Page 16 of The Pumpkin Spice Romance
“Some of it,” he replied sheepishly. “I figured you wouldn’t mind.”
“Did you hear him make a big show of stuff he disagreed with from my lawyer but signed anyway?”
Hayden snorted. “What a saint.”
“Someone canonise the man.”
He offered her another chip. “So what happens now?”
“The lawyers will sort out the division of assets, but I can lodge the divorce application online. Then it goes to a hearing, which neither of us need to be there for, and then I get notified when it’s all final.” There was a certainty about her as she said this, a lightness in her face and strength in her voice. It came as no surprise. Hayden had been chuffed to watch Leonie’s little shifts since starting at The Spice Pelage. Each day she seemed brighter, happier, more assertive with suggestions for improving things around the café—more confident that this was where she belonged.
Even Lara had mentioned something about it, subtly in her own way. “She’d make a good alpha one day,” came the quiet remark through a knowing smirk, while the rest of the pack were out of earshot. Hayden couldn’t agree more.
“I’m really happy for you,” Hayden said. “Why don’t we celebrate?”
“It’s not over yet, but . . . I really do feel like celebrating. When?”
“How about now?”
“Okay!” Leonie laughed. “What shall we do?”
“I’m testing out next month’s special brew this arvo. Wanna try it with me? You can have yours with hot chocolate; I know you don’t like coffee this late in the day.”
“Outside in twenty? The alleyway’s about to get sunshine.”
“Deal.”
Hayden made quick work of the of his special brew: a pumpkin spice latte, but better. American flavours were great and all, but his family was Australian, this café was Australian—it seemed only fair to give their homemade pumpkin spice mix an Aussie twist.
He pounded dried cinnamon myrtle leaves with the scantest amount of pungent Atherton ginger. He kept the exotic nutmeg and clove, but added a dash of Tasmanian mountainpepper leaf. It wasn’t as sweet as the foreign blend, but with the locally sourced manuka honey, it made the perfect spice syrup.
He measured out two doses of house-roasted pumpkin puree, one for his coffee and the other for Leonie’s cacao hot chocolate. When they were ready on the stove, he poured them out into Deanne’s handmade mugs and dusted the tops with a pinch of his ground spice mix, just enough for hints of the warm, homely aroma to greet the drinker upon first sniff.
He carried the drinks outside, ignoring Mackie’s teasing gesture of hands in a heart shape, and joined Leonie on the crates under the sun.
They clinked mugs, and synchronised their first sips. Leonie made a face and jerked back, licking her lips in confusion. Hayden froze, worried she’d hate it. Then her expression softened and she went back for another sip.
Her eyebrows lifted and she hummed an approval. “Oh, I see.”
“Is it okay?” he asked.
“I thought I was getting a hot chocolate, but this . . . this is so much better.” She clinked his mug again, holding him with a gaze that set a rising sensation in his chest.
Again he felt the urge to kiss her. It would be so easy to just lean in, especially now that he was at ease with the comfort between them, and sure of their chemistry and connection after how the past month had gone. But he held back, not wanting tobreak this perfect moment, not yet. They had time now, lots of it. But still . . .
“Hey, Lee?”
“Yeah?”
“If I asked you out sometime, what do you reckon you’d say?”
“Sometime when?”
“Not now, but soon. Maybe.”
“Well . . .” She sipped, eyes upturned crescent moons as they wandered to an ibis landing on a wall. “I suppose I’d say yes. Not now, but soon.”
“All right, then.” Hayden nodded, happier than he’d ever felt, and beaming in the way only a wolf can beam.
* * *
