Page 233 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
I nod. “Yes. Good idea.” I retrieve the leash from where I left it on the gazebo steps and hook it to Toby’s collar. Lennox waits for me, and we walk toward the restaurant together.
I’m surprised when he reaches over and takes my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
I’m even more surprised when he doesn’t let go. Except, the gesture doesn’t feel like he’s making a move. It just feels likecomfort,and it sends warmth up my arm and right to my heart.
We pause at the base of the stairs that lead up to the restaurant’s back door.
Lennox drops my hand and shifts his weight from one foot to the other.
Suddenly it feels like we’re on a date and this is the awkward moment where we try to figure out how to say good night. A handshake? A hug? A kiss on the cheek? A full-on back-against-the-door make out?
“Not going to finish your walk?” Lennox asks and the make-out imagery floating in my brain disappears.
“I think Toby’s had enough excitement for one day.”
Me. It’s me who has had enough excitement.
“Fair enough,” Lennox says. Then he just stands there. Staring at me. Like there’s something he can’t quite figure out.
“Hey, look at us,” I say breezily. “This is the first conversation we’ve had where we haven’t argued about something.”
He wrinkles his brow, his lips pulling to one side. “Haven’t we though? I think we argued about bears a little.”
“That one is totally on you,” I say. “But . . .” I hesitate and bite my lip. “But the walk back was nice.”
Heat warms my cheeks at the blatant admission—why, again, was I so blatant?—but Lennox smiles easily like he doesn’t notice.
“Don’t get used to it,” he says. “I expect everything to go back to normal tomorrow.”
“Hey, Lennox?” I say, stopping him before he can leave me alone. “I’m sorry about the other night. It wasn’t my place to say anything about how you run your kitchen.”
He pushes his hands into his pockets. “The great Tatum Elliott apologizing? May I live to see the day.” His words echo the ones I said to him the day I moved in, right down to the inflection and tone of my voice.
I gasp, though I can’t keep from smiling. “I did not deserve that! I just gave you a really sincere apology!”
“You did, you’re right,” he says. “And I appreciate it. But you don’t need to apologize. You were only trying to help.”
Istillwant to help. But I won’t say another word about it until he asks me.
“So we’re good?”
He nods. “See you around, Elliott.”
“Not if I see you first, Hawthorne,” I say to his retreating form, though my words are so soft, I’m not sure he even hears me.
I turn and head up the stairs, a new unsettling thought taking root in my mind.
Lennox said he expects everything to go back to normal tomorrow, but what he’s asking is completely impossible.
Because I’m pretty sure I’m actually starting tolikeLennox Hawthorne.
Chapter Eight
Lennox
“You know it’s weirdthat you’re standing here staring, right?” Zach leans against the wall beside me, his arms folded, and follows my gaze into Tatum’s kitchen.
I’m notinher kitchen, necessarily. I’m more standing just outside it, in an area that I could, technically, also be standing in if I were on my way to the pantry.
