Page 90 of Daydream

His thumb rubs along my jawline. “I mean everyone else, not me.”

“Ah, well, the instructions were unclear, so I’ll be saying no to everything you ask me from now on.”

“That’s not going to happen, though, is it? I’m taking you out later to celebrate surviving Thornton.”

I feel like everyone is looking at us, but I’m trying to tell myself it’s in my head. We’re standing so close together, talking in hushed voices, while Henry touches my face gently. I don’t know how we ended up here, but I don’t want it to stop.

“I just told you I’m saying no to everything you ask me,” I tease.

“And I didn’t ask you.” My mouth opens to object, then closes, then opens again, but I don’t have anything to fight back with because he’s got me there. “Are you being a goldfish? What’s happening?”

“You, Henry Turner. You’re happening. You are constantly happening to me.”

He leans in slowly, grinning before kissing me in a way that makes my entire body tingle. “Is that a good thing?”

“Yes.”

“I told you saying no to me wasn’t going to happen.”

“What should I wear later?” I ask, apparently accepting his non-invitation with no objections. “For our plans.”

He tucks my hair behind my ear. “Something you like.”

“You are so, so helpful.”

“I know. It’s one of my many talents.”

THE DAY HAS FLOWN BYand I’m grateful that I don’t work in retail full time.

In a bid to decompress from the chaos that was working in Enchanted, I attempted to work on my book, and as a result have left myself with not enough time to find matching shoes. By the time Henry lets himself into my house, I only have one. It takes all my powers not to drool when I look up from where I’m kneeling on the floor of my closet and spot Henry standing there in a suit and white shirt.

“Why are you eye-fucking me?” he asks, leaning against the doorframe calmly.

“I’m not!” I argue, although I definitely might be. “Okay, it’s the suit.”

“You see me in a suit every week.”

“Thatsuit is different.” I don’t know anything about men’s fashion, but this one looks like it was made to mold to every muscle in his body. Not too tight, just enough to accentuate his physique. “You lookreallygood.”

He just smiles, which I’m going to accept as agreement. Henry reaches into his inner suit pocket, pulling out a folded piece ofpaper. “I was going to do flowers, but I thought you might be bored of them.”

“I could never get bored of anything you create.” I open the piece of paper he hands me and find a drawing of me staring back. I’m in my living room reading a book with Joy in my lap. It looks like a photograph. “Did you do this from memory?”

“Yeah. I started it a couple of weeks ago, but I finished it last night.”

“I thought you said you were studying last night!” I say, my voice creeping higher than it should.

“No, I said I was busy working. I never said I was studying.” My jaw drops. “Halle, if you’re going to stay kneeling on the floor in front of me with your mouth wide open, we might end up having a very different evening than the one I’ve planned. Just say thank you and hurry up.”

Every inch of my body gets hotter. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, and you look really good, too.”

Henry watches me until I finally find my other shoe, and holds out his hand to help me from the floor. “I have two shoes. I’m ready. Do I get to know where we’re going yet?”

“No,” he says, smiling. “It’s a surprise.”

We put the makeshift cardboard wall around my Christmas tree to prevent Joy from trying to climb it and leave her with Destiny’s Child’s Christmas album playing for company. I truly believe that Henry would bring her everywhere we go in one of those cat backpacks if I let him.

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