was something about Eryss that he couldn’t quite put a finger on. She was pretty, but not in a conventional, overdone way where men’s jaws dropped and they stared long after she’d passed. She had flawless skin and bright eyes. A soft pink mouth and no visible blush on her cheeks. And yet Dane felt as if he had scored a dance with the most gorgeous woman in the world, for her attention warmed him to the bone and he was quite sure he hadn’t stopped smiling since they’d taken the dance floor.
He leaned in close, brushing her cheek with his. He should have shaved. But she didn’t flinch or seem to mind his stubble. In fact, she nestled in closer, pressing her breasts against his chest and bringing their hands down so they swayed together in the middle of the dance floor, barely moving.
Yet his heart raced. He felt like the awkward geek he’d once been at high school dances. Nervous. Unsure. Most definitely not as suave as he liked to think he was. Was everyone staring at the fumbling nerd? And yet he’d scored the cheerleader this time, and hell, yeah, he wanted everyone to look at him.
Eryss tilted her head and whispered, “I feel airy when I’m with you, Dane. Not at all grounded.”
“Is that a good or bad thing?”
“I haven’t decided.”
Hmm...well, he didn’t want her to decide it was the latter, so he clasped one hand across her back and held her securely. Grounding her? He wasn’t sure how that worked, but the feeling took him and all he wanted to do was hold this beautiful queen and forget the unfortunate luck he’d had at the antiques store.
Something about this embrace felt...familiar? It was an odd thing to notice. He’d never met this woman. Surely he would remember those blue eyes. And he’d never once set foot in Minnesota before today.
He’d take the feeling for whatever it was, and count his luck as having turned toward the good side.
When the slow music segued into a bouncy beat, they paused and her eyes sought his. She asked, “Want to come to my place?”
Dane’s reaction went from surprised, to curious, to aroused in a matter of seconds. That had been an abrupt invite.
She didn’t blush so much as glow, even under the silly tinsel wig. “Uh, I think I can show you a little taste of summer. I promise I won’t molest you.”
He intentionally dropped the smirk. “Now I’m disappointed.”
She laughed. “Unless you want me to? Come on. I know where summer lives.”
He clasped her hand, and sucked in a breath at the sudden electric zing that coursed from that connection. It felt as if he’d been jolted by static electricity directly on the heart.
“Is something wrong?” she asked innocently.
Eryss peered into his eyes once again. He’d never seen this woman before. And yet...had he?
“You do recognize me,” she said with an effusive smile. And with that weird announcement, she tugged him off the dance floor. “Come with me.”
As they grabbed Dane’s coat and glided down the mansion stairs, Dane felt as though he was following a familiar path to something he had wondered about for so long.
Bemused was one way to describe Dane’s mood. He’d only just arrived in Minnesota this morning. Had nearly slid into the ditch at the mercy of an angry cab driver while being transported from airport to northern suburbs. Plowed his way to the antiques shop. Learned he’d have to stay a miserable week in the tundra. Decided to check out a costume party on a night that featured single-digit temperatures. And now he was about to hook up with a pretty woman smelling like chocolate, mint and sage.
Maybe. This might not be a hookup. She could be taking him to her house to—hell yes, it was a hookup! With a woman wearing a silver wig and a blue gown glittering with spangled snowflakes. But he could see beyond the costume and knew she was more interesting than a meteor dug up from a farmer’s field. And he wanted to get to know her better. He had a week in this town. Why not start it off with a bang?
“Do you do this often?” he asked as she navigated her Prius down a dark road that was just out of the main city, as she’d stated. Her own little bit of sanity that edged the suburbs.
“What? Navigate icy roads wearing a snow queen costume?”
Dane chuckled. “No. Pick up stray scientists you’ve found bumbling about fire pits on frozen winter nights.”
“Ah. All the time! Though I’d never assign the word bumbling to you.” She laughed, and a slip of dark hair fell out from under her wig. “No, this is a new one for me.” She clicked on the turn signal and slowed for a right. “But how could I resist a scientist looking so out of his element and in need of a little tender-loving summer?”
“Out of my element? Yes. I prefer carbon.”
“Ha! A science joke. My element is earth, in case you’re wondering.”
“Earth isn’t exactly an element. I’ll assign you silica, since that is abundant in sand, which is earth. Of course, you could also be nitrogen, because when that freezes—well, it’s icy and fun to play with.”
“I’m not an ice queen, I just play one at the annual winter festival. And if you’re not nice to me, I’ll turn around and you’ll never see summer.”
“Sorry. But I will reserve judgment on your summer-invoking abilities until I can feel the grass beneath my feet.”
“It will happen. Promise. Just ahead. So where are you staying?”
“I found a hotel next to an Applebee’s. Classy place, the hotel. They even offer all-you-can-eat pastries glopped with thick pink frosting in the mornings. I could not contain my enthusiasm when I learned that.”
“Really?” She flashed him a genuinely doubtful look.
“I’m kidding. I have a tendency to find sarcasm in all the wrong places. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. You’re a breath of fresh air, Dane. I don’t run into men like you around town all that often.”
“So you’ve snatched me up and now you’re going to do what with me, exactly?”
She waggled her eyebrows and pulled the car into a garage set beside a Victorian-style house. “Just wait and find out. Come in, if you dare.” She turned off the car and opened the door.
And Dane followed with the eagerness of a scientist discovering a new element. This could be interesting. Or at the very least, a distraction from the local television reruns and stale sheets he had been headed for back at the hotel.
Inside the house, the lights were low and the kitchen vast, four times the size of a normal kitchen. Dane was drawn to the center, where a butcher-block table stretched ten feet and was paralleled by random unmatched bar stools in a range of heights. Above the table hung various dried herbs and flowers among copper pans and lightbulbs caged by chicken wire.
He
