Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
I shook my head. “No. I’ve tried to take them home several times to join the rest of the brood, but they keep running away. They prefer life down on the docks.”
“The rest of the brood?” he asked as he stood.
“I have four rescues.”
“And you want more?”
“I would if they showed any interest, even though the brood and I live in close quarters. I got my mom’s house when she died. It has a small yard. I wish I had more space, but we make it work. And I…well, I like animals, so…” I shrugged. It wasn’t only that I liked them. I’d always sort of…understood them in a way others didn’t seem to. It was hard to explain except that I’d just always instinctively known how to handle different personalities and because of it, they seemed to trust me right off the bat.
His eyes moved over my face, his expression one I didn’t know him well enough to discern. “My family, we work with several charities that help animals too.”
“What do you know? We have something in common after all.”
“Who would have guessed?” He smiled and one of the dogs butted his leg and he laughed, going down on his haunches again. After a few minutes, Alamo’s ears perked up and he turned in the other direction, heading toward whatever had caught his attention. The other dogs began wandering off too and I gathered the containers and locked the door.
I turned to Gage, our eyes meeting in the dim light of the back hall. My heart picked up speed and I felt that pull once again, only like before, it was the pull only enhanced by something I couldn’t put into words. It made me feel confused and slightly needy. Insecure.
“You okay, Cakes?” he asked softly.
I let out a breath, tearing my eyes from his. “Yes, yes, I’m fine. Let’s go make some crab cakes, shall we?”
CHAPTER FIVE
Gage
“Here, put this in your mouth.” She gave me a raise of her brow before parting her lips so I could put the bite of crab cake I’d just cut onto her tongue. Her eyes met mine as I slipped the fork between her lips and I swallowed, the moment slow and intimate and heavy with delicious possibilities that had nothing to do with food.
I watched as she chewed for a moment, her eyes widening and then rolling upward as she groaned and clutched the side of the metal table. Jesus. It was warm in the kitchen but I suddenly felt hot, my clothes far too tight. “Oh my God, that’s good. Wait, did you really make this with ingredients from this kitchen?” She looked around. “Or did you sneak in a few magic crab cake fairies while I wasn’t looking?”
I laughed. “I not only used ingredients you already had around here, but only six of them.”
“Just how?” She ran her finger over her bottom lip and I followed the movement. I was simultaneously turned on and deeply pleased by her reaction to the food I’d made.
“That’s all you need,” I said. “You wrote down what I did. You can do it too. You just swap out that sixth ingredient to make them all different. But it’s basically the same recipe. The trick is getting that outer shell perfectly golden brown and then serving them piping hot.”
She nodded but still looked dubious. “I’ll certainly try to recreate this magic.” She took a swig of her wine and I picked up my glass and drained it. “Thank you, Gage. It was really nice of you to take the time to give me a cooking class.”
A form of panic sluiced through my veins, an internal ticking that I knew was the countdown to our parting. I didn’t want it to end, but I knew it had to. I was only passing through. I had a life in Calliope, and very soon, in London. And this girl was here, in a harbor town where she helped run the family bar and went home every night to a motley crew of rescue animals.
And God, I couldn’t believe my mind had gone to a place where there was any chance of us seeing each other again when the truth was, I didn’t even really know her. I was merely attracted to her, that was the overwhelming pull I felt. Because I hadn’t been quite as attracted to any other woman…maybe ever. But that was physical, and in the end, a merely physical bond wasn’t what I wanted. In fact, I’d sworn it off. I wanted more. I wanted it all. And I wanted it with a woman who was looking for the same.
So…a cooking class it would be. A brief foray off the beaten path to a waterside bar on the docks where a beautiful woman made me laugh and feel alive and remember what I was looking for and what I was not. “You’re welcome.”