Free Unexpected by Lilly Avalon Page B

do
today?”
    While I finish
making dinner, Alina tells me about her day. Then we take platefuls
of food to the living room and watch TV while we eat. I take her
plate from her to put in the sink when we're done. I bring the
cookies back with me to the couch.
    She sees the
cookies and laughs. “Oh, so that's why
you wanted to go to the kitchen.”
    “ Take one,” I
say, holding it out to her. “I'm happy to share.”
    “ I'll just
have one. Mom made way too many sweets and I sampled more than I
should have.”
    “ Do you like
to bake, too?”
    “ Mm-hmm. I
love baking.”
    “ You're very
good at it.” The gears in my mind start to turn and an idea forms.
“Have you ever thought about doing that as a job?”
    Her eyebrows
furrow. “Bake for a living?”
    “ Why not?
It's something you've got a knack for, something you enjoy...” I
shrug. “It's not often you find that kind of combination in a
job.”
    She thinks it over
for a moment. A slow smile builds until she's full-on grinning.
“You're brilliant, you know that? Now I have to see if there are
any bakeries hiring right now.”
    “ Bring them a
batch of these and they'll hire you, even if they don't need the
help.” She laughs and turns back to the TV. After a few minutes,
something dawns on me. “Hey. How did you know these were my
favorite?”
    “ You
mentioned it once, some time we were all hanging out a few weeks
ago.”
    “ And you
remembered?”
    “ Yeah.” She
makes a face. “Why is that so surprising?”
    I shake my head. “I
don't know. How can you remember something like that?”
    She shrugs. “I
guess I just make it a point to pay attention.”
    It's funny—I
dated Victoria for a month and I don't think she even remembered
any of the small things about me. It may seem crazy, but the fact
that Alina remembered something as ridiculously trivial as
snickerdoodles is really playing with my heart. I haven't even
spent a week with her and I already know I want to spend as much
time with her as possible. It’s actually somewhat painful to
think about this arrangement only being temporary.
    I push the thought
aside and focus on what's happening now. I place my arm behind her
on the couch, my hand resting gently on her shoulder. She doesn't
even flinch; instead she leans into it.
    Yeah, seeing her
leave is going to be harder than I thought.
     
    ~*~
     
    Saturday is a
short day at work because it starts raining in the afternoon. It
throws a damper on the remainder of the work that needs to be done,
so the supervisor tells us
to head out and we can pick back up next week. It makes me happy
because it has been a long week, not just work-wise, but also with
everything else happening. I'm grateful for a chance to get caught up on other
things.
    When I get
back to the apartment, Alina is curled up on the couch reading a
book again. She's wearing those reading glasses, and looking sexy
as fuck. She's gorgeous already, but there's something about those
glasses that makes her extremely sexy. I haven't quite pinned down what it is yet, but I
seriously have to figure it out soon before I go crazy.
    She peeks up at me
and grins. “You're home early!”
    Her enthusiasm is
unparalleled and pleases me more than I can admit. “It's raining.
It wouldn't be so bad if it was drizzling, but it's actually coming
down pretty good.” I sit down on the couch next to her, and reach
for her book. “So, what are you reading?”
    She pulls the book
away before I can grab it. “It's a romance.”
    “ Ah. What
kind of romance?” I reach again and this time get a hold of it. She
gasps and tries to get it back, but I stand up and look at it. “There appears to be a
half-naked couple on the cover.”
    “ Give it
back!”
    “ I want to
look at it.” She groans in frustration and presses a hand to her
forehead. I continue to look it over. “I think this is more than
just a kissing book.”
    I hand it back to
her and she snatches it from me, tucking it away. “And?”