Page 74 of First Love, Second Draft

“Really? And to think all these years I’ve been giving credit to the boys at the firehouse for saving our Valentine’s Day that year.”

“Well, they did put out a fire in our kitchen, so... Plus you have to admit, their cake at the firehouse was amazing. Pretty sure I tried making the same recipe for us the next year and it turned out an even bigger mess than the brownies did tonight.”

Noah pointed to the brown globs all over the counter. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but I’m kind of amazed you managed to get enough batter into the pan to make any brownies at all.”

“I was stress baking.”

“So you painted the entire kitchen with brownie batter, I get it.” He winked and tossed a wet dishrag at her.

“Might want to keep this,” she said, tossing it right back.

“So I can wipe up your mess?”

“So you can wipe off your face.” Before he realized what she was doing, she swiped a glob of leftover batter across his forehead. Then staring at him, she licked off her finger with a mischievous smile.

Okay, was it him or was Gracie acting downright flirty tonight?

When they’d gone out the back door earlier to give Rachel and Matt some privacy, she’d practically glued herself to his torso with the excuse that it was freezing.

It hadn’t been freezing.

And now as he ran his finger across his forehead, she put zero effort into stopping him from transferring that batter into a smear across her right cheek.

“I’ve always heard brownie batter is good for the pores,” she said with a shrug. “Personally, I think your nose could use a little skin care.” She scooped up some batter from the kitchen counter and ran a chocolate-covered finger down the entire bridge of his nose.

“Thank you for looking out for my nose. But if I were you, I’d be more concerned about the pores on your left cheek. They’re looking a little neglected.” This time he cut out the middleman. Instead of using his finger, he leaned down and angled his brownie-battered nose against her cheek.

And then stayed there. With his nose pressed to her cheek. Which happened to leave his lips achingly close to her lips. “Remember theValentine’s Day I asked you to marry me?” he couldn’t stop himself from murmuring.

Gracie held still. “That one sort of rings a bell. As I recall you were leaving for spring training the next day after that one too.”

Noah held still. “And as I recall you got chocolate all over my nice new shirt.”

With both of them holding still, how had their lips managed to draw even closer? “Well, maybe you shouldn’t ask important questions after a lady starts eating her dessert.”

Was Gracie the one who’d moved closer?

Or had he?

Either way, she sure wasn’t moving away. And neither was he. Not when he could feel her breath on the corner of his mouth.

He’d just angled his head so he could feel her breath over his entire mouth when the front door banged open. “Is he here?” Mona’s voice yelled.

Gracie jerked away from Noah so hard that he had to grab her elbows to keep her from falling. “Is who here?” Gracie asked, pushing against Noah, then spinning away from him as soon as she regained her balance.

It might take him a second longer to regain his.

Mona rushed into the kitchen. “Matt. Who else would I be talking about? I was just driving home when I got the message he’d been in an accident. Something about a concussion. Is he okay? The ER said he wasn’t a patient anymore. I tried calling him, but—”

“He’s okay,” Noah and Gracie said at the same time.

“He’s okay?”

“He’s okay.” Certainly more okay than Noah at the moment. He’d beenthisclose to getting to kiss Gracie again. Which meant he wasthisclose to tossing Mona out on her ear for ruining that moment.

Gracie pointed to the ceiling. “Matt’s resting upstairs. He hurt his head and shoulder, but I promise, he’s okay.” Was she breathless? She sounded a little breathless.

Mona collapsed into a kitchen chair and blew out her own longbreath. “He’s okay. All right. Good. I can breathe again. Why do you have brown goo all over your faces?”

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