Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K.R.

AN: This story was written as a contribution to the Haphne Summer 2021 Collection. You will find the collection here:

community/Haphne-Summer-2021-Collection/133850/

The collectionis a community project to celebrate 500 members on the Haphne discord server,:

discord dot gg/pKSdvJQvhU

Just delete the spaces and replace 'dot' with '.' after you copy and paste into your browser.

A big Thank you! to my betas, Akamoroti, who helped pull the plot to the light of day and checked my sometimes weird English, and Federer Rex for the Brit-picking. It's thanks to them that everything reads smoothly and not weird.

At last, the day of the meeting with the other counsellors and the Shafiqs and Fawleys arrived. Harry met Daphne an hour early at the Leaky Cauldron, to go over their notes one last time.

Daphne was already there when he arrived. Her warm smile from across the sparsely populated pub made his heart skip a beat. Harry returned her smile, went to the bar, got two butterbeers and then attempted to make his way through the pub without being bothered by the customers who wanted to shake his hand and couldn't understand why the drinks in his hands should be an obstacle. He slid into the booth next to Daphne with a relieved sigh, placed the butterbeers on the table, and flicked his wand to cast a few low powered Privacy Wards around them.

"Hi, Harry. You did better than I expected with your adoring fans," Daphne said and bumped shoulders with him in greeting. "Compared to how you reacted at Hogwarts."

Harry stashed his wand, grinned at her, and put an arm around her shoulder for a small hug. "Hi, Daph. Recently, I've received some excellent tutoring on how to deal with the demands of being a prominent wizard."

She laughed at that, although some colour shot into her cheeks. "Flatterer. Let's get to work. I want to go over our presentation one last time. I'd rather not look bad compared to the Ravenclaws." She pulled a few sheets of parchment out of her bag that sat next to her on the bench. Ink and quill followed.

He smiled. She was so much like Hermione in some ways. Like his best friend, she took pride in her work and wanted it to be perfect. Not that he disagreed with her. The idea of a camp to work against the prejudices in the wizarding world was too important to give anything but their best. And her zeal for this project was endearing.

"Good idea." Harry pulled his notes from his jeans pocket and enlarged them with a casual flick of his wand.

Black hair and blonde bent over their notes. His arm was in an uncomfortable position, so he moved it to the backrest behind her. Soon they lost themselves in a lively discussion and were oblivious to anything around them.

"Don't they look cosy, love?" a familiar voice said.

Harry's head shot up. At the sight of the couple in front of them a scowl appeared on his face.

Neville and Hannah stood arm in arm, grinning down at them.

Harry sighed and turned to Daphne. "And here I thought the Privacy Wards I cast would keep fanboys away."

Daphne looked up, quill in hand. "Oh, hi, Neville, Hannah." She laughed. "Wrong spell, Harry. You cast simple Privacy Wards that anyone who knows what to look for can overcome. Which reminds me, we'll have to make sure we all know the Mosquito-Repelling-Charm." She jotted something on the sheet in front of her.

"You've been working on your ideas for the camp?" Neville asked.

"Yeah," Harry said as he pulled his arm back and checked his watch. He gathered his notes. "Sorry, I guess we forgot the time. Are the others already waiting?"

"Nihal and Azadeh are setting up the room. Anthony and Jessica were behind us, but they stopped for a quick chat with friends they saw in Diagon," Hannah said.

A shout of "Hi, everybody!" from the door drew the attention of the whole group.

Terry waved at them. Behind him, Lisa, Morag, and Blaise entered the pub from Charing Cross Road.

"And there's the rest," Hannah stated the obvious.

"Alright, let's get going." Daphne gathered her things.

Harry slipped out of the booth and stood to one side to let her go first.

Daphne hooked her arm around Hannah's. The two blonde's stuck their heads together, and followed their co-counsellors into the private room.

Harry and Neville brought up the rear.

"Is there something going on between you and Daphne?" Neville asked.

Harry almost stumbled. "Merlin, no! What gives you that idea?"

"You seemed rather familiar with each other, the way you were sitting so close together, your arm behind her back, and your heads almost touching. It looked like you were having a grand old time."

"We were just working on our ideas for the camp. And as for my arm—I did that all the time when I studied with Hermione at Hogwarts." Harry rolled his eyes at his friend.

Neville raised his eyebrows and grinned. "Did you, now? I never noticed. With the crush I had on Hermione during our first five years, I'm sure I would have."

