“Oof,” he suddenly grunted, spinning away from her.

What the hell? Where was her kiss? Tara sat up when Seth scrambled to his feet and retrieved a soccer ball by their picnic blanket.

“My friend accidentally kicked the ball over here.” A girl with corn-silk hair ran up to them, holding her hands out for the ball. “He’s sorry, but he’s too scared to come over himself.”

“That’s okay. It was an accident.” Seth’s expression smoothed into a gentle smile as he handed the ball to her. “It’s very brave of you to come over to apologize for your friend.”

“Thank you.” With a wave she bounded away to her waiting friends.

Tara was much more annoyed than Seth that the rude soccer ball interrupted their kiss. The disappointment was brutal, and she was tempted to stab the ball with her fork to deflate it. Then it hit her. They’d almost kissed. Holy heck. A picnic could be brushed aside, but a kiss would provide enough fodder for town gossip. She went limp with relief that they were interrupted.

Even after the close call, watching Seth interact with the little girl so sweetly made her heart melt, making her want to flutter her lashes and moon over him. Ugh. She wished she could rub some dirt on herself and be rid of the warm and fuzzy feels. She was never this emotional. She blamed the lingering effects of Aubrey’s wedding for her uncharacteristic sentimentality. Weddings were definitely going on her allergic-to list along with haikus and rainbows on rainy days.

Everything about their date so far was unexpected. He wasn’t what she’d expected. He was kind, considerate, and endearing. The version of Seth in her mind was cocky, superficial, and entertaining. He was still cocky and entertaining, but superficial just didn’t fit with her impression of him today.

The girl with the pale gold hair ran back to them and said in a breathless voice, “We need a prince.”

“A prince?” Tara said, arching an eyebrow. Did she mean Seth? He did make a rather swoony fairy-tale prince. But the bigger question was whether Tara was willing to share. “What for?”

“To rescue, of course,” the girl said with a duh expression. “None of the boys want to play the prince who’s locked up in the tower. Now we have no one to rescue. Then what are we princesses supposed to do? Sit and wait for some clueless prince to come rescue us? No, thank you.”

Seth pulled his eyebrows down to hide his grin and said in a serious voice, “Well, I’d be honored. I would love to be rescued by a beautiful princess.”

The girl blushed and twirled a piece of her hair. Gee, even a seven-year-old wasn’t immune to his charms.

“I’m Gwen by the way,” she said by way of introduction.

“I’m Seth, and this is Tara.”

“Okay. Come with me.” Gwen grabbed Seth’s hand and tugged him to his feet. “I need you to climb up that tree and sit on one of the branches.”