Chapter 16
Daniel
That was everything I needed to hear. I guess I shouldn’t say it like that. Because anyone could say the words. But she looked me in the eye and was sincere. And she’d already told me that she was falling for me when she thought I was just a coworker, someone who was there to lend her a hand. I have to admit that it means a lot to me to hear that.
“It doesn’t matter to you?” I say softly.
“No,” she replies, her voice firm and confident. Then she smiles, and I know she’s going to say something flippant. “But you could convince me with this cheesecake.”
I laughed. “You can have as much of the cheesecake as you want.”
“Oh goodness. Don’t say that to me. I could sit here and eat all day long, and that wouldn’t be good for any of us.” She’s still smiling a little, but she tilts her head, like she’s concerned about me. “I assume that you had people who have been friends with you just for your money?”
I nod. “I’ve been engaged twice, and twice I found out that it was only for my money. I suppose I should have been a little bit more cautious—”
“Engaged twice, and found out it was only for your money, and you admitted to me just now who you are? I would say that, yeah, you could have waited a lot longer, but I love your bravery.”
“Or stupidity,” I say, and then I shake my head. “But it doesn’t feel like stupidity when I’m with you. It feels like...love.”
I didn’t really need to say the L word like that, and I don’t know that you can know for sure that you love someone eight hours after meeting them. But I do know that you can say for sure whether or not you will love someone, because love isn’t just a feeling. In fact, I believe with all of my heart the feelings will come and go, ebb and flow, but the decision to love someone is one that you make consciously and then you act on every single day.
“I think love is an action,” Amber says, almost as though she’s reading my mind. I don’t know where she’s been all of my life, but I feel like we were made for each other. I’ve never felt like that before.
“I agree with you one hundred percent.”
We smile at each other and finish our desserts in silence.
I know she has a ballroom to decorate.
“So am I decorating for you? Or am I decorating for your brother?”
“My brother uses my house to host various functions, and that’s what’s going on tomorrow. He’s the one who hired you, and he’s the one who keeps the staff here. If he didn’t need them, I would probably only have one or two people, since the grounds of the house are way too big for me to care for by myself, but I love this town, and I thought that this house would be a beautiful place to raise a family, to have friends over, and to have special celebrations with the entire town.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s a gorgeous house. But I guess I feel better knowing that I’m working for your brother. So I’m not having an illicit relationship with the boss.”
I take her hand again, wrapping my fingers around hers. “It’s not an illicit relationship if we haven’t been kissing.”
“I don’t know why we’re not,” Amber says, and there is such an easy feeling between the two of us. It’s not awkward at all. I lift a hand and run it through her hair, down behind her ear, and my fingers rest lightly on her neck.
“Maybe we should fix that,” I say, and there is a husky note in my voice.
“Maybe we should,” Amber says, and she starts to lean toward me just a bit.
I tug on her hand and pull her closer. She comes easily. I put my lips on her forehead and trail them down her temple. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”
“Same. Although, can I say that I appreciate you trusting me enough to tell me the truth?”
“I guess it would be hard for me not to trust you. There is just a feeling in my gut that says that I’m safe with you.”
“Yeah. That’s how I feel,” she says, looking up, her eyes shining.
I smile into them, lowering my head, and touch my lips to hers. I wasn’t really planning on kissing her, but it feels perfect and bright and just as beautiful as the world around us.
I don’t allow it to last for long before I lift my head and put my lips on her temple again. “I’d like to sit up here all afternoon, but I know you’re going to want to get your room done.”
“I don’t know. Responsibility is warring with what I’d rather do instead.”
“I bet we could have the room finished by early evening, and... Maybe you’d like to spend some time with me after that?”
“I definitely would. There’s no maybe about it,” she says, and her eyes are still glowing. I like the idea that I’ve put that look on her face. The look of someone who knows that someone is madly infatuated with them, the look that a woman gives a man when she feels the same way about him.
“I don’t have a date for the dinner tomorrow. It’s going to be pretty good, more dessert, more white chocolate blueberry cheesecake. Would you think about going with me?”
“You don’t have to bribe me with white chocolate blueberry cheesecake, as good as it was. All you have to say is that you want me, and I’ll be there.”
That’s exactly what I want to hear. I know we need to go to work, but I dip my head one last time and touch my lips to hers, grateful for the tangled tinsel that brought us together.
***End of Tangled Up in Tinsel***