Page 29 of A Sip of Sherry

“Everything on my to-do list is done for the day, so Wyatt told me to come see if you need help.Clearly, you do.”

“I think I’m doing just fine on my own, thank you very much.”

He nodded toward the strand I hung with a hope and a prayer.“Ten bucks that doesn’t hold for another five minutes.”

I narrowed my eyes at the sagging strand, one end barely clinging to the barrel with a single piece of tape.

“Is that electrical tape?”he asked.

“It was all I could find.It’s called improvising.”

“It’s called gravity, and four minutes and counting until that entire strand is on the floor.”

As if the lights could hear him, they drooped, the sound of the tape losing its grip cutting through the quiet space.

“Fine,” I grumbled.“You can help.”

“You sure you don’t want to place the bet?”

The tape loosened more, the strand dangerously close to falling completely.

“Are you helping or not?”

With a smirk, he grabbed a step stool I hadn’t noticed in the far corner and climbed it with ease, removing the sad piece of tape and wrapping the strand around one of the rafters.Not even a minute later, he created the vision I wanted to achieve.

He climbed down the ladder and stood next to me, crossing his arms, his bicep bulging and pressing toward me.“What do you think?”

“It works,” I said, refusing to give him praise.

“It would kill you to compliment me, wouldn’t it?”

“No.”He hung a strand of lights.It’s not like he created electricity.“But it would physically hurt.”

His laugh echoed off the walls.

“Don’t make me strangle you with the lights.”

“I knew you weren’t vanilla, but I didn’t realize how kinky you liked it.”

My eyes practically rolled to the back of my head.“Is everything about sex with you?”

“Only when I’m around you.”

He said it so casually, as if his words didn’t ignite an already simmering fire inside me.I accused him of making everything about sex, but the only difference between him and I was he said it out loud while I kept it bottled inside.

“You’re impossible,” I muttered as I turned my attention to the table with all the supplies that needed to be divided into baskets and placed around the table.

“Yet, you haven’t told me to fuck off.”

“Would you listen to me if I did?”

“Probably not.”

He moved beside me, reaching for one of the baskets like he belonged here with me, as if setting up for an event together was something we’d done a hundred times before.

“That’s what I thought.”I fought the smile tugging at my lips.

He angled his mouth toward my ear.His breath skated across my skin, sending a scattering of goosebumps in its wake.“Besides, you love having me around.”

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