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. First Ron, now Neville. "Maybe you need glasses, but Daph and I are just friends."

Neville's grin became broader. "Daph, huh? Well, if that's what lets you sleep at night, carry on."

Harry took a deep breath. Why did just sitting next to a girl cause rumours of his perceived interest in her to float around? He ran a hand through his hair and gave his friend an exasperated head shake. "Look, Neville—"

He never got to finish his sentence. They had reached the private room during their talk, and Nihal and Azadeh came to greet them, followed by the Fawleys.

Once the greetings were over, Harry and Neville sat down at the table. Harry slid into the seat next to Daphne and ignored the knowing grin Neville gave him. He and Daphne were a team, so it was only natural she'd want them to sit together when they presented their ideas. That he sat next to her didn't mean that they were an item.

Daphne had her notes in front of her, and he reached into his pocket to pull out his. The other three couples each had a single sheet of parchment between them. His eyes flicked between those sheets and the stacks of parchment Daphne and he had each prepared for the meeting, and a satisfied smile spread across his face. It seemed all their hard work would pay off.

Daphne turned her head. Her smile mirrored his, and she bumped his shoulder with hers.

A noise that sounded like a chuckle came from Neville. His girlfriend slapped his arm, and he put his fist in front of his mouth to mask his laughter as a cough.

Nihal opened the meeting and asked Neville and Hannah to present their ideas first. That sobered Neville, and Harry permitted himself a smirk at his friend's expense.

Both raised by Pureblood families, Neville and Hannah didn't have much to offer besides some details on the ideas they had already brought up during their first meeting. Hannah offered additional craft classes, though.

Terry and Morag weren't much better. Morag came from a wizarding family. The concept of a summer camp was foreign to her.

"I've been raised in the Muggle world since my dad is a Muggle," Terry said. "However, I only attended summer camps with my swimming club, and they were all about the sport. Lots of training and theory, very little besides that, and competition with other clubs at the end of the camp."

"Same here," Lisa said. "Blaise doesn't know how a summer camp works, and I know only a little. My mum is Muggleborn, and my maternal grandparents own an equestrian farm. They organise holidays on horseback for children, girls, mostly. It's all about riding and caring for the animals."

Something like disappointment passed over Nihal's features. It was gone the next second, and he turned to Harry and Daphne. "What about you two?"

Daphne glanced at Harry, and he motioned for her to go ahead. She had worked so hard on this; she deserved her moment in the spotlight.

Daphne cleared her throat and reached for the first sheet of parchment in front of her.

"We tried to come up with a general plan and took into consideration that we want the kids to get to know each other and make new friends. For that purpose, we included a lot of all-camp activities. Also, to make things easier for all of us, we developed a repeating schedule." She nodded at Harry to continue.

He took a deep breath, glad that Daphne had prepared him for this, and consulted the parchment in front of him.

"The schedule of the first day is rather obvious. As soon as we arrive at the camp, the children have to be sorted into their tents and need to be made familiar with the camp facilities, and the rules we want them to keep to. I don't know whether we'll arrive before lunchtime or late in the afternoon. If it's in the morning, we can have a light lunch and spend the afternoon playing games to get to know each other. We've compiled a list of such games that include the entire camp."

Daphne shuffled through her stack until she found the parchment that had the list. She handed it to the person sitting next to her and motioned for them to pass it around.

There were impressed nods all around the table as the parchment exchanged hands.

Harry leaned back and motioned for Daphne to continue.

"At dinner, we'll have a welcoming feast, and we can conclude the day at the campfire and learn the camp song and maybe have a singalong." She turned to Blaise. "I think we agreed you would be in charge of that."

Blaise nodded his consent.

"We've also thought about a motto for the camp. Since Nihal wants it to be about the children going beyond their house boundaries, we thought that something like discovering new things would be appropriate."

This time, she just looked at Harry, and he picked up the cue.

"The camp song should be about that, and we can have everyone wear camp shirts with our motto, to create team spirit. We thought that having rituals that bring everyone together might be helpful, too. For example, a camp meeting each morning before we have breakfast, where we greet each other and sing the camp song together, and something similar at the end of the day."

"For the camp activities, we worked with the suggestions we all came up with. However, they are best done in smaller groups, for safety reasons, so we also came up with a couple of general activities," Daphne said.

