Page 17 of The Secret Crush Book Club (Peach Blossom #3)

Twelve

“W ell, look at you smiling wide like you just won the lottery.”

Zoey couldn’t help but smile wider at Tiffany’s words.

She felt a lot like she had won the lottery.

It had been a week since the movie date with Dani, and the two of them had seen each other just about every day.

They had met up for lunch at Thomas’s diner three times so far this week and with each meeting, Zoey felt like she couldn’t get enough.

Their conversations always seemed to flow so well from one subject to the next and Dani had seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say.

If that wasn’t enough to have Zoey sighing happily with a dopey smile on her face, then the kisses they always exchanged before separating definitely did it.

It wasn’t like she had kissed tons of people, but she could confidently say that kissing Dani was like magic.

Her lips were always the right mix of soft and firm as they moved against her own.

For as little experience as Dani claimed to have, her kisses were enough to have Zoey wishing she hadn’t said they should go slow.

How the hell was it possible to get drunk off someone else’s kisses?

If she didn’t know any better, she’d say Dani was a siren who had bewitched her.

“I won the life lottery,” Zoey said, finally not bothering to take her eyes off the computer screen in front of her.

They had just gotten in a shipment of new books, and she was working on getting them all logged into the system and tagged so they could be sorted and placed on their respective shelves.

Tiffany gave her a look. “I have a love-hate relationship with seeing you all smiley and happy. It’s so cute it’s disgusting,” Tiffany said.

Zoey couldn’t help but laugh. She knew exactly what Tiffany was talking about because she had felt the same way about other couples that she saw around town before getting together with Dani.

They hadn’t yet had a conversation about the exclusivity between the two of them since they were taking things slow, but Zoey was okay with that for now.

So far, this had been the healthiest relationship she had ever been in.

They did just as much talking as they did kissing.

And there definitely was a fair amount of that.

Even if they hadn’t formally decided on the label of girlfriends , Zoey was comfortable with how things were progressing.

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Zoey said with a wide smile.

She looked up at Tiffany and had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out loud at her disgruntled expression.

“Weren’t you the one telling me to take a chance to begin with?

How are you going to act all disgruntled now that I have? ”

“Of course, and I’m so happy that you did,” Tiffany agreed.

“I love seeing you happy and I want you and Dani to get married and have a white picket fence with two-point-five children and all that, but now that leaves me single as a Pringle with no one to mingle with. Doesn’t Dani have a brother you can set me up with or something? ”

“No, all she has is sisters and both of them are taken. You know that.”

Tiffany sighed in her usual overdramatic way that never failed to make Zoey giggle. “I suppose I’ll just have to continue in these mean online dating streets since you supposedly have no one to set me up with.”

She rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what Tiffany was getting at.

She had shown Tiffany a picture of her brother and since then, Tiffany had hinted that she should send along his phone number so she could get to know him better.

It wasn’t that Zoey thought her brother and Tiffany wouldn’t get along.

It was that she knew Mason was a dumbass and didn’t want to subject one of her closest friends to him.

She loved her brother, but he wasn’t exactly Mr. Relationship.

“If I set you up with my brother and he does something dumb, I don’t want you blaming me for his mistakes.”

“Why would I blame you for his mistakes?” Tiffany asked.

“I know how to handle army guys especially. I grew up in a family full of them. You just have to know how to stroke their ego enough to give them what they want so that you can get exactly what you want. It’s just a game with them.

But really, they’re big babies who want to be coddled. ”

Zoey could admit that Tiffany wasn’t completely off base with her assessment.

Mason was responsible but at times he did seem like he wanted to be coddled, which was always strange given the fact that he raised her.

“I’ll think about it,” she said finally, wanting to change the subject.

Mason would be in town soon enough as it was, and she had already planned to introduce him to not only her friends but also potentially Dani.

It was probably too soon but when it came to making sure that Zoey wasn’t reading too much into a situation like before, Mason was a good judge of that.

Tiffany rolled her eyes but nodded. “Fine, whatever. Now tell me about you and Dani. Have you said the L-word yet? Is it time to break out the U-Haul?”

