TYSON
TEN
My entire kitchen is filled with smoke.
I cough as I fling a dish towel above my head in an attempt to clear it from the detectors before they go off.
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath as my attempts prove futile. I was trying to get a crust on the filets I prepared for dinner and instead ended up with a fire hazard.
“Hello?” a voice calls from the front of the house.
I close my eyes and let out a groan that I know she can’t hear over the annoying ring of the smoke alarms. “In here!” I yell, wishing Josie had taken a little bit longer to get ready.
Josie steps into the kitchen with a cautious smile on her full lips. Her eyes rake over the scene in front of her before they land on me.
My hand falls to my side, my grip still tight on the dish towel as I take her in.
I know I shouldn’t be thinking this, because I invited her for dinner with the pretense of it being a neighborly thing, but I can’t help it—she’s beautiful.
She’s one of the most stunning women I’ve ever seen, and the way she carries herself makes me wonder if she even realizes just how beautiful she is.
“Everything okay in here?” she asks. She waves her hand in front of her face in an attempt to get rid of the smoke.
I give her an apologetic smile. My ears feel hot as I run my palms over the front of my jeans. “Yes. I just heated the butter a little too much, apparently, and I’m finding out very quickly how sensitive these smoke detectors are.”
Josie’s fingers run over the gauzy fabric of her sundress as she looks around. “Is this your first time cooking in this kitchen?”
Maybe I’m thankful for this mishap, which is creating a haze that makes it hard to see the flush creeping up my neck and making its way onto my face.
“Sort of,” I admit, my eyes closing in relief the moment the detectors finally stop beeping. “I just bought the house. I’ve prepared small things, but I hadn’t used the stove until today.”
“Well if it makes you feel any better, every time I try to cook, it ends up with the smoke alarms going off,” she points out. She takes a step closer to me.
I smile as I let my gaze move down her body briefly.
Her dress is a bright color that’s a mix between pink and orange.
It almost looks slightly see-through, something I try to ignore as I let my eyes meet hers once again.
Her hair looks slightly damp, as if she took a shower.
It falls in soft waves around her face as she stares right back at me.
“That makes me feel better since your first experience inside my house was being greeted by the shrill ringing of the smoke detector.”
I can feel her soft, bubbly laugh throughout my entire body. “It’s kind of comforting.”
“Well, welcome,” I drawl, setting the dish towel down on the counter. “Sorry you walked into things being far more chaotic than I wanted them to be.”
Josie tucks a piece of her blonde hair behind her ear as she gives me a light, easy smile. “Like I said, I’m very familiar with the sound of the alarms going off.”
I nod as I allow my shoulders to relax, and I let some air out of my lungs. I’m still embarrassed that she walked into a smoke-filled kitchen instead of a calm one, but I can’t change it now. At least it doesn’t seem to bother her. I’ll take that as a win.
“Would you like a glass of wine?” I ask in an attempt to make her forget all about the chaos she walked into.
She thinks about my words for a moment. “I already had two at home, but another can’t hurt.”
“White or red?”
“What’s your favorite?” she immediately fires back.
My eyebrows lift because her question takes me by surprise.
I wasn’t expecting her to ask me my preference.
Now I have to decide if I want to be honest with her or not.
White or red doesn’t really matter to me as long as it’s what she prefers to drink.
“I typically go for red, but I’m good with either. You tell me.”
She must like my answer because her lips spread into a radiant smile. “Let’s do the red.”
“You sure?”
She nods as she bites her lip. “Yes. I’m a red girl, much to the annoyance of my best friend. I pretend to like white for her, but if I get a choice, it’s always going to be red.”
I nod as I grab the bottle of red wine from my counter. I begin to pull open various drawers in my kitchen, trying to figure out where the bottle opener is. I hired a service that stocked the house with essentials, but I’m still figuring out where they put everything.
“Tell me about your friend,” I request, buying myself time as I continue to search for this bottle opener.
Josie crosses her arms over her chest as she stares at me for a few moments. Two tiny lines appear between her eyebrows as she watches me closely. “You want to know about my friend?” There’s shock in her voice, as if she can’t figure out why I’d ask in the first place.
I shrug as I finally find the bottle opener. “Yeah. I want to get to know you better, Josephine Russell.”
Her nose scrunches as the corners of her lips turn up. “It’s Josie. And you could find out almost anything you wanted to know about me by searching my name online.”
I shake my head. The last thing I want to do is learn about her that way. Not when she lives next door and I can have the chance to hear more about her from her own mouth. “I want to know what you’ll tell me.”
There’s a long pause between us as I stare into her eyes.
I hadn’t meant for the words to come out as thick and raspy as they did, but I also can’t take them back.
There’s a tension in the air I can’t ignore, and I can’t help but wonder if she feels it too.
The silence gets the better of me. I swallow as I twist the opener into the cork. “As your neighbor, of course.”
“Well, this is awkward because I already looked you up and found out everything I could know about you from the internet.”
Her words take me by surprise. A laugh rumbles from deep in my chest. “Did you really?”
She bites back a smile as she nods. “Yes. I had to make sure my cute neighbor wasn’t some sort of weird stalker or had some sketchy past I needed to know about.”
“Cute neighbor,” I prod, unable to resist. After this morning, I realized I might’ve been too forward with my advances with her.
To be honest, not many women ever capture my attention.
The fact that she did had me flirting with her without even realizing I was doing it.
I just couldn’t help it. But once she left and I reflected on the situation, I realized that maybe I came on too strong and that was scaring her away.
Josie closes her eyes for a moment. Even in the dim lighting of the kitchen, I can see the blush that blooms over her cheeks.
A warmth fills my chest at the sight. I like having the ability to make her blush the way she is right now.
“I was hoping you didn’t catch that part,” she admits, her voice lowered.
I pour her a glass of wine and hand it over to her. “Oh, of course I caught that.”
Our fingers brush as she takes the glass from me, and a small jolt moves up my arm, starting at the spot where my skin touched hers.
I clear my throat, wondering why it still feels like I can feel her skin against mine, even though we’re no longer touching. “I guess I passed your search, then, since you’re here in my kitchen.”
Josie smiles before lifting the wineglass to her lips and taking a sip. “You passed. Although there wasn’t a lot about you online outside of information about your work.”
I can’t help but smirk as I pour my own glass of wine. “Good. I like it that way. Guess we’ll have to get to know each other the old-fashioned way.”