Page 65 of Heart of Stone
“… I’ve taken some time this week to meet and speak with many of you individually, and it’s been rewarding to hear just how impactful this place, the staff, and the experiences have been for each of you. As I said, my family and I are honored that you’ve chosen Sandstone Heart as the place to spend your time, and we look forward to seeing you back here soon. I can see they’re ready to bring out the food now, so I’ll end it there. Please enjoy your dinner and have a wonderful evening.”
The crowd erupted with applause, a few whistles coming from the back of the room. I didn’t dare look anywhere but at him.
Reid hadn’t just put together some lame, forced speech. He’d actually taken the time to get to know some of our guests. My heart warmed at the thought of how far he’d come since those first few days.
Like he had only one thought in his mind, Reid walked off and straight toward me. He was grinning like an idiot, and I gobbled it up, grinning just as stupidly back at him.
“So, how was it?” he asked.
“Brilliant. I’m so proud of you.”
His eyes darted around the room. “Do you know how badly I want to kiss you right now?”
We’d decided that public displays weren’t exactly a wise idea at this point. We’d be friendly enough with one another—it’s not like anyone would think twice given how open I was with just about everybody—but we’d hold back the kissing and touching until we were alone.
“Well, we can’t leave, because I’m starved.”
“Any chance I can convince you to take your meal to go?”
I shook my head slowly. “Sorry. You’re going to have to sit through dinner.”
He dropped his head back and groaned.
A moment later, we were seated at a table with other staff members, everyone lost in their own conversations. Everything was going just as I had anticipated until our meals were set down on the table in front of us.
Reid leaned toward me, his hand landing on my upper thigh. My eyes rounded in disbelief as I turned my attention to him.
“Someone mentioned something to me earlier that I wanted to ask you about,” he said.
How I was paying attention to anything coming out of his mouth was beyond me. “Reid,” I hissed.
“What?”
I tucked my chin down and whispered, “Your hand.”
That hand twitched. “What about it?”
“It’s resting on my thigh.”
“And?”
I cocked a brow. “Anyone can see. I thought we weren’t going to give people something to talk about.”
A lazy smile spread across his face, the sight of it nearly my undoing. “Nobody can see. But if it would help, I could tuck my hand between your legs as opposed to resting it on top of this one.”
My core clenched, wanting exactly that, but I grabbed his wrist. “Are you insane?!”
His eyes dropped to where his hand was resting. “I think you might be drawing more attention to where my hand is by grabbing hold of it.”
As quick as a flash of lightning, I released him and tried to calm myself. “What did you want to ask me about?”
Try as I might to appear unaffected by him, the shakiness in my voice gave me away. All I could think about was the possibility of having Reid’s hand tucked between my legs.
His thumb stroked lightly along my thigh. “I heard about the Christmas party. The one we have here on Christmas Eve.”
“Yes, we do that every year. What about it?”
He smiled at me. “I would like to take you to it as my date.”
