“What are you doing here?” he asked, a little too loudly because of the wool.

Leelo strained to listen, but she couldn’t hear the singing inside the cottage. Hesitantly, with tingling fingers, she plucked the wool from his ears. With his face so close to hers and his body heat warming her through the thin fabric of her dress, it took a moment to remember why she’d come in the first place.

She lifted the little cake in her left hand, frowning when she saw that in her haste, she had squished it against his tunic. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

But Jaren wasn’t looking at the cake. He was looking at her mouth. Her head spun a little, and she wasn’t sure if it was the wine or Jaren. Probably both. She thought of the islanders who would get engaged tonight, of the look on her mother’s face when she’d spoken about how you knew when you liked someone. You think about them all the time...your heart races when your eyes meet...

She didn’t just like Jaren, though. She wanted him. She wanted him to want her. The next thing she knew she was leaning forward, pressing her mouth to his.

When his hand slid beneath her hair to cup the nape of her neck, she let the crumbled cake fall, freeing her hand so she could touch his own soft waves, her fingers tangling in the silken strands. He smiled against her lips, and she would have laughed if she wasn’t too busy kissing him. This, she decided, was far better than any cake.

He eased his lips free of hers after a moment. “Leelo,” he said, his gray eyes a little hooded. “As much as I enjoyed this greeting, I feel it is my duty to point out that you’ve been drinking.”

She sat back, self-conscious that he’d smelled the wine on her breath. But he didn’t look angry or disgusted, just mildly amused. “I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head a little to clear it. “I don’t know what came over me.”

He handed her his waterskin. “Elderberry wine, by the taste of things.”

Her face went scarlet as she clamped a hand over her mouth, but he pulled it away gently. “Leelo, I like the way you taste.”

Now her face was truly on fire. She drank so much water she nearly choked, and he patted her on the back.

“Easy, there.”

At least the room had stopped spinning. She sat back on the floor and waited for his face to come into focus. “I really am sorry. I didn’t think. I just wanted to see you. And I thought you’d like the cake.” She gestured feebly to the heap of crumbs on the blanket.