Page 29 of Love in the Storm

“It means I could tell what you had and didn’t have based on the suggestions you made and the way you reacted to mine.”

“I’m not that easy to read,” Asa said. He glanced at her mouth that was perilously close to his.

If he leaned in just one more inch…

“But you are,” she whispered.

Her words jerked him out of the trance, and he snapped his gaze back to her eyes. The coy look she gave him said she knew exactly how much he wanted to kiss her.

Maybe Lyric was right. He wasn’t being too subtle about the way she affected him, especially when she was so close. It was impossible to drag his thoughts away from her.

She looked down at the cards he held, and he did the same, thankful to be free of her hypnosis.

“You really didn’t cheat?” he asked.

“I really didn’t cheat. I just narrowed things down until only the correct answer was left.”

“You’d make an awesome poker player,” he said.

She stood, and Asa tossed the cards onto the board. He’d have to get this game for Jacob. He loved solving riddles and mysteries.

Lyric padded off toward the laundry room. “I’m going to check on the clothes.”

Asa picked up the cards and pieces and put them back into the box. Even with Lyric out of sight, he made sure to keep the fluffy robe tied securely around him and covering all important parts.

Yeah, he was putting his clothes back on, wet or dry. Wrestling on the floor was a gamble he wasn’t about to attempt again without pants on.

He studied Lyric’s check-off card. No wonder she’d won. There were tiny notes in the margins about his facial expressions as well as scattered question marks, circles, and stars. She was using some special Clue code she’d failed to tell him about.

“I have clothes!” Lyric shouted as she ran back into the room. She’d changed back into her jeans and sweater, and her hair was down, hanging in loose waves past her shoulders.

“What is this?” Asa asked, waving the paper in the air.

Lyric laughed and tossed his dry clothes on the couch. “It’s a mess up here.” She tapped her fingertip against her temple.

“How did you know all this stuff?” Asa asked, waving the clue card in the air.

She laughed again, and the joyful sound wrapped around him, filling his chest with a fire that sparked and grew.

“I want a rematch!” Asa got to his feet, keeping the robe in a good position.

“After lunch. I’m starving.”

Asa looked at his phone. They’d been playing games for hours. “Let me get dressed, and I’ll hook the generator to whatever we need.”

Lyric waved a hand over her head as she headed up the stairs. “I’ll figure it out.”

Of course she would figure it out. She’d also probably get frostbite or third-degree burns in the process, but he was learning to step back and let Lyric make her own way.

He grabbed his clothes and headed for the nearest bedroom to change.

Back in his clothes, he went looking for Lyric. She’d made two plates with sandwiches and chips.

She was in the middle of a huge yawn when he walked up, and she covered her mouth with one hand and gestured to the bar with the other. “Have a seat.”

Asa sat on a barstool, and Lyric slid the plate in front of him.

“What can I get you to drink?”

---