Page 27 of Promise Yule Be Mine
I sucked in a breath to stop myself from calling him amazing, and smiled.
"I went all the way to the store and got us wine!" I raised the bag in front of me.
Nova smirked and narrowed his eyes, taking the bag from me and taking it to the kitchen where he looked for glasses and a corkscrew.
"Here," I said, taking pity on him and showing him the "everything" drawer.
"Ah, thanks."
"It's no problem. You'd be looking for hours otherwise. Jenna is…very free-spirited," I said.
"Is that supposed to mean she's messy?"
I rocked my head from side to side and he laughed.
"You don't need to tell me. You should have seen her bedroom when she was a teen. This is a vast improvement." He turned to take in her studio apartment.
"Are you forgetting I met her when she was a teen? I know," I said.
We chuckled.
I'd feel bad for bad-mouthing Jenna with her best friend if she wouldn’t have been the first to admit she was messy and didn't care for house chores.
We stayed there, standing next to each other and looking at the apartment in silence but it was charged with all sorts of electricity. Electricity and magnetism. Or something that made it impossible to pull away from him.
I took a deep breath and my arm brushed his, sending me into a spiral of heavy breaths and numb limbs.
"Uh…shall we? Get to it?" He broke the silence first, pushing himself off the kitchen counter and carrying the bottle of wine and corkscrew in one hand.
It took me a moment to grab the glasses and follow him and I made sure to sit across from him. I needed to avoid any contact with the man if I was going to keep my wits about me.
He got busy opening the bottle of wine and poured us both some before he took a deep breath and stared at the table in front of him.
"So…here's the plan. Here's what I have in mind based on your vision board." He hovered his hands over a stack of small papers. "I got the messaging printed on some high-end craft paper…"
He passed me the top piece and our fingers barely avoided contact. I swallowed the frog in my throat and looked at the paper. It was off-white and textured like fabric. There were also bits wedged in the paper and I tried to rub them to figure out what they were when Nova put his glass down and smiled.
"It's biodegradable paper with flower seeds in it. When people are done with the wedding they can plant the paper in their garden and have a beautiful souvenir from your wedding."
I goggled at him. "Really?"
The way his smile deepened as if he was super proud of my reaction sent my stomach and the butterflies that had awakened again into a tumble.
"That's…" I had to catch my breath. "That's wonderful. I didn't even know it was a thing."
Nova shrugged. "It's my job to know these kinds of things."
I nodded as he walked me through the rest of the plan.
"So we're going to tack these onto the inside of these cards," he pointed at blank kraft brown cards, "and we're going toglue some baby’s breath on the cover." He pointed at the white flowers in the middle of the table. "Then we're going to put them in these envelopes…" The envelopes in question were an olive green velvety kind that reminded me of a Christmas tree. "And we're going to wrap the envelopes in twine and ribbon." The ribbon was a deep maroon. "And finish them off with a sprig of mistletoe and holly and a little wax seal." He pointed to a bowl full of golden wax seals with a little tree embossed in the front. "Here. I made a sample for you to see. I sent a picture to Jenna for approval but haven't heard back. She must be in the air."
He handed me an envelope and a card from under the coffee table, as if he'd hidden them to surprise me. I took them in my hands.
It looked phenomenal. I couldn't quite believe he'd made them himself. They looked so elegant, and yet not too showy.
"You're super talented," I said before I could stop myself, although surely there was nothing wrong with a little compliment, right?
"Thanks. But it's really nothing to do with talent. It's all a skill that can be taught."
