her out before, but this felt different, which meant she was clearly losing her grip on reality.
“Excellent. So what’s on our agenda tonight? What’s on your if-I-had-a-night-alone bucket list?”
She stabbed a hunk of chocolate cake with her fork. “I don’t have that kind of bucket list. I have amombucket list.”
He dug into the cheesecake and took a bite. His eyes widened and he scooped more cheesecake onto his fork and held it up by her mouth. “You have to taste this, and then I want to know about your mom bucket list.”
She laughed and accepted the bite. The cheesecake and raspberry melted in her mouth. “That’s better than an—”Orgasm. Oh gosh.He was totally messing with her head. She couldn’t even remember what an orgasm felt like when it wasn’t brought on by something battery operated. Of course, those were usually accompanied by visions of Matt perched above her.
“Than an…?”
“Ice-cream sundae,” she blurted out.
He pointed his fork at her and narrowed his eyes. “That’s only because you’ve never had one ofmyspecialty sundaes.”
“Funny. I was just thinking something similar.” Their eyes held for so long she wondered if he could read her dirty thoughts. He picked up the fudge, broke off a piece, and fed it to her with his fingers.
Oh yeah, he could read them all right.
After a few minutes of flustered thoughts and forgetting how to speak like a normal person, Mira pulled herself together, and theyfinallyfell into easy conversation, as they had so many times before tonight. What was it about tonight?
Matt continued feeding her bites of chocolate in between topics.
That’swhat it was about tonight. The flirting and feeding and treating her like she was more than a friend.
“You’re trying to make me fat,” she teased, taking a drink of water.
He lifted a chocolate-covered strawberry to her lips, and she bit right through the middle. An explosion of sweetness burst in her mouth.
“Nope, I just love the face you make after every bite. Like you disappear into a dark fantasy.”
She felt her cheeks heat up and covered her face with her hand. “That’s so embarrassing.”
He lowered her hand with a sinful smile that made her insides melt.
“Why weren’t you out on a date tonight?” He asked it so passionately, he might as well have asked,Why do you still have clothes on?
