Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 16678 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 83(@200wpm)___ 67(@250wpm)___ 56(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 16678 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 83(@200wpm)___ 67(@250wpm)___ 56(@300wpm)
I dragged in a deep breath and released it with a happy sigh. “I can understand why you come here often. It’s so peaceful and beautiful. Do you bring a lot of dates here?”
Arden shook his head. “I wish I could say you’re the first, but Tim—my ex—and I came here together a few times. He didn’t like the Christmas exhibit because it was too chaotic and busy. We just didn’t time it right.”
I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, not liking the hints of a frown now digging lines around his eyes. “Were you and Tim together long?”
“Not really. Couple of years. We separated about six months ago.”
Swinging about, I glared at him. “This asshole cheat on you?”
“No!” Arden gasped, only to have it turned into a soft laugh. “No, it was an amicable split. All the passion had gone out of our relationship, and we didn’t like any of the same things. He was Kardashians, reality TV, and shopping.”
A snort escaped me. “Let me guess, you’re anime, ramen noodles, and sweat pants.”
“I thought that was you?” Arden teased. The fire returned to my cheeks, but I didn’t get the chance to respond. “However, you are right. That sounds like a great night to me. I like to travel, too. Take lots of pictures and make sketches to use for work later. Experience new things.”
I did not want to think about how perfect he was. Travel was a definite bonus of my job. I’d been to six countries in the short time that I’d been working for Sebastian, and I had several trips ahead of me this year.
Arden slung his arm across my shoulders and drew me a little closer as we wandered down the narrow path to the waterfall I could see peeks of through the trees. “What about you? Do you have a long and tragic dating history?”
“More like short and uninteresting. I dated a guy for a few months in college during my senior year. That was my last actual relationship. Since returning to Cincy, I’ve had a few hookups, but nothing serious. I don’t get out much. My focus has been on work.”
“Hence your boss signing you up for a date, since you couldn’t be trusted to handle it on your own.”
I dropped my head, and it ended up resting on Arden’s shoulder, confirming that he had a very nice shoulder. “My boss is a handful. He’s brilliant, funny, and amazing, but a complete handful.”
“Do you regret going to the meet-up?”
Turning my head on his shoulder, I grinned at the sexy man holding me. “Nope. This has been an interesting adventure.”
Arden stopped walking, his arm tightening around me. “Do you know what’s going to make it better?”
“What?”
“Look up.”
That was not what I’d been expecting him to say, but I followed where he was pointing toward the ceiling to see a bunch of yellow-somethings hanging from a tree.
“You’ve just seen your first banana tree.”
Laughter exploded from my throat and I stumbled away from Arden, shaking my head. As I turned back, the man was smiling so wide he looked as if he were going to crack his face.
“I can’t believe you!”
“What?” Arden grabbed my balled fist when I pretended to shake it at him. “You’ve seen a real lemon tree and a real banana tree on the same day. This is big stuff.”
“Don’t tease me!”
“I’m not.” He pulled me along, skipping the arched bridge over the stream in the center of the room to duck into the tiny cave passageway that led behind the waterfall. “I’ll admit, the first time I saw a live banana tree was here.”
I couldn’t stop grinning at Arden. But then, I was pretty sure I’d been smiling almost from the moment that I met him. He made the world fun and easy. Even something as simple as walking through a botanical conservatory was a lighthearted adventure.
But I was ready to kick this adventure into the realm of something more grown-up. At the very least, it needed to be rated PG-13.
Arden continued to hold my hand through the cave, and my heart sped up. This was it. This was the perfect spot to steal our first kiss. No one was behind us. That cockblocking munchkin was nowhere nearby.
The sexy blond with the mismatched eyes glanced over his shoulder, shooting me a seductive smirk.
And he kept walking.
Right out the other side.
Just. Kept. Walking.
“What?” I squawked. There was no keeping the question inside.
No. No. No. There was zero chance I’d misread him. All the hints and flirting. Arden was into me. Maybe not as much as I was into him, but interested. And I damn well guaranteed he was going to be more than a little interested after I kissed him.
Not to brag, but I was a hell of a kisser.
I dug my heels in before I could leave the cave and stared openmouthed at him.