Zoey shook her head. “I told you, we’re taking it slow. I’m the first woman she’s ever dated and I’m pretty sure she hasn’t dated anyone seriously since she split with her ex-husband.”

Tiffany nodded. “And you’re sure she’s bisexual and not just experimenting?”

It was a valid question but one she didn’t want to dwell on.

Their kisses didn’t feel like mere experimentation, and it wasn’t like Dani was trying to lay lips on her only for an audience.

Zoey had dealt with that previously—girls kissing her just to interest some guy who was watching, and Dani’s kisses didn’t feel like that.

She never shied away from her in public either like she was trying to keep their situationship on the down-low.

Dani seemed happy enough to hold Zoey’s hand when they met at Thomas’s diner and always gave her a kiss when they parted in full view of whoever was out at the time.

“She hasn’t labeled herself with me,” Zoey said finally. “But I guess we can go with that. I don’t want to label her as something she isn’t, but I don’t know where she is with working that out internally.”

Tiffany nodded, though the look of suspicion stayed painted on her face. “I suppose that’s true. Maybe I need to dial it up a notch and start asking my own questions during book club.”

Zoey narrowed her eyes. “Questions like what? I don’t want you bombarding her and making her uncomfortable, Tiff.”

Tiffany waved off her words. “I wouldn’t bombard her. That’s not my style.”

“Tiff—”

“Don’t worry,” she cut in. “I have a foolproof plan for tonight’s book club. Just leave it to me.”

* * *

Zoey worried all through the day and well into book club.

Tiffany hadn’t even given her a glimpse of what she might ask Dani, leaving her to worry that she should have been firm in saying no.

When Tiffany had texted that she wouldn’t be able to make it to book club, Zoey had tried not to seem too excited.

Truthfully, she wanted answers about where this was going with Dani just as much as Tiffany did.

But she was willing to be patient. She would continue showing Dani that she would make an excellent partner.

Things were underway when Dani stumbled into Zoey’s place, an apology for being late on her lips. “Work ran over and then I had to wait for Ava to get home to watch Jordan for me.”

Zoey smiled. “It’s totally okay.”

“Yeah, we understand how things can go,” Sharon said with a knowing smile. “It’s hard when you have a little one.”

Dani’s smile looked grateful, and she dropped down on the couch beside Zoey.

For a moment, she turned her dark brown gaze, locking with Zoey’s.

It was like gravity, pulling them together as Zoey found herself leaning in.

Her gaze flickered down to Dani’s lips until she remembered where they were and who they were with.

With a hard swallow, Zoey straightened and turned her gaze to the book in her hand.

“We haven’t gotten too far in our discussion, so you should be able to hop right in.

” When Zoey chanced a glance back up, Dani’s eyes were still on her.

Movement caught Zoey’s attention, and she saw Dani’s fingers grip the book in her hands tighter.

As if also realizing that they weren’t alone, Dani finally looked away.

Her fingers were graceful as they parted the pages, spreading the book open to the page marked with her bookmark.

“Perfect,” Dani replied, her voice soft in a way that sent shivers through Zoey’s body. “I’m really enjoying this book so far.”

“Me too,” Sharon spoke up, further jolting Zoey out of whatever moment she had fallen into.

Get it together , she thought, frantically forcing herself to focus back on the chapters chosen for tonight’s discussion.

A quick glance around confirmed that everyone else was equally enthralled in the book, and she sighed in relief that no one remarked on the tension-filled exchange she and Dani had just had.

When Dani leaned into her, Zoey smiled softly soaking in her warmth as their arms pressed together.

She wasn’t sure if anyone besides Tiffany would get the significance of this, but Zoey could feel her cheeks heat up.

It didn’t stop her from leaning into Dani as the discussion about their book for the month continued.

Zoey added comments, enjoying each time the conversation went on a tangent, but a good portion of her time was spent stealing glances.

There was something different in the way Dani held herself today.

There was something a bit more muted that she wanted to get to the bottom of.

Zoey leaned over, hoping that her voice wouldn’t be overheard.

“Is everything okay?”