Get In The Kitchen and Make Me A Sammich
“You want me to feed the raccoons?” Preston blinked at me.
I nodded. “You made them sandwiches. Did you think I was just going to take them and do it myself?”
“I… Yeah.”
“Nope. You’re coming to meet Betty, Boris, and all their babies.”
“All their babies? How many are there?”
“Not a lot, but I think Betty’s pregnant, so…”
“How do you know she’s pregnant?”
“She eats more when she’s pregnant.” I shrug. “Last time, she ate a ton more sandwiches, disappeared for like a week, then came back and ate loads. A couple of weeks later, she showed up with three babies in tow.”
“Wow. How many babies do they have at once?”
“Up to eight.” I picked my coffee up. “But I hope she doesn’t have eight, because I already have to make enough sandwiches. I’m not sure I can feed that many.”
Preston’s lips tugged to one side. “You’ll sure as hell try, though, won’t you?”
“Maybe,” I muttered behind my cup. He didn’t even need to ask because he knew damn well that I would try, even if I had to take out a small loan or do a fundraiser or something.
There wasn’t much else I could do. I already bought peanut butter in bulk from the internet.
Preston’s grin reached his eyes, and as soon as he met my gaze, it was near impossible to stop myself from grinning, too.
“Look, we’re still at a stalemate in our bet.” I held his gaze. “I understand that trash pandas probably aren’t your thing or how you want to spend your Friday night.”
“Are you going to be there?”
“Feeding the raccoons? What else do you think I do on a Friday night?”
“Then I’m happy to be here.”
“Aw. I didn’t know you had a sweet bone in your body, Preston Wright.”
He smirked. “It’s not the only bone I’ve got that you’ll like.”
I blinked at him, unimpressed. “That’s the worst line I’ve ever heard, and I’ve run this booth for four years. I’ve heard some shit, but that takes a cake.”
Reaching up, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, it sounded sexier in my head.”
I pouted my lips and wrinkled my nose. “No. That’s not sexy no matter how you say it.”
“You were saying about the bet…”
I bit back a laugh. That one was so coming back to haunt him. “If I win, you have to feed the raccoons tonight. If you win, you don’t have to.”
He thought about it for a moment. “You know that my guilt over hurting your feelings is going to make me go anyway, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I replied simply.
“So why bet it?”
“Because if it doesn’t matter, you’ll do whatever it takes to win so I know you’re feeding them by choice.” I gave him a wan smile and put down my cup. “But if you’re really sorry, you’ll have an emergency which means you have to leave and I win.”
“I don’t see a situation here where I win.”
“There isn’t one.”
“I’m starting to remember why I don’t date.”
“We aren’t dating. We’ve had a date. It’s not dating until it’s plural.”
“You know what? I spent an hour earlier listening to your two best friends tell me all these things about your confidence, but I’m starting to think that it’s my confidence that needs to be worked on here.” He paused. “Like whether I’m confident enough to take on your damn riddles and figure out the right thing to do.”
“Well, if it helps, you’ll do something wrong either way,” I said brightly. “Which is something you should get used to if you do want to date me. I’m never wrong, which means you’ll have to be.”
“You have to be wrong sometimes.”
“There’s like a one percent chance, on average, that I’m wrong.”
“How do you figure that out?”
“I’m a woman,” I replied slowly. “I’m always right.”
“Right,” he said, brow creasing. “Since we’ve just come out of a minor disagreement, I’m going to smile and nod like I agree with you.”
He put on a huge fake smile, widened his eyes, and nodded.
“See? You’re learning?” I grinned at him until he broke and returned it.
“How long do we have until this thing starts?” he asked, taking a step closer to me.
I grabbed his wrist. “You’re the one wearing a watch. Let’s see—five minutes.”
“Good. Then I have enough time to do this.” Preston cupped my face and covered my lips with his. He kissed me slowly, savoring every second until he swiped his tongue along the seam of my mouth.
I yielded, letting him kiss me deeply, and clenched my fingers around the soft cotton of his t-shirt. My toes curled in my ballet flats, pressing hard against the top of them. The tingle that shot down my spine beelined right between my legs and exploded in a firework of lust that had me clenching my thighs together to make it stop.
I did not need to start today turned on.
As if he knew, Preston slid one hand down my body to cup my ass and pull me against him. My stomach pressed into his hip as he held me—
Dear Lord, that’s not his hip.
Nope. Most definitely not.
Unless hips suddenly twitched of their own accord and grew bigger.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
That was Preston’s cock.
Abort mission. Abort! Abort!
“Ooookay!” I breathed, pushing him away from me. “That’s enough of that.”
My cheeks flamed as I turned away from him. I was hot freakin’ everywhere, and there was no way I had enough time to compose myself and put my game face on now.
Damn it.
Preston chuckled. “You smudged your lipstick.”
I shot him a dark look over my shoulder. “And your penis is showing, but there we go.”
He adjusted his shorts. “Yeah. We’re opening late while this goes away.”
I bent over to get my lipstick and mirror from my purse. “Staring at my ass won’t help.”
“Shit, do you have eyes in the back of your head?”
I peered back over at him in time to see him ferociously swipe the curtain so he could put some kind of barrier between us. It was my turn to laugh.
And, not for the first time, I was thankful that I was a woman.
***
The booth was shut.
It happened every year on Friday night. It was the main round of the talent show, with the final to be judged the following night. You’d think it’d lead to more traffic—and it did, just not to this side of the fair.
