Free Everything in Between by Crystal Hubbard Page B

Zae’s knees. She quickly walked past him, hanging a right to enter the garage. “Last night was a one-time thing. It won’t happen again.”
    Chip took her arm, stopping her from opening the garage door. “What happened last night was special. You didn’t feel it?”
    “Oh, I felt a lot of things.” She unscrewed the cap of her water bottle to give her hands something to do other than dive into his curls.
    “Then why not give it a chance?”
    Her voice low, she said, “You can’t build a relationship on a one-night stand between strangers.”
    “We’ve known each other for near on nine years.”
    “Last night, we were strangers,” Zae insisted. “We weren’t ourselves.”
    “You sure looked like you when you came to my room last night, looking for some.”
    In her white tunic and short, black skirt, Zae matched the stainless and white décor of the kitchen. She looked more like a cobra about to strike when she responded to his assertion. “I went to your room to give you the answer to the quote you gave me in the garden.”
    “That was just an excuse. You could have told me the answer this morning, or tomorrow night at the dojo.”
    “I couldn’t wait to let you know I knew the answer. I was excited.”
    “I’ll say.”
    “I’m going to kick you in the head if you say one more word about last night,” she threatened.
    “I’ll kick you right back, and I might use my titanium leg.”
    “You’d kick me?”
    “You’re a third-degree black belt! You’re damn right I’d kick you back.”
    She cupped his face. “Last night was a mistake. A lapse in judgment.”
    “No, it wasn’t. It was the beginning.”
    “The beginning of what?” she scoffed, giving his face a little push.
    “Of whatever comes next for us.”
    Zae tossed open the garage door, little concerned if it happened to hit Chip, who stood close on her heels. She stomped down the three stairs leading to the garage floor and took a seat on one of the cedar Adirondack chairs Gian had set up. Her heart raced, her pulse thumped, and, worse, every nerve between her thighs throbbed in remembrance of her night with Chip. His words touched her with results nearly as successful as the touch of his hands, his lips, his tongue—
    “Zae, are you all right?” Cinder asked. She leaned forward to grip Zae’s knee. “You look funny.”
    “I’m fine,” Zae snapped, glaring at a smiling Chip. “Never better.”
    * * *
     
    “You and Gian should still be at the mansion in bed, not cataloging wedding gifts,” Zae said.
    Cinder sat next to a small mountain of gaily wrapped boxes and gift bags. She and Zae unwrapped each gift, sorted it into Keep or Return piles, then recorded the gift’s sender. “We need to empty the garage so we can get our cars back in here, and I don’t want to put off writing thank-you notes. I want to get them out of the way as soon as possible. I didn’t realize we’d gotten so many things. Gian’s people in Italy sent gifts even though they couldn’t make the wedding.” Cinder picked up a silver platter from the stack of items waiting for Gian or Chip to carry into the house. “Gian’s great-aunt gave us this. It’s been in her family since the 1920s. Isn’t it beautiful?”
    Without looking at the item, Zae grunted in agreement.
    “Gian had to meet with the contractor about about Sheng Li II this morning,” Cinder went on. “We’ve been living together for months, so it’s no big deal to put a honeymoon on hold for a while. We’re meeting with the adoption consultant this afternoon, too. We wanted to get the adoption proceedings underway as soon as possible. I think Gian’s even more eager to start a family than I am. We were talking about it last night, and Gian’s brother offered to give us his twins. Apparently, the boys are acting out in school, and—”
    Zae balled up the silver and pink foil wrapping paper she’d just stripped from an eight-slot bagel toaster. “That’s fascinating. Chip