You Might Just Get It by Julia Barrett, Winterheart Design Read Free Book Online

 
    You Might Just Get It
     
    Copyright Julia Barrett
     
     
     
    “ Oh my God! This is so yummy! Thank you. You didn’t have to do this, you know.”
    “ Of course I did, Kate. I can’t leave a damsel in distress dripping on my doorstep.”
    Kate put a hand over her mouth to hide her grin. She didn’t think it would be polite to smile with a mouthful of sandwich.
    “ No, I mean this supper. It’s really nice of you and this is amazing.”
    “ You saw me make it, it’s nothing really. Took me all of five minutes.”
    Kate watched Eric take a bite of his own sandwich. Egg yolk ran down the back of his fingers. Kate looked on, her mouth suddenly dry, as he turned his hand over and licked the bright yellow yolk with a pink tongue. Kate almost licked her lips in response, but she caught herself. She swallowed, hard, instead.
    “ I’m so embarrassed to be locked out again.”
    “ Not your fault,” replied Eric, grinning at her. He reached over and delicately rubbed her lower lip. “Egg yolk,” was all he said.
    Kate could feel herself blushing.
    “ These sandwiches hit the spot, but you either have to be prepared to use a lot of napkins or do a lot of licking. And I‘m out of napkins.”
    Kate had been waiting on the stoop, drenched and shivering, hoping for somebody, anybody to show up, when Eric arrived home. For the fourth time in a week, her electronic key card hadn’t worked and she was stuck outside the building. She’d run out in the rain to retrieve a book from her car, barefoot, wearing a threadbare tee shirt and baggy jeans, only to find she couldn‘t get back in. If Eric hadn’t come by when he did, she’d have had to walk several blocks to the neighborhood grocery store to call a friend. She’d left her cell phone sitting on the kitchen table, along with a card on which she’d written down the security company‘s phone number after the last time she‘d gotten locked out. Eric was nice enough to let her in, for the second time in two days, and kind enough to invite her over for something hot to eat.
    She’d changed quickly and toweled off her hair, but it was still damp. She felt the wet curls against the side of her face and she automatically brushed them back. She saw Eric’s eyes follow the movement of her hand. Kate deliberately looked down at her plate. She picked up a piece of arugula that had fallen from her sandwich and popped it into her mouth.
    “ So, you’re a chef?” she asked, feeling suddenly uncomfortable with her thoughts.
    “ I was, but I’m not working as a chef right now.”
    Kate looked up. “Oh? Why not?”
    “ Coming up with a business plan. Doing some research.” Eric stopped speaking to take a big bite. He chewed for a few moments. “I’d like to open my own place, but I need to figure a few things out.”
    “ Such as?”
    “ Oh, location, size, marketing, staffing, theme. This is a maybe. I want to be very cautious. Most restaurants go out of business within the first year. I don’t want to be one of them.”
    “ I can understand that,” said Kate. “Nobody wants to lose their shirt.”
    “ Oh, I don’t know.” Eric winked at her. “I can think of any number of situations where I’d like to lose my shirt.”
    Kate felt a grin tug at the corners of her mouth. If she didn’t know better, she’d think the man was flirting with her.
    “ It’s okay, Kate, you can smile. You have a lovely smile.”
    “ Yes.” She allowed herself a small, self-deprecating, laugh. “Just lovely with egg sandwich all over my teeth.”
    Eric reached a long arm across the table and, in a delicate motion, tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “Yes, even if you did have egg sandwich all over your teeth, you would still have a lovely smile.”
    Kate shivered. No man had touched her like that in five years. Not since way before her divorce. He was definitely flirting with her. Eric had to be, what? At least ten years younger than she was. God, maybe fifteen. Why was she