He seemed so passionate about his ideas. Frustrated but determined. “I get how you feel,” she couldn’t help saying. “I feel the same way about baking.” She couldn’t help that her voice cracked a little. “I know what I want, Leo. And it’s more than baking bread. I’m going to do everything in my power to make that happen.”

He held his glass up again. “I think we just figured out what we have in common,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“We’ll both do what it takes to have our families succeed—despite themselves. So maybe we’re not as different as you think.”

Maybe not. In response, she lifted her glass. “Salute.”

“Santé,” he said.

Their glasses clinked.

“Thank you for dinner,” she said, setting down her wine and sitting back. “It was certainly unexpected.”

He shrugged. “It was easy. Glad you liked it.”

“It’s really hard for me to hate you when you do things like this.”

“Well then, maybe you shouldn’t. Because I’m pretty awesome.”

“Humble, too,” she said with a grin. She wished he didn’t look so handsome when he joked around. Because she was feeling those tingles again…everywhere.

They stood and began to clean up their plates.

Suddenly, Tessa had an idea. “I just thought of something both our cultures have in common. Have you heard of faire la bise?”

“Fair la what?” Leo asked.

“Cheek kissing. There are a lot of dos and don’ts about it.”

“I grew up greeting all our relatives like that. But I didn’t think there were rules.”

She stopped stacking plates. “Oh, yes. Strict rules. For example, you never put your lips on someone’s cheek.”

“Yep. Just touch cheeks.”

“And you never say MWUAH. Just let your lips do the talking.” She kissed the air to demonstrate, her lips making a little smack. “And sometimes you can put your hand on the other person’s shoulder.”

“What does that look like?” He frowned.

“Okay, just stand there,” she said. “Ah! Hello, my friend,” she said in a French accent, walking up to him. “How was your day?” She placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned in, intending to graze his cheek with hers. Except he turned at the last moment and their noses bumped.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s agree that I’m going left first. So offer me your right cheek, okay?”

Except Tessa was slowly realizing that this little game was turning into a huge mistake. Because sitting across a table from Leo, admiring him and his nice lips from afar, was one thing, but actually touching him was another. Even if it had only been a nose bump.

Looked like just one glass of wine was one too many around him.

Although she was sober as a preacher and completely coherent.