Willow Smoke by Adriana Kraft Read Free Book Online Page A

wasn’t ready forthemomentousevent. Soon, but not now.
    “So, I take it you’re a
Cubs fan.”
    He nodded, shook his head and seemed to regain his equilibrium. “My neighbors think I’m a traitor. If you live on the South Side, you’re traditionally a White Sox fan; if
you live on the North Side then you root for the Cubs.”
    “But
you’re not a traditionalist.”
    “Hardly.”
    “So
where do you live?”
    “Kenwood.”
    “Ah.”
    Nick
frowned. “I believe I detected a little reverse classism. Yes, I have a lot of
money. Yes, I live in a big house. Yes, I give to a lot of good causes. Yes, I’m
hooked on...race horses, for the moment. I want to talk to you about how I go about buying some more, but
not today. That sounds too much like work. This is your day off. It’s the Cubs.”
    “How do you know I didn’t have other plans?”
    “I guessed. Maybe it was a hope more than a guess.” He scowled. “But maybe it was a mistake. You look different here in your own space. More domestic. More athome. More...”
    “More woman, maybe?”
    Nick blew out air and coughed. “Oh, I’ve not missed that fact.” He righted his glasses on his nose. “I’ve got to use the head, and then we better think about driving to the ballpark. It’ll be good to be in a crowd. You’ve got a nice pad here, kid. Nice library. You could use a better computer, though. The one in your office area is ancient.”
    “It’s what I can afford.” She stood and placed their cups in the sink.
    “Didn’t mean
to make you defensive.”
    Daisy
rinsed the dishes while Underwood used her bathroom. Did Underwood have a maid?
He probably did, as well as a gardener. Well, her space was adequate for her
needs. She hadn’t invited him here. That would never have occurred to her.
    “Only
one toothbrush,” he said, coming up behind her.
    She
spun around to face him. “What did you expect?”
    “There
you go getting your back up again. I wasn’t expecting anything. I was just
commenting. One toothbrush looked lonely, but I liked it that way.”
    “I
guess I’m pleased I didn’t disappoint you.” He was standing too close. She
could hardly breathe.
    He brushed a lock of hair back off her forehead and ran an index finger down the length of her nose before pressing it against her lips. His eyes flared with passion and then immediately cooled. He backed away. “We’d best be going,” he said, gruffly. “Before I make a fool of myself,” she heard him whisper under his breath. “Put shoes on, grab a bag or whatever. I’ll wait for you outside. I need some air.”
    Tingling from toe to crown, Daisy hurried to find her best sneakers. She wet her lips, avoiding where his finger had been. Even the videos couldn’t do justice to the kinds of electrical charges that’d coursed through her body when his finger had made its way slowly down her nose to settle on her lips.
    She’d thought he was going to kiss her. She was more than a little disappointed that he hadn’t. But there was no question that he now regarded her as a woman. He was probably still hung up on age, but age didn’t matter for her purposes.
     
    “Jones is the man,” Nick declared. “He carries this team when he has to. And he’s a team player when that’s needed. He’s the kind of person I like on my team.”
    Daisy nodded, biting down on a soft pretzel. The batter Nick pointed out didn’t look any different
than any other player, but hemust
be. At that moment, Nick’s player swung. The bat made a cracking sound that surprised Daisy. She watched the ball sail over the leftfield bleachers onto Waveland Avenue. Now that was
power. It was like watching a horse determined to get to the wire first over any and all challengers. And Nick Underwood clearly loved the game of baseball.
    “Okay, that was the
power game. Now watch this next batter. He needs to get a hit. One out. He may
even try to bunt to get on.”
    “Ball one,” cried the ump.
    “Did you see that?”