A Bad Bit Nice by Josie Kerr Read Free Book Online Page B

understanding.
    “Shall we?” Rory asked, holding out his hand to Ashley, who immediately grasped it and pulled him toward the host stand.
    “What the hell just happened?” Mick wondered aloud.
    “I’m not really sure,” Em said, “but I think I might regret introducing those two.”             
    “Why don’t we sit down while they cause trouble?” Mick motioned to a table a little way from the bar but still in view of the stage.
    “Sure,” Em smiled shyly as Mick guided her to the table, his hand hovering near her lower back. God, did it suddenly get really warm in here?
    “So, Ermengarde-Maude-call-me-Em, did you just happen to move into a converted Victorian earlier today?”
    Em was suddenly nervous. Had he caught her ogling at him out her window? “Yes, yes I did, as a matter of fact. Why do you ask?”
    “I live downstairs,” Mick said with a smile. I knew it. He does have fantastic crinkles at the corners of his eyes.
    “Wait, Ermengarde Maude? E. M,” he said. “Those are your initials!”
    “Yep, you figured it out!” she laughed.
    Her laugh was infectious and light, and Mick wanted to hear it some more. She smiled shyly and flashed those dimples and fidgeted with the sugar packets and squirmed in her seat. Mick tried to rectify the ball-busting business analyst that Rory described with the woman sitting across from him. Maybe she was shy in personal situations?
    She had such a sweet face. And, heaven help him, a sweet figure. Rory didn’t exaggerate about her curves. He supposed that some might call her plump or even fat, but Mick found her lush figure extremely appealing.
    Mick caught her looking at him expectantly and realized that she had asked him a question. “Sorry, this place got really loud all of a sudden. What was that again?”
    “How long have you lived in your place?”
    “Almost five years. I really love it. It’s close to a lot of stuff, near work and the airport. It really is ideal.”
    “Good deal.” J esus Christ, Em. Good deal? You sound like a complete and utter nincompoop.
    Just then, the familiar strains of “I’ve Got Friends in Low Places” came over the speakers and Em and Mick both exclaimed “God, I hate this song!” They looked at the stage and Rory and Ashley waved at them with huge grins plastered to their faces.
    “Yep, definitely regretting introducing those two,” Em lamented, while Mick roared with laughter.

Chapter 8     
    Em and Mick stood in the entrance of the converted Victorian after putting their friends in cabs and sending them to their respective homes. Em drove Ashley’s car to the house so she wouldn’t have to go back to the pub the next day.
    “You want to come in for a beer or something?” Mick asked. He didn’t really know if he knew what he was going to do if she said yes.
    “Sure, I’d like that,” she answered with a smile. Or something . Whew, this man is hot like fire.
    Mick got two beers from the refrigerator and poured them expertly into pint glasses while Em looked around his apartment with interest. Her apartment had the same basic layout but she could tell that Mick had extended some rooms. Her eyes back to where Mick stood behind the counter.
    Mick handed Em a glass. “Thank you for the cookies, by the way,” he said. “They were fantastic. Where’d you get them?”
    “I made them, and I’m glad you enjoyed them.”
    “You made those? Sweet Janey Mac, they were sublime.”
    “Sublime? Really? They’re just cookies.”
    Mick shook his head. “Those weren’t ‘just cookies,’ Em.”
    “’Weren’t?’ You’ve already finished them all?”
    Mick looked sheepish. “Maybe.”
    Em grinned and said, “I’ll make you cookies whenever you want, Mick.”
    Mick motioned to the living room and they went to sit on the large sectional.
    Mick’s apartment was decorated exactly as she had imagined it would be—leather couches, stainless steel appliances, dark wood. Very masculine and grown