Page 48 of Other Side Of Never
He laughed and threw his arm around my shoulders, steering me around toward the cash.“Doesn’t Shae have a restaurant around here?”
I nodded.“Ayana’s.It’s fancy, though.We’ll have to come back another time—” I cut myself off, my eyes flickering up to meet his.
With a gentle squeeze around my shoulders, he assured me, “I’d like that.”
I shrugged.“I didn’t mean you’d have to take me or go with me.”
He smirked.“And who else would I go with?The only other women I’ve spoken to are your very much taken friends and some woman who came on so strong I had to go home and shower to rinse off the heebie-jeebies.”
I laughed as we stepped up to the checkout.“I bet I know who that was.”
The girl behind the counter held up the size 6 ‘Uncle’ sweatshirt.“This is so cute!”
“It’s for my son,” Kian explained proudly, his cheeks pinking as his pretty mouth curved into a smile.Hazel eyes shining, he continued, “His big brother is having a baby.”
My heart hurt for him.I bet this was the first time he’d gotten to tell someone the news without the shadow of the past dimming his happiness.
“Oh!”she exclaimed.“We have a #1 Grandpa sweatshirt to match!Do you want to see it?”
My heart skipped a beat as Kian stepped back, his smile faltering.“Maybe next time.”
The bell over the door rang as a group of women came in, laughing and talking.
I began to sweat.
“But you’d be so cute together!”she continued as she scanned the rest of our bounty, looking up at him expectantly.
Kian shook his head, his lips pressed flat.
My gaze flicked back and forth between him and the young, overzealous cashier.She wasn’t ready to let it go while Kian’s jaw could cut glass.
When she opened her mouth, I cut her off.“Is there a chocolatier in Mistlevale?”
Her eyes lit up.“Three doors down.Just turn right when you get out the door.”
As soon we got outside, I began to giggle.
“What’s so funny?”He smiled down at me, but his eyes narrowed warily.
“Between the two of us, we have so many triggers we can’t go anywhere without setting one off!”
He began to chuckle.“Gotta just let things go, Bridge.Life’s too short.”He jerked his chin up.“There’s the chocolatier.”
“Oh,” I breathed pulling the heavy door open.“This is very similar to the store I had.”
Reaching above my head, he secured the door and looked down at me.“Yeah?”
I nodded as I walked through.“I sold it before moving to Sage Ridge.”
“You really uprooted yourself.”
I shrugged.“I had to.”
Dipping his chin as he followed me in, he murmured, “Let’s go gorge on chocolate that we’ll later claim is nowhere near as good as yours.”
I laughed.“I’m in.”
The store was lovely, but mine was better.
