Chapter 14 #2
“Miss Talbot?” He pushed hair back from his forehead with a swipe of one hand. “Erm, is something wrong? Garden rather scooped me up and delivered me here. Then I heard your voice on the other side of the door, and—”
“It’s the review!” Luna blurted, finding her voice again in a gust of air. “In the Bally Daily! It’s come in!”
His sad blue eyes brightened softly. “Yes? And?”
“Come and see!” Luna beckoned and led the way out of the dim passage, back to the shop counter.
There she grabbed the paper and shoved it into his hands, stabbing the correct column with an eager finger.
She watched his eyes scan the close-print words, a stern line set between his brows.
She saw the moment when the line cleared suddenly, and his gaze leapt to meet hers. For a moment, he simply looked at her.
Then his mouth broke into a grin. “We did it, Miss Talbot.”
Before Luna quite knew what was happening, his arms wrapped around her, and he swung her off her feet.
A complete rotation, all the way around.
Twice. Her skirts wafting, her voice escaping in a little bleat of surprised laughter.
Upon completing the second circle, however, he set her down again abruptly and swiftly snatched up the paper again, holding up the pages to block his face from her view.
Which hopefully meant he did not see the absolute storm of blushes erupting across her cheeks.
Luna gripped the edge of the counter to steady herself, and took a moment to catch her suddenly too-tight breath.
“Miss Eugenia must have written it,” she stammered and hoped he didn’t notice the hitch in her voice.
“Before she left on her voyage. Wasn’t that sweet of her?
Accommodating and obliging, she says, Mr. Grimm!
And did you see where she called us creative visionaries?
I wouldn’t have suspected Miss Eugenia boasted such a vocabulary! ”
Mr. Grimm shook his head, staring hard at the page. “This is . . . this is an excellent review,” he said, then glanced up at her. Just a little halfway glance, not quite holding her gaze. “She even goes so far as to mention your teas. That will certainly bring some curious customers our way.”
A sickening plunge tugged at Luna’s gut.
Because, of course, The Arcane Bouquet wouldn’t be able to offer teas much longer.
But she wasn’t going to think about that.
Not now. If she’d learned anything at all over these last few years, it was the need to take any little Happily For Now life had to offer and be grateful.
Right now, just in this moment, she was happy. And she wasn’t about to let it go.
“Do you know,” Mr. Grimm said, lowering the paper slightly, “I think this calls for a celebration.”
“Really?” Luna grinned. “Shall I put on the kettle?”
“I was thinking something a little more . . . momentous.” He tried again to catch her gaze and managed to hold it for a few seconds together this time. “Miss Talbot, what would you say to the two of us having that luncheon at Milo and Son’s after all? In honor of our first rave review?”
Luna’s heart performed a staccato ratta-tat-tat against her breastbone.
She should say no. She must say no. Because there was absolutely no way that she could say yes.
Not with Wednesday drawing so near, not with sorcerers out in the streets trying to mark her with strange spells.
Not with the way her gaze kept fastening on her employer’s lovely, lovely mouth.
But somehow, she seemed to hear her own voice answering quite beyond her control: “How about you go freshen up, Mr. Grimm? I’ll close the shop down and put the sign in the window.”
His eyes flashed to catch hers again, his expression difficult to read.
He looked both thrilled and terrified at the same time.
Did he not actually expect her to accept his invitation?
Was he regretting making it now? But his mouth twitched in a little smile, and he said in a gulping sort of voice, “I’ll be just five minutes. ”
Luna took the newspaper from him. “Go on then,” she urged.
Fishing the key to Garden out of his trouser pocket, he pressed it into her hands, then turned and darted for the stairway up to his apartment. Luna watched him go, before turning to find all the flowers eyeing her, their petaled faces grinning after a floral fashion. “What?” she demanded.
“Never mind!” intoned Debbie and ruffled her wings.
“It’s a perfectly professional luncheon. That’s all.” Luna folded the paper crisply, pressing the edges with her fingertips. “One must celebrate these little wins as they come, mustn’t one?”
She set the paper behind the counter, trying very hard not to notice how her hands were shaking.
Then she got to work with the shop-closing business.
While she didn’t expect that she and Mr. Grimm would be out late, she wanted to be certain all the flowers had fresh water, and chose to give the double-delight a little spritz of Mama Morgana’s spray, just to make certain she was settled.
These tasks accomplished, she hastened down the passage to lock up Garden.
She was just returning the key to the polka-dot pot in the storage room, when she heard the front bells tinkling.
Drat—she should have locked up and turned the sign to CLOSED first thing!
Now she’d have to deal with whoever it was before she and Mr. Grimm could be on their way.
Hopefully this customer wouldn’t want tea and a reading.
A few quick posies or another order for the Governor’s Ball would be fine.
Plastering a professional smile in place, Luna returned to the shop floor.
But there was no one there. The shop appeared empty.
She frowned. Something felt off, somehow.
The flowers looked a little less cheerful than they had moments before, and the double-delight was bristling, downright irritated.
“What’s wrong, sweeties?” Luna murmured, stepping into the room. “Is something troubling—”
A hand latched hold of her elbow. Luna had just time enough to utter a desperate yelp before she was spun around and a big, manly mouth pressed hard against hers in a soppy, wet, and altogether too much of a kiss.
She was so stunned, she couldn’t do anything at first but stand there and take it.
Then she brought her hands up, pressed them against a massive, muscular chest, and pushed herself back, staggering a few paces.
Mouth open, lips feeling rather bruised, she stared up into a face of blinding dimples and irrepressible handsomeness.
“Ward!” she gasped.
“Hullo there, Luna Talbot.” He gazed down at her, dimples deepening. “Did you miss me?”