“No. I had Charmaine, the real estate agent down the block, put it up for me.”
She stepped aside, and he saw a note hanging from the wreath in her swirly handwriting that read A VERY SPECIAL SHOP IS COMING SOON!
“Who’s moving in?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. But I’m hoping I can convince Leni’s friend Indi to open her own beauty shop.”
“Sounds costly. Does she want to move here?”
“Maybe. She’s sick of working in the city. She might not be able to open her own shop right away, but she could always start smaller and work up to it.”
“Jules Steele, saving the world one lost or lonely soul at a time.” He put his arm around her and kissed her temple.
They delivered a wreath to the eyeglass shop, and when Jules introduced Grant to the manager, he said he knew Grant’s parents and thanked him for his service. Grant was proud of his military service and his work at Darkbird, and it felt good to hear that.
As they headed to Trista’s to deliver the last wreath, Jules said, “We weren’t together the last time we saw Trista. Should we clear that up, or…?”
Her hopeful eyes made him want to tell the world they were together just to see that joy. He didn’t want her to wonder how he felt or whether they could be seen together. He wanted her to know how special she was to him and to take their relationship for granted even though they’d only just begun. And he knew just how to show her.
“I’m pretty sure she’ll figure it out since I can’t seem to keep my hands off you.”
“That’s true.” She picked up the wreath and said, “Do you want to grab dinner while we’re here?”
“No. I want to take you out someplace nice.”
“This is nice. I like Trista’s food.”
“You’re my girl now, Pix. I want to treat you right. I haven’t had a girlfriend in years, so I’m rusty. But I’ll catch up.”
She beamed up at him.
“What?”
“It’s funny to hear you say I’m your girlfriend.”
“Too early? Too weird? After how close we were this morning, I assumed we were on the same page. I’m not going to share you.”
She laughed. “We are on the same page. I like hearing you say it. I just haven’t had a boyfriend since high school, and that didn’t last very long. I’m sure you’ve had lots of girlfriends over the years, so if you think you’re rusty, then I guess that makes me practically brand-spanking-new. Come on, let’s go.”
Why did certain things sound dirty coming out of her mouth? Now he was thinking about her ass, which he had no desire to spank. But he could think of a whole lot of other things he’d like to do with it.
He draped his arm around her as they went into the café, and they made their way to the counter, where Trista stood smirking behind the register.
“It’s not like that, huh?” Trista winked at Jules.
“It wasn’t, and now it is,” Grant said firmly. “Don’t make a big deal about it.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t.” She pushed a button on her headset, and her voice boomed through the café. “Attention everyone. I’d like to announce the newest Silver Island couple.” She motioned to Jules and Grant with a sly grin. “Let’s hear it for Grant Silver and Jules Steele.”
Jules grinned, Grant scowled, and the café full of people applauded.
Grant shook his head. “What did I ever do to you?”
Trista crossed her arms with a serious expression. “Think back to the holiday dance at the Silver House when I was twelve. I finally got up the courage to ask you to dance with me, and you turned me down in front of everyone.”
“Grant, you did that?” Jules asked incredulously.
“Christ. We were kids. What was I? Fifteen? I had no idea how to dance.”
“You still don’t,” Trista pointed out.
He laughed. “That’s true. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”
“You did,” Trista said lightly. “But I feel better now.”
“You sure know how to hold a grudge,” he teased.
“Maybe this will make up for it.” Jules handed her the wreath.
“This more than makes up for it. Thank you. I swear you make the prettiest wreaths I’ve ever seen.”
Grant leaned closer to Jules and said, “Hey, babe. While you two talk, I’m going to make a phone call. I’ll be right back.” He walked outside and called Wells.
“What’s up, Grant?”
“I need a favor.”
“This is a first. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good. But I’m hoping you can help me make tonight even better.”
Chapter Fifteen
AFTER RETURNING THE wagon to her shop, Jules and Grant went up to her apartment so she could freshen up. She raced around her bedroom, taking down her hair and trying on outfits as fast as she could, which wasn’t very fast at all. She was nervous and excited for her first real date with Grant. She’d loved spending the evening walking around town with him. He seemed less tense, and she wondered if it had to do with not fighting his feelings for her. He’d held her possessively, like he wanted everyone to know she was his and he was proud to be with her. Oh, how she loved that! She wanted to pick out the perfect outfit to show him that she was proud to be with him, too.
She spotted the black suede thigh-high boots she’d bought for last year’s holiday dance. Perfect. She was a careful dresser, leaning toward cute rather than overly sexy. But tonight she was dressing for Grant, and she wanted to drive him wild. She ran into her bathroom and quickly freshened up, reapplied her makeup, and instead of putting up her hair, she imagined Grant’s hands in it and left her golden-brown tresses loose.
She changed into sexy lingerie, put on a slim gray miniskirt and a black sweater, getting more nervous by the second. She pulled on the thigh-high boots, spritzed a little perfume behind her ears and on her wrists, and gave herself a quick once-over in the mirror. She felt pretty and sexy, like Bellamy when she was doing a photo shoot or Sutton before she went out on the town, all dolled up and ready to catch men’s eyes.
There was only one man’s attention Jules was after.
Ready or not, here I come.
She took a deep breath, and headed into the living room, as nervous as ever. Grant was standing in front of her wish-list wall, typing on his phone. He didn’t notice her standing at the edge of the living room, so she took a second to try to pull herself together. But that was next to impossible with the man she dreamed about every night, who didn’t think she was silly or had her head in the clouds, right there in her apartment waiting to take her out on their first real date. And boy did he look good there. How many stars had to align for this to happen?
Grant turned, and his slow, sexy grin brought flames to his eyes and a shiver of heat to her body.
“Damn, babe.” He closed the distance between them. His eyes blazed down her body, leaving goose bumps in their wake, and he drew her into his arms. “You look absolutely gorgeous.”
“Thanks. I was just thinking the same thing about you.”