Page 18 of Phoenix

He takes my luggage back from me. “I saw you trying to take my thunder away from me and rob me of ‘chivalry points.’ I won’t allow it. I’m taking this all the way in for you.”

“If you insist,” I say with an exasperated grin.

“Oh, Nora, I insist.”

I follow him back into the house just as Amelia comes down the stairs. She spots Case and me together and immediately grins.

“Nora, can you help me in the kitchen for a sec?” she says.

“Sure. Case, you can leave that by the stairs. I’ll take it up later.”

“Nope. I’ll leave it by the stairs then I’ll carry it up for you when you’re ready,” he replies matter-of-factly.

“You’re as exasperating as ever.”

“Never had a complaint before,” he says with a smirk, before we go our separate ways. Him to the living room and me to the kitchen.

I find Amelia in there, checking on the food in the oven.

“Hey, everything okay?” I ask, leaning against the counter.

“Mmm hmm. Help me with the salad?” she asks. I agree, pulling out the cutting board before she continues. “So, what did you and Case talk about out there?” she asks as she closes the oven.

“God, you didn’t waste any time, did you? Uh...Well he was just helping me with my suitcase. That’s all.”

“Uh huh,” she says with a knowing grin, laying out the lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

“Don’t look at me like that.” I take a head of romaine and begin to chop it on the cutting board.

“What? I see the way you two look at each other. The room practically vibrates when you’re together. There’s so much sexual energy there.” She pulls down a large salad bowl for me to place the chopped lettuce in.

“Hard to have sexual energy when you haven’t had sex, or even kissed,” I admit, tossing the leafy greens into the bowl.

“Well, first of all, yes, you can. Second of all, that’s new information we need to talk about now.” She passes me a tomato to chop. “You spent those few days with him the last time you were here, and you never even kissed? What the hell, Nor? I’ve just assumed you at least slept together.”

“Why would you assume that?” I pop a piece of tomato into my mouth, chomping into the juicy flesh.

“I don’t know. Two hot people, alone, all the throbbing sexual energy—the way he looks at you like he wants to eat you—just to name a few.”

“He’s dangerous, Amelia,” I admit, placing the knife down.

“What? Case? He’s harmless. He’s a big teddy bear.” She slides the tomatoes into the bowl then she takes over the chopping of the cucumbers.

“Exactly. He’s so kind and sweet...but alpha all at once. It’s a lot, and I’d get too easily involved, but he’s fun to talk to. I enjoy his company. I just can’t let myself go like that.”

Not to mention he’s a cop, and I don’t have the capacity to handle that stress right now.

“So enjoy his company. You could use the stress relief right now.”

“I agreed to have drinks with him while I’m here at some point.” I hop up onto the kitchen island. “But enough about me and Case. How’s everything going with the blog?”

“Nice topic shift. I’ll allow it since you just got here, but this conversation isn’t over,” she says, as she uncorks a bottle of wine.

“I wouldn’t ever expect you to let me off that easy.”

“The blog is wonderful. That was actually what the phone call was about. It was a rep from Bubbly Magazine. They may want me to write a few guest posts on their website and write an article or two.” She’s grinning from ear to ear.

“Amelia! That’s incredible! Bubbly? Really? I hear about that magazine all the time. That’s like one of the only print publications left.”

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