18. Chapter 18 #2
"No, I will not." I hand Kylie my paper bowl so I can take out a bill. "If not for you, then for the twins."
“But-“
“Quit objecting and buy them some toys on me.” I fold the bill and demonstratively put it into his tip jar.
"Oh, you've got a way with words, my friend." Javi bursts into laughter and shakes his head. "I will tell Maria she can keep dreaming about your pretty face."
"No. Tell her she should dream about your face. Anyway, I don't want to keep you any longer. Say hi to her from me, though."
"You know I will." I take my bowl back from Kylie and pluck a chocolate covered churro out of it to take a bite. Fuck, it’s just as good as I remember. Caleb might be the king of pastries, but Javi? King of fried desserts for sure.
"Do you know everyone here?" Kylie asks in a whisper, eyeing her steaming bowl.
"Pretty much."
"Huh. Didn’t peg you for a ‘getting to know everyone’ kind of guy." Her eyebrows furrow into a frown.
“I’m not.” I stare at her until she squirms under my gaze. “At least not usually. It comes with growing up here.”
She hums and takes a bite of her churros. However, her mouth immediately flies open again, and she sucks in a breath, fanning her face with her free hand.
"Fuck, that's hot. Delicious, but hot."
Damn. She's adorable. The panicked expression because the piece of churro is hot, but she doesn't want to drop it back into the bowl is hilarious. I try to burn it into my mind, because it’s gone before I could even reach for my phone and capture it.
She sticks to my side as we walk around the autumn fair and I pretend to work. I steal one of her cinnamon sugar churros, and her hand sneaks into my bowl when she thinks I’m not looking. Her arm keeps brushing against mine, our shoulders bumping occasionally and I savor every minute.
We find Kieran amongst a group of children, carving an elaborate picture of the Headless Horseman into a pumpkin. Dick and Abby are asleep at his feet, so he motions for us to keep it moving with the carving tool in his hand.
Lauren and Caleb dip their heads into the water to try and catch an apple with their teeth as we walk by.
When they lift their heads out of the barrels, Lauren’s wet hair soaks her entire sweatshirt and Caleb actually has an apple in his mouth.
He offers it to her and puts his jacket around her shoulders as she takes a bite off it.
I can’t believe she actually got Caleb to do it. Then again, I’d do it if Kylie asked me and we’re not even dating. Yet. Maybe. Hopefully.
We meet Nic and Henry by the shooting booth, where he's trying to win her a stuffed toy. He’s got a terrible form and is holding his plastic shotgun all wrong. Judging by their cheers, it worked out, though. And yes, I note Kylie's longing gaze at the two of them.
"You don't have to stick around with me," I remind her and pop the last piece of churro into my mouth. "You know, in case you'd rather find a proper date."
"I like this date," she declares it with a satisfied nod, taking another bite of her churros. Then she tenses. "If this is a date. Is this a date?" My heart beats in my throat. For once, think before you answer, Erik.
"It can be a date," I mumble and her face lights up. "But let’s make it official in an hour, once my shift is over and I can throw my deputy jacket into the car. Deal?"
"Deal." She grins and keeps munching on her churros with a smile bright enough to light this festival.
The autumn fair passes without incident. At least no incident worse than the almost lost finger at the carving booth.
As the setting sun casts a golden glow over the fake-leaf adorned booths, pumpkins and haystacks, I run to my car, throw my badge and jacket inside, then hurry back to Kylie.
"Fancy meeting you here," I joke as I come to a stop and it brings the most wonderful shy twinkle to her face. She reaches for my arm again, but I decide I can do one better, sliding it over her shoulders and pulling her to my side.
"Eek!" She shrieks in surprise and tenses for a moment. Then she lets out a happy sigh, her arm snaking around my hip as if it belonged there all along.
"So, you want me to win you a teddy bear? Did I get that right?"
"No, I want to challenge you to win me a teddy bear." She steers us past the shooting booth to a ball-throwing one to make our chances more even.
"Oh, you're on.” There’s a wall of potential prizes. From water guns to yo-yo’s to plushies, they have everything a child’s heart could desire. “Which of them am I supposed to win?"
"The light brown bear on the top left." She points at it. It’s fluffy and giant and very her.
"That one. It reminds me of Abby with that little round speck around his eye.
" My heart warms. It's not even one of the top prizes.
Honestly, I think we could win it if we hit one of the cans on the little pyramid.
However, I've got a reputation to uphold and a woman to impress.
So I pay the teenager from Kinstead for our attempts and take a ball into my hand.
"Okay." I weigh the ball and throw it in the air, catching it to gauge how it flies. "The winner gets what?"
"Bragging rights," she declares, a focused crease appearing between her eyebrows. "The loser has to buy the winner a cider."
"Well, it's game on."