Page 14 of Happy Trails & Honey Pots

“Thanks. Did your mom teach you to cook? When you were growing up?”

Now, it was my turn to laugh. “No. She wasn’t very domestic. I did the cooking and cleaning in our house.”

“Who taught you?”

I shrugged as I rinsed off the serving dish the green beans had been in. “I learned different things from different people. I had a tutor on set that taught me the basics of cooking, how to defrost things, and what the ideal cooking temperatures were for cooking different foods. Then, on the first sitcom I booked, there was a wardrobe assistant who noticed that I was coming to set with dirty clothes. She gave me a crash course in laundry. I was six. I had a costar onHappy Trailswho taught me how to drive and change a tire. He was sort of a father figure to me. There were people like that who I picked things up from and other things I figured out myself.”

There was silence behind me. I wanted to glance back and see what Zoe’s reaction was. I never talked about my childhood. Not in interviews. Not in my personal life. Not ever. Not even with Braxton, who was the closest person to me.

My manager, Marla, who had discovered me, had a pretty good idea of what I’d gone through because of things she’d witnessed, but we’d never talked about it.

“What was your mom doing when you were figuring things out?”

“She was young when she had me, so she was dating and partying a lot.”

“How young was she?” Zoe’s voice was soft and nonjudgmental.

“Sixteen.”

I realized, as I said it, that Zoe was the same age when she had AJ. I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t put that together before now. My dad hadn’t stuck around like Austin had, though. And my mom didn’t have a place to live like this house. She’d had to stay in her childhood home with her alcoholic and abusive father. I wasn’t making excuses for her, but there were reasons why people ended up the way they did.

After setting the final glass in the dishwasher, I shut the water off and turned around. “I’m sorry for just showing up on your doorstep like that.”

Her head tilted to the side. “Are you?”

My lips curled in a half-grin. “Well, not really. I can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed an evening this much.”

Her head fell back, and she laughed.

“I’m serious,” I maintained.

She lifted her head back up, and when her eyes met mine, she was looking at me like I had an extra head growing out of my neck. “I just saw you walking a red carpet. You dated a Victoria’s Secret model.”

Had I? I couldn’t remember.

“None of that is real,” I explained as I took a step toward her. She tilted her chin up, and her eyes lifted beneath dark, inky lashes. “Tonight, really was the best night I’ve had in as long as I can remember. Thank you for sharing your family with me.”

Her breath caught, and her lips parted slightly. The air between us was crackling with intensity.

Earlier in the night, I’d had the urge to run my fingers through her hair. Well, the urge I had now was telling that urge to hold its beer. I wanted to lean down, and kiss Zoe more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life.

My eyes flickered down to her lips, and I noticed that she had a piece of green bean in the corner of her mouth. “You have a little.” I lifted my hand to my mouth.

“What?” She mirrored my gesture but missed the scrap of food. “Did I get it?”

“No, it’s.” I tried to show her on my face again.

She moved her hand closer to it but still didn’t manage to wipe it off.

“Can I?” I asked.

Her eyes widened slightly as her chin dipped in a nod.

My pulse rate doubled during the .05 second time it took for my hand to touch her face. I slid the pad of my thumb across the corner of her mouth. As I did, her lids closed, and her lips parted slightly.

The sound of galloping horses snapped me out of the trance I’d fallen under. I took a step back and realized I’d been leaning my head closer to hers as AJ came flying down the stairs.

“Oh good! You’re still here! Can we take a selfie?” he asked as he rushed into the kitchen.

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