Chapter 6
6
TOBIAS
“ I s it ready yet?”
Emmy looked over at me, and her expression told me everything I needed to know. “Not yet.”
“What happens if we cut into it early?”
“It’ll be a gooey mess.”
“Maybe we should do something while we wait,” I said.
We were kind of doing something. We were sitting on the couch, watching a stand-up comedy special, a cushion between us. There was something very domestic about it. Something I liked.
“Do you have any board games?” she asked.
I frowned and looked around. What about my lifestyle made it seem like I would have board games laying around? I lived alone and rarely had company.
But she wouldn’t know any of that. She might guess it, but she wouldn’t know for sure.
“I think I have a deck of cards somewhere around here,” I said. “Poker or something?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know how to play poker. What about Old Maid?”
I made a face. “What’s that?”
“The mom of one of my foster parents used to play it with us. I guess it’s something she enjoyed as a kid.”
“Is it like War?” I asked.
“Sort of. I actually like War better. Do you know how to play that?”
I nodded. “It was how we killed time during deployment.”
I’d spent many nights playing that damn card game just to pass the time. In any other circumstance, I’d steer clear of it due to the not-so-good memories it brought back. But I could also look at it as good memories I’d made with fellow servicemen.
“We could bet something,” she said. “Maybe whoever wins gets the biggest slice of cheesecake.”
“It’s a whole cheesecake,” I pointed out. “We could pretty much each have half.”
“You’d get the bigger half.”
“We could play strip War,” I blurted.
It was a daring thing to say. She’d have every right to be offended. But I’d had two beers and was feeling relaxed and happy. It was a little too easy to forget that I didn’t want to do anything that might scare her off.
As she stared at me, I held my breath, worried about what her response would be. She delayed so long, I considered taking it back. But I held out on the off chance she might react well to it.
“How does that work?” she asked.
“Every time one of us loses a hand, we have to take off an article of clothing. By the time we’re naked, the cheesecake should be ready.”
Naked. I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. We could stop taking off clothes when she got uncomfortable. Maybe I should speak up about that part of it.
“Let’s do it,” she said.
I frowned. “I have on two socks, two shoes, jeans, underwear, and a shirt. That puts me at an advantage.”
“You’re right,” she said. “But I’m going to kick your ass at the game, so I bet you end up naked first, anyway.”
“You sure about that?” I asked, giving her a teasing smile.
She returned that teasing smile. We were essentially flirting. I’d never been a flirt, but with her, it was easy.
“Go get your deck of cards,” she said. “I’ll be waiting.”
I didn’t have to go far. I kept them in the coat closet, in a shoebox full of other memories from my military days. Maybe I’d go through the box with her someday and show her what my life had been like before I met her.
That thought stopped me short. I was already thinking about a future with her. A future where I’d share parts of my past. Wow. When did I start getting so serious about this woman I’d just met? Maybe from the second I’d seen her.
As I returned to the couch, I looked at Emmy. Yeah, I was definitely getting in way too deep. I had to watch out, or I just might end up giving up my solo life.
I smiled at that thought.
“You’re pretty excited about the game, huh?” she asked.
I’d been busy pulling the cards out of the box, but now I stopped to look at her. “Excited about the game?”
“You were smiling. I don’t see you smile very often.”
I never smiled before I met her. Well, rarely. But today, I found myself smiling at odd times. Someone on the logging crew even asked what was up with me. He said I’d been whistling. I never whistled.
“Just thinking about how I’m going to beat you at this,” I said.
“Ha! We’ll see about that.”
I cut the cards and shuffled them, then set them on the cushion between us. I divided the deck evenly, giving her half and setting the other half in front of me.
“It’s been a while,” she said.
I nodded. “Right.”
It had been a while for me too. But I didn’t forget much from my days overseas. I wish I could.
Emmy turned over her card, and I turned over mine. She had an ace, and I had a four.
“Is ace higher or lower than four?” she asked. “We should have established that before we started.”
“When we played overseas, ace was always the highest.”
“That’s how I’ve always played it.”
But if this woman was agreeing to take off her clothes in front of me, I’d play it any way she wanted. In fact, I still couldn’t believe she’d agreed to it.
“That’s how we’ll play then,” I said.
She grabbed both cards and gave me a triumphant smile. Oh yeah, that had worked in her favor. I hadn’t even thought about that.
