Page 34 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
I wasn't going to deny him.
The second I opened my mouth to him, it was like an electric current flowed from him into me, making all the fine hair on my neck stand up. I'd never felt so alive as I did that moment, tilting my head to give Ethan better access. This was what I'd wanted from the moment I'd laid eyes on him again all those weeks ago. There was no denying my silly little crush now. Or maybe it was more than a silly little crush. Maybe it was time for me to admit that I'd developed a full-blown infatuation.
On my boss.
I broke away, my face going beet red as Ethan stared at me as if he couldn't comprehend what had just happened. What we'd done. WhatI'ddone.
“Rhys, what…?”
Wordlessly, I pointed at the mistletoe above our heads. “I had to.” That wasn’t exactly a lie, was it?
Besides, I might have been the one who pressed a kiss to his lips, but he was the one who decided our tongues should get involved.
“Oh.” Ethan’s eyes grew wide. “I never even realized… Is that…?” He paused, seeking my eyes before opening his mouth again. But just when he did, I heard another voice from behind me.
“Daddy say bye!”
Caleb!
We both turned to the boy.
Had he seen anything? I hoped not. I didn't want to confuse the poor kid. By the worry lines appearing on Ethan's face, he must be thinking the same thing. “Of course I'll say goodbye before I go,” he said, approaching his son and ruffling his hair. “You be a good kid today, okay?”
“Okay.”
“All right then. Goodbye, you two.” Ethan looked at both me and Caleb before he left, but I got the feeling his gaze lingered on me a little longer. And then he was gone before we could talk about what happened. Did he really believe I only kissed him because of the mistletoe?
Did Iwanthim to believe anything else? I knew that Ishouldn't.
But I also knew that I wanted another kiss.
One was far too small a sample size, after all.
Later that day, I came home to absolute chaos in the kitchen. Dean and his nephew Jake were standing in the front of the oven, flour all over the both of them.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Baking!” Jake said, turning to me with a grin. His whole face was powdered.
“I can see that...” But what was with the chaos? “Did one of the flour bags explode or something?”
Jake shook his head. “Baking's no fun if you don't do it with your whole body and soul, right, Uncle Dean?”
“Right!” Dean agreed. “Although maybe next time we'll use our souls a little more than our bodies.
Griff is going to have a fit if we don't clean all of this up.”
I could believe that. The kitchen was a complete mess. Especially the counter. Flour, sugar, egg shells and drops of milk everywhere. “What are you baking anyway?” I asked, sniffing. The smell of gingerbread hung in the air.
Dean glanced at Jake, as if wanting to make sure it was okay to tell me, but the boy just shrugged. “It's going to be a Christmas present,” Jake said. “For Conner. I already gave him cookies, but they were store-bought, so it doesn’t really count, not when I saw this other boy give him a way better gift.”
Jake scowled as he returned his attention to the bowl of dough.
Conner was my cousin’s kid. An omega about a year younger than Jake. A smart and friendly boy. I liked him, and I got the feeling that Jake liked himvery muchtoo, and he wanted to impress him with a special Christmas gift.
Maybe that wasn’t a bad idea…
I could try something like that, couldn’t I?