"We thought that one special day a week designed around the motto, like a motto day to emphasise the purpose of the camp, and one excursion would be pleasant distractions from the routine of the camp, but not enough to disturb what we want to achieve, so we built our schedule around that." With a flick of his wand Harry passed out the tentative schedules he and Daphne had come up with.

All heads bent over their copy of the schedule. At last, Nihal looked up.

"This is impressive, Daphne and Harry. It's just what we had in mind. There are only a few slight adjustments necessary. Thank you for your hard work." His smile was reward enough in itself.

Azadeh, Anthony, and Jessica also beamed at them.

Harry's neck became hot. He glanced at Daphne, who sat up straighter and looked pleased. Her remark that he had to learn how to take a compliment came back to his mind, and he straightened and acknowledged Nihal's praise with a nod.

"You'll see that the schedule is the same for each week," Harry said. "Daphne thought that considering the purpose of this camp, she'd offer daily Yoga lessons in the morning, right before breakfast, to get the children in a relaxed mood." He shrugged his shoulders with a soft chuckle. "I know nothing about Yoga, so I'm just taking Daph's word for it."

"You'd better," Daphne said and nudged him gently with her elbow.

Chuckles rolled around the table. Across the table, Blaise's eyebrows went up, and a strange smile appeared around his lips.

What was that about? Harry's brow creased in a slight frown. Strange smiles on Slytherin faces and aimed at him; that still unsettled him.

Azadeh cleared her throat, demanding attention, and all heads turned towards her.

"I agree with that. I'd also suggest we make that a mandatory activity for the entire camp." Her face brightened in a mischievous grin. "That includes staff as well."

Neville and Terry didn't bother to mask their groans, while Blaise just shrugged.

Harry nodded, he'd already promised Daphne to join her lessons, because his attendance of her Yoga class would guarantee a lot of interested children. He didn't bat an eye when she had brought up that point. Eventually, he'd become comfortable using his name and fame for a cause he thought worth it.

Harry tapped his index finger on the schedule in front of him. All eyes turned back to him.

"We've planned to do the individual lessons in the mornings and all camp activities in the afternoons, considering your words about the children getting to know each other beyond house boundaries. There will be two days in a row with lessons and group activities, and Quidditch training for the complete camp and a cook-out on the third day. Then a day out, followed by two days of lessons and group activities, and at last a motto day."

"We only have to come up with two ideas for the motto days." Daphne took over from him seamlessly. "One day will be a parent's visiting day, where the children can show off their new skills." She bit her lips and gave a fleeting glance at Harry.

"Go on, I already told you your idea makes sense." He gave her an encouraging smile.

"I… We've discussed splitting up the children into two groups of sixteen for the lessons, with two counsellors overseeing each lesson," Daphne said. "You'll notice that we have included two units of each activity into the schedule per week and that there are two activities offered at the same time."

Everyone nodded to that.

"We thought of making it mandatory for the children to attend all lessons offered," Daphne said. "For example, group one has horseback riding lessons on Sunday after we arrive, while group two has flying lessons with Harry. On Thursday, the Sunday schedule will repeat, only that group two will now have horseback riding lessons, and group one will have flying lessons."

Nihal, Azadeh, Anthony and Jessica exchanged puzzled frowns.

"Why would you do that?" Jessica asked at last. "Isn't that… high-handed?"

Daphne blushed and cast her eyes down.

Harry put his hand on hers with a consoling squeeze, shook his head, and replied in her defence, "Daphne brought up an excellent point when we discussed the schedule. She mentioned that the children from staunch Pureblood families and those raised in the wizarding world with little exposure to Muggle culture would drift to the activities they know and scorn the Muggle activities, maybe out of fear of getting into trouble with their parents. Since this camp is about getting to know each other and discovering new things, we thought they should at least try out the offered Muggle activities, thus the idea of making the lessons mandatory. It also works the other way round. Before Daphne told me, I did not know how important social gatherings are in the wizarding world and that most wizarding children get dance lessons at a very young age for that reason. I know that most Muggleborn boys of the same age would avoid dancing lessons like the plague, given the choice."

"Not only Muggleborn boys," Neville muttered.

That earned him a heartfelt "Oh yeah!" from Blaise.

The group broke out into laughter.

"I think your explanation makes sense," Jessica said when the laughter died down. "What do you think?" She turned to her co-organisers.

The other three nodded, and Nihal smiled.

