The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2)(17)

‘Why wouldn’t I eat it?’

Hazel wrinkled her nose. ‘Because it’s disgusting.’

‘Disgusting?! What?’

A small laugh escaped her. ‘It’s just sugar-flavored air.’

‘And why wouldn’t I want sugary air? In fact, I wish all the air was sugar flavored. That would be amazing.’

‘And sticky.’

He shrugged. ‘I guess.’ He dropped Hazel’s hand to pick off some sugary fluff. It melted as soon as it hit his tongue, sending sweetness through his veins. He licked the stickiness off his fingers and he could have sworn Hazel watched him do it before tearing her gaze away.

‘So what do you want to do first?’

‘Well...’ Noah let his gaze wander suggestively toward the Ferris wheel.

‘Nope. Not ready yet.’

‘Okay, no problem.’ He looked around. ‘How about we play some games?’

Hazel nodded. ‘I can do games.’

‘Great.’ He pulled off some more cotton candy but before he could put it in his mouth, Hazel grabbed his forearm and rerouted the candy into her mouth instead. Her lips ghosted over his fingers and he nearly dropped the whole damn thing.

She gave a little sigh. ‘Might not be as bad as I remembered.’ She walked off ahead of him and he was forced to follow or risk getting lost in the crowd.

Who was this Hazel Kelly and what was he going to do with her?

He ignored the list of ideas that immediately popped into his head, starting with feeding her more cotton candy and ending with her very naked in his bed. This was a family event. Those thoughts needed to be tamped down along with the other ones about Hazel’s ample thighs, her bare shoulders and all that skin he’d never paid attention to before that he now couldn’t seem to stop staring at.

She glanced over her shoulder to make sure he was still behind her and a mischievous smile played around her lips.

If she kept looking at him like that he could no longer be held responsible for where his thoughts wandered off to. This Hazel Kelly was trouble.

And Noah liked trouble.





Chapter Eight





Hazel usually avoided the carnival like the plague and so she hadn’t been here in years. Probably since she was in high school. In fact, she was pretty sure the reason she broke out into a cold sweat every time she looked at the Ferris wheel was because she once got stuck at the top with Annie for nearly an hour in a lightning storm and she was convinced she was going to die unkissed.

Annie had offered to do the job but it just didn’t seem the same as kissing Heath Ryan, who she had a horrible, unrequited crush on at the time. So she politely declined even as the two girls huddled together, shrieking at every rumble of distant thunder.

By the time the fire department arrived, she and Annie were both soaked and terrified. And she hadn’t been back to the carnival or on a Ferris wheel ever again. But that traumatic moment wasn’t actually why she avoided the carnival.

She just didn’t think she liked it.

Too hot.

Too crowded.

Too noisy, and chaotic, and buggy, and...

She couldn’t really remember her other reasons because Noah had stepped up to the ring toss and flashed her a cocky grin like he had big plans to win her a stuffed animal. And since Hazel was a fully mature, grown woman she was not at all excited about that prospect.

She was holding his cotton candy and shoved another piece into her mouth. Sugar moved fast through her bloodstream, which was obviously why her stomach was doing weird things as she watched Noah toss three yellow rings one at a time toward the wood pegs. He missed every time.

He handed the teenager working the booth more tickets. ‘That was just a warm-up.’

‘Hmm. Yes, important to warm up.’

Noah grinned at her and then turned his focus back on the pegs. He missed again. Three times in a row. He groaned.

‘Jane did warn me this was a tough game.’

Hazel laughed.

‘She said try to do my best.’

‘Good life advice.’

‘Smart kindergartener.’ He winked at her and then tossed another ring. It spun around the peg and then clattered to the ground. Noah hung his head. ‘Damn.’

‘Come on, champ. Maybe you’ll have better luck at the next one.’ Hazel put a hand on his arm to guide him away from the game and found her fingers lingering there on the muscles of his bicep. His arm was so ... solid.

He let himself be led and caught Hazel’s hand in his before she could pull it back. His hand was solid too, big and strong and probably capable of doing so many more interesting things than ring toss.

She cleared her throat. ‘You know if we hold hands the whole town will have us married off by Monday.’

His laugh was low and just for her when he leaned down to whisper in her ear. ‘Fine by me.’

She peered up at him, a frown on her face as they meandered through the crowd. ‘Oh, please.’

‘Oh, please, what?’

Hazel let out a little disbelieving huff. ‘Everyone knows you don’t date women for longer than a summer. Two months max. At that rate, you’d be dumping me on my birthday.’

His copper brows rose. ‘Oh, really? This is common knowledge?’

‘Yep. You like tourists, temporary guests, out-of-towners. There was even a rumor that you spent a very interesting weekend with an entire bachelorette party.’ Her cheeks burned at the thought. Why had she brought any of this up? Well, it was one thing to engage in this ... flirtation for the duration of their summer of fun, but to pretend it was anything more would just be ridiculous.