Page 26 of Spark
He winked at Sophie and then, to her complete mortification, put his arm possessively around her shoulders. “Now that she’s back, it’s time to implement stage two of my master plan.”
“…for world domination?” Sophie managed to interject. “Or are you talking about that bank robbery you’re planning with Matt?”
Despite her extreme discomfort at being put on the spot, she was proud of that comeback, especially when everyone laughed.
But her face was still hot, and she was sure that she looked like a ripe tomato right now. And both Pete and Kayla were giving her quizzical looks.
Then Ryan piped up. “So, Chris, what did you make for dessert?”
“Pavlovas,” Chris said. “With fresh strawberries from Aunt Margaret’s garden.”
Ryan made a face. He was a tall, skinny eleven-year-old who had his mother Kayla’s dark hair, but lots of freckles like his dad Pete. “Aw, no chocolate?”
Chris lightly cuffed the back of his brother’s head. “You’re such a spoiled brat.”
And just like that, the uncomfortable moment passed. Sophie should have been relieved that the misunderstanding had been cleared up.
Because this definitely isn’t a date…right? I mean, Chris’s family and his pride members are all here. It’s not like we’re going out to the movies or anything.
So, why did she feel just the tiniest bit disappointed?
Being the subject of his easy charm and attention for the past couple of days didn’t mean anything, and she should have remembered that, instead of starting to spin up her hopes.
It was her fault for reading too much into the way he’d insisted on helping her with the investigation.
She didn't want a repeat of the painful incident with Hunter.
The conversation around the table quickly turned to Javier’s strange collapse at Calidus on Saturday evening, which of course brought up the topic of the long-rumored haunting of the Bearpaw Springs Resort.
Back on safe ground, Sophie mentioned that she was working on an article for Caitlyn’sMythtrust Newswebsite. For the rest of dinner, she was treated to various stories of unexplainable events that had supposedly occurred at the hotel over the years.
Some of the stories she already knew from her interviews with the hotel staff, but there were a couple of things mentioned that were new to her, including the death of a guest at the hotel about twenty-five or thirty years ago, that was attributed to the haunting.
Upon hearing that, she pulled out her phone and began typing notes to herself, so that she could follow up on these extra leads tomorrow.Was the dead guest related to the Ornelas family? Ask Ariela if she knows if it really happened + date.
Later, during the interval between dinner and dessert, when the plates had been cleared away and everyone was still seated at the long table, talking up a storm, Sophie and Chris stood together at the big, quartz-topped kitchen island.
She had offered to make the coffee and to help Chris to assemble the desserts, so that Daniel could remain seated and continue to enjoy talking with his guests.
“Hey, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you before,” Chris said quietly, as he swiftly lifted crisp, piped meringue shells off baking sheets and distributed them onto dessert plates.
It was nice to know that he’d noticed how uncomfortable she’d been earlier…but it also confirmed that he wasn’t actually interested in her romantically.
Not a date, then. Just friends, like always. See, I was right.
“Apology accepted,” she replied, just as quietly. She finished counting scoops of ground coffee into the filter basket of the big industrial coffee maker on Daniel’s counter, then added, “I know you were just kidding around…it’s not your fault that I’m such a dork about turning red at the drop of a hat.”
He chuckled. “It’s actually kind of adorable when you do that.”
Hearing him say that made her face go hot again.Dammit. She carefully kept her back turned to him, and waited for her cheeks to cool down.
“I’m really glad you came to dinner tonight,” he continued. “How did things go at the library today?”
“Really well,” she replied. “I found a bunch of old newspaper articles about the murder. Which reminds me, have you ever heard of anyone who wasn’t a member of the Ornelas clan report seeing the ghost or having something strange happen to them while they were at work?”
There was a long pause, and she figured that he was thinking about his answer. She took the opportunity to turn on the coffee maker, then headed for the huge stainless-steel fridge to grab the big covered bowl of sweetened, stabilized whipped cream that Chris had prepared earlier.
A large bowl of sliced, sugared strawberries was already sitting near him on the kitchen island.