"Good thinking, Daphne." He looked at the parchment in his hands. "There is a rather long break after lunch before the group activities begin. Why's that?"

"Have you ever been in southern France at the height of summer?" Daphne asked.

Everyone shook their heads or murmured denials.

"Well, I have. And I can tell you it is bloody hot there. Around midday, the sun will burn you to a crisp, especially if you're not used to it or have fair skin like most Brits do. Sun Blocking Charms and potions only get you so far, and Cooling Charms don't hold long enough. I thought that quiet time spent in the cool comfort of the tents would do all of us some good. It's how the people who live down there deal with the scorching midday hours anyway."

"That makes sense," Nihal said.

"Actually, it fits well into our plans," his wife said. "We can have our talks with the children then."

Nihal and the Fowleys agreed.

"You did an amazing job," Nihal said. "All that's left for us is coming up with ideas for the motto days and the excursions, and making those preparations."

Harry and Daphne looked at each other, both huge grins on their faces.

"Thank you," they chorussed.

"All right, let's get to work." Nihal clapped his hands.

Daphne winked at Harry and gave him another soft bump with her shoulder before she trained her attention back on Nihal.

Something warm spread in Harry's chest. Nihal's praise felt good, and it was even better because he and Daphne had earned it by working together.

For the next few hours, the group was busy developing a camp slogan and picking out a colour for the camp shirts. The girls had very strong opinions on that. It had to be a colour that flattered everyone, although they deemed neutral colours boring. Harry opted out of the discussion at that point, as did all the other males, and waited until the women had decided.

"It can't be one of the house colours," Lisa said. "That goes against the purpose of the camp."

At last, they agreed on a very light blue.

"Sky blue," Jessica called it, with the camp motto 'Happy Discovery Camp' stitched in white letters on the left side just above the heart, and a rainbow spanning above the motto.

They also came up with the two motto days, a magical variation of the Olympics and a magical circus. They decided on having the children show off their new skills at parent's day, entertaining their parents with sketches, and a barbecue.

"This was a very productive meeting," Nihal said as he called it a day. He stretched and rose from his chair.

Harry looked at his watch. It was already well past the Weasley's usual dinner time. Sure, Mrs Weasley would whip up something for him upon his return. Her motherly instincts drove her to feed anyone within her reach. He smiled to himself; it was her most endearing trait, although her overprotectiveness got on his nerves at times. However, he didn't want to bother her, so he'd have dinner somewhere in London. Maybe the others would keep him company. He looked around.

Everyone was already gone, however, except for Daphne and the Shafiqs. Daphne and Azadeh stood at the head of the table, absorbed in an animated conversation, and oblivious to what was happening around them.

Nihal looked at his wife and Daphne, grinned, and walked around the table towards Harry with an eye roll. He leaned towards Harry with a conspiratorial wink. "Merlin knows when we will be out of here. Our women don't seem to find an end."

Heat shot into Harry's cheeks. What was going on here? First Neville, now Nihal, too.

"Uh… Daphne and I aren't together."

Nihal's eyes widened in surprise. "You aren't? And here I thought… The way you and Daphne presented your ideas, seamlessly picking off where the other one left, reminded me strongly of how Azadeh and I work together." He grinned. "Well, if you aren't a couple yet, I'd say you're well on your way to becoming one."

The heat in Harry's cheeks intensified. Why did everyone want to pair him up with Daphne? Ginny, he could understand. Her guilty conscience about his dejectedness was the driving force behind her wish for him to have a new girlfriend soon. But Nihal? The man hardly knew him.

Daphne and Azadeh ended their chat and came over to them. Daphne hooked her arm through his.

"I'm starving! Are you free tonight? I feel like having a celebratory dinner because of the progress we made today."

He ignored the knowing grin on Nihal's face and smiled down at her. "I was just going to ask you the same thing."

Daphne laughed that pretty laugh of hers and squeezed his arm. "Didn't you know great minds think alike?" She turned towards the Shafiqs. "Do you want to join us?"

Nihal and Azadeh declined, however. They had already agreed to meet friends tonight. Harry didn't know whether he should be disappointed because he would have loved to get to know them better, or relieved because he wouldn't have to put up with Nihal's knowing glances all night long.

The Shafiqs bade them goodbye, and Harry summoned his Patronus to let Mrs Weasley know that he'd be late and not to wait for him.

Daphne watched with interest as he summoned his Patronus and gave his message to Mrs Weasley.

