‘How is the heat at your house, by the way. Any better?’
‘It is, actually. The radiators definitely get hotter than they did before. And I got the chimney inspected, so I can have a fire in the fireplace now.’
‘Oh, that’s good.’ The relief on Bennett’s face would have been funny if it wasn’t so damn sweet. What was she doing talking to such a sweet guy? Had Chloe’s departure really screwed her up that badly?
‘Yeah, too bad I don’t actually know how to start a fire,’ she said with a laugh, only meaning to make fun of her ineptitude, but she should have known how it would land with Mr. Fix-It.
He shifted on his feet, took two more bites of waffle, pretended to watch the crowd, did apparently everything in his power not to offer to help her, and it lasted all of about two minutes.
‘I could show you how to do it. I mean, maybe. When I come to pick out my tree.’
He looked so earnest, so damn eager. It was too much. Kira didn’t do earnest guys. When it came to men Kira required two qualifications: temporary and unacceptable to her mother. Men without steady jobs, men with face tattoos, men who considered themselves ‘professional protesters’ and smelled like patchouli. One time, she’d brought home a guy who parked his motorcycle on the front lawn and then helped free her mother’s prize-winning cockatoos. The birds were probably terrible for the local ecosystem, but it had been the principle of the thing at the time. Her mother had freaked out and her date was on his way to New Mexico for a PETA conference by morning. A win-win in Kira’s book.
She preferred the thrill of not knowing if the guy would still be in the country the next morning to the consistency of a guy that texted back. Where was the fun in that? And she was sure Bennett was the type who would text back, like immediately.
But maybe she hadn’t needed sweet before. She hadn’t needed earnest and consistent because she’d already had all those things in her sister. And now she didn’t have Chloe anymore. Her sister had a new soulmate, and a Danish one, at that. Maybe with Chloe gone, Kira needed a different type of man in her life.
Shit.
How annoying.
‘Yeah, maybe,’ she said, and there it was again, the heat she’d seen in his gaze when they’d bumped into each other in the waffle line. Her gaze snagged on his lips, tipped into that perfect smile. What would it be like to kiss those lips? To lean into this moment and kiss this man and know he would call her back afterwards? And that she might actually want him to?
She swallowed hard, heat creeping across her face. Okay, she’d clearly been alone for too long. When she lifted her eyes to his, he was still looking at her like he had plenty of ideas on how to keep her warm. And they had nothing to do with her fireplace.
Oh, damn.
They were closer to each other than they had been a moment ago, like the force of his handsomeness was pulling her toward him. He reached out and Kira froze as his thumb grazed the corner of her mouth. She felt that brush of his fingertip across her entire body.
‘You had a little something there.’ He pulled his hand away and Kira wanted to cry at its absence.
‘Thanks.’ She flicked her tongue out to lick the rest of the caramel-y crumbs from her mouth. Bennett’s dark gaze tracked the movement.
Heat flared in Kira’s belly.
What the hell was going on here? Was she getting herself worked up over the wholesome guy determined to tidy up her life?
No way.
She took a step back, letting the cold air rush in between them, giving her space to breathe. Bennett’s brow hitched up slightly, but he kept his distance.
She avoided his gaze, letting hers rove over the festival instead, willing her body to calm the hell down. She looked over the craft booths, over the strolling families, the excited kids in winter hats and mittens, the bell-ringing Santa. She had to hand it to the Dream Harborians… Harborians? Whoever they were, they sure knew how to throw a festival.
And then she saw it. The perfect thing to distract her from her confusing feelings for this man.
‘Reindeer!’
‘Reindeer?’ Bennett’s gaze followed hers to the fenced in enclosure in the middle of the town green.
‘Reindeer,’ Kira echoed, already moving toward the sweet, furry babies with Bennett trailing behind her. ‘Look at them! Where do you think they came from?’
‘The North Pole?’
Kira shot him a disbelieving look, but she couldn’t keep her grumpy act up when she was in the presence of such adorable animals. She tugged off her mitten, and dutifully ignoring the sign that warned the reindeer might nibble her fingers, she stuck her hand between the wood slates and rubbed the soft snout of one reindeer and then the other.
‘So fuzzy,’ she whispered.
The reindeer stared at her with big black eyes. The other wandered over to where some squealing children were holding out a carrot, the jingle bells on its harness tinkling as it walked away.
‘I want one,’ she declared.
‘Maybe finish getting the farm set up before you add animals.’
Kira huffed. ‘Maybe worry about your own animals and I’ll worry about mine.’
‘Fair enough.’ Bennett took off his own glove and joined her in petting her new furry friend. She kept her hand safely on the other side of the animal’s big head. She didn’t need their fingers to touch, not when she could still feel the imprint of Bennett’s thumb on her lips.
‘You want to come home with me, right?’ she crooned to the deer. He nudged her hand with his furry head. ‘I think you do, you big handsome guy. I’d take good care of you.’
Bennett cleared his throat.
‘Yes?’ she said, glancing up at him.
‘You’re making a big mistake here,’ he told her.
‘Oh, really? And what is it I’m doing wrong now?’ This guy. How dare he butt in again? If she wanted reindeer for her Christmas-tree farm, then she was damn well going to get them. As soon as she figured out how.
‘You’re not nearly as scary as you pretend to be,’ he said, his voice dangerously close to her ear.
