Page 17 of Ten Kisses

"It's probably better that way," she said, holding onto the side of the pool with her legs extending out. "He can't be that fine, anyway."

"Oh, he is. You'll see."

"Like Logan Atwood?" she said, asking about a guy we shared classes with.

"Nothing like Logan. Equally handsome, or better than Logan, but different. Totally different. This guy is wholesome looking, not edgy."

"Uhh," she said, making a sound of disapproval.

"No, it's good. He's… you'll see."

"When's he coming?" she asked, looking at the house.

"In a minute."

"That food smells good," Kat said.

"It does," I agreed. "Do you want to go get some? We could take it into my apartment and wait for Salem in there."

"Yeah, that sounds good. I'm ready to get out, anyway."

Kat and I dried off and put coverups on top of our swimsuits before heading inside.

"It smells so good in here," was the first thing I said when we walked inside. Darren had two friends over. They were all three standing around the kitchen and they looked at us, so I felt like I had to say something.

"It tastes good," Darren said. "I had nothing to do with it. Mike caught the fish, and Brian cooked it."

"He's a chef," one of the guys said.

"I'm not on the line cooking anymore, but I do own the restaurant," he said.

"Whoa, no wonder it smells good," I said. "Are you sure you have enough?"

"We have too much. That's why I told you to come eat with us. Come here. Come look at this. We've got so much food." Darren walked to the stove and reached out to open the cover of a roasting pan for us to look inside.

"Oh, wow," I said, seeing a whole roasted fish surrounded by different colorful vegetables.

"Yeah, and there's some amazing rice over here."

"And brownies," the one named Mike said.

"Don't eat the brownies," Brian warned, looking up at us. "I mean you're welcome to eat them but be careful… you might lose your ability to operate heavy machinery for a few hours."

"Just wait till you taste this fish," Darren said, in an effort to stop him from saying any more about dessert.

"This is amazing, are you sure you have enough for us?" I asked.

He nodded and I took the nearby spoon to scoop from the dish.

"Help yourself," Darren urged.

"It doesn't get any fresher than that," Mike said. "I pulled that monster out of the lake this morning."

"Like I said, I didn't do a thing," Darren added, laughing and causing them to laugh.

"Yes, you did, it was your boat and you had all these ingredients at your house," Brian said.

"Plus, the view," Mike said.

---