Whether it was the sky-blue parka that nearly matched his eyes or the fleece beanie he wore—Cass had given one to everyone on the cast and crew—the cold seemed to eddy around him. No shiver made his shoulders tense or his teeth chatter.
Josh would have spent half the time grousing about the cold, and the other half threatening to put his hands down her shirt to warm up his hands.
If she closed her eyes, she could picture him smiling as he did it in front of everyone on the sidewalk, too, telling her to say the word if she wanted him to stop.
Stop.
“I don’t know why I’m trying to talk you out of it.” She tipped her head to the side and stopped herself from licking a rogue drop from the corner of her mouth, and wiped the last bit away with her glove. “It’s good job security. More costumes to design and all.”
“You get to design more costumes, and I get to wear them? Win-win,” he said with a lop-sided smile.
A gaggle of twenty-something women circled back to ogle him again and he tugged the beanie down lower over his brows until they passed. He tossed the cup into the recycling bin and glanced down at her hands, both occupied with her now-empty cup. He crossed and uncrossed his arms, fiddling with the zippers on his parka.
“I have never seen someone so fiddly as you,” Cass said, draining the last sips of her hot chocolate. “I know we’re off set and all, but it’s killing me not to fix this.”
“You ever think I messed around with things so you’d come over to talk to me?”
“Tsk. Stop it.”
He shrugged and smiled at her. “I’m just a bit nervous.”
“Why would you be nervous?”
“Trying to decide if it’s too early in the night to try to kiss you.”
Josh had said something similar the first night they met. Testing the waters, he’d said, then dove in for a heady kiss that made her forget to breathe. All the kisses after, stolen behind closed doors, tasting, hands claiming each other.
A buzz rustled in her stomach, and she tried to tell herself it was because Dawson James, the handsome, polite, heartthrob standing in front of her, wanted to kiss her.
She leaned up onto the tips of her toes. “Only one way to find out.”
Their mouths met. The night air breezed cold as traffic hummed around her ears. He smelled nice. Like Ivory soap and melting snow, and his hands on the small of her back were steady and warm. The last of his minty hot chocolate still clung to his lips, an odd contrast with the chili spice of her own.
Interesting combination. Not unpleasant. She pulled away to settle back on her heels, and opened her eyes. Dawson drew a jagged breath, and she turned the corners of her mouth up.
“That was really nice.”
“Yeah, it was.” He smiled at her wistfully. “But you deserve more than nice.”
Josh had sat her in her chair after coming to get her from another bad date, taking her boots off with gentle care, laughing as she’d drunkenly tried to get a kiss from him. A kiss that would have curled her toes, stolen her breath, and made her forget her own name. Something far more than nice.
He said he could write sonnets about kissing her.
It had been one thing trying to forget Nick with a bunch of throwaway dates with guys she’d never see again. It was another thing completely to try to move on from Josh by asking this sweet, genuine man, who she knew liked her. When she knew she didn’t feel the same way.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She stared down at the toes of her boots. “It was selfish of me to ask you to come out tonight.”
He took a fortifying breath and stared out over the crowd flowing around them. “Don’t be sorry, darlin’. I’m glad you did. I feel like tonight answered some questions for both of us.”
“What would those be?”
A corner of his mouth quirked up. “I think you have some unfinished business with a certain surly director.”
“He’s not that surly.” Except when a shot didn’t go right, or when someone was late on set. Or when he thought she was interested in someone else. Her heart lurched, and she sniffed. “Usually.”
Dawson thumbed away a tear before it could freeze on her cheek. “Not with you.”
She took his hand and squeezed. “What other questions did we answer tonight?”