I’d forgotten I was wearing my fluffy yellow and pink pineapple socks. The oversized sweatshirt and boxers I’d slept in, he had seen before. But the socks were new. They were also bright and obnoxious if you looked at them too long. What mattered was they were soft and warm. I loved cozy socks.
“My feet were cold,” I explained.
He lifted his gaze back to meet mine and gave me a very serious expression as he nodded. “Yes, I imagine with the temperature being a frigid eighty-three degrees already this morning, you are freezing.”
Rolling my eyes, I stepped back and motioned for him to come inside. “I put the A/C on sixty-eight last night. I woke up and it was cold in the loft.”
“Yes, I can see where sixty-eight degrees would freeze anyone’s feet. Good thing you had socks made for such intense temps.”
He was enjoying this a little too much. I shot him an unamused scowl then locked the door back behind him. The whole while wanting to grin like a girl with a crush. “If you weren’t carrying food in your hand, I might not have let you in here. Tread carefully, Hardy.” Who was I kidding? I’d have not only let him in here empty handed, I’d have also run just as quickly for the door. Sure, I loved food and I was starving, but Eli was the real treat. It was as if he knew I was sulking and came to fix it.
“It’s a good thing I brought pastries from Yummy’s then,” he said as he held the bag up but closer to his chest as if to taunt me.
Yummy’s was a famous bakery on 30A. I wasn’t sure if he knew that or if it was just a good guess. “Give me the bag,” I said then added, “Please,” to my demand.
He cocked his head to the side and held it even higher up and away from me. “What? I’m still getting attitude? I suggest you get sweet real fast since I have your favorites in this bag.”
My favorite things at Yummy’s were the cream cheese cinnamon croissants and the dark chocolate and raspberry filled cannolis. There was no way he’d know that. Yummy’s was popular and had been on Food TV several times. It was easy to guess a donut lover would like Yummy’s. His stopping there was a no-brainer. I would like anything he brought me. But claiming to have my favorite. . . . That was a bit of a stretch.
I placed a hand on my hip and shot him a challenging look. “Fine. If you have my favorites in that bag, then I’ll share with you. If you don’t then I will eat it all. To make up for the fact it’s not my favorite, of course.”
Eli grinned then as if he’d already won. “I need a better challenge than that. I already ate my breakfast on the way here. Smelled too good and I’d been up since five to get here this early,” he replied then leaned an inch closer to my face. “If I have your favorites in this bag then you have to go with me to Sea Breeze and help me find a temporary apartment or condo. And of course you get to eat all of this by yourself. I could use some coffee though with an extra couple shots.”
That was an easy gamble since that was exactly what I wanted to do. Be with him. Doing whatever he had to do. Yesterday I’d been hoping he would ask me to go with him today. When he hadn’t mentioned it, I had been bummed. If he didn’t have my favorites and there was a good chance he did not have my legit favorites in that bag, then I was going to go anyway.
“Deal,” I said suddenly hoping he had the right things in the bag and it had nothing to do with my desire to eat.
He lowered the bag and handed it to me. I took it and now that I had it, I wasn’t sure I wanted to look inside. If this wasn’t my favorite items, then I would have to tell him I would still go without appearing too clingy. I could always lie about it and say whatever he bought was my favorite, but I sucked at lying. My facial expressions always gave me away.
I held his gaze as I slowly unrolled the top of the bag. The smell of cinnamon was promising as I opened it and I was mentally preparing myself not to appear disappointed when I looked inside.
Taking my eyes off his, I lowered them to the open bag and realized I’d need to take one out and see since it was wrapped in the pink wax paper I’d forgotten they used for to-go orders. When I pulled out the first round item, my heart was actually racing. I was nervous over a bakery item.