The winning continued, and she won more often than not. It was actually a little embarrassing.
“You’re pretty good at this,” I said as we neared the bottom of the stack.
She shrugged. “There’s not much skill to it. It’s all luck of the draw, right?”
“Right.”
But she was damn lucky, which meant I was the unlucky one. At this rate, I wouldn’t get to see her naked in the foreseeable future.
When we reached the bottom of our stacks, we picked up the deck of discarded cards and started playing those again. She kicked my ass, wiping out all but a few of my cards.
I lost. Which meant I had to take off my shirt.
She had a big smile on her face as she left to check on the cheesecake. When she returned, she finally noticed I was sitting there, shirtless. And I took the way she eyed my chest as a compliment.
“Ready to go again?” I asked.
“Sure,” she said. “I think it’s time you lost the pants too.”
She wanted to see me without my pants on. That was good news. I definitely wanted to see her without hers.
But that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. That much was clear when once again, she was picking up her discarded stack while I watched mine dwindle to nothing.
This time, she consoled me by heading over to the kitchen to grab a slice of cheesecake for each of us. I started to remove my pants, but then I remembered I still wore socks and shoes. What was I thinking? Those had to go first.
“Hey, you were supposed to take off your pants,” she said as she returned, handing me a small plate.
“I can’t get my jeans off without removing my shoes first,” I said. “Figured I may as well start with one of those.”
I still had one shoe and two socks to go before I started truly disrobing. Hopefully, I’d be able to get her out of her shirt by then.
“Can we take a break to eat?” I asked.
She nodded. “Of course. It’s just a game.”
I shook my head. “Oh no. It’s more than a game. My pride’s on the line here.”
“I’ve always been lucky when it comes to winning things,” she said. “Maybe it’s karma for all the bad luck I’ve had in my life. It’s New York style.”
It took me a second to realize she was talking about the cheesecake. I’d been so caught up in her, I hadn’t even looked at the generous slice.
“What’s the difference between New York style and other kinds?” I asked as I picked up my fork.
“New York style is creamier and richer. It uses a crapload of cream cheese. Some people prefer the lighter cheesecake, though. You know, it’s a little fluffier.”
That made sense. I never really thought through the difference.
“My sister always buys the kind you get in the freezer section at the grocery store,” I said.
If that bothered her, she didn’t show it at all. I assumed a baker like her would be bugged by someone buying a premade cheesecake. But it all tasted good to me.
I sliced off a generous bite and slid it into my mouth. And as before with the chicken and potatoes, my taste buds went haywire. This was amazing. If the key to a man’s heart was through his stomach, this woman had just sealed the deal on winning my heart. Not that she hadn’t already.
“What do you think?” she asked.
She was watching me, gauging my reaction. Of course, she cared what I thought.
This time, though, I waited until my mouth wasn’t full to give praise. “This is the best cheesecake I’ve ever had.”
And it wasn’t a lie. I’d never even been all that excited about cheesecake. But if this was what it was supposed to taste like, I was on board.
“I’ll make you one next time you go to your sister’s. You can take it and show her. See what she thinks of it.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure it would survive the flight. But next time they come to town, you definitely have to make one of these for them.”
That was a lot to ask of her. I could buy one from the bakery, of course. But that wasn’t what I was thinking. I was thinking that the next time my sister came to town, Emmy would be part of the whole scene. She’d be sitting at my table as my sister’s family joined us for dinner. She’d be cooking alongside my sister in the kitchen while my brother-in-law and I kept the kids out of the way…
The more I thought about it, the more it warmed my heart. I didn’t know how it was possible, but in just twenty-four hours, this woman had changed my thinking on everything.
“I’ll make a strawberry puree to go over it,” she said, oblivious to the thoughts running through my head. “I’ll run by the store and get the ingredients for tomorrow.”
I shook my head. “No.”
She stopped chewing and looked at me, her eyebrows rising. Then she took on a quizzical expression.
“Tomorrow night, I take care of dinner,” I said. “I’ll stop by the store on my way home and pick up the items. You focus on getting your business up and running.”
That was the best I could do to take care of her right now. Well, that and offering her a place to stay. She had a dream, and I’d do everything I could to make that dream come true. It was more important to me than anything else right now.