I hummed curiously, but truthfully, if he was coming from Moncks Corner it made no sense why he’d come here afterwards, unless he knew I’d be here. "So, what are you doing here?” Iasked.
His eyes slid to the side. "Just came by to check on you. I know Bell and Tex dropped you off—they texted me—I was gonna stay until you needed a ridehome."
Crossing my arms in front of myself and propping them on the edge of the counter, I leaned over. "Oh yeah?" I asked, teasing him with asmile.
Knix turned his head, slowly, until his eyes captured mine. My lips parted and instinctively, I leaned forward. Knix's fingers reached out. He ran a finger up and down one of my arms, his eyes watching me, a smile playing at hislips.
"I also wanted to know if you'd like to go somewhere withme?"
I tilted my head. "What do youmean?"
"A date," he replied. "You and me. There's a benefit I'm going to downtown. I'm representing my dad's company. I thought you'd like to go withme."
"I thought it was your company," I said absently. My entire focus was fixated on the way his finger rested against my skin. His eyes on myface.
He stilled before huffing out a sigh. "Yeah, sorry, habit." I almost pouted when he pulled his hand away and rested his elbows on the countertop, linking his fingers, and resting his chin on them. "It is my company now, though my mom has a ten percentshare."
"Hmmm." I felt like something was arching between us, a magnetism that drew me nearer andnearer.
"So, the benefit?" he said again. "Will youcome?"
"Is it formal?" Iasked.
He smiled. "It'sdressy."
"That means it's formal." I sighed, uncrossing my arms. I tugged myself away from the counter for fear if I stayed another minute longer, I would try to climb over it to get to him. My how things hadchanged.
"Please?"
I groaned and looked at the ceiling, bracing my palms on my hips. "Yeah," I finally decided, looking back at him. "I'll go. When isit?"
He grinned. "Couple days. Texas wanted to take you shopping for it if you saidyes."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "You knew Iwould."
Knix dropped his arms and leaned back. "That's not true. You often surpriseme."
I kept my gaze on him as I edged towards the open doorway leading to the back. "Good thing you like surprises." With that, I turned and headed back into thekitchen.
"Only when you're attached to those surprises," Knix calledback.
I resisted the urge to grin and failedmiserably.