Page 11 of Sweet Heat at Bayside
She drank her wine and picked up her phone. After taking a picture of the cover, she texted it to Drake with the captionIf you make replacing me hard, I’ll tell the guys about this.
She finished her glass of wine and set the movie in the box, remembering how they’d watched the whole movie cuddled beneath a blanket. Not once had she felt like he wanted her sexually or that he’d been uncomfortable watching it with her, which she’d made peace with over the years. But after Emery had spent all evening cornering her, trying to secretly convince her to sleep with Drake, she couldn’t stop thinking about the desires she’d thought she’d long ago stopped giving any serious consideration to.
Three hard raps at her door startled her to her feet. Breathing too hard, she went to the door and peeked out the sidelight window. Relieved to see Drake, she let out a pent-up breath, only to stifle it again when he lifted his face and she saw tension written in the creases around his eyes and the telltale dimple in his cheek. She opened the door, and he barreled in, bringing a gust of tension with him. He carried a bag in one hand and a bundle of flat boxes in the other.
“You send that to the guys, and I’ll send this to the girls.” He set the flat boxes against the wall and handed her his phone.
She glanced at the picture he’d taken at Undercover a few weeks ago. She was sticking her tongue out and shoving her finger into her mouth, like she was gagging. In the background Rick and Desiree, Matt and Mira, and Dean and Emery were slow dancing and gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes. “You wouldn’t dare!”
Drake’s deep laugh wound around her. “Bet they’d love seeing your reaction to their kissy-kissy-lovey-dovey dance.” He set the bag on the coffee table.
She looked at the picture again, unable to stop smiling. “I’ll tell them I was making the face atyou, not because of them.”
“Yeah, they’d believethat.” He grabbed his phone and pocketed it. His gaze drifted around the room, landing on the single box she’d begun packing. “Wow. You’re really making a dent in packing, huh?” He picked up the bottle of wine and cocked a smile. “Serena’s little helper? Is it that bad?”
She groaned. “I hate packing as much as I hate grocery shopping. Thanks for bringing boxes. I set an alarm on my phone for noon tomorrow so I wouldn’t forget to pick some up. I totally flaked on picking them up before shopping, and then I was tied up too late with the girls.”
Drake smirked, his eyes darkening.
She realized what she’d said and rolled her eyes. “Not that kind oftied up. Although, you never did finish telling me about your dirty deeds,Mr. Grey.”
“I’ll plead the Fifth on that one.” He reached into the bag he brought and withdrew a half gallon of milk.
She squealed, pleasantly distracted from her dirty thoughts. “Thank you! How did you know I needed milk?”
“You always need milk. Besides, I figured you’d need it with these.” He pulled out a package of snickerdoodles from Because We Can bakery, which was open 24/7.
“Iloveyou!” She snagged the cookies and headed into the kitchen. “I take back everything bad I have ever said about you.”
“You’ve said bad stuff about me?” he asked as she took two cups down from the cabinet.
She gave him a deadpan look and poured the milk. “Do you need a list?” She handed him a cup and said, “I called you a pain right before you arrived. Or, to be more accurate, abig pain.”
“Ouch.” He gave her a cookie and took one for himself. “I guess that’s only fair. I called you stubborn.”
She touched her glass to his. “A toast tobig stubborn painsand snickerdoodles.” She lifted the glass to her lips.
“You are the only person I know who can drink milk after wine and not get sick.”
“I’ve got mad cookies-and-milk skills. What can I say?” She waggled her brows and bit into the cookie. “Mm. This is just what I needed. The perfect dinner.”
“You didn’t eat dinner?” He pulled out his phone. “I’m ordering us a pizza. You figure out where we should start packing.”
“Drake, you don’t have to—”
He stepped closer, his body brushing against hers. She felt her body heating up. That was new—and nerve-racking. Her body hadn’t responded to him like that in years.
She glanced up at his authoritative expression, and she knew arguing with him would get her nowhere. Given the way her body was suddenly all lit up inside, she also worried their bickering might further confuse her lonely hormones. Maybe she needed to pushfinding a manto the top of her to-do list when she got to Boston after all.
“You’re so good to me,” she finally managed.
The edges of his lips curved into the smile she’d fallen head over heels for all those years ago, and he said, “Someone’s got to be.”
Her own mother had ignored her enough for her to know that wasn’t true. Nothing was a given in this life, especially being cared for.
“That’s what friends do, Serena,” he said, once again reminding her where she was firmly slated in his mind.
She stepped back, putting space between them and reminding herself how foolish she was being. It was like ninth grade all over again. “Well, that’s not really true, but I’m glad you are.”
