Page 19 of Smoke and Glitter

By the next block, I'm still deciding.

Chapter four

Chapter Four

Sam

Game night is at my place tonight. The chili has been on low since the afternoon, and Autumn decided a night of Hunt a Killer requires Frito boats and root beer floats, which is how she comes up the back stairs at six with two grocery bags hanging from her hands.

She gets the Fritos onto the counter before I get to her.

"Sam."

"Mm."

Her back meets the edge of the counter and my mouth finds hers. She laughs into the kiss, both hands coming up around my neck as I move between her legs.

"There are people coming at seven-thirty."

"We have time."

"There's chili on the stove."

"It'll keep."

Her fingers slide into my hair and pull hard enough that I stop caring about the chili altogether. I lift her onto the counter, and her knees come around my hips before her phone starts buzzing against the wood beside her.

She ignores it.

I kiss her again.

The phone buzzes a second time.

Autumn makes a sound against my mouth that has nothing to do with me and pulls back far enough to look over my shoulder.

"That's Anna."

"She can wait."

"Anna cannot wait."

I start to kiss her again, but she catches my face between both hands. Most of her lipstick is gone.

"If I don't answer that, a woman's entire career gets decided by four men in a room in Los Angeles before we've even had dinner."

I glance at the clock over the stove.

"We still have time."

She follows my eyes and gives me a look before sliding off the counter. "You are not helping."

She kisses me once on the way past, answers the phone and disappears into the living room.

I go back to the chili.

The first few minutes of her call come through in pieces while I stir.

"Six years ago. She was nineteen."