Page 2 of Five Alarm Kiss

Staring at him with her mouth gaping open like a bass, all she could manage was a nod. She was too busy taking in his chiseled features, high cheekbones, short, blond hair, and eyes the color of glass that had been dipped in a clear summer sky. Her lungs forgot how to inhale.

He smiled, and her knees went weak.

Goodness, that smile should come with a health warning.

“Easy there.” He gripped her waist as she started to sink.

Mouth still hanging open, her gaze dropped to his hand indenting her jacket.

“You okay?”

An inarticulate sound escaped her lips as she continued to study his hand. It was huge compared to the narrow expanse of her waist.

“Are you okay?” he repeated. “Do you need to sit down?”

“What?” She lifted her chin and stopped breathing again when those eyes locked on hers.

A grin played at the corners of his mouth. “Where’re you sitting? I’ll help you.”

Finally, the fog in her muddled brain lifted. He thought she was… “I’m not drunk.”

He raised an eyebrow, his expression resembling her own the time one of her first-graders had insisted his parents had told him to play video games on his tablet instead of paying attention in class.

“Truly,” she said, worming away from his grasp. “I’m not.”

He smiled, and she instantly regretted not having his hands steadying her because that smile melted her bones and made her dizzy.

“I believe you.” His gaze flicked to her pink baseball hat.

She quickly pulled it down so far it touched her eyebrows. She’d never felt more self-conscious in her life. “Good.”

“Laurel!”

Skye was waving her arms again. She looked like she was trying to flag down a rescue plane.

“I’ve got to go.” The last thing she needed was Skye coming over and starting up a conversation. Laurel had to get away from the sexiest man she’d ever seen in person before he studied her too closely and noticed. She’d die if he noticed. “Have a good night,” she mumbled, hustling straight to the table Skye occupied with their friend, Britt.

She heard his “You too, Princess” as she scurried away.

Princess?

Skye pounced as soon as Laurel sat down. “Who was that?”

“I don’t know.”Why did he call me Princess?“Some guy.”

“That,” Skye pointed to the gorgeous hunk of hotness who had rendered Laurel mute with one look, “is not just ‘some guy.’ ‘Some guy’ delivers your mail. ‘Some guy’ rotates your tires. That?—”

“Is perfection on a plate,” Britt supplied, finishing the sentence. “And I should know.”

Britt had graduated culinary school a few years back and was now working as a sous chef under a James Beard nominee at Shades Restaurant a few miles away. She’d taken the night off to be here.

Laurel hadn’t known Britt as long as Skye, but they’d become close friends. Britt’s nephew was in Laurel’s class last year, and she used to pick him up after school for her brother. The two had started talking and hit it off. Skye got along with her too, so they’d basically become a trio.

Both of her friends stared at her with hurry-up-and-spill expressions.

“I told you. I don’t know who he is,” Laurel repeated. “He bumped into me, that’s all.”

Britt screwed her mouth to the left and shook her head in disapproval while Skye rolled her eyes and let out a noise that sounded like a motorboat.