Page 37 of Drop Shot
She rolls her eyes. “I have to have something sweet every night. Even if it’s only a Hershey’s Kiss.”
“Sometimes I need a sweet more than other times. Usually if I’m having to be stricter with my diet that’s when it’s the worst. It’s like my tastebuds want what they know they can’t have.”
“That’s true,” she agrees. “I always want what I can’t have.” Her cheeks turn a bright shade of pink and she looks away from me quickly. It has me questioning what else she might be applying that statement to.
It’s not long before she takes the cookies out of the oven. I eye them skeptically.
“They look raw.”
She sighs, tugging her oven mitts off. “If I don’t take them out now, they’ll be hard. Trust me. By the time they cool they’ll have finished cooking.”
“Whatever you say.” I reach for the popcorn bowl and grab a handful.
It’s probably another twenty minutes before we settle back on the couch with the popcorn and sweets. Whimsy has a bowl of quickly melting ice cream overtop of a chocolate chip cookie and she eyes it with wide, gleeful eyes. I have to admit, the cookies certainly look better now, but it remains to be seen if they’re actually cooked.
“I actually enjoyed this one,” Whimsy says, curling her legs under her. She winces and quickly readjusts her possession. I frown as I watch her, hating that she can’t get comfortable because of her aching body. “A lot of people didn’t care for it, but I guess I’m just a sucker for nostalgia.” She shrugs and pops some popcorn into her mouth. “Sometimes I think people are too critical these days. Like we all think our opinion is the end all be all.”
“You said you hated the one we just watched.” I try to hide my smile. I mean, I didn’t care for it either but that’s beside the point.
“It’s not for me, but you don’t see me spewing my opinion all over social media about it. Social media has given people this holier than thou mindset.”
I try not to laugh. “I take it you have a lot of thoughts on social media.”
She reaches between us for another handful of popcorn. “Oh, I do, but we can talk about it some other time.” She points at the screen. “Right now, is movie time.”
I zip my lips and dig into the popcorn.
When I bite into a cookie, I have to admit she was definitely right about taking them out so early. They’re not raw at all, but they are the perfect chewiness. I finish one and grab another, trying to ignore her smug smile.
It’s late when the movie finishes and Whimsy, try as she might, couldn’t last through it and fell asleep. A quiet groan rumbles out of me as I stand. I’m not used to sitting so much. I stretch my arms above my head before I carefully scoop her up. She keeps on sleeping as I carry her back to her room and pull back her covers before I deposit her on the sheets. I settle the covers over her and she rolls to her side automatically.
Craig hops up and curls her body into the curve of Whimsy’s legs.
I give the cat a scratch behind her ears. “Keep an eye on her for me, ‘kay?” I ask the cat. She winks at me.
Before I leave, I clean up the dishes and refold the blanket on the couch. I don’t want Whimsy to wake up to a mess.
Taking the elevator down to the garage, my drive home is quiet, and it’s even more quiet when I enter my penthouse.
The whole of Miami nightlife lights up the sky outside.
I’ve always loved this place.
But I realize as I shower and change for bed that the little apartment a few blocks away feels more like home in just a few visits than this place has the entire time I’ve lived here.
CHAPTER 11
WHIMSY
“And now we’regoing to move back into downward dog,” the instructor says, slowly walking around the room and correcting postures as we go.
Beside me, Ebba lets out a disgruntled breath. “I’m going to downward dog dare her to?—”
“What was that, Ebba?” Our instructor says, stopping between us.
On my left, Sabrina snickers.
I don’t get to see Sabrina much—she’s the fiancée of Elias’s doubles partner Noah Baker—but I love when all of us girls can be together. I don’t really have friends outside of these two and because I’ve always been so busy working, it’s hard to maintain relationships. Now that I’m fake-dating Elias it’s freed up my schedule.
