The Hunt Masquerade - Milly Taiden Page 0,35
around a couple of times, smiling wide. “So, go on. Pick a craft you want to do.”
Rush’s brows hiked up with a tinge of panic in his eyes. “You want me to craft?”
“Well, of course.”
His laughter was contagious. “Okay. Let’s see what we have.” He slowly went through the aisles, carefully scanning all the options.
It was all pretty straightforward and tame. Most of the stuff could easily be done by children. Rush picked up a small paint-by-numbers canvas, some paint, and before Chantal knew it, he had quite a few things piled high into his arms. She giggled at the sight of the tall, muscular man going craft crazy.
“It’s easy to get all these big ideas, isn’t it?” she teased.
“I didn’t expect to be so indecisive, but a lot of this stuff looks like a lot of fun. Though I’m not sure that puzzles fall into crafts.”
“They sure do! It’s an assembly project, but a project, nonetheless.” She eyed his wares. “You do know that there is no way in hell we will be able to do all of those today, right?”
“I’m counting on it, love.”
“Still convinced we will get to the second date.”
“Yup.” As he passed by her, he broke one of the rules and kissed her forehead.
There was no way she was going to call him out on it. She had liked it way too much.
Back in her small apartment, Rush emptied his bags onto the kitchen table. He crossed his arms and studied the pile.
“I don’t know what to start with. What do you think, Chacha?” He grabbed the puzzle. It was enormous and intricate with a beautiful forest scenery with a wolf in the forefront. “I kind of want to do this.”
“Sounds good. I like the wolf. He looks all broody like he’s waiting for the full moon to rise or something.”
“Do you like wolves?” Rush asked as he dumped the puzzle onto the kitchen table.
Chantal helped him sort through the pieces as they divided the them by color while looking for all the corner and edge pieces. “I do. They’re quite serene animals. I especially like that they’re mates for life. It makes me happy to think that there are happily-ever-afters in the animal kingdom.”
Rush’s smile was bright. “You do love your happy endings, Cinderella.”
“Hey, now. The name is Chacha.”
“That is your princess identity, then? The one you use to make princes fall in love with you at balls?”
Chantal giggled, nudging him with her shoulder. “If I recall, you were the one who seduced me.”
He feigned a gasp, putting two pieces together. “I would never.”
“Whose hotel room did we go to?”
“Mine, but we did finish off that box of condoms — You said it would take a century. Took less than twelve hours.”
She blushed and wasn’t able to suppress her giggle. “Well, see now that is breaking our rules. No sex.”
“Is talking about sex off the table too?” He shook his head dramatically. “Damn, that’s too bad because I was going to make this whole speech about how these two puzzle pieces fit perfectly together, just like our naughty parts.” To demonstrate his point, he connected two puzzle pieces together.
“You’re bad.” She giggled. “Now, be quiet and pass me the corner piece. I’m on a roll here.”
Chantal leaned closer to him to slide the pieces to her side of the table. She didn’t move away, choosing instead to stay very close to him. Rush didn’t pull away either. He brought his chair closer to her and draped his arm across the back of her seat. Every now and again, he ran a hand across her back or squeezed her shoulder.
It was all so domestically blissful.
“Hey,” Chantal protested as Rush took a string of six interlocked pieces she had been working on to complete a part of the puzzle. “I was going to do that.”
“I’m closer,” he said as his hand went to her neck. “Besides, this puzzle is a team effort.” The smile he shot her made her insides slip and slide.
“You’re right. It is just so satisfying when all of the pieces fit together.”
Rush turned to look at her and dipped his head down to kiss her softly. “Yes. It is very gratifying when everything just clicks.”
They both knew he wasn’t talking about the puzzle anymore.
Chapter Thirteen
Rush
The crafting, or puzzle date, Rush had with Chantal left him on a high for days. Three days, to be exact. It had been just what he needed. A quiet night in with his mate, chatting and watching