Page 9 of Celebrated Love

“You’re beautiful when you talk about dance,” I whisper the words.

Aster’s stormy blue eyes meet mine and her blush deepens. It’s fucking adorable. I want to kiss her, but I hold myself back. I don’t know what she would do if I tried.

“Do you ever just spin and spin until you’re too dizzy to spin anymore?”

She looks at me and starts laughing at my question. When she laughs, everything holding her back falls away. She glows from the inside out and I’m a lucky fucking man to be able to witness it.

“You’re ridiculous,” she admonishes me when she stops laughing.

I shoot her a grin, not bothered in the least. I got her to laugh. I’m flying high on the victory of such a small thing.

We continue to chat while we work, and our time together is far too short. As we start to pack up along with the other volunteers, my heart clenches. I don’t want to leave her. I want more time.

I don’t know how to get her to trust me other than to keep trying. I’m hopeful that I’ll get my Christmas wish this year. Her; it’ll always be her.

We’re quiet as I walk her to her car. I take a chance and grab her hand, lacing our fingers together and giving her hand a squeeze to thank her for not pushing me away. It’s not a lot, but I’ll take it.

She looks up at me, her eyes wide and a little worried when we get to her car. “Thank you for walking me out,” she whispers.

The pull between us is almost overwhelming and holding her hand isn’t enough. I need more, even if it blows up in my face. It’s time to take a small leap and hope for the best.

“Aster,” I murmur her name, moving closer to her and wrapping my arm around her waist. She doesn’t struggle against me, and I risk taking just a little bit more. “I’m going to kiss you. Tell me if you don’t want me to.”

I pause, our eyes locked together until she licks her bottom lip, and my gaze is drawn to the movement. I make sure to close the distance between us slowly even though everything inside of me screaming to slam my lips against hers.

The first brush of our lips is like an explosion with how much it rocks me. Her lips are soft and sweet. I instantly want more.

I press my lips against hers a little harder, only wanting to push her so far. I don’t let my tongue out to push between her lips. I want to, desperately, but I’m willing to wait.

I nip at her bottom lip, causing her to gasp, as I pull away. When our eyes open, hers are a little dazed and I’m sure mine are hungry as hell. I want her, but I want her forever. Not only one night.

Forever is the only thing that will work for me.

“Can I take you out, Aster? Please,” I plead with her, hoping she’ll see how sincere I am.

“Okay, Bowen,” she nods slowly as she answers.

With a kiss on her forehead, I help her into her car and barely stop myself from doing a victory dance in the parking lot. I might do one later, when I’m alone at my place. Okay, I definitely will.

I have a date. With the woman of my dreams. Christmas miracles are real, and I’ve been granted one. I won’t squander it.

CHAPTER 5

ASTER

I think this third date with Bowen might be the one that goes well. Maybe I should have cut my losses after the first two, but there’s something about him that won’t let me walk away. Not yet at least.

He has this strange ability to get past my walls no matter how much I try and reinforce them. He’s charming, sweet, and so damn sexy there are times when I can’t breathe around him. Our dates haven’t shown me who he is, but the time we’ve spent at the toy drive has.

He probably doesn’t even realize it, but he has the ability to make everyone around him feel seen, safe, and at ease. I’m sure it helps him when he’s working. It’s also incredibly endearing that he doesn’t even realize he has this superpower.

Our first date, or attempt at our first date, didn’t get off the ground because his tire had a blowout, and he didn’t have a spare. I could practically see his embarrassment rolling off him, but he never took it out on me. He just kept apologizing as we waited for roadside assistance to come and save the day.

The wait was a lot longer than either of us anticipated, but we didn’t let the time go to waste and talked for the hour it took to get help. We were going out to dinner a few towns over, so we weren’t in Sweetwater Valley when the tire blew. If we had been in town, the rescue probably would have been a lot faster.

By the time we got back on the road, it was getting late, and I asked him to just take me home. The look he gave me, full of so much remorse and sadness, had my heart clenching in my chest.

As we were driving, the quiet descended until he broke it with a hesitant question, “Does this mean I blew more than just my tire?” He glanced over at me with a small, forced smile on his face. “Did I blow it with you too?”

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