AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fourteen
Fresh Burger’s salsa fries were a thing of beauty.
Sabrina pulled out a hand-cut fry dripping in fresh pico de gallo, melty cheese and sour cream and groaned in ecstasy around a bite.
She swiped a napkin over her mouth. “If I eat another bite, I’ll die.”
“Back away from the fries, Douglas.”
Watching her eat was fun. Watching her do anything was fun. Flynn’s brain had been a minefield of what he’d do to her and what he’d like her to do to him the second the sun went down. For that, he needed her not to eat herself into a food coma. He swiped her plate out from in front of her and polished off her fries.
They left Fresh Burger and stepped into cold, spitting rain that was turning to snow—a typical February day in Seattle. Sabrina wrapped her arms around her middle and huddled closer. He held her against him while their steps lined up on the sidewalk. Nothing out of the usual for them, but now it felt different to have her in the cradle of his arms.
Protecting her, watching out for her—those ideas were nothing new. But wanting to please her on a carnal, sexual level? Whole new ballgame. Hell, he wasn’t sure it was the same sport.
He’d had plenty of girlfriends and one wife, so he knew how relationships went. This one wasn’t like those. It was a mashup of his favorite things: a best friend who was on his side plus an exciting new experience between the sheets. The difference in this relationship was that he wasn’t trying to get to know Sabrina. He knew Sabrina.
He knew she loved peanut butter and hated olives. He knew she’d fallen off the stage in an eighth grade play and earned the nickname “Crash.” He knew that as cool as she’d played it, Craig had broken her heart and she’d spent months wondering if she’d ever recover.
Since Flynn already knew those things about her, he could concentrate on learning other things. Like she had sensitive nipples, or that she slept with her mouth slightly open. That she murmured in her sleep and clung to him like a sloth on a tree limb.
“What are you smiling about? Is it funny that I’m cold?” she complained next to him.
“I’m not smiling because you’re cold. Do you want to go home? Watch a movie? Paint?”
“I tried painting today. It didn’t work.”
“Not true. You took out the paint, but you didn’t put a single line of color on that canvas. How am I supposed to replace the artwork over the mantel if you won’t create one for me?”
“I’m out of practice,” she said when they reached his car. He opened the door for her and she slid in. That halted the conversation until he climbed in next to her and started the engine.
Revving it a few times while he adjusted the heat, he said, “You can’t put it off forever.”
“Says the man who’s supposed to be relaxing.”
“Relaxing is boring.”
“You spent most of the day on the laptop. Doing what? I know not checking your social media.”
No, not that. He’d spent most of the day writing a fresh business plan. One that combined his ideas and his father’s way of doing things. He wasn’t sure how to blend the two approaches yet, but there had to be a way. Sad that their collaboration had to happen on the wrong side of the grave, but Flynn didn’t have much choice. Sab had pointed out that he hadn’t taken time off for bereavement. He supposed now was as good a time as any to mourn.
“I was writing for my mental health.”
“Journaling?” Her lips pursed and her eyebrows went up.
“Kind of. And no, you can’t read it.”
“Understood. I have journals I wouldn’t want you to read either. Even though I read you the one about Fresh Burger.” She dug the journal and a pen out of her bag and drew a checkmark next to the entry. “It’d be cool to do some more of these things.” She turned a page. “Do you have Jell-O?”
“Why? Are we going to fill an inflatable swimming pool with it and wrestle?” He shot her a grin.
“No! For Jell-O shots.”
Ah, well. He tried.
“What about the time we repainted my dorm?” she asked as she flipped forward to another page. “Your place could use some color.”
“The only painting you’ll be doing is on canvas. You were the one who said you wanted to make art while you were off work.”