It’d been an extraordinarily slow day all around. We’d barely made a hundred bucks between us and, annoyingly, we’d kissed the same amount of people.
It was pretty telling.
We were never going to break the stalemate.
Sometimes, when the universe tells you something, you have to listen.
“Well, now what?” Preston asked, putting his hands in his pockets. It was barely past five, and it was the first time in a week either of us had nothing to do.
“I’m not really sure,” I replied, looking around. “I do know that I’m fed up of this place, though.”
He chuckled, nudging me. “Same. Wanna get something to eat?”
“I guess,” I said hesitantly. “Someplace where nobody will see us and gossip?”
“I got accosted in the milk section at the grocery store this morning,” he replied. “So, yes. Why don’t we get pizza at your place since we’re headed there anyway to feed your critters?”
That wasn’t a bad idea.
I nodded my agreement and turned when the sound of my name being yelled made me stop.
“Halley!”
I jerked around, then froze. “Oh, my God! What are you doing here?”
I was wrapped in a huge hug before I could even blink. She almost knocked my glasses off, and I had to take a second to right them.
“Surprise!” One of my old college friends, Lauren, squeezed me.
“Holy crap.” I hugged her back just as tightly. We hadn’t seen each other in three years, but she looked exactly the same as she always had. Long, dark hair, dark eyes, bright pink lipstick.
She stepped back and grinned, her eyes sparkling. “Why do you look younger?”
“You need your eyes tested.” I laughed. “What are you doing in town?”
“Oh! That’s right. I’m being rude.”
“No change there,” muttered a tall, good-looking guy who was a couple of feet away from her.
Lauren shot him a look. “Ignore him. He’s moody when he has to be in the car for hours. Like a cat.”
“Yeah, I’m the moody one.” He smirked and gave me a look that said he was used to her sass. “Since she’s not going to introduce us, I’m Mason. Lauren’s boyfriend.”
“Oh! Hi!” I accepted the small hug he offered me. “She’s mentioned you a few times, but hid this trip.” I side-eyed her.
Lauren sighed. “We were supposed to be here three days ago, but my car broke down somewhere in Georgia, and we ended up in a hotel for a couple of nights while it got fixed.”
Preston shuffled next to me.
“Oh, shit, now I’m being rude.” I motioned to Preston. “This is Preston. He’s Reagan’s brother,” I added to Lauren. “He’s on the other side of the curtain this year.”
Lauren wiggled her eyebrows in my direction in a totally unsubtle way. “I’ve heard about you, too! Hi!” She leaned over between us and hugged Preston.
“You have, have you?” Preston eyed me.
I pushed my bangs from my eyes. “Don’t get too excited. None of it was good.”
Mason laughed as he shook Preston’s hand. “Shit, there’s two of them.”
“There’s another Halley?” Preston looked around in disbelief. “I’m out.”
“Hey!” I shoved him. “There being two of you is the scary part.”
Lauren grinned. “So what are you guys doing? Is the booth shut?”
I nodded. “Everyone’s interested in the talent contest. We were gonna head out and get something to eat at my place. You’re welcome to join us.”
Lauren and Mason shared a look before she shook her head. “Thanks, but we’ve been inside for what feels like forever. We’ll hang here for a while, but we should get something to eat tomorrow.”
“Definitely. I’ll text Reagan and Ava and let you know where and when.” I smiled.
“Perfect! Ooh, yay!” She actually bounced when she clapped her hands. “Okay. Come on, Mase, I want one of those huge teddy bears that’s the size of a grown man.”
“It won’t fit in your—never mind,” he muttered, shaking his head. It was the kind of fond exasperation that could only come from someone who was totally in love with her. “It was great meeting you guys.”
“You, too,” Preston replied. “And if they do dinner, I know a great sports bar where we can avoid them.”
“Sports bar? They have wings?”
“You and freakin’ chicken wings,” Lauren said, almost to herself.
“The best fucking wings you’ll ever eat,” Preston said, and he wasn’t lying.
They were damn good wings at Lucky’s. I just didn’t eat them often because I had a tendency to get the sticky sauce absolutely everywhere.
I’d even gotten it on my dad once, and we still weren’t sure how.
“Sold,” Mason said, fist-bumping Preston right before Lauren grabbed his arm and dragged him away.
“See you tomorrow!” she called, waving. Mason threw up a wave, too, but it wasn’t long before they both disappeared into the crowd.
Preston watched them go for a second before turning to me. “She’s… bubbly.”
I laughed and started walking in the direction of the parking lot. “She’s pretty full-on,” I agreed. “But she’s the sweetest person I know, and just about the only person I’ve kept in touch with since college.”
“You met her in college? Where does she live?”
“Florida. Her cosmetology school—she’s a hairstylist—was close to my campus. Dad paid my fees so I have no student debt, but I had to work my way through in general like every other kid.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Part of that was getting cheap haircuts. The school had an on-site salon where their students could practice on real people once they reached a certain skill level. It cost, like, ten? Fifteen bucks? I met Lauren there in sophomore year.”
“Huh. And she came to see you?”
“I guess so. I know we’ll close the booth early tomorrow because the winner is announced during the talent contest, so I’ll probably take her for dinner so that you and Mason can visit the sports bar. But we have to be back by eight for the announcement.”
Preston had parked two cars down from me. “Don’t worry. I won’t lead him astray.” His sparkling eyes said otherwise. “Meet you at your place?”
I nodded and dug my keys out of my purse. “Whoever gets there last buys pizza.”
He smirked, then ran to his car.
Shit.