Page 49 of My Heart Before You

She narrowed her eyes playfully. “I’ll be awake and dressed by then.”

Colin opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it and went to gather his coat from the armchair. She followed him to the door, and when he walked through and turned around, anticipation surged through her, catching a swallow in her throat. He leaned towards her, then gave her a very gentlemanly kiss her on the cheek.

His grin was wide when he pulled back. “I’ll see you next week, Emilie.”

A strangled “See you then” was all she could manage as she watched him stretch his powerful body to gracefully put on his coat.

She was still standing there staring when he turned at the half flight to wave up to her. Raising her hand to wave back, effervescence coursed through her veins. Colin smiled again before disappearing down the stairwell. After shutting the door, she leaned against it, giddy for a breath before the implications of what she’d just agreed to hit her chest with a smack.

?Chapter 20?

The leather of Colin’s glove pushed against his fingertip as he compressed the small red button next to “Hunt.”

Almost immediately, he heard a staticky. “Colin?”

He smiled. Even with the interference, he didn’t think he’d ever tire of hearing her say his name. “It’s me.”

The door buzzed open, and he forced himself to slowly walk up the three flights of stairs instead of taking them two at a time like he wanted to. When he arrived at the landing, he took a second for a deep, settling breath before he knocked. It didn’t matter. Once she pulled the door open, his breath caught in his throat anyway.

A snug cobalt blue sweater with a shallow V-neck topped skinny jeans that hugged the curves of her hips and tightly circled her legs, ending in camel mid-calf boots. Her hair was down and curled the way it had been for the Christmas party in relaxed spiraling tendrils. The thing he noticed the most was how her chestnut eyes lit up as they focused on his and those lips curved up in a smile.

“Hi.”

“Hey,” he said when his breath finally returned to him. “You look . . .”Gorgeous. Radiant. Stunning.He settled on a word that was appropriate and hopefully wouldn’t send her back pedaling. “. . . beautiful.”

“Thank you.” She tilted her head down as she’d done at the party.

He wanted to wrap her in his arms again, but he cleared his throat and made himself focus. Today was about getting to know Emilie better and not scaring her off. “Ready for lunch?”

“Yeah. Let me just grab my coat.” She ducked into the small closet nearby. “Are we walking?”

“No, I’m driving.”

Once on the landing, he gestured to her coat. “May I?”

The corners of her mouth tugged into a shy grin before handing it to him. Once she’d shrugged into it, he debated gently pulling all that thick hair from its wool prison, but she wove her hand behind her head and freed it before he had a chance. He gestured his hand to the stairs and allowed her to walk before him, trying not to be too obvious of the fact he was inhaling her sweet floral scent. When they arrived at the ground floor, he held open the door of the building and then the passenger door for her to a repeat of, “Thank you.”

Once he’d settled in the driver's seat she asked, “Where are we going to lunch?”

“Do you like Chinese?”

“Who doesn’t like Chinese?” Her voice held that joking quality he loved.

“Just wanted to make sure.” A grin laced his lips as he checked his rear-view mirror and pulled into the snow cleared lane.

The restaurant was only a mile and a half from her house, but in winter city traffic, it took twenty minutes. He’d found a garage across the street ahead of time, so she wouldn’t be too cold walking outside, though the cold didn’t seem to bother her. He’d tightened his scarf and buttoned his coat to his neck, but she let hers gape open as he led her across the street.

The restaurant looked like many of the others in Chinatown. Wood floors with white cloth covered tables in different sizes surrounded by red cushioned and gold trimmed chairs. The ceiling was painted gold with a huge, circular low-profile glass chandelier, and the wallpaper was the same red with gold floral accents. He told the hostess “two” and they walked past a cart of steaming metal containers on the way to their table.

A waitress took a card from their table writing something on it before nodding to them. “Hot tea?”

At their request, she was soon back with two glasses of water and a stainless-steel pot full of steaming Oolong. Emilie turned over the cup on her plate and poured herself tea from the pot before taking the chopsticks from their paper case.

“Have you had dim sum before?”

She rubbed her chopsticks together while craning her gorgeous neck to look at all the different carts. “No, but I like adventure eating.”

He almost spat out his tea, stifling a laugh. “Adventure eating?”

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