Page 7 of Happily Ever Laughter

I look up into those dazzling hazel eyes and feel all of my shields drop. His hand snakes around my hip to pull me close. His faint sun and sand fragrance washes over me and I feel how incredibly warm he is.

He leans down to whisper in my ear, “I’m going to be counting the minutes until I see you again.”

He pulls back slowly, then pauses to give me a soft, dreamy kiss on the cheek. How strange that nobody has ever kissed me there before. How odd that I feel it so deeply. Those perfect lips and breath against my skin are so sweet.

I’m flushed and floaty as he straightens up, saying, “Get home safe, beautiful.”

Smiling and nodding, I wave to him, then to Jenna as I leave.

I don’t think my boots even touch the sidewalk on my way home. It is far too soon to be making any assumptions, but there is a deep, swirling feeling in my stomach that Felix is…important. His huge, odd energy is just what I’ve been craving.

CHAPTER FOUR

~ Felix ~

My morning ritual is almost always identical. Water. Run five miles. Coffee. Lift weights for twenty minutes or more at the gym downstairs. By then I’m conscious enough to see straight and actually be aware of the world around me.

But this morning I wake up with a goofy smile already on my face, and my run feels more like dancing. Even the most mundane details are now made exciting, tinted with the knowledge that I’ll be seeing Tanis tonight.

I absolutely can’t wait to see her again. However, I want to put together a date that will truly impress her.

As I stretch after my workout, I try to remember what little I’ve learned about dating over the years. Not just through my own trial and error, but what I’ve heard from my friends.

Tanis seems a bit different, which is amazing, and I get the sense that a high profile table at an exclusive restaurant probably isn’t her thing. My sneakers shuffle to the loft’s huge open kitchen to pour another coffee.

What will make Tanis happy? What will light her up from inside?

She seemed slightly surprised that she was laughing so hard last night. That is definitely a possible direction.

Maybe she’d be more comfortable with something light. Low-key. Where we can just be comfortable and hang out, but still special in some way.

Damn, that is a lot to cram into a date with only eight hours to prepare.

Sitting at the large round table made from a vintage clothing store sign, I start to take notes on my phone. Something funny. Simple. And hopefully something she’s never done before.

A couple of ideas begin to develop, as I check my email. One of my main clients, Gretchen, has been warning me for a week that she was going to be sending me a new project. I assumed that it was going to be one of her usual documentaries about the history of obscure architecture in a small town that nobody has ever heard of, since she sends me at least one of those every month.

But when I open a new email from her, I see instead an outline for a collaboration she is starting with local writers to create a sketch comedy show.

The problem is, it’s being done on a shoestring budget, and each writer is shooting material with their own gear, in whatever location they can find.

Visually, nothing is going to match. But instead of fighting it, they are embracing it, and will be adding fifteen- to thirty-second clips of animations and music between each segment as a palate cleanser.

Suddenly I’m on my feet and I don’t even know why.

Wait – yes, I do. That must be why I wanted a sample of clips from Tanis. When she played the exploding lemon drop for me last night, I instantly imagined strange, almost carnival music behind it, with a few offbeat spoken words. Sort of old timey and unusual.

I’m not sure why it locked in my mind, but to me, it was one of the most amusing things I’d thought of in a long time.

Those clips might be absolutely perfect for Gretche

n’s project. Plus, it could be a chance to showcase the beautiful work of my beautiful Tanis.

Yes, I’m already thinking of her as mine. So sue me.

Sitting down again, I sip my coffee as I hear rustling behind me.

“So, you were really quiet about that chick in the bar last night,” Dan says as he fixes his special imported green tea.

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