Page 25 of Love At First Fright
He cleared his throat. “Noted.”
“Have you…settled in alright?” Rosemary returned the question.
“We have now. But Fig was kicking up a right racket in the upstairs bedrooms, growling at the air, so we’ve moved rooms. I’m next to you now.”
Ellis was sleeping in the room next door to her? What if Jenna came to stay? God, it was all a touch mortifying. Rosemary could feel herself blushing.
“Will you finally forgive me for ruining your book if I make you a drink?” Ellis said. He bent close as he asked his question, warm breath skittering across her neck, raising goosebumps.
“It depends on if I like the drink.”
He flashed her a grin. “You’ll like it. Soft or hard?”
Rosemary’s brain went straight to the gutter. “Hard, please.”
Ellis pulled out a bottle of dark spiced rum, lemon juice, and a smaller curved bottle of maple syrup. He measured out the shots, filled the shaker with ice, and, with a firm smack, pushed the glass and shaker together. She watched, a little transfixed, as Ellis shook the liquid back and forth, his forearmsflexing, before he dislodged the two pieces and sifted the cocktail into an elegant coupe glass.
Ellis handed her the glass. “Tell me what you think.”
The liquid was a deep golden colour. Rosemary took a small sip; the spiciness of the rum hit her first, an exquisite burning down her throat. And then the sweet smokiness of the maple syrup. Her eyes nearly rolled back into her skull becausedamn,this was delicious.
“Fuck me,” she moaned, immediately realising the words that had just come out of her mouth. She wondered what point in this conversation might be a good time to crawl into a ball and die.
“I’ll take it you like the drink then.” Ellis smirked.
“Where did you learn to make cocktails? Or is this the only one you can do?”
“I have about five recipes under my belt. I picked them up from a bunch of places. This one was taught to me by a steady-cam operator on the set ofFolly of Wara few years ago. It’s the best one for autumn.”
As he spoke, Ellis pulled out a bottle of whiskey from the globe, poured himself a finger of whiskey, set the bottle back down, and tipped the glass to his mouth. Rosemary watched as he drank down the amber liquid, and even when he put the glass back down, she couldn’t quite drag her eyes away from the slant of his mouth.
“I think we should have a truce,” she said, saying the words before she’d quite thought them through. “We just agree not to annoy each other anymore, and we’ll be fine.”
His eyes were dark, that deliciously stern expression back on his face.
“You don’t annoy me, Rosemary. Far from it.”
From the piano, Lance cleared his throat, and Rosemaryrealised, unsure how she hadn’t quite put two and two together before, that she was going to have to slow-dance with Ellis. In a small room. In front of her new colleagues.
Vincent and his partner stood, taking to the makeshift dance floor, which was just the area of the carpet between the fire and the piano.
“Since I’ve earned your forgiveness perhaps you’ll honour me with this dance?” Ellis flourished his hand and bent forwards in an overly dramatic bow.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Rosemary said. She had the oddest sensation that if they were to dance together, it would feel like Something. A Something that delicately filled the space where his warm hand met hers, holding ever so gently, a thing that tilted around them in quiet conversation. A Something that had her heart hummingbird-beating when Ellis glanced at her from beneath the dark fan of his lashes.
She didn’t think—she took his hand.
Rosemary barely heard the music.
She was only aware of Ellis’s arm around her waist, his palm resting against the small of her back. His fingers curled around hers. The warmth of his shoulder under her hand, and just how much muscle was packed into said shoulder. Ellis led her in a slow, old-timey waltz around the room.
“Where did you learn to dance like this?”
“My first ever acting job. I was fifteen, an extra in a period drama. Never needed to remember the steps until now, though.” He chuckled, his breath tickling her neck. She inhaled his woodsy scent.
“Jenna must love it when you take her dancing.” The words slipped out before she could think. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder how the two of them worked together as a couple.
Ellis stiffened. “Of course. Yeah.”
