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She snorted, and God it was cute. Jasmine covered her mouth, and he’d bet her cheeks were flushed. “No. A friend of a friend.”
“And this is fit for consumption?” He chuckled.
She shrugged, her smile dropping. “I’m sure you’re used to smoother and more expensive liquor. But in Shattered Cove, this is a treat.”
Shit. That isn’t what I meant. He sipped again, wincing. “You were right. It was a little better that time.”
She nodded, staring at him in the darkness. The moon moved from behind the clouds, illuminating her. Tendrils of her black hair danced at the sides of her round face in the slight breeze. Her pale skin was highlighted in the shadows, her green eyes glowing in the full moon. She looked like she belonged in the sea—a siren sent to tempt the sailors. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. His chest tightened, his body throbbing with awareness and desire.
“Glad it’s growing on you,” she said, her voice breathy. She felt this too. This impossible attraction.
“What are you turning that room into?” He wanted to know everything about her. And that never happened to him.
“It’s going to be a space for Zoey and me. I wanted to create a separate area for us to live in. Then I can use our room as another guest suite.”
Their room. Singular. As in they shared a room? They had this big house to themselves, and they shared a solitary suite?
Because she needs the income from the other rooms.
“You never seem to stop working. Wouldn’t it be easier to just sell this place and find another house for you and her to live in? Maybe do something else? The real estate alone on a place like this would have you set for life,” he said.
She turned towards the inn and then to the shoreline. “This place has been my dream ever since I was young. I promised Mrs. Jenson, the previous owner, that I’d do what we always talked about with the building.”
“How did you meet her?” he asked, telling himself it was for the sake of business.
“I kept house for her. She was too old to take care of this whole thing by herself. She told me if I saved my money and got the funds together for the down payment, she’d sell to me at a fair price.
It was just below market value, actually. A parting gift from the old lady?
“It’s a lot of work for you all by yourself.”
She stiffened, turning back to face him. “Sometimes the things that take the most work are the things that matter most in the end.”
Like you? Is she trying to tell me something?
“What about you? Do you love your job?” Jasmine asked.
He took another sip, feeling more relaxed as he settled into his seat. “No one has ever asked me that before.”
Her eyebrows formed a triangle. “Then you’ve been hanging around the wrong people.”
He laughed, free and full. When was the last time he’d felt like this? Her honest response was a rarity in his world. Why couldn’t Veronica be more like Jasmine?
He took the last drink in his glass and licked his lips. Her eyes darted to his mouth. A warm buzz filled his veins. Maybe it was the alcohol and the darkness, but he felt like there was no one else in the world but the two of them. He wanted to share this part of himself with Jasmine.
“I’ve always wanted to be a chef, actually.”
“Why not do it, then? You’re a great cook from what I’ve tasted. Unless you’re a one-trick pony.” She winked before taking another drink herself.
He poured himself another small glass, chuckling. “Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll find out just how untrue that statement is.”
Her lids drooped as she licked her lips. She picked up the glass and drained the rest of her drink. “So, why not be a chef? Go to culinary school?” Her voice trembled slightly.
He shrugged. “In my family, we all join the family business. There is no room for fantasies.”
“Atlas—” She reached out her hand to his, their skin touching only a moment. Heat bolted up his arm like an electric charge. She whipped her hand back and gasped.
“What?”
