Hooked on You by Kathleen Fuller (hot novels to read .txt) 📕

left me out of a family decision and didn’t give me a chance to put in my two cents.”

Riley was acquainted with that feeling, at least in other parts of her life. To be fair, Mimi had always tried to includeher in Knots and Tangles, only to meet resistance.

The waitress brought their order—a rib eye, baked potato, and vegetable medley for Hayden, and a filet, mashed potatoes, andsalad for Riley. The filet was a bit on the pricey side, but she was paying for her part of the supper, and thanks to Mimi’sgenerosity, she could afford to splurge a little.

After they started eating, they continued to talk. Riley suggested telling his parents what his plans were for the hardwarestore, and they brainstormed ideas to get more customers into the shop. Then they switched to discussing Knots and Tangles,and Riley explained her plans concerning the shop and Mimi’s house in more detail. She pulled out the budget with the estimatesshe’d worked on and gave it to Hayden, who perused it before tucking it into his pocket.

“Would you two like to look at the dessert menu?” the waitress asked as she cleared their empty plates.

Riley started to shake her head, but Hayden said, “Do you still have hot fudge sundaes?” When she nodded, he told the waitress,“One sundae, two spoons.”

After the waitress left, he looked at Riley, “Just in case you want a bite or two.”

She was nearly full after the wonderful meal but wasn’t sure she could resist a sundae. “Maybe one bite,” she conceded.

As they waited on dessert, Hayden brought up his ideas for revitalizing Maple Falls. “Eventually I want to get the Too DangHot Parade back on track, but I know that’s going to take time. Until then I want to visit with the Main Street business ownersand talk about sprucing up their storefronts. I thought we could also get the school kids involved to clean up the park andball field. I’m going to contact the vocational school in Hot Springs, too, and ask about commissioning some new benches forthe park.”

“Wow, that all sounds great.” So great that for a moment she wished she would be here to see it all come to fruition. Butshe couldn’t let his enthusiasm sway her into staying in Maple Falls longer than she had to.

The sundae arrived and was large enough to serve two people. Hayden moved it to the center of the table and dug his spooninto the mound of vanilla ice cream, which was melting under a puddle of thick hot fudge.

When he took a bite, he smirked. “Delicious. Bet you can’t stop at one bite.”

She took it as a challenge and lifted her brow at him, then scooped up a huge bite of the sundae. When she tried to fit itin her mouth, she had to laugh as whipped cream landed on her nose.

“Here,” he said, reaching over and wiping it off with his napkin before settling back in his chair. “That counts as two bites,by the way.”

“Oh no it doesn’t.” She grinned. “You never specified the size of the one bite.”

He lifted another spoonful. “Good point.” Then he waved the spoon a little closer to her. “Sure you don’t want another bite?”

For the first time in her life, she didn’t glance around to see if anyone was watching her. Somehow Hayden inspired her tolet go of her self-consciousness, even if it took a while to get there. She shook her head, then snatched the cherry thatwas sliding off the top of the sundae.

“I’m done.”

“Hey, what if I wanted that cherry?”

“You did?” Her guard immediately went up again. “I’m sorry. I should have asked—”

“Riley, I’m teasing. I don’t even like cherries.”

She turned her head slightly and gave him a sidelong glance. “Is that true, or are you just being nice?”

He set down the spoon and put up his hands. “You caught me. I love any kind of cherries.”

“You’re a terrible liar too.” She grinned and crossed her hands on the table as he finished off the dessert. She was temptedto grab another bite but held her ground. He didn’t need help polishing off the ice cream anyway. The waitress dropped offthe check as he was scraping the last bit of hot fudge from the bottom of the dish.

When Riley reached for her bag, Hayden shook his head. “It’s on me tonight.”

“I’m paying my share.”

He looked at her. “I suppose it’s useless to argue with you.”

“Correct.” Again, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling.

“All right. But I still get to open the car door for you, right?”

Her smile widened and she sighed dramatically. “If you insist.”

They paid the bill and made their way to the car, Riley letting Hayden open the door. As they went back to downtown MapleFalls, they continued talking about their future plans, Riley leaving out her determination to leave as soon as she could,and Hayden never bringing up the subject.

It was dark by the time he pulled into the parking space next to Erma’s car in the lot behind Knots and Tangles. She couldsee a few fireflies hovering around the two small bushes that edged the parking lot. She hadn’t been able to figure out ifthey were planted there as a beautification project that was never finished, or if they simply weren’t pulled out when thelot was poured. They had always seemed out of place to her.

Hayden left the car running as he turned to her. “I had a great time tonight. Thanks for helping me talk through my ideasand how to approach my parents. I feel more confident about that now.”

“You’re welcome.” The silver light from the single lamppost in the parking lot shone inside the car, lighting up his face.Her hand went to her necklace and she fiddled with the gold chain, her nerves spiking again. For a supper that had been friendly,the electric tension between them right now definitely wasn’t. She wouldn’t have to move much to kiss him. Just a few inchesand she could experience another wave of bliss like their last kiss. More