No Weddings (No Weddings #1)(36)

Not needing to be asked twice, I kicked my shoes off and joined her on the bed.

Our thighs touched through our jeans, warmth radiating between us. I raised an arm above her and propped an elbow on the mass of pillows before wrapping my hand around her shoulder. Uncertain how she’d take the bold move, I waited, breathing deeply as the intro to Chocolat flared to life on the screen. Her only response was to press closer against my body.

I smiled. “Good choice for our first. This one is closer to your situation: a small shop. She uses creative displays and innovative marketing to entice customers. The story is a little quirky, but that’s what makes the movie different.”

She shifted, glancing up at me. “Are you planning to give commentary throughout the entire movie?”

“Would you like me to?”

Settling back down against me as the narrator began telling the ancient legend behind the story, Hannah replied with a softness to her voice. “Yeah, it’s nice. You’re like my business and movie tour guide.”

I scooted lower, getting more comfortable. “I like being your tour guide.”

Almost halfway into the movie, Hannah squealed. “Johnny Depp!”

I laughed. “You got a thing for Johnny Depp?”

“Nooo…” She elbowed me in the ribs for my infraction.

Another twenty minutes later, she pushed away from me and grabbed the remote, pausing the movie. “This is so wrong. We need popcorn.”

When she disappeared without a backward glance, I followed her into the kitchen, slowly drawing out my words. “I don’t knowww…popcorn implies a more casual atmosphere. Almost date-like.”

Her eyes narrowed for a split second as she pulled out a large pan with two hands. “This is not even close to a date. What would you suggest instead, a notepad and pen?”

I leaned a hip on the far counter, watching her light the stove and drop a large tablespoon of solidified coconut oil into the pan. “Would you be wearing those sexy librarian glasses?”

She raised her brows. “You think my glasses are sexy?”

Leaning up on her tiptoes, she reached for and pulled down a glass container full of popcorn kernels from a cabinet beside the stove. A few hundred kernels pinged into the pan before she replaced the lid. With both hands, she lifted the pan a few inches above the gas burner and gave it a good shake before resting it back down.

The response to her question demanded her full attention, so I waited. She turned, leaning back on her counter edge. We faced each other, her island between us. The few feet may as well have been inches with the way the air was charged between us.

I gave her a heated stare.

Her breath caught, her chest expanding.

Which caused my cock to twitch. I began to feel like one of Pavlov’s dogs.

“You are sexy.” I held her gaze captive. “Therefore, anything you wear becomes sexy.”

She smirked. The power she knew she had over me emboldened her. “Even my apron?”

I inhaled, remembering that ruffled apron, her thin T-shirt and short shorts hiding underneath. “Sexy as f*ck.”

A kernel popped.

She swallowed. “‘As f*ck?’”

I nodded. “Doesn’t get any sexier than that.”

A slight tilt of her head, and Hannah began to play. “What if I wore a potato sack?”

I snorted. “Do you own a potato sack?”

She crossed her arms, shaking her head.

My eyes were drawn down to that tempting cleavage. I took my sweet time dropping my gaze down her body, imagining her in a potato sack.

Pops sounded out. One after another. Faster and faster, like my pulse going out of control. Hannah began shallow breathing under the intensity of my stare.

“I would love to see you in a potato sack. Just like I’d love to see you in lingerie. To me, they’re both the same.”

She laughed, then turned quickly, grabbing the heavy pan with both hands and giving it another hard shake. When she turned around again, she resumed her stance in the same place, back to the counter.

This was another dance—a different location, a more enticing rhythm, but a dance all the same. Two partners circled each other, deciding how long to draw out the beginning steps before pulling each other even closer.

“How can they both be the same? You’d find me equally sexy in either?”

A deep inhale was the only thing I could do to clear my mind, keep me sane. That, and the white-knuckled grip I had on the edge of her counter, holding me immobile, keeping me from launching at her and showing her just how sexy I found her.

I tilted my face down, holding her gaze beneath my lowered brows. “Hannah, you have no idea. Whatever you think you do to me, magnify it. I don’t see you in anything. I just see you. And if you’re ever brave enough to wear a potato sack for me, wear nothing else underneath.”

The popping slowed. Her attention was needed at the stove at that critical point.

She didn’t move. “Why?”

“Because I’ll shred it and have you naked in three seconds flat. Might as well save the lingerie.”

Her eyes widened.

At the first scent of smoke, she gasped and flew to the stove, grabbing the pan off the flame and turning the knob off. “Damn.”

“Wait.” I rushed to her side. “Grab some bowls. All the stuff on top is still good.”