Page 20 of Finding Romance
I pat the stool next to mine at my kitchen counter and she sits. We scroll through a few menus and find one she likes, and I order us food.
“Drink?” I ask.
“Sure.” She watches me as I walk around my counter and show her what I have. “I have whiskey, gin, beer, water, and…orange juice,” I rattle off as I close my refrigerator door.
“Water is fine,” she says. I pour myself a whiskey because, after that tank catastrophe, I need it.
“Is that Scottish whiskey?” she asks.
I push the glass toward her. “It is. I got some when I was helping my grandmother out,” I explain. She studies it for a beat and then takes a small sip.
I watch her roll the liquid around her mouth and something about that simple action makes my pulse pick up a beat. How can tasting whiskey be sexy?
“It’s actually not bad,” she admits with a shrug.
“Not bad? That is a ninety-pound bottle of whiskey. It’s the best,” I chastise.
“Fine. It’s great. I’ll have a glass,” she says dryly.
“Are you fucking with me? Or do you actually want some?”
She laughs. “I do want some.”
“Now we’re talking,” I say as I grab a glass and pour her a finger of whiskey. We clink glasses.
“To sea anemones,” she says with a wink.
“To neighborly visitors,” I reply. Only watching her drink makes me want to do more than neighborly things to her.
CHAPTER TEN
Piper
“And then I used the tways in the high school cafeteria and we swent sledding,” I slur.
“On the trays?” Kasen confirms.
I nod enthusiastically, holding out my hands to show how large they were.
He laughs. “Did you get caught?”
I shake my head and immediately regret it because everything blurs. “Whoa,” I whisper.
Kasen takes my third glass of whiskey and drinks the rest.
“That’s enough of that, lightweight,” he teases.
I look at the clock on his microwave. “Oh no. I need to chweck on Aunt Cornelia,” I say, knowing that I’m slurring and feeling too tired to care.
“Come here,” Kasen says as he gets off his stool and holds out a hand. I place mine in his.
“You have bwig hands,” I think, but when he laughs, I realize I said that out loud.
“And you have small hands. Now come sit. I’m going to check on her for you. I’ll be right back,” he promises as he squeezes my hand, and when he releases it, I immediately wish he was holding it again. I curl up on his oversized leather sofa and pull a soft blanket over me. It smells like Kasen, all woodsy and clean. In the warmth of the blanket, I suddenly wish it was Kasen wrapped around me, keeping me warm. I burrow deeper and start to fall asleep. My eyelids grow heavy and the last thing I remember is hearing the gurgling of the device in the fish tank that puts air in the water.
I wake with a start. I’m much warmer than before and the blanket is heavy, like really, really heavy. I go to move but I can’t. My eyes pry open and I immediately close them. Way too much light and my head is pounding. What time is it?
I slowly open my eyes again and look around. And that’s when I find the source of the warmth and my inability to move.
