AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh no, I don’t dare drink while I cook, or I’ll end up tipsy for sure.”
Jeremy leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms over his chest. He couldn’t recall the last time he had heard anyone even mention the word, and it sounded delightfully old-fashioned coming from her. “Then let’s wait and not risk it.”
“Would you like a soda then, or water?”
“No, I’m fine.”
He was too damn fine in her opinion, but she managed to remove the potstickers from the oven, slide them onto a plate and carry them back out to the living room. She placed them atop a neat stack of Victoria magazines on the coffee table.
“I buy these frozen and they’re absolutely delicious. Please try one.”
Jeremy waited for her to sit on the sofa, then slid in beside her. He speared a potsticker with a toothpick, rested it on a napkin for a moment and then popped it into his mouth. The delicate shrimp-filled hors d’oeuvres were incredibly good, and he quickly took another.
“These are terrific,” he agreed.
Pleased he was so appreciative, Christy Joy took two herself. “Other than to drive to the market, this is the first opportunity I’ve had to sit all day. I love owning my own business, but this week has been even more exhausting than most.”
“Do you have any vacation time planned?”
“Are you kidding? Our whale-watching trip was my vacation for this year. At least we won’t have to relocate in September, but if Highway One doesn’t reopen soon, I don’t know what we’ll do.”
“I know what you mean. I had a group cancel a charter for tomorrow because they can’t get through from LA. They rescheduled, which is great, but I hate to just sit on the dock and twiddle my thumbs.”
“I can’t imagine your ever being idle.”
Jeremy took another potsticker and chewed it slowly. “Well, I do a lot of running in place.”
“Is that good exercise?”
Jeremy waited until she’d swallowed a bite of potsticker before he replied. “It was a metaphor, Christy Joy. I’m thirty-seven years old and I captain a boat that’s never out of port for more than a day or two. Sometimes it’s difficult to convince myself that I’m making much progress.”
Christy Joy was mortified not to have understood him, but she was relieved he was in such a relaxed mood and apparently didn’t care. “I thought you loved your boat.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I do, but sport fishing is just that, a sport. I’m not making any sense at all here, am I?”
“No, I understand completely. You sense something’s missing, that there ought to be something more to life.”
“Exactly.” Jeremy drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “Is owning Defy the World all you’d hoped it would be?”
“It’s a lot more work than I’d anticipated, but mostly it’s what I expected. Still…”
She glanced toward him and found him studying her as closely as she’d regarded him earlier. “Twink is such a special little girl, and I feel guilty for wanting more.”
Jeremy knew precisely what he wanted and leaned forward. This wasn’t the first time they’d kissed, but it felt just as tentative and sweet until she melted against him. Then all he could think of was how good she tasted and smelled. He kept right on kissing her as he pulled the bobby pins from her hair and sent her curls tumbling all around them.
Christy Joy was so lost in him she could scarcely breathe let alone think, and when the telephone beside the sofa rang, she jumped as though she’d been stung.
She gasped. “That must be Twink.”
Jeremy reached around her to lift the receiver and handed it to her. He got up then and took a few paces away. The apartment wasn’t large and, believing she would like some privacy, he walked into the kitchen. He opened the oven door and peeked in at the chicken breasts baking in a rectangular pan.
A bottle of rosemary and thyme marinade sat on the counter, and if the chicken tasted half as good as it smelled, it would be the best he’d ever eaten. There was a pot of brown rice on a back burner and a plate of asparagus ready to be steamed in the microwave.
He’d known Christy Joy would be a good cook from the attention she lavished on detail in her shop. She was a treasure in every way, but he was smart enough to realize she might be looking for more than a Popeye clone in a man. He could taste how much she liked him in her kiss, but was that enough?
Ten minutes passed before Christy Joy came breezing into the kitchen. “Twink and her dad are going to the zoo tomorrow. I’m glad he’s giving her some much needed attention, but I couldn’t pin him down as to when he’d bring her home.”
“If you want to go up and get her, I’ll be happy to go with you.”
