Diamonds Are Forever - Brooke St. James Page 0,33

friend-of-a-friend type of thing. But he thinks he knows a few people who could help you. Some guy named Jim. We already talked about it last night when I went back to the party." Drew reached out and took a chip off of the plate. He popped it into his mouth and took a second to eat it. "I wasn't going to tell you until we talked to someone, but I feel good enough about it to mention it. And I didn't have anything for your birthday."

"You don't need to get me anything," I said. "It was three weeks ago. They just sang to me because—"

I stopped talking mid-sentence because Drew put his hand on my lower back. I turned a little when I felt him do that. We made eye contact, and the corner of his mouth lifted in a slow grin. He was completely irresistible. His mouth was full and perfectly shaped, and that confident smirk made my heart feel like it was too big for my chest. His hand stayed on my back, unmoving.

I went back to what I was doing. I started moving slower, taking my time, getting the rest of the food from the boxes to their plates. I was so lost in thought that I had no idea what we had been saying before he touched my back. Drew held my hand under the table earlier, but other than that, our physical encounters today had been seemingly accidental and fleeting.

But this. His hand on my back was very intentional. His touch was light. He was barely using any pressure at all. But his hand remained there. He was hardly touching me, and I still felt a warm, tingling sensation in my lower abdomen.

"Who'd you talk to at Aunt Tess's house?" I asked.

"Your uncle," he said. "Tess was off painting."

"Did you stay there a while?" I asked. They had been gone a while and I was wondering how they had spent their time.

"Probably fifteen or twenty minutes," he said. "Long enough for him to bake a batch of those cookies. I brought a few of them over to Marvin's apartment. That's when we saw the diner and decided to go."

"Uncle Billy had you make a delivery to Marvin?"

I was finished arranging the food on plates, and I took a couple of chips off of one of them. I ate a chip and I held the other one out casually for Drew. He leaned in and ate it out of my hand. He looked at me when he did it. I held eye contact with him for as long as I could, but I was shy and I had to look away. His hand was still on my back, and all this touching and gazing had me feeling breathless and shaken.

"