Page 104 of Taming I Do
“Why not?” I directed her to the first tent, where Jojo had set up a table holding several types of muffins, cakes, and breads.
“Help yourself to samples.” Jojo pointed to the handwritten signs. “I’ve got pumpkin bread, mini apple turnovers, and much more.”
Delilah took a sample of each. “Thank you.”
Then she moved onto the next table, where she picked up a pumpkin spice cookie and a cup of spiced cider. “You didn’t tell me the festival was all about eating.”
“How else will you figure out if you’re team pumpkin or team apple?” I joked.
She was giving the question her full consideration. I could tell by the way she evaluated the samples from each table. She’d take a bite, pause, chew, pause, swallow, pause. Then repeat the process all over again.
After we’d visited the food vendors, we made our way to the activity area. Kids and adults carved pumpkins donated by Milkweed Farms while others engaged in a friendly match of pumpkin bowling.
“I helped with that.” Delilah pointed to where Lucas guided Maggie to roll the pumpkin toward the pins. When her pumpkin didn’t knock any down, she toddled over and kicked them.
“That’s my niece.” I let out a whistle. “Way to go, Mags!”
“Are you going to win me something?” Delilah tucked her arm through mine.
I should have pulled away, but I enjoyed the way her hand felt on my arm, the way I could catch that heady scent of lemons and sunshine when the slight breeze blew past her hair.
“What should we play?” I evaluated the options. “How about knocking the milk jugs off the stand?”
“Let’s see it.” She dropped my arm as we neared the tent.
I handed over the cash and the kid behind the table—Jojo’s oldest son—passed me three beat-up softballs. The first onewent wide, and the second one knocked the bottle over, but not off the stand.
“So close.” Delilah groaned next to me.
I fired the last one toward the bottle and it slid to the edge of the platform before tumbling to the ground.
“You did it!” Delilah jumped up and down, her excitement contagious.
The kid brought over the basket of prizes... some trinkets the town probably inherited when the stationery and imports business shut down.
“This one.” Delilah held up a cheap silver-tone chain that had a butterfly dangling from the center.
“You know that’s probably going to turn your neck green.”
“I don’t care.” She leaned close. “It’s going to remind me of you.”
Warmth spread through my limbs, like I’d just taken a shot of whiskey that burned through my veins.
“Can you help me put it on?” She held her hair up and turned her back toward me.
My fingers fumbled with the tiny clasp but somehow, I managed to secure it.
“Thank you. Now, what do you think?” She spun to face me, her eyes reflecting the same king of emotion I felt toward her.
“I think you look beautiful.” I wanted to lean down and capture her mouth with mine. But I couldn’t. Not here. Not now. “You ready for the big surprise?”
“Can’t wait.” She let me lead her past the edge of the tents toward the tunnel two of my brothers had installed. One of them had used pink chalk to draw a series of hearts down the sidewalk. “What’s that?”
“Read what it says,” I prompted.
Delilah stepped close to the front of the tunnel, where a framed note was attached. “‘Welcome to the Pucker-Up Path.’ Did you have something to do with this?”
I checked to make sure no one was around, then wrapped my hand around hers. “You have to follow the hearts to find out where your next kiss will take place.”
