She added one to the cart and then turned toward him, a strand of her hair falling forward to curl against her cheek. “Okay, this is the deal-breaker question—white lights or multicolored?”
Uh, what? Was this really a thing? “Both.”
She gave him a very serious look. “You can’t have both. White is all elegant and classy, multicolored is homey—”
“Multicolored,” he said.
“Yay. That’s what I like.”
Over the next thirty minutes, he helped pick out ornaments, doing the one thing he’d never enjoyed before—shopping and spending time making decisions about something that would be on his tree.
She reached for her wallet to get her credit card to pay, but he handed her his card. “This is on me.”
“You don’t have to pay,” she protested.
“I know. But I want to,” he said. “Where now?”
“Well, we can’t pick this up for a couple of hours,” she said. “How about we go back to my place and start setting up the tree and have lunch?”
“I like that idea. What if we pay someone to pick up our order?” he asked.
She tipped her head to the side, studying him. “You like having things brought to you?”
He shrugged. “I’m sort of used to it. Mostly I don’t like to tempt fate too much. So far we’ve had a nice day with just the two of us and no fans. I’d like it to stay that way. Also, the more I’m out, the better chance that paparazzi will find out about you.”
“They already know about me,” she reminded him.
“They know I have a woman in my life, but not your name,” he said. “I don’t want to put your privacy at risk.”
“Okay. I can ask a runner we use at work to pick up our order. Will that work?”
“Yes. Now then, let’s go see if we can get this tree up the stairwell,” he told her.
“I think I could relent and use the elevator this once.”
“You think so?” he asked, teasing her as he realized that for the first time in his life he wasn’t thinking about how he was coming off and was just being himself.
It felt good.
Eleven
Paisley decided not to worry and just enjoy this moment with Sean. She put the Disney Channel Holiday Album on her home assistant speaker, blasting the music of her childhood as they unboxed the ornaments and started decorating the tree. Sean sang along with the tunes, proving he remembered them too.
She cocked her head to study him as he put on a Boba Fett ornament. Sean had surprised her by insisting that they orderStar Wars-themed ornaments. And since she was getting all the Disney Princesses, she thought it was fair.
“Do you ever think about not acting?”
“For me it’s not about the fame. I love the acting. I like getting into someone else’s skin and bringing them to life.”
“That’s probably why you’ve won so many awards.”
He shrugged and then shook his head. “Each award gives me a bit more freedom to choose projects that resonate with me.
“Is that how you feel about brand management?” he asked her, brushing the back of his hand against her breast as he hung an ornament.
She turned, tipping back her head so she could see him. There was a slight bit of stubble on his jaw and he was looking at the tree, not her. God, he was so hot she wanted to toss aside the ornaments, lead him to the couch and make love to him. Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones making her hornier than normal or maybe it was just Sean.
“What do we do next?” he asked. “This tree is...interesting.”