The Right Side of My Pillow, стр. 22

The microwave dinged taking Jade away from her private thoughts as she pulled the popcorn out. “Damn.” She bobbled the bag sitting it on the pot holder. That sucker is hot. All Jade needed now was her favorite drink and her night would be set. When she opened the refrigerator to grab it—it was gone. What the hell? She looked all around. She whispered to herself, “I know I put it here.”

“Jade?”

At the sound of her name, she jumped then frowned. Was that Cole? What was he doing here? He said he wasn’t coming home until tomorrow. “In the kitchen!”

A second later, he came through the kitchen door loosening his tie from around his neck and putting his work bag down on a chair in front of the island. “Hey.”

“Hey. You’re home?”

“Uh…yeah. I do live here.”

“No need to be sarcastic, Mr. Thornton.”

Cole grinned. “God that butter smells good. I smelled the aroma all the way down the hall.” He reached for the bag and opened it. Then grabbed a handful. “How was work?”

Jade still stood in front of the refrigerator with the door wide open. “It was work, and I survived. I thought you said you weren’t coming home until tomorrow?” She bent low and continued to look for her lemonade. It had to be in there somewhere. She bought it especially for tonight. “Hey, you didn’t by any chance see my lemonade did you?”

“My plans changed. Are you talking about the Hubert’s lemonade that was in there earlier?” Cole’s expression was heavy with mischief. “I hadn’t seen one of those since we were back at Marymount.”

Slowly, Jade rose from the refrigerator after searching everywhere and noticed a flash of guilt on his face. She squinted her eyes accusing him with them. “Well, did you see this particular one because it’s not in here?”

The look on his face gave him away. “Actually, yeah. I drunk it this afternoon when I came home to pick up some papers I’d left.”

Jade was pissed as she closed the door. “You have every drink in that refrigerator known to man, and I only had this one, and you drank mine?”

A devilish grin appeared on his face. “I meant to replace it, but I forgot. I’ll leave a note for Olivia to buy some when she comes to bring groceries next week.”

“You were always doing crap like that.” Jade mimicked him. “Mr. ‘I don’t put poison in this body.’ Didn’t you say that a couple of days ago? Yet, you drank my poison?”

He was full on laughing because Jade’s pissed look was just like when they were kids. “I drank it because I couldn’t resist. You know, I don’t have too many fond memories of my childhood, but a cold Hubert’s lemonade on a hot summer day, after playing basketball with Robert—and you on the sidelines cheering us on—was one of them.”

Jade didn’t want to remember, but she did. “Well, it’s fall, not summer, and I hope you got a headache from all the sugar.” A smile threatened the corners of her mouth until they turned up completely. “I swear it seems some things never change. You were always stealing my Hubert’s.” Jade pointed her finger at him. “I fully expect you to replace my drink. I was all set to have it with my popcorn and the movie I rented.”

Cole grabbed another handful of popcorn then moved next to her. “What movie?”

He was too close. God, he smelled good. Inwardly, she gave herself a mental shake. What was wrong with her? What happened to Operation Crush the Crush? “Oh…just a chick flick I was going to watch in my room.” That should scare him off. No man willingly watched that kind of movie.

He ate a few kernels of popcorn. “Why don’t you bring it down here? We can watch it together.”

Well, that didn’t work. She was more than a little hesitant. “Um…that’s okay. I’m sure you wouldn’t like it.”

Cole tossed the remaining kernels of popcorn into his mouth. “I could actually use the distraction. Let me go change and I’ll meet you in the movie room. Be right back.” He started to walk out of the kitchen but turned around to make one more request. “Would you grab a couple of glasses and a bottle of Merlot from the wine rack?”