"That was very thoughtful of you," she said as they walked towards Leicester Square in the golden light of the early June evening, in search of a restaurant that appealed to them.

"Mrs Weasley still isn't over Fred's death. She frets as soon as one of us is out of her sight for too long. While she tries to hold herself back with me, I know that she would have been troubled had I stayed out without letting her know where I am."

"As I said: thoughtful. Few young men in your situation would have thought of that."

Harry shrugged. "It's the right thing to do, and it didn't take me much effort. What about you? Aren't your parents waiting for you?"

Her face darkened, and she averted her eyes. "My mother died when I was eleven, and my father and I don't see eye to eye these days."

"I'm sorry to hear that." He put his hand on hers that clung to his arm. "Is there anything I can do?"

She looked up at him with a tense smile. "Just carry on like you do, Harry. You have no idea what your friendship means to me. You've been there for me when I needed to get out because the tension at home was unbearable, you help me take my mind off the situation, and you make me laugh. I enjoy being with you."

"Well, that's what friends are for," he said in a light tone to break the tension, although his heart jumped in his throat and thumped hard. It was nice to know she enjoyed his company as much as he enjoyed hers.

"You really are a good friend." Daphne leaned her head against his shoulder for a moment.

There wasn't any reason to pull his hand away, so he left it where it was until they reached Leicester Square and began looking around for a place to eat.

Alas, all of London seemed to have had the same idea that night and were out eating. Whenever a place appealed to them, it was already full to the brim.

The corners of Daphne's mouth turned down in disappointment. "We can always go to a street vendor and go sit in the park, I suppose." She didn't sound excited about the prospect.

The idea didn't appeal to him, either. Everything was much too crowded for his taste. If only they could find a less frequented place—He almost slapped his forehead when the obvious solution blinded him. They were a wizard and a witch, after all, so going places was easy.

He looked down at Daphne. "I have an idea. Trust me?"

She returned his gaze with an upward grin. "My instincts tell me I shouldn't, but I do."

"You wound me." He put his hand on his heart in mock offence. "Come on, you distrustful woman." He led a giggling Daphne into a small side street. A quick look around made sure nobody was near them.

"Hold tight."

Daphne tightened her grip around his arm. He spun on the spot and braced himself for the familiar feeling of being squeezed through a hose.

The next second, they appeared between the cover of a thicket of gorse bushes.

"Where are we?" Daphne looked around.

"You'll see." Harry took her by the hand and led her on a path that ran behind the bushes.

To their left, there was the noise of waves slapping against rocks, and a strip of lead-coloured sea glittering in the long rays of the evening sun. To their right, the path meandered between cow pastures to a hamlet in the distance.

He turned to the right.

"Oh, isn't that where we had ice cream the other day?" Daphne asked.

Harry nodded. "Yes; I noticed a pub further down the street, with a pleasant garden. I doubt they'll be crowded this early in the season, there are still two weeks left until school's out for the summer."

They walked towards the hamlet. He'd been right. Although the pub seemed to be doing good business that evening, there were still a few free tables left outside when they entered the garden.

It didn't occur to Harry until he let go of Daphne's hand to hold out the chair for her that they'd been holding hands all the way to the small pub. Warmth spread in his chest. Holding her hand seemed the most natural thing to do, and the feeling of her smaller hand in his was nice.

Daphne quickly perused an advertisement for cider from a local brewery. "I think I'll take a glass of cider tonight instead of the sweet, fizzy stuff. We're celebrating, after all."

He sat down opposite her. "Good idea, I'll join you."

She shot him an amused grin. "You're still seventeen and a minor in the Muggle world. Didn't you tell me it is illegal for Muggles to buy or order alcohol if they aren't eighteen?"

"The hard stuff, yeah. They can, however, drink wine, beer or cider in public if they are with an adult who buys it for them. You'll do, I think. If not, there are always Confunding Charms."

"Gryffindors." Daphne snorted and shook her head.

They poured over the menu, and then Daphne got up and walked to the bar to order their drinks and food. She returned with two glasses of cider in her hands, put them on the table, sat down, and slid one glass towards Harry.

He raised his glass.

"To Daph, the woman who insisted that we should develop a schedule for the camp and who made me work on said schedule for hours until it met her expectations. All the praise we got today belongs to you."

Daphne's face flushed. She picked up her glass and raised it. "You're exaggerating, Harry. You did at least as much work on the schedule as I did. To Harry, who came up with the most amazing ideas on how to entertain the children. Without you, the schedule would still have big blank spots."

