AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The blanket can be washed.” He moved the quilt to the edge of the SUV, so we could sit with our legs hanging outside, then grabbed a cooler from where it was secured near the seats, and pulled it forward as well.
Kingston extracted a tray of fresh fruit and cheese. It looked delicious.
Which must be why the nagging in my head askedDoes he think I need more fruit?Now that the edges of old wounds had been exposed, my insecurities could rush back. I tried to argue with myself that fruit was all I ate at the cabin, and I made a fuss about the salad the first day I met the guys.
“Why fruit?” I forced out the neutral question.
He plucked a large strawberry from the mix, and traced it along my bottom lip, drawing a gasp from me.
“Take a bite,” he said.
I did. There was really no dainty way to bite into a strawberry so big, and juice dribbled down my chin.
Kingston leaned in and dragged his tongue up, licking the mess away. “That’s why,” he murmured against my lips.
He was toeing into dangerously perfect territory. Making it difficult to remember if I had reservations about liking him. Lulling me into security.
“I won’t look nearly as sexy eating cheese.” I needed to lighten the mood.
“All a matter of opinion.”
I held a cheese cube up in the air. “Really?”
He drew my fingers and the food into his mouth, licking along the pads of my skin, before pulling away, taking my breath with him.
“Let’s just say the chocolate frosting event left an impression on me.” He brushed his lips over mine. “Laying you out and eating dinner off you may have become a favorite fantasy.”
I couldn’t... but my imagination said I certainly could let him do something like that, just not out in the open. I squeezed my thighs together, but it didn’t suppress the throb. “Something to try later.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
I didn’t know how to follow a line of conversation like that, so I stuffed a few grapes into my mouth.
“You’re no stranger to the picnic lifestyle.” Kingston joined me in eating.
“When I first bought my property, I did a lot of blanket-on-the-floor meals.”
He tilted his head and studied me. “I’m intrigued.”
“It’s not a super fascinating story. I bought the house in auction, and I was certain I had enough left over for the renovations. I’m smart, I could figure out how to do the work myself, with videos and such.” I laughed at past me’s naiveté. “I was so very wrong.”
Kingston shook his head. “Yeah, a lot of that stuff isn’t really a one-person job.”
“Especially if you don’t know what you’re doing.” I could admit that. Now. “So I was putting all of my money into sheetrock, tile, and appliances, rather than furniture, but I couldn’t install any of it.”
“You obviously figured something out.”
I got lucky. That was all there was to it. “I was at the fabric store, torn over upholstery, and this cute pink-haired girl introduced herself.” Sadie basically adopted me.
“Ah, the extrovert swoops in and makes themselves at home in the introvert’s life. I love that kind of story.”
I didn’t have to ask which he was. “I don’t suppose you have a similar tale about Owen.”
“There was math involved, rather than fabric, but finish your story first.”
Math. I was definitely curious. “One of her friends came from a family of contractors, and he knew how to do a lot of what I needed. She got them to provide the manual labor, a few of them installed my network, and we pulled everything together into Phase One of Loading Java. I still went way over budget. I slept on an air mattress, with none of my own real furniture, for a long time. A couple of them even worked for me for free until I could afford employees.” I owed Sadie a lot. And Grayson. And Anne, Jax, Chase...
“Your friends are good people.”
