Page 6 of Letter for Two (Sweet Treat Novellas #5)

P utting on a blue button-up business shirt and black dress slacks to meet Sophia for their daily mail sorting was probably overkill. But if he was going to ask her out, he wanted to make a good impression. That was also the reason for the red roses.

She’s gonna know I’m crazy about her. He didn’t really care anymore. Two evenings spent with his arm around her had driven home an inarguable fact: having her in his life was too important to leave up to chance. Maybe she’d brush him off or laugh at him, but at least he’d know.

Ethan tapped the corner of the pile of mail on the patio table. Sorting mail didn’t usually make him jittery. Maybe if he practiced what he planned to say his nerves would calm down?

“We should go out.” No. Too abrupt.

“I’m pretty much in love with you.” He dismissed that opening line as well.

“Are you busy tonight? Wanna have dinner with me? No pressure. You can say no if you want.” That just sounded stupid.

Before he could try out any other approaches, Sophia’s door opened. Was it his imagination, or did her face light up a little when their eyes met?

“Hey, Sophia,” he said.

“Hey. You’re all dressed up.” She was absolutely checking him out. That was promising. “Do you have a date or something?”

She was not only checking him out; she sounded disappointed at the possibility of him seeing someone else.

“I may have a date,” Ethan said. “Depending on how the mail sorting goes today.”

“She’s sending her answer by mail?”

Ethan decided to play it cool and mysterious. He sat in his usual chair and started dividing the mail. “Computer-parts catalog.” He held it up before sliding it across the table toward her. “This bill’s mine, but you can have it if you want.”

Sophia didn’t sit across from him like she usually did. She just watched him silently.

Ethan kept sorting the mail. “Who gets the junk mail today?”

Sophia hadn’t moved, hadn’t looked away from him.

“You okay?” he asked.

Her eyebrows scrunched in, worry in her eyes. “ Do you have a date... or something?”

He didn’t need any more encouragement than that. “I’m not sure.” Ethan snatched the dozen red roses from under the table. Sophia eyed them suspiciously.

“I was hoping these may help convince her,” Ethan said. “What do you think?”

Sophia’s shoulders drooped, and she looked away. “She’ll love them.”

He immediately changed tactics. He set the roses on the table and crossed to where Sophia stood, very near her door. She looked nervous, which actually helped him be less so.

He took both of her hands in his. “Sophia.”

She didn’t quite look at him.

“I’ve been sitting out here waiting for you, trying to think of a way to ask you what you’re doing tonight.”

That brought her eyes to his for just a moment.

“And I almost got thrown out of the flower shop because I kept changing my mind about red roses versus white roses.” He slid one hand up her arm, pulling her a little closer. “I have reservations at three different places because I didn’t know which you were more likely to say yes to.”

With that, he had her full attention. “ Me ?”

Ethan nodded, setting the flowers in her hand. “We’re a good team, and not just with solving mail mysteries. We both know how to promise to cook someone dinner but end up serving fast food.”

The corner of her mouth tugged upward.

“And we’re both good at eating enchiladas with neighbors,” he added.

Her smile grew. Ethan snaked one arm around her waist. Sophia set her free hand on his chest. She could probably feel his heart pounding. They were close enough he could see flakes of gold in her brown eyes.

“So, you wanna go out... or something?” he asked.

“I’ve been hoping you would ask me that for months.”

Her candid confession inspired one of his own. “I almost have, a dozen times since you moved in. But I always chickened out.”

“I’m glad you didn’t this time.”

“So is that a yes?” He hoped so.

Sophia nodded. Her gaze wandered to his lips, and her cheeks reddened. That was all the invitation he needed.

He slipped his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her up to him.

Slowly, so she could tell him if he’d made a mistake, he lowered his mouth to hers.

She leaned in, meeting him in the middle.

Neither of them initiated the kiss, it simply started between them.

He held her as close and as tightly as he could.

She clung to him, and he held her in return.

Sophia whispered his name against his lips, and he was a goner.

He kissed her long and good there on the porch.

Ethan lost himself in that kiss, putting months of longing into every moment.

He knew without a single doubt that she felt the same way.

They’d wasted enough time. Two people, sharing a house, sharing a porch, but living separate lives, brought together by a single, long-lost letter.