Page 65 of Resisting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 3)

Oh well. She wasn’t going to change. That just felt too weird.

When she walked out of the bedroom, she heard the click clack of nails in the kitchen. She came around the corner and found Josh with a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie. “Hey, those aren’t cool yet.”

He finished chewing and swallowed. “They’re cool enough for me.”

Audrey rolled her eyes. He was always so impatient when it came to her baked goods. That sounded like a euphemism but unfortunately it wasn’t. She wished it was. He didn’t seem at all as ravenous for her as he was for her cookies. Her literal cookies.

She went to the cupboard and pulled out a glass. Josh loved milk with chocolate chip cookies and brownies. When she made cupcakes, he drank water. And with oatmeal raisin cookies he preferred soda for some odd reason.

After filling the glass to the top, she handed it to him and he drank it halfway down. The two worked together to fill the plate with the baked treats and went back into the front room.

“How’s Nonna?” she asked knowing that he’d had dinner with her since it was Sunday, as they walked to the front room and sank into the sofa.

“As ornery as ever.” Josh picked up the remote and turned the TV on.

“Still no progress in getting her to move into Golden Years?” She’d thought that Josh would have been able to wear her down by now, but that woman was as stubborn as they came.

He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it.

“What?” she asked thinking maybe there had been some movement on that front.

“Nothing.”

Audrey felt like it was something, but she dropped it. If he wanted to talk about it with her, he would have, if not, she didn’t want to pressure him.

They easily fell into their routine. They watched the movie and chatted. When the talk turned to Ava’s wedding, Audrey almost asked him to be her plus one, but she chickened out. They’d been each other’s plus one on several occasions, but that was before they’d had sex.

At the bridal salon she’d been so amped up to take control of her life. To stop being quiet and say what she felt. To find out would it be yes or would it be sorry. But now that she and Josh were together her old fear started creeping up. She didn’t want to do anything that would ruin their friendship or make things awkward between them.

She was internally battling with that conundrum as the movie credits began to roll. At the same time, they both looked down and saw that there was one cookie left. She glanced up at him and he said, “Quick draw?”

She nodded and assumed the position. They both sat on the edge of the couch with their hands on their knees and counted back from three.

They chorused, “Three, two, one.”

Her hand flew down to the plate and she felt the cookie beneath her fingertips.

“Yes!” she whooped in victory when she felt his hand cover hers. He pulled his hand back, and she didn’t let go of the cookie. He had much longer arms than she did, and when he lifted his hand above his head she ended up on his lap to keep a hold of it.

One minute they were both laughing as they wrestled for the cookie and the next they were face to face and she was straddling his lap. Their laughter died down and Josh lowered his arm. The hand that wasn’t holding the cookie was on her hip.

The energy between them crackled with electricity. It was so thick she felt like she could cut it with a knife. She was scared to move, to breathe, to do anything that would ruin this moment, but…she was also scared to do nothing and allow the moment to pass.

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