Chapter Twelve

IT WAS USUALLY A brISK thirty-minute walk back home, but since the shop was closed for the day and he already had the car with him, Thornton suddenly heard himself asking Blake if she had already eaten breakfast.

"Not yet," she admitted. "I was in such a hurry to catch up with you, and then when I was at the cafe, I forgot about it again, and at the library...well, obviously, I got distracted there, too."

"I haven't had breakfast either, so..." He opened the car door for her. "Want to head down and grab brunch in the city?"

"Are you asking me out on a date, Mr. Blackwood?" Blake couldn't help asking teasingly.

"If you're not inside the car in five seconds..."

Blake was still giggling when he joined her inside the car and pulled his door shut.

"Do you realize," she couldn't help sharing eagerly, "this is the first time you're giving me a ride?"

"No. I didn't."

She couldn't help smiling at his matter-of-fact tone. They both knew that had been a rhetorical question, but she loved how it never mattered to him either way. He always took the time to listen to her. Always.

Thornton couldn't help wincing at the way Blake was staring at him again. "Blake..."

"Call me the other thing," she teased.

"Baby."

Blake jumped in her seat with a squeak.

Thornton was torn between amusement and exasperation. "Why are you acting all shocked when you were the one who said—-"

"I didn't know you'd give in so easily," she said sheepishly. "But I should have known."

Ah, fuck . There it was again: her expression turning dreamy, and after that, inevitably...

"You're so perfect," Blake sighed.

Thornton also sighed. "I'm not."

"You so are."

"If I were," he said evenly, "then I wouldn't have let you wake up alone this morning."

Blake's smile faded, but when she started to look away, he didn't let her.

"Don't."

She shifted in her seat. "I don't know if I want to hear this—-"

"I bailed on you this morning," he interrupted flatly, "because I needed space to think about what I did and said—-"

"Are you saying you didn't mean any of them?" Blake automatically braced herself for the worst as soon as the words were out. If Thornton said yes, she'd take it. She was a big girl. She could take it. She would take it. Right?

The play of expressions on Blake's pretty face was painfully easy to read, and he didn't like it, knowing how insecure he had made her. The old Blake he knew had been ridiculously but adorably confident that she could get him to fall in love with her...and he wanted that old Blake back.

"Blake."

"Mm?" Don't let him know what you're thinking. Don't show you're hurt once he tells you last night's drunken confession meant-

"Everything I said last night was true."

What...was...that...he...had...just...said?

"I just didn't like that you had to see me drunk while saying them."

"Really?" she whispered.

"Really."

More seconds passed.

And then—-

"You're really perfect."

Thornton groaned.

"I mean it. You really are perfect—-"

"No."

"Yes."

"I'm not."

"You are."

But by this time, she was laughing, and even Thornton couldn't keep his lips from twitching.

I love you.

The words were begging to be said again. But she couldn't. She just couldn't. So instead, she ended up doing the next best thing.

Thornton was just about to start the car when he felt her fingers tap his arm, and he glanced at her—-

Mmph!

A cheeky smile on her face was his only glimpse before she had his face between her hands and her mouth had covered his.

Aaaaah.

Even as his desire surged, and his body instantly responded to the sweet, seductive brush of her lips over hers, even as her tongue shyly slipped into his, he just couldn't fucking stop his lips from slowly curving into a smile.

Blake felt this, too, and a rare wave of embarrassment swept over her at the thought that he was laughing at her possibly clumsy attempt to kiss him. She started to pull away, feeling self-conscious, but then she felt his hands suddenly holding her back—-

Thornton sucked on her tongue, and her insides clenched.

A moment later, and he was the one to pull back, his head lifting so he could gaze down at her. "It wasn't what you thought."

"Wasn't it?"

"Your sweetness makes me smile."

Oh.

"Only you," he said simply. "Only you can make me smile."

And then he was kissing her, again, but it was Thornton with the reins this time, and she had no problem with this at all. She could only whimper as he dragged her past the gear stick, but this quickly turned into a gasp of laughter as he used the lever to have his seat fall back, and she ended up straddling him.

Again.

" Thornton ." His voice came out in a breathless moan, but then his tongue dove into her mouth, and she was once more unable to speak. All she could do was kiss him back, and oh God, it was just as good, maybe better, she didn't really know...it was just so, so, so—-

Over?

Blake blinked when she suddenly found herself back in her seat. "Uh..."

"Getting you out of the library lounge would've been for nothing," Thornton said roughly as he fastened her seatbelt, "if I ended up taking your virginity in my car."

"Oh."

He felt her gaze on him as he started the engine. "What?"

"You're perfect," she told him in a rush, and because she knew he'd only argue about it, she didn't bother giving him a chance to speak. "I'm not being biased, I swear. And even though you have this beautiful thug look going on—-"

Although Thornton kept his gaze on the road, he was almost tempted to smile at this. Only Blake could say such words to him, and in a gushing tone to boot.

It was only when they made it to Laramie that Blake remembered to pause for breath and realized with horror she had talked the entire ride. Cheeks flushed with embarrassment, she could only wait until he helped her out of the car before quickly apologizing. "I'm so sorry for talking you to death."

Thornton glanced at him oddly. "You didn't."

"I did. We both know I did. I talked way, way too much—-"

"Did you?" Thornton was genuinely curious.

"Well..." Blake was temporarily distracted at the way Thornton easily took hold of her hand after locking the car.

"It didn't seem like you talked any more than you usually do at home."

"Oh?" Blake had a hard time remembering what they were talking about. She just couldn't stop staring at their hands. They were holding hands. While walking! Who could've imagined that Hartland's John Wick would be willing to do this?

And that was just the start.

When he asked her where she wanted to eat, she asked him to take her to his favorite restaurant, which turned out to be a cozy Italian restaurant right in the middle of the city. The manager knew Thornton by name, and Blake almost had to pinch herself when Thornton introduced her as his girlfriend.

The food they had served was delicious as she had expected, but what she found particularly unforgettable was how when the waiter asked if they wanted dessert. She had opted for dessert while Thornton had simply said he would just sample hers. When the ice cream arrived and it had only come with a single spoon, she had been about to ask for another when Thornton had raised a brow at her, asking, "Aren't you going to feed me?"

Just remembering this made her feel giddy inside. Who knew? Just...who knew Thornton could so easily take all these romantic things in stride or instigate them even?

The drive back to Hartland was comfortably silent but no less eventful, with Thornton reduced to shaking his head when he caught her trying to take candid shots of him on her phone. He also noticed the way she seemed to open and close her mouth as if dying to say something, and in the end, he finally took pity and asked, "Do you have something to say?"

"Oodles," she confessed, "but I don't want you to think you have a magpie for a girlfriend."

"I don't."

"Um, actually—-" She gave him a shamefaced look. "You kinda do."

"Really."

Blake couldn't help smiling at the genuine skepticism in his tone. "I can't believe you never realized what a chatterbox I am. I mean, even Curt sometimes wishes I'd shut up, and—-" She stopped speaking.

Thornton's expression remained bland even as he caught sight of the flash of panic in her eyes. "Is that his name?"

"Um. Yeah."

The evasiveness in her voice didn't sit well with him. Blake was usually an open book in every way, and yet it seemed she had at least one secret to hide, and it just had to fucking do with another man.