Page 16 of Long Story Short

I nod and give him a wide smile. “Sure. I’ve been in these clothes all day, so let me change, and then I can head over, if that’s okay.”

He pulls his bottom lip between his teeth before giving one curt nod of his head.

This isn’t going to be a good idea.

He’s too hot, and there’s something about him that draws me right in. If only I were looking for a distraction…because he’d be a perfect one. But I feel okay about how much writing I got in today, and a harmless dinner won’t hurt anything.

Right?

“I’ll leave the front door unlocked for you,” he says. He tucks his hands into the pockets of his dark jeans once again and takes a few steps back toward his house. “Come over whenever you’re ready.”

He turns and doesn’t say anything else. I swear, as he walks through my yard in the direction of his house, I see his shoulder sag with what appears to be a sigh of relief.

I close the door and press my back to it.

What did I just get myself into?

TEN

TYSON

My entire kitchen is filled with smoke.

I cough as I fling a dish towel above my head in an attempt to clear it from the detectors before they go off.

“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath as my attempts prove futile. I was trying to get a crust on the filets I prepared for dinner and instead ended up with a fire hazard.

“Hello?” a voice calls from the front of the house.

I close my eyes and let out a groan that I know she can’t hear over the annoying ring of the smoke alarms. “In here!” I yell, wishing Josie had taken a little bit longer to get ready.

Josie steps into the kitchen with a cautious smile on her full lips. Her eyes rake over the scene in front of her before they land on me.

My hand falls to my side, my grip still tight on the dish towel as I take her in.

I know I shouldn’t be thinking this, because I invited her for dinner with the pretense of it being a neighborly thing, but I can’t help it—she’s beautiful. She’s one of the most stunning women I’ve ever seen, and the way she carries herself makes me wonder if she even realizes just how beautiful she is.

“Everything okay in here?” she asks. She waves her hand in front of her face in an attempt to get rid of the smoke.

I give her an apologetic smile. My ears feel hot as I run my palms over the front of my jeans. “Yes. I just heated the butter a little too much, apparently, and I’m finding out very quickly how sensitive these smoke detectors are.”

Josie’s fingers run over the gauzy fabric of her sundress as she looks around. “Is this your first time cooking in this kitchen?”

Maybe I’m thankful for this mishap, which is creating a haze that makes it hard to see the flush creeping up my neck and making its way onto my face.

“Sort of,” I admit, my eyes closing in relief the moment the detectors finally stop beeping. “I just bought the house. I’ve prepared small things, but I hadn’t used the stove until today.”

“Well if it makes you feel any better, every time I try to cook, it ends up with the smoke alarms going off,” she points out. She takes a step closer to me.

I smile as I let my gaze move down her body briefly. Her dress is a bright color that’s a mix between pink and orange. It almost looks slightly see-through, something I try to ignore as I let my eyes meet hers once again. Her hair looks slightly damp, as if she took a shower. It falls in soft waves around her face as she stares right back at me.

“That makes me feel better since your first experience inside my house was being greeted by the shrill ringing of the smoke detector.”

I can feel her soft, bubbly laugh throughout my entire body. “It’s kind of comforting.”

“Well, welcome,” I drawl, setting the dish towel down on the counter. “Sorry you walked into things being far more chaotic than I wanted them to be.”

Josie tucks a piece of her blonde hair behind her ear as she gives me a light, easy smile. “Like I said, I’m very familiar with the sound of the alarms going off.”