Sweet Memories Read Online Free Page A

kind.”
     

     
    She rolled her eyes, and the jaded, city attitude that cloaked her face skewered him. “Just pour me a glass. This is without doubt a hard liquor kind of situation.”
     

     
    Taking a tumbler down from the cupboard over his head, he poured her a glass and set it down on the island between them. “There you are, princess. Have fun.”
     

     
    She lifted the tumbler but frowned at him as she cupped it in both her hands. “You don’t think I can handle my liquor?”
     
    “Did I say that?” he asked, amused. He poured a second glass and swirled the liquid. Rarely did he allow himself to indulge in whiskey anymore. Not alone, anyway. It had helped him cope with the most haunting events of his life. And from coping had grown a dependency he solved by pulling up roots and changing his lifestyle completely. In a way, whiskey had saved his life. He never took a drink without remembering—
     
    She took a sip.
     

     
    He waited for the flinch when the burn kicked in, but she did no such thing. Damn it, she was exceeding every one of his expectations.
     
    “You didn’t say it, but the whole chauvinistic act leads me to believe you’re thinking it.”
     
    It took him a moment to grasp the thread of the conversation. He snorted out a laugh. “Chauvinistic?”
     
    “Yeah.” She set the glass down so she could prop her hands on the counter behind her and pull herself up on top of it. Crossing her legs comfortably, she lifted the glass again and gestured with it toward him. “You know what I’m talking about. The sweep-the-damsel-off-her-feet thing you did back there on the road.”
     

     
    “Down here we call that chivalry, darlin’.” He smiled despite himself. “Chivalry is dead. Didn’t you get the memo?”
     
    “Apparently not.” Truthfully, surrounded by the rustic wood of the kitchen and with the glow of candle and firelight from the other room, if he hadn’t known
     

any better, he would think this was a scene straight out of another era. An era in which chivalry was very much alive and kicking. He tossed back the whiskey in his tumbler and set the empty glass aside. The liquid joined the curious fire inside him and did nothing to squelch it as he'd hoped.
     
    “So what do you do when you’re not driving a tow truck, Mitch?” she asked. He leaned back against the cabinet behind him and crossed his arms. “You
     
    don’t have to do that.” “Do what?”
     

     
    “Make small talk,” he told her. “If you want, I can show you the guest room, and you can shack up there for the night. Neither Major nor I will bother you.”
     
    Her shoulders stiffened. “I thought making conversation would be more pleasant than listening to the wind howl. My mistake.”
     
    He frowned, cursing himself as she hopped down from the counter and took her drink into the living room. He didn’t know what about her amused him one moment and put his back up the next. The part of her that could sip whiskey like water intrigued him to no end, but the city part reminded him all too much of the types he used to date—the kind of woman who had been drawn to his name and the money behind it. Not the real man inside, the one he’d given up everything to save.
     

     
    He ran a hand through his shaggy hair and sighed, forcing his shoulders to level off as the breath and tension filtered out of him. Then he poured himself another glass, afraid she might be right about one thing—this was on its way to becoming a situation only hard liquor could solve.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    Chapter Six – Oh No!
     

     

     
    Mitch turned the heavy glass in his fingers before he slammed it down on the counter. Adding alcohol to an already explosive situation was the wrong move. He’d bustle that tempting bundle into the spare room. If she wanted to stay up, he’d see about getting the generator started.
     
    The small battery-operated weather radio on the counter crackled to life.