Page 20 of Love & Rockets

He stared at Darla, completely flummoxed. “Donner party? How does she—”

“Switching to satellite television was the biggest mistake of my life.”

Jake glanced over his shoulder and the question popped out before he had a chance to thoroughly vet it. “The biggest mistake?”

Again, her jaw firmed and an intractable gleam lit her eyes as she stared him down. “Well, there was a haircut about three years ago ranking right up there, and the tragic platform flip-flops stage, but in terms of non-fashion choices, I’d say yeah.”

He was saved by Grace swinging into the room. She glanced from him to her mother, then to the stove, then gave them each another going-over before zooming in on the lump of pasta in the saucepot. “You know that spoon thing can be used to stir the pasta, right?”

“I’d heard something along those lines,” Darla muttered as she moved back to the task at hand. The blush was back, but she didn’t look at either him or Grace as she started to stir. “Take the salad and stuff in, will you, sweets?”

Grace paused to make a show of inhaling the scent of the garlic bread, then snatched up the bowl and dressing bottles. “Oh, do you like cheese on your salad, Dr. Jake? Please say yes,” she added, gazing up at him with eager eyes.

“Yes.”

“You are the smartest of men,” she pronounced as she snagged the bag of shredded cheese and flounced from the room.

In the momentary lull, Darla looked up. “You brought her a telescope to use?”

“If it’s okay with you.”

She nodded, but she appeared to be biting the inside of her cheek. “But after dinner, okay? If you bring it in now, no one will eat.”

“Right,” he said with a brisk nod. “Can I help with anything?”

“I know you’re our guest and I’m supposed to refuse, but I stopped living by the rules over a decade ago.” The smile she turned on him was sincere, if a little wan. “If you want to bring our wine to the table and pour Grace a glass of milk?”

Jake didn’t dwell on her request. She had no way of knowing the overfilled wine glasses could be turned into weapons of mass destruction in his hands. As he returned to the living room, he eyed the mostly full glasses of wine with a trickle of trepidation, then straightened his shoulders.

He’d almost kissed her. That took balls. He would have, if Grace hadn’t interrupted the moment. And if that make a man feel invincible, he didn’t know what would. That is, anything short of a miraculously non-lethal dose of gamma rays. Surely he could handle a couple glasses of wine.

All he had to do now was transport some fermented grape juice and a nice, wholesome glass of milk ten feet to the table without destroying the glasses or her furnishings. And he could totally handle the job.

Almost kissing Darla Kennet didn’t make a man feel as clumsy and destructive as The Hulk. With her curvy little body pressed up against him, he finally knew what being Superman felt like. He’d turned hard faster than a speeding bullet. Surely he could transport multiple glasses of wine in a single hand. He looked from his glass to hers and thought the better of trying. He wasn’t entirely sure there weren’t any pesky hunks of Kryptonite lying around.

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