Page 20 of Bombshell (Whiskey Dolls 1)

She turned on her heels and scurried off, leaving me to believe Pierce and I were, in fact,notdoing good work.

We stopped chatting after that so we could both concentrate, each of us putting our all into the dish in the hopes of making something palatable. I’d been hopeful by the time I slid my cups into the oven, thinking I might have actually pulled it off, but when the timer dinged and I pulled the tray out, what should have been six perfectly proportioned taco cups looked like black lumps of coal that seemed to have baked themselves into the tins in a way that they werenevercoming out.

“Oh no,” I whispered, feeling disheartened as I picked up the instruction sheet and scanned down the bullet points. “I don’t know what I did wrong. I followed the instructions perfectly.

“I think maybe the directions were wrong.”

I turned to look at Pierce’s handiwork and let out a bubble of laughter. While my meal had turned into carbon bricks, his was a soupy, congealed blob of something that didn’t even resemble food.

Our instructor popped up once again, looking down at our meals in total bewilderment. “You know, I think this class might be a bit too advanced for both of you,” she said, taking the cupcakes in with a sorrowful frown. Something told me it wasn’t sadness that she hadn’t been able to teach us so much as she wasn’t looking forward to shelling out the cash to replace the cookware we’d ruined. “Maybe you should look into something for beginners.”

My jaw dropped and I gaped at Chef Jodi as I wrapped my brain around what she’d just said. “Are you... kicking us out of your class?”

That teacher’s pet in me shriveled. I’d never failed in a class before, and I’d certainly never beenkicked out.

“You can’t kick us out,” Pierce objected. “We paid for these classes.”

“And I’ll be issuing you a full refund. I’m so sorry,” she said with a shake of her head. “But you two are just unteachable.”

We got pitying looks from the other people in the class as we cleaned our station and prepared to leave.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” I lamented once the room started to clear out.

“I wish I could say I was sad about it, but...” Pierce looked around the room before he finished his thought to make sure no one was close enough to hear. “Chef Jodi’s kind of a pain in the ass.”

I snorted as I nodded in agreement.

“Come on. I’ll walk you out since this is our last class together.”

A flurry of butterflies took flight in my belly as he placed his hand on the small of my back and began leading me out of the building. Once we were halfway to my car, I remembered the credit card that had been burning a hole in my purse for the past several days.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Stopping on a dime, I spun around to face him and began rifling through my handbag. Once I had the card in hand, I pulled it out and looked up at him. Damn it, even standing beneath the glow of the unforgiving lights in the parking lot, he looked hot as sin. Clearing my throat and pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I thrust the credit card in his direction. “You left that in your hurry to get out of the restaurant last week. I took it thinking I might run into you so I could return it.”

He looked at my hand, slowly reaching out to take the piece of plastic. A fission of electricity shot through my fingers when he grazed them, skating up my arms and spreading through my whole body like a crack spidering out in a million different directions on a windshield.

“Thank you,” he said, those two words coming out thicker and raspier than normal. When his gaze lifted to mine, I thought I saw a flash of heat in those icy depths, but I told myself it had to have been a trick of lighting, that there was nothing to see. We barely even liked each other. “Look, about that night. I’m sorry I—”

I quickly waved him off. “Nothing to apologize for. Really.”It’s not as if you ran out of there like my mere presence offended you or anything, I thought to myself. But instead of saying that, I gave him an out. “You had to get back to Eli, after all.”

He nodded slowly, never taking his eyes off mine. “Right.”

I wasn’t sure what the hell came over me just then. It was another case of my mouth getting too far ahead of my brain, but I found my lips parting and the words just came spilling out. “And speaking of, if you ever find yourself in need of a sitter again, I’d be happy to watch him for you.”

His chin jerked back in shock. “Really?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged my shoulder. “I always liked the little dude. I mean, I work nights, but only three times a week, so I have more down time than most people. If you’re ever in a pinch, I’m your girl.”

Jesus, where the hell had that come from? Yeah, I liked Eli. I liked him a lot, but the last thing I’d expected to do tonight was offer babysitting services.

The grin he gave me wasn’t a full-blown smile, but that didn’t mean it didn’t pack a serious punch, because it absolutely did. “I may have to take you up on that, if you really mean it.”

“I do.”

“I have a case that’s heating up at work, and it’s going to require a bit more of my time. This would actually be a huge help.”

I went back into my purse, coming out with a pen and a crumpled receipt from a gas station. I quickly scrawled my number on the back of it and passed it to him. “Well, now you have my number, so feel free to call and I’m sure we could set something up.”

His gaze darted down to my smiling lips, and that trick of light happened again, making the icy depths look like liquid pools. “Thanks, Marin. I really appreciate this.”

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