In Over Her Head: An Anchor Island Novel by Terri Osburn

Author:Terri Osburn [Osburn, Terri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Macie Rae Publishing
Published: 2021-02-21T18:00:00+00:00

11

Nick had just removed the chicken from the oven when, as promised, Lauren arrived on his threshold, six-pack in hand, at exactly ten o’clock. She wore leggings, an oversized hoodie, and Vans—all black. Her platinum hair was in a short ponytail at the base of her skull and her nose was badly sunburned.

“Tough day?” he asked, taking the beer and stepping aside for her to enter.

“I didn’t like you very much this morning,” she said in reply. “That place is way scarier than I imagined.”

“You’re here so I guess you aren’t holding a grudge.” He walked past her, adding, “The food will be ready in a few minutes. Go ahead and have a seat at the table.” She did so, settling gently into the chair. “Are you okay?” he asked, fearing she’d really hurt herself.

“My body aches in places I didn’t know I had.” She slowly relaxed. “I thought I was in good shape, but I was wrong.”

“Have you taken anything for the pain?”

“I don’t have anything on hand and didn’t make it to the store before it closed.”

Nick opened a cabinet next to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of pain pills. Popping the cap on his way to the table, he said, “Here.” She held her palm up, revealing nasty blisters. “Did you wear gloves?”

“Obviously not, but Jackson’s hands look worse than mine.”

Real worry set in. “Let me dish up this chicken, and then I want to hear the whole story.”

Two minutes later, the plates were on the table, along with silverware, napkins, and two beers.

“I know I brought the beer, but if I have that, you’re going to have to scrape me off the floor. Can I have a soda?”

“Sure.” Nick retrieved the drink and returned to his seat.

Lauren examined the food with her fork. “Is this stuffed chicken Valentino?”

“Yes, ma’am. So what happened today?”

She struggled to cut her chicken with the sore fingers and Nick took pity on her. Reaching across the table, he cut the food for her.

In a moment of obvious weakness, she said, “That might be the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me.” Sliding the first bite between her lips, she chewed twice and stopped. “Holy crap. Dis is awesome,” she said around the food.

“I’m glad you like it. Now back to today.” The suspense was killing him. “Did you leave there a cohesive team or are you about to be running that kitchen by yourself?”

She loaded up her fork with another bite. “This is where you get to say I told you so. It absolutely worked. I mean, we were barely tolerating each other for the first hour, but they made us do this hill thing. Mona and I were at the top and everyone else was blindfolded. We had to talk them up the hill past all of these buried obstacles.”

“The tether test,” he replied.

“You’ve done it?” Lauren asked, stopping with the fork halfway to her mouth. “Dude. That shit was scary. Jackson went last and he almost took

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.