Page 31 of Just Add Mistletoe

“Maybe, or maybe not.”

They continued to drive in silence for several moments, and Lori wondered if his holding her hand was left over from their fake date, or if it was something more. He had asked her out—although there were currently no plans.

As they merged onto the highway, his thumb traced over her skin. “Is this okay?” he asked in a soft voice.

“Yes,” she said, because it was, although she had some questions. “Are we still on a fake date?”

“It wasn’t completely fake.” He glanced over at her. “I like you, Lori. I mean, I know that I don’t have time to date, and you don’t want to date, but that doesn’t change the fact that I like you.”

Lori’s heart felt like it had climbed into her throat. “I like you too,” she said simply, “and I don’t mind the hand-holding, but the other stuff . . . you know, that would be way beyond friends hanging out.”

“The other stuff?” he asked. “Oh, you mean, like kissing?”

She had to laugh. “Yeah, kissing. That kind of stuff turns things into a relationship. Which neither of us wants.”

“Right,” Malcom said. “Good boundary.”

“Can you live with it?” Lori teased.

“I’ll try.”

His low voice resonated through her, but she decided to ignore the racing of her pulse. Malcom would be moving on in a few months, and Lori wasn’t going to follow after any man. She had her store, and she was happy with living in her small corner of life.

When Malcom came to a stop in front of her shop, he opened her door again. Then he walked her to the front door.

She unlocked it, then turned. “Thanks for dinner. And I hope the night was all it needed to be.”

Malcom stood a couple of feet away, hands in his pockets, as the breeze ruffled his hair and shirt. “It was more. Thanks, Lori.”

“No problem.”

He stepped close and lifted a hand to her cheek, then he pressed a kiss on her other cheek. Before she could absorb what he was doing, he’d stepped back, restoring the space between them.

IT WASN’T HARD FOR MALCOM to decide which text thread to respond to. The weekend had passed much too quickly. No word from Brandy yet on the financials. Plenty of texts had come in from Penny though—texts he was trying to ignore. But it was the texts from Lori that kept him smiling.

They were in a late-night debate of what they should do at their next “get-together.” They’d decided it would be the night before Halloween since that’s when their schedules aligned next. It felt like a long time away. But it was fine, Malcom had told himself, to miss her a little bit. That didn’t stop him from glancing across the street about a hundred times a day. He’d seen her a couple of times, coming and going in her car.

Apparently she was a night owl too, and eleven p.m. wasn’t too late to argue about their plans. She’d already ruled out hiking—a storm was coming in. And bowling—it was “battle of the leagues” this week.

Movie?he texted.Your friend Everly told me the theater in town shows a mix of oldies and new releases. Your pick.

I’ll look up what’s showing,she wrote back.

This was major progress for Malcom. Not that taking her to a movie was his first choice since there’d be more staring at the screen than talking. And the point of hanging out was to get to know her better.

A text came in from Penny. There was no good reason for her to be texting him outside of work hours or about things that weren’t work related. But he could tell it was a photo—with themessage:Thought you might like this—and he was too curious not to click on it.

He opened the text to look at the photo. It was of him and Lori at the gala. Dancing, when she was leaning into him, her eyes closed. Malcom drew in a breath as the memories of that night rushed back. But then he wondered whyPennywould take the photo.

Her next text arrived:Someone from the gala took these and forwarded them to our office. Maybe this brings back good memories, or bad? Have you already dumped her? Wasn’t sure if she was a one-night stand.

Penny followed up the text with a winking emoji.

Malcom wanted to ignore the text, like he’d ignored most of her other ones this week that weren’t work related. And he didn’t want to get into a texting convo with her right now. But he also didn’t want her accusing him of a one-night stand, not with anyone, especially Lori.

We’re still dating. Thanks for the pic,he wrote.

Her reply came immediately.Ooo. That’s a record for you, right? Bronson is going to lose his bet.Another winking emoji.

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