CHAPTER 24 (2)

She grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him quickly. Then she flopped down beside the basket. “What have we got here?”

He sat beside her, spreading one of the blankets over her legs. “To keep you warm.” He uncorked the champagne, poured some into

two crystal glasses, and handed her one. Then he clinked with her. “To making sure you don’t get thirsty.” Finally, he opened the

basket. “Brie and crackers. And spring rolls. And this tub looks like spinach dip.” He moved things around in the basket. “And cold,

roasted chicken. Along with fruit.”

All her favorite picnic things. He’d thought of everything.

“Look at this.” He flourished a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries. “Where do you want to start?”

With him feeding her the strawberries. Her licking the chocolate off his fingers. Then he could lick it off her lips.

But as much as she wanted his touch and his kiss, this was too perfect to rush into anything physical. Just as it wasn’t the time to talk

about his mother or his siblings or Keira or his past.

She didn’t want anything bad or difficult to intrude in this special place. Only good things. Only the romance of being here with him.

Only love.

“First a spring roll. Then some brie.”

He served her on china packed in the lid of the basket, with cloth napkins to wipe their fingers. She dipped a chocolate-covered

strawberry in her champagne, relishing the fizz. They ate all the food out of order, talking, laughing, jumping up when they saw a

whale spout above the waves. Everything was delicious.

Just being with Ares was delicious.

“So I want to know more about the crazy things you and the Baddricks did when you were teenagers. I loved hearing Sally and

George’s stories this weekend.”

Ares dipped a bit of French bread in the scrumptious spinach dip and handed her the piece, their fingers brushing with a zing of

sensual awareness. “I wouldn’t call us crazy. We were…boisterous.” He cleaned a bit of dip from the side of her mouth and licked it

off his finger. Just as if he were licking her.

She laughed to cover the surge of heat through her body. “Come on. Spill.”

“Well, there was the time we were hot-rodding in Darius souped-up Chevy. The cop barely caught us.”

“Oh no.” She put a hand over her mouth. “Don’t tell me you got arrested.”

“Not with Argus in the backseat. The glib SOB told the officer we’d just spent a year fixing up this baby, and we’d gotten carried

away with our triumph. If anyone else said a word, the cop would probably have hauled us off to the pokey, but Argus had noticed

the look in his eye. And the policeman simply ran his hand over the paint, said, ‘Good job, boys. I had one of these beauties when I

was sixteen. But slow it down, ya hear?’ And he let us go.”

Kelsey shook her head, laughing. It was so like Argus to figure out exactly the right thing to say to get them off the hook. “More,”

she said, wanting everything from him. All the good things. He gave her a sliver of melt-in-your-mouth chicken. “The food is

delicious, but I meant more stories.”

“Have you ever tried peppermint schnapps?” His lips curving in a smile, he caressed her cheek, pushing a stray lock of hair behind

her ear.

She almost purred into his touch. “Can’t say I have.”

“Well, you won’t ever get the chance if you’re around a Baddrick.”

She pushed his shoulder. “What did you all do?”

“Perseus got hold of a bottle, and we all got drunk. The next morning all I could smell was peppermint. And even now, put some peppermint schnapps in front of me, in front of any of us, and we all get a little queasy.”

“I bet Sally thought overindulgence was the best cure.”

“Of course.” He stood, held out his hand. “Come on, let’s got for a walk. We can finish the strawberries when we get back.”

She let him pull her to her feet, holding his hand as they strolled, the sun warming half of her, his body warming the rest.

“And we can’t forget Hector. He had the hots for this girl who lived a couple of blocks over. So we boosted him up her fire escape to

get to her window.”

“Like in West Side Story?”

“Yeah.” He laughed. “Sally made us watch that musical too. But Hector never got inside her window. Someone saw him out there

and called the cops, thinking he was a peeping Tom. We had to head off the patrol car and keep them busy so he could climb down

before they saw him.”

She hugged his arm, wishing she’d known him then. Parts of his life had been so terrible. But he had so many good memories too.

Sally and George had given him that. Thank God they had rescued him.

She wanted to remind him of something good they had shared too. “Do you remember how we used to sneak into the library after it

was closed?”

He laughed. “Most college students would be sneaking a joint. But we had to sneak into the library.”

“Yes, but all those books.” She made a happy sound of remembered delight. But it had been about more than just the books. It had

been about being with him. “We had to read by flashlight.”

“And the security guard almost caught us.”