Page 40 of A Taste of Whiskey
As he headed back to his table, she tried to pick her jaw up off the floor. She needed to pull herself together. There was no way anyone could know about her and Ezra.
Her phone chimed as she made her way back to her seat. She set her glass on the table and checked the text as she sat down.
Ezra:I can still taste you.
Her pulse spiked, and her cheeks burned. She stole a glance at him, unable to believe he’d send something like that when they were surrounded by her family and everyone else.
He had a wicked glint in his eyes as he licked barbecue sauce off his fingers.
She tore her gaze away for fear of spontaneously combusting and looked around the table again to see if anyone noticed her morphing to liquid heat. At this rate, she’d slip off the chair into a puddle before dinner was over. Luckily, her brothers were caught up in giving each other a hard time, and the girls were laughing at them.
Ezra pressed his leg against hers under the table, bringing her eyes back to his. He flashed a charming boyish grin, so different from the wickedness he’d radiated only seconds ago. Her heart pounded faster, trying to keep up.
How could something as middle school as their legs touching feel as taboo as the dirty text?
LATER THAT NIGHT, she was still trying to keep her mind off Ezra while folding laundry and talking to Bobbie on speakerphone. She’d hoped she might see him tonight, but she hadn’t heard a peep from him since he’d taken off after dinner. Gus was supposed to be with his mother until Sunday afternoon, but she wondered if he’d been dropped off early.
“I can’t believe you didn’t take a spin on Flame’s fire pole,” Bobbie said.
“He’s not a fireman. He’s a smoke jumper, and I just wasn’t feeling it.”
“That’s too bad. He’d be the perfect friend with benefits.”
She hadn’t told Bobbie what had happened with Ezra at the bar last night or anything that had happened since, but friends with benefits seemed to be the right label for her and Ezra, so she tiptoed carefully through the door her friend had opened. “Have you ever done the friends-with-benefits thing?”
“No, but Cindy is doing it right now. I told you about her and her neighbor.” Cindy was another teacher Bobbie worked with.
“I forgot about that. I didn’t know they were still seeing each other. Didn’t they start hooking up last Christmas?”
“Yes, and she loves their arrangement. She said it’s better than a regular relationship because there’s no pressure.”
This was a hundred times worse than a relationship for Sasha. It hadn’t even been one day and she was already losing her mind. “It sounds more complicated to me. How does it work? Do they have set days or times when they get together, or is it spur of the moment? Does she wait for him to call or make the first move?”
“She said she calls him when she wants a booty call, and he calls her when he’s in the mood.”
Sasha couldn’t imagine texting or calling Ezra and saying,Hey, want to come over and fool around?No matter how much she wanted to. But did she want to? She did at dinner, but now she was annoyed at him for leaving her hanging. Shouldn’t there be some sort of follow-up after messing around for the first time? A text or a phone call?
“They also see other people,” Bobbie said.
“Oh.” Sasha’s heart sank. She hadn’t thought about that. Ezra had made it clear that he didn’t want anyone else touching her, but what abouthim? Was he with someone else tonight? Did he text her at dinner just to string her along? To make sure she remained one of his hookup girls? She was usually more confident with guys. Heck, she’d even been the one to teach Birdie all her tricks. Like when a guy asked for sexy pictures, she’d taught her to put a bra on her knees and take the picture from the perfect angle to make them look like her boobs. So why was she insecure with Ezra?
“Are you sure you don’t want to come out with me tonight? You might meet someone new.”
“I’m not in the mood. I already changed into comfy clothes and washed my face. I think I’m going to watch a movie and lie low.”And try to figure out what to do about Ezra.
“Okay. If you change your mind, text me.”
After they ended the call, Sasha put away her laundry and went into the kitchen to make popcorn. Maybe she could eat her worries away. Her gaze caught on Gus’s drawings hanging on the refrigerator, and her chest constricted. She glanced at the arts-and-crafts area she’d set up for him in the corner of the kitchen. The cubbies were bursting with art supplies and toys. Swamped with emotions, she put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and scrounged through her pantry for M&M’s.Great.She was out of them. If ever there was a time she needed junk food, it was tonight.
She dumped the popcorn into a bowl and headed into the living room.
Unlike Doc and Cowboy, who had built larger houses on the ranch, and Dare, who had taken over a rustic cabin that had been there forever, Sasha lived in a modest three-bedroom cabin with an open floor plan and cathedral ceilings. It had bleached hardwood floors, whitewashed walls with scalloped trim, and large picture windows overlooking a small grassy yard. Her couches were off-white, with pink, white, and mint-green pillows, which matched the distressed mint-green coffee and end tables and the white cabinets in the open kitchen.
She padded across the floral area rug in front of the fireplace and snagged the remote as she plunked down on the couch with the bowl of popcorn. Flipping through the movies she’d saved in her profile, she came toHe’s Just Not That into You. She definitely wasn’t watching that, but it gave her an idea. She searched forFriends with Benefits, hoping the movie might teach her a thing or two.
She settled back against the cushions to watch the movie and was startled when her phone chimed with a text. Her pulse quickened at the sight of Ezra’s name on the screen.
Ezra:Hey. Are you home?
