“That’s funny. He obviously managed to survive without his candy.”
“Oh, he did,” Valens laughed. “But he wasn’t exactly pleasant about it.”
“Is your brother’s thing with candy the same as your thing with stress balls?”
He stopped and turned to face her. “My thing with stress balls?”
“Yeah. You always seem to have a different one.”
He blushed. “I sorta collect them.”
Well, wasn’t that just the most adorable thing she had ever heard of. A grown man collecting stress balls? How cute.
“May I ask why that of all things?”
“I was always very stressed during tests. And I don’t know if you’re aware, but there are a lot of tests in med school. You also have to be pretty smart and, at the very least, know your shit enough to pass some intense exams. I had already started collecting them in high school after my aunt brought me a cupcake shaped stress ball all the way from Paris. But when I was in med school, it was a whole other level. I started actively looking for the strangest shapes out there.”
“That’s interesting.”
“Don’t humor me,” he laughed. “I know it’s a bit off, but I enjoy them.”
“What’s your favorite stress ball?”
“It used to be a tiger, but I ruined it. Now I think it’s this one.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and showed her the picture of a devil-shaped stress ball.
Isa was stunned into silence. A devil? Because she was Daredev-Isa? Or maybe she was reading too much into it.
“Oh, cool.”
Valens nudged his head toward a small patio. They had arrived at their destination.
The only strange thing was that it wasn’t actually a restaurant. “This is my house,” he explained. “I know I said I would show you the town, but I wanted you to taste all of the tastes of Thatcherton. I got the best from each restaurant and shop so you could sample them and write about them.”
Isa was stunned into silence. It was actually the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her.
“You do know that I will have to visit those restaurants for myself before I write about them, right?” She was teasing him, and judging by his responding smirk, he caught on.
“Damn. That means more time together.”
“Who said I would let you come with me?” she shot back, holding back a giggle because she wasn’t the giggling girl. There was simply something about Valens that made her want to giggle. To throw away the rulebook.
Her clothes, too, as a matter of fact.
“You’ll beg me to come with you,” Valens whispered.
Isa shivered, pretty sure he wasn’t talking about going out to restaurants together. “Easy, Doctor. If you keep that up, we’ll have a real life-threatening situation on our hands.”
“Oh?” he asked curiously.
Yeah. A full on, heart stopping situation.
“You gonna elaborate?” Valens whispered.
“Maybe later. Show me around your place.”
He did. His house was small, like most of the other homes in Thatcherton. It was clean and sparsely decorated. It could definitely benefit from a woman’s touch.
The only spot that was adorned was the guest bedroom, where Valens kept his hundreds of stress balls.
“You really do have a thing for these.”
He blushed. “Yeah. I’m just as bad as Egon with his candy.”
“You made a house for your stress balls, but not for your diplomas? Pictures?”
If it were up to Isa, she would have already put up the frames instead of keeping them leaning up against the wall.
The lawn was pretty big, complete with a small patio area that clearly got more use than the kitchen. The patio furniture was a dark chocolate brown and matched the exterior of the soft tan brick house perfectly. It was the kind of place you saw in movies when they showed the hero as a lonely bachelor.
Interesting.
Isa tucked that information far away into her mind. She wasn’t in town for very long. She could hardly build something that would last, even if the man in question was amazingly handsome and a doctor to boot with good ties to his family.
Valens pulled out her chair and helped her settle in as he took his own seat in front of her. The table was set with all kinds of delicious looking food. Her mouth salivated by the smell of the covered dishes alone.
“You really didn’t have to go through all of this on my account.”
He beamed. “But I did. You’re writing a piece on the town, and the least I can do is show you just how wonderful everything is here.”
Isa was starting to believe the very best thing about Thatcherton was sitting across from her.
“First, we’ll have some lasagna and garlic bread. The cook, my aunt Minnie, makes the bread fresh every morning with her sister who owns the bakery.”
“How genius.”
“Right? This town is full of little things like that. Little details that would be lost if you didn’t know about them.”
“Careful, Doctor. I might just write that your house is the place to be.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” he pretended to be wounded by her jab, making her giggle.
She wouldn’t. She wanted to keep Valens Thatcher a secret that only she would enjoy. And to think that only a couple of days ago — wait, was it really only yesterday? — they couldn’t bear to be in the same room together without bickering.
Technically, they were still bickering. The edge of aggression was gone, though. It was replaced by something else. Something that was making her melt for the gorgeous doctor.
“I would dare,” she taunted. “Ladies of the world. Come one, come all. There is a sexy, single doctor living in this gorgeous small town. And he will take you to his place for a special taste test of everything this town has to offer.”
He leaned over the table, cupped her cheek in his hand, his eyes darkened by lust. “The only one who gets a taste is you, Isa Ellis.”
Oh.
My.
Fucking.
God.
Had there ever been a sweeter or sexier line said before?
Nope. Not to Isa, anyway. Her face was flushed, and she was fairly certain other parts of her body were ready to react too.
“Tell me about the food, Valens.” Her voice hitched on a breath, making it pretty fucking obvious that she was way into what he was saying to her. He had to know his flirting was getting to her.
He grinned, proving exactly that. “The meal is from The Tiger Cafe.”
“I walked by it a few times. It’s very cute.”
He beamed. “You should tell my aunt next time you walk by. She’d be happy to know that a great traveler like you enjoys her place. Tell me,” he said, serving her lasagna, “what’s your favorite place you’ve visited?”
I can’t say here, can I?
Isa knew she couldn’t say that, but a big part of her wanted to.
It was partly because of the town, but mostly because of Valens, who poured her a drink of wine, smiling at her like she’d hung the moon.
They had a situation all right.
The full on heart stopping kind.
10
VALENS