He waited for me in the kitchen, and once Mel introduced us, she left with a cheeky smile that made my skin crawl… She had her heart set on playing cupid.
“Shall we drink?” he asked, an adorable dimple on his cheek. “I hear you’re a fan.” He pointed to a bottle of Gold Tequila on the breakfast bar, pulling out a stool for me. “I’ll show you a better way to drink it if you tell me where Mel keeps spices.”
There was something familiar about him. The way he walked, the tone of his voice and a cute dimple I surely saw before.
I pointed to one of the cupboards. “I have a weird feeling we know each other.”
He turned around, smiling. “We sure do, Nadia. Although if I passed you on the street, I’d keep on walking. You changed a lot since high school.”
“Yes, of course! High school!” I exclaimed. “You were two years above me, right? And it’s not like you haven’t changed. Back then, I couldn’t distinguish between you and your brother.”
He smirked, placing a little jar of cinnamon in front of me, then reached for a couple of oranges and a knife.
“I’m surprised you remember us at all. You never paid attention to the world. I always saw you with a sketchpad and a pencil in hand.”
“Not much has changed. I still have a pencil on me most of the time.” I took a small one out of the back pocket of my jeans and placed it on the counter. “And what did you end up doing? I assume you’re not an accountant at C&G, so instruments or vocals?”
“Both, actually, but withThe Mishapsit’s mostly electric guitar.”
“The Mishaps?! Are you kidding? I heard your song on the radio in New York a few weeks ago. Your brother has an amazing voice.”
“He does, but you can askyourbrother which one of us sings better. Charles can’t play guitar, and that’s the only reason why he sings.”
“Okay, I’m sold.” I opened the cupboard to my right and reached for two shot glasses. “Sing for me.”
Cue in those adorable dimples. Cue in flirting. He rested his elbows on the countertop to get eye level with me, toying with his lip piercing.
“Okay, but I hear you’ve got a pretty damn good voice yourself. You sing for me; I sing for you.” He poured us two shots and handed me a slice of orange. “Deal?”
“I don’t know who told you that, but I assume it was Nick.”
“Guilty as charged.” The traitor entered the room, beaming. “Admit it, sis. You can sing.”
I rolled my eyes, urging Chase to drink, but he stopped me to sprinkle cinnamon at the back of my hand.
“Lick it,” he said, then did the same and downed the shot, sinking a set of white teeth into the orange slice.
“This is so much better than lemon and salt.” I licked my lips. “Okay, deal. You sing, I sing.” I turned to Nick. “Can we go out for karaoke or is that not allowed?”
Nick raised an eyebrow either surprised to hear me ask for permission, or to see me enjoy Chase’s company so much.
“Yeah, it’s okay. Just pick a small bar. The first single blew up so fast that I doubt you can go anywhere and still be anonymous.”
Chase stared at my lips when I turned back to him. He smiled, not at all embarrassed about being caught, and poured us another shot.
Thomas came into the kitchen, shards of glass on the palm of his hand. “I think Chrissy has had enough.”
“Stop being such a buzzkill,” she giggled, following him like a tiny, cute shadow. “It was an accident! I’m sorry about the glass, Nick.”
She wrapped her arms around Thomas’s middle.
A cold hand squeezed my heart and lungs so hard my vision blurred. My eyes darted to Chase. I straightened my back and held my head higher to get some semblance of dignity.
“I think I know somewhere we could go. Are you free tomorrow? I can pick you up at seven.”
Chase reached for my hand to sprinkle more cinnamon and grazed his thumb across my knuckles before giving me a slice of orange.
“Do that.” I swallowed the shot. “But also, I’m free now.”