His face became warm. "I had help with that."

"As did I. Your help. Let's just agree that we make an excellent team. To us."

Harry smiled. "That we are. To us." He clinked his glass with hers and took a gulp of the cider. It held the sweetness of sun-kissed summer apples with a hint of lemon, and he pursed his lips in appreciation. "That's good, not as sweet as butterbeer that sometimes leaves me with the feeling as if my mouth is full of sweet glue."

Daphne laughed and nodded.

He took another sip and put his glass down."Say, Daphne, may I ask you something?"

"You just did." Her grin almost split her face into halves.

"Argh, why do I always fall for your traps?" He growled and narrowed his eyes at her in a mock scowl.

She reached out with her arm and patted his hand. "Just admit that you are no match for me in verbal sparring. What is it you want to know?" She didn't pull her hand back.

"Our programme, it had me thinking."

Her eyebrows rose. "About what?"

"The way you scheduled the training activities. I didn't notice it right from the start but it leaves you and me three free hours on two mornings a week."

Daphne smiled, and the two cute dimples appeared on her cheeks. "How fortunate." She sipped on her drink.

"You planned that."

"Of course I did." She put her glass down. "Harry, we're cooped up twenty-four/seven with a bunch of pre-teens for three weeks. If we don't get a break once in a while, we'll go crazy. Take another look at the schedule, and you'll notice that I did the same for the others, where possible."

"So, is it a coincidence that our free hours match?"

The dimples in her cheeks appeared again. "No, it isn't. After all, I promised to show you how to have a good time, didn't I? How am I supposed to do that if I have to work when you are free?"

The smile on his face mirrored hers. "Brilliant!"

Their dinner arrived. Daphne had ordered a rustic chicken stew, while Harry took the traditional fish and chips. For a few minutes, they ate in companionable silence.

"You've been to France before, haven't you? How is it there?" Harry asked.

"Hot." Daphne laughed. "At least as long as there is no Mistral."

"Mistral?" Harry halted his fork midway between his plate and his mouth and raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"A cold and dry strong wind that comes from the north and blows down the Rhône River Valley to the Mediterranean Sea. It's supposed to make people crazy. The French blame everything on it, from driving like hellions, to murder."

They laughed at that.

Daphne's face became thoughtful as she took another spoonful of her stew. She swallowed and said, "I suppose we should warn the parents to pack a warm sweater, the Mistral will chill you to the bones, even in summer."

"We can always cast Warming Charms on the kids."

"And wear ourselves out?" She raised a delicate eyebrow at him. "Not going to happen, Mr Potter. I have plans for you." She delivered the last sentence with a wink and a strange smile.

Harry became hot under the collar of his light shirt. His flirting skills had developed over the last couple of weeks, yet he still was nowhere near Daphne's league. He couldn't let this stand, or she'd tease him endlessly.

"I'll pack a blanket to keep you warm." He wriggled his eyebrows at her, hoping it would look suggestive and not ridiculous.

She put another spoonful in her mouth, pulled the spoon out in a deliberately slow motion, and licked her lips. "I'm looking forward to that."

The heat under his collar intensified. How to get out of this? Merlin, did he even want to get out of this?

Their eyes met. The teasing light in her eyes vanished, giving way to a probing glance that seemed to dive to the bottom of his soul.

What was happening here? They were just friends, weren't they? Her eyes—they held nothing of the blazing heat of Ginny's eyes whenever she had looked at him when they fell for each other. Yet the intensity was the same.

Her look touched something deep inside of him. The pub garden around him faded away, his world shrunk to her eyes and the warmth they created in his chest. His heart hammered as he returned her lingering gaze.

She blushed, her eyes brightened, then flicked away, only to return to him the next moment. A small smile fluttered around her mouth.

The corners of his mouth turned up as their eyes met again, and the warmth consumed him. His heart hammered so hard and loud that it had to come out of his chest at any second, yet he didn't look away.

The small smile on her lips broadened. The light in her eyes almost blinded him, and her smile—

He'd never seen a pair of soft pink lips that looked as kissable as hers.

Without another thought he reached across the table. Their hands met halfway, and he placed his hand atop hers. She turned her hand under his. Their fingers linked, their eyes locked again, and their lips turned up in a mutual smile that was full of sudden understanding and promise.

t.b.c.