He did it deliberately. It made his biceps look good.

This wasn’t fair.

“Um, yes.” I cleared my throat.

“And were you going to ask me out last night?”

I nodded.

“Well, this is fun.”

I glared at him. Laughter danced in his bright green eyes. He was enjoying this way too much for my liking—mostly because I was hating every second.

I wasn’t a nervous person by nature, but there was something about him that made butterflies erupt in my stomach. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I knew it was a dangerous thing.

“Have you changed your mind?”

“About what?”

“Asking me out. You said you were going to, but I don’t hear it.”

I opened my mouth but again, nothing came out. Instead, I blushed furiously. Seriously, you could fry eggs on my cheeks. They’d probably come with a taste of face powder, but my cheeks were hot enough to cook them for sure.

Noah grinned and, dropping his arms and came over to me. “Look, I’ll make this easy on you. I have to be at work in” —he checked his watch— “twenty minutes. I don’t have time for you to stand here like an embarrassed goldfish, opening and closing your mouth every two seconds.”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

He stopped only a few inches from me and cupped my chin, placing his thumb so that the tip of it brushed the curve of my lower lip. His gaze dropped to my mouth for a second, making my heart beat a little faster. “Reagan, I’d love to go out with you. I’ll pick you up at seven tomorrow. Pick somewhere to eat and let me know, okay?”

I swallowed. “I don’t have your number.”

“Right.” His lips pulled to the side. “What’s yours?”

Reluctantly, I pulled myself away from the warmth of his hand on my chin and grabbed a pen and paper to scribble it down, then tore off the corner and gave it to him. “Don’t lose it,” I said, looking him in the eye.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He leaned in and, right before he plucked the torn paper from my hand, he brushed his lips over my cheek.

A shiver tickled down my spine at the brief touch. I fought against it—I didn’t need him knowing how much one tiny kiss had affected me.

“I’ll talk to you later,” he said, giving me one last flash of a smile before he turned around and left.

It felt as though he’d taken all the air in the room with him, because the moment his steps fell out of earshot, I gasped in a huge breath and sat my ass down on the nearest chair.

Which happened to be the floor.

I blew out the breath and, cupping my hands over my face, let out a long shudder to realign whatever that shiver had knocked out of place.

Because it’d done something. I could tell you that. Couldn’t tell you what, but it’d done something.