Page 27 of Love, Always and Forever
Chapter 9
Amy peeked out of her front window. Just as she suspected, even though the sun had gone down over an hour ago, Mikhail was still out in his front yard hacking away at the sod with some kind of hoe. Maybe he was excited about the new plan for his landscaping, but somehow she doubted that was what was driving him right now.
He probably wouldn’t appreciate her worrying about him. Too bad. Friends worried about friends. That came with the job. The only question was what she could do to help him without being too obvious about it.
Whenever she had a rough day, ice cream always helped. No reason that it wouldn’t work just as well for the six-foot-four Viking next door. Without giving herself time to second-guess her decision, she headed for the freezer to dig out the good stuff she saved for special occasions or if she needed a pick-me-up when life got to be too much.
After arranging all three flavors on the counter, she debated what to do next. Should she keep it simple and dish up a scoop of each one in a bowl or pull out the big guns? Or, better yet, the big bananas?
Oh, yeah, that was the ticket. She got the oblong bowls out of the cabinet that she had bought special for just such an occasion. It wouldn’t take long to put together a matching pair of her favorite guilty pleasures. After cutting the bananas in half lengthwise, she nestled three scoops of ice cream down their centers, one each of double chocolate, mocha, and cookie dough. Next came a drizzle of chocolate sauce. On second thought, make that a deluge of chocolate to be followed by a heavy-handed sprinkle of hazelnuts and a thick layer of whipped cream. After grabbing two spoons, she was ready to go.
Mikhail was still flailing away at the grass when she crossed into his yard. She’d turned on her outside lights, hoping that would warn him of her approach. This wasn’t a good time to sneak up on the man.
When he paused to wipe the sweat off his forehead, she called his name. “Mikhail, can you take a break?”
“Not now, Amy.” He slowly turned to face her. “Go home. Please.”
The words were spoken in a near monotone, but the underlying growl in his voice sent a chill straight up her spine. She knew in her heart that he’d never hurt her, not deliberately, but that didn’t mean he was safe to be around right now. Deciding he was worth the risk, she held her ground but made no move to get any closer.
“I have something for you. Well, for us, actually. I felt a desperate need for ice cream, but I didn’t want to eat it all by myself. I hope you like banana splits, because I made you one, too.”
She held up the bowls and gave him a hopeful smile. “If you won’t eat yours, I’d be morally obligated to eat it myself. I’m pretty sure there are some pretty stringent rules against letting ice cream this good go to waste.”
When he didn’t immediately capitulate, she added, “Come on, Mikhail. Friends don’t let friends eat ice cream alone.”
He tipped his head to the side as if he were studying a particularly interesting bug he’d uncovered. “You don’t listen very well, do you? I’m telling you I’m not good company right now.”
“What if I promise not to talk? We can sit on your porch and pig out. Afterward, I promise I’ll go back home. The ice cream and banana will refuel your energy level, and you can go back to digging up the other half of your front yard if you want to.”
His mouth twitched. “You really think you can sit there long enough to eat all of that without saying a single word?”
“I can try.”
Without waiting to see if he’d changed his mind about her staying, she settled herself on the top step of his porch and patted the spot beside her. A few seconds later, he simply let go of the hoe and it fell to the ground. One thing she’d noticed about Mikhail was that he always took good care of his tools. That he’d treat this one so carelessly spoke to how out of sorts he was.
As promised, she kept her mouth shut as he joined her on the porch. She realized staying quiet wouldn’t be as hard as sitting next to him and not drooling. At some point, Mikhail had stripped off his shirt and hadn’t bothered putting it back on despite the chill in the late evening air. Having all that warm, muscular flesh mere inches away had her wanting to purr and lean against him. To rub her arm against his. To taste his skin.
Not a good idea.
She handed him his bowl of ice cream. His eyes widened. “Boy, when you make a banana split, you go all out.”
When she didn’t respond, he leaned over and bumped her with his shoulder. “You can talk.”
“I consider a banana split to be an art form, not something to just throw together.” She held hers up for his inspection. “It took me years of practice and personal sacrifice to come up with the perfect recipe.”
He inspected his own bowl, turning it from side to side. “Really? So what are the crucial ingredients that make yours so special?”
She nudged him back. “No plain vanilla ice cream, for one thing. I prefer to utilize the entire chocolate ice cream spectrum. In this case, double fudge chocolate, mocha, and chocolate chip cookie dough. Then a really good chocolate sauce topped with chopped hazelnuts. Obviously the proper ratio of whipped cream to bananas is important, too.”
“You really have put a lot of thought into this.” He ate a huge spoonful, his eyes closed as he savored the flavors. “All right, I’ll concede that this is a superior split. Thank you for making me one, too.”
“You’re welcome.”
Good to her word, she sat in silence as they both made serious inroads into their ice cream. He might be enjoying his, but right now she was so hyperaware of him that she might as well have been eating dirt. Considering how much she loved chocolate and ice cream, that was saying a lot. Too bad this wasn’t the time to indulge in a bit of neighborly lust. Even in the dim light from her garage lights next door, she could see the deep lines bracketing his mouth and the tension in the set of his shoulders. What had happened today to upset him this badly?
“I’m okay now. Well, better, anyway.”
Rats, he’d caught her staring. Rather than pretend she didn’t know what he meant, she went for honesty. She set her ice cream down and placed her hand on his forearm. “I was worried about you. I could tell something was wrong when you came home earlier.”
