Page 12 of Reindeer Flames
"I like them plain," Hart said. "Or iced. Honestly, I love anything you make here. It all tastes like smoke and sugar to me."
"Smoke?" Gold frowned at me. "Hmm."
"Everything tastes like you," Hart said when we reached the table.
"Mate,"my dragon insisted, though he still wanted to burn the cookies to ash.
"I'm sorry," Hart said. "I got carried away. I should've started with an apology. I'm really sorry about yesterday. My cousin set me up on a blind date for Sunday, and I went along with it. I should have told him about you."
I nudged the plate of cookies toward him. "Thank you for explaining." It wasn't the forgiveness he was looking for, but it was the best I could do. My dragon was still leery, if not furious.
"I meant what I said yesterday." He gazed into my eyes. "I would love to get to know you better. I said date, but we're both starting our busy seasons. Little moments like this work for me, if they work for you."
I nodded but then fear gripped me. "What will we talk about?"
"Anything and everything," he said.
"I'm so bad at small talk."
He grinned. "I have just the game for us."
"Game?" I hesitated. Comets were known for their reindeer games. Hart didn't look malicious, but I wasn't ready to trust him.
"You'll like it, I promise. I'll bring it with me tomorrow."
"Tell me one thing," I said. "Why did you approach me at the party? Did your cousins put you up to it?"
He reached across the table and took my hand in his. "Not a chance. They think I want someone like Tinsel. They're wrong."
His words warmed my heart more than the bite of warm gingerbread cookie I took a moment later. The noises he made while he ate made my pants tighter, but my heart wasn't ready to forgive, not yet.
The next morning,Hart returned with a small box. The packaging looked Scandinavian, but inside, the cards were written in English.
"This is the game," Hart said once we sat at our usual table in the front corner by the window. This time, I sat with my backto the door. Gold had control of the front of the house while I was on break. Yes, it seemed odd to take a break so early in the morning, but I enjoyed sitting with Hart while Gold finished Santa's order.
"How do you play?" I asked.
"We take turns asking and answering the questions. You can read all five questions on each card, or you can pick the one you find most interesting. When I take it home for the holidays, we ask one question at a time and everyone answers, even the person reading the questions."
I'd been around a long time, and I'd never heard of a game like this. "No one wins or loses?" I asked to be sure.
"Everyone wins," he said. "We learn more about each other."
I liked the idea, but, "I'm not great with words."
"You don't have to be. Some questions only need a one-word answer." Hart pulled a card from the box, flipped it over, and perused the questions. "Here's one. Do you sleep on your side, stomach, or back?"
I blinked at him. "What kind of question is that?"
"An easy one?" He laughed. "I sleep on my side most of the time, for what it's worth."
Sleep made me think about bed, which made me want to be there, spooned around Hart. I shook my head to push the thought away. "I'm a side sleeper, too."
"See? It's easy." He leaned over the table toward me. "Describe a time when you were in the right place at the right time."
"Order's up!" Gold's harsh shout startled both of us, and she smirked.
"Saved by the dragon," Hart said. "We'll start with that question tomorrow." He set the card face-up in the tray before sliding the lid onto the box. "Is there a safe place to keep these until then?"
