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Chapter 7
Sam adjusted the ridiculous array of animal pillows. Outside the fort, the sounds of Brooke scurrying around filtered through the blanket walls. The microwave whirred, and cabinet doors opened and closed. The cabin lights went off, but the firelight glow seemed to get stronger.
She pushed aside a blanket and handed him a stack of board games, boxes of cookies and animal crackers, a few romance novels, a bowl of popcorn, and a flashlight before wiggling back in.
“See?” She flashed him a smile that hit him somewhere in the middle of his chest. “Isn’t this super cool?”
Actually, he thought it was moresuper hot, but he’d better not tell her that.
“Are you sure you’ve never made a blanket fort before?” Brooke closed the “door” and settled cross-legged on the mattress.
“I’m sure.”
Her eyes grazed his briefly, as if she’d sensed a sudden shift in his mood. She held out a bottle of iced tea. “Want one? They’re lemon-cayenne.”
Though he wasn’t a fan of either iced tea or lemon-cayenne, he took the bottle and popped the lid. As expected, the stuff tasted awful. He took another sip and set the bottle aside.
He gestured to the games. “Which one first?”
“How about Chutes and Ladders?” She opened the game and set up the board.
Despite the close quarters, Sam forced himself to relax. Brooke was so damned adorable with her pillow collection and blanket fort “supplies” that he didn’t want to put a dent in her enthusiasm by either leaving or getting turned on. He was a lot closer to the latter than the former.
They chose their markers and started the game. In-between cookies and handfuls of popcorn, they climbed ladders and slid down chutes, with Brooke making it to the top first by about ten squares. Afterward, they played several games of Candy Land, Sorry, and Clue—ending their tournament with seven wins for Brooke and four for Sam.
“My sister Gwen always won more games than me.” Brooke put the games in a pile and set them outside the fort. “I’m still convinced she cheated sometimes.”
“Is she older or younger?”
“Older by six years. Needless to say, she outgrew blanket forts before I was ready for her to. So I spent a lot of time in forts alone, or with a friend.” She opened a box of crackers and held it out to him. “Aria…she’s my best friend, the owner of the Meow and Then Cat Café on Mariposa Street. Her mother owns—”
“The Sugar Joy Bakery.” Sam bit into a giraffe-shaped cracker and nodded. “I know.”
“Oh.” She lifted her eyebrows. “Well, Aria and I used to make blanket forts during sleepovers even when we were into our teen years. We’d paint each other’s nails and gossip about boys we had a crush on.”
An unexpected smile curved his mouth. He could picture that with surprising ease. “Sounds like the ideal life for a couple of teenaged besties.”
She grinned. “Who was yourbestiewhen you were a teen?”
His chest tightened unexpectedly. Several heartbeats passed before he said, “Didn’t have one.”
Brooke blinked. “Everyone has a best friend.”
“In your world, maybe.” He rubbed his breastbone. “I was alone most of the time.”
“That’s kind of sad.” A shadow crossed her features.
He didn’t like it. He wasn’t used to seeing her look even remotely despondent.
“I was used to it,” he said offhandedly. Then, in an attempt to turn her thoughts back to something happier, he asked, “Have you adopted one of Aria’s cats yet?”
“Oh, yes.” Her eyes brightened. “I was her first cat adoption customer. It was about a week after she’d opened. I was having a coffee in the Cat Lounge, and this beautiful calico named Jojo jumped onto the sofa and curled up right next to me. I guess it’s more accurate to say that she adopted me. She’s a really sweet cat. Friendly, social, affectionate.”
Sounded like a perfect match of cat and owner.
Brooke plumped up the pillows and lay back, gazing up at the blanket ceiling. A few freckles dusted her nose. The little notch above her upper lip was a perfect curve.
“When I was five or six, my parents gave me this rotating star projector as a birthday present.” She made a circular gesture with her hand. “When you turned off the lights, it projected the moon and constellations moving across the ceiling, and it played different songs. My favorite wasWhen You Wish Upon A Star. I kept that projector for years, I loved it so much.
