The Bouquet List by Barbara Deleo Read Free Book Online Page B

skin, a way to find a relaxed and fun-loving Lane within the buttoned-down exterior. She just had to work out a way to release him, and perhaps the buttons on that shirt he was wearing. There was no time like the present.
    “Do you think I’ve changed?” She realized she was interrupting his list of possible new menu choices, but if she didn’t get this seduction ball rolling soon it might never happen.
    He looked up, his fork poised in midair, and his eyes sparked. “Of course. The braids you had when you were ten weren’t purple.” He stabbed at something on the plate in front of him and held it up. “You haven’t tried this squid yet. The way they’ve braised it with currants and red wine is unusual, but it works. It’s probably not a great choice for a wedding, but it’d be a nice appetizer on the regular restaurant menu.”
    “Have I changed in a good way or a bad?”
    “Good, of course,” he said and continued chewing, but he frowned. “But I thought you were fine before.”
    Fine? God, she really wasn’t good at this.
    He pointed with his fork to the walls and furniture, completely oblivious to the first of her seduction techniques. “How do you think this decor works? I like the turquoise and silver color scheme to represent the colors of Greece, but I’d probably make it even more contemporary—use more glass and brushed metal but with the budget—”
    “I didn’t realize you’d noticed me before.” She did the slow blink thing that Genie had insisted would be guaranteed to get his attention. It felt like she was one of those openmouthed clowns at the fair, waiting for him to put a ping-pong ball in her mouth.
    There was that warm grin again. It was small and hard won, but it was worth the wait. “I noticed you when you followed Nick and me around, wanting to know how our toy guns worked, pleading with us to help you with one of your experiments.”
    She took another mouthful of the water and let her shoulders relax as the bubbles tickled the roof of her mouth. He’d been surprised when she said she wouldn’t have a glass of wine. She’d thought about disclosing her illness, but she still wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t tell her parents, or worse, stop her from being involved at all.
    “I noticed you all the time.” There, she’d said it. She held her breath.
    “Why, because you were wondering if I’d try to put a frog down your back?”
    She didn’t answer, just stared at him the way Genie had promised would have him begging for her to touch him. He looked up and the expression on his face changed and he gave a small cough. “Don’t tell me you had a crush on me.”
    Was his emphasis on “crush” because he was completely horrified by the concept, or because he’d been hoping for so long that she’d felt that way that he couldn’t believe she’d finally said it? She had a nasty feeling it was the former. And what a horrible word “crush” was anyway, sort of immature and desperate. Is that the way she was behaving now? Suddenly she felt very tired, and the warning her doctor had given her to take things easy these next few weeks rang in her head. But she’d started this now.
    The familiar sound of her mindfulness bell in her bag punctuated the air between them.
    No chickening out.
    “Of course I had a crush on you. You must have known that.”
    He chuckled, and when she didn’t respond, the smile slipped from his face.
    “I still do.”
    He stopped chewing but didn’t say anything. Then he swallowed and his face became even more serious.
    She placed the knife and fork beside her plate and forced words beyond the band tightening around her throat. “I had a wake-up call in Borneo. Being so far away from home made me reassess things.”
    “In what way?”
    “I’ve always been a careful person, Lane, someone who’ll weigh up the odds and always go with the completely safe bet, but I was denying myself a whole lot of life experiences. Since I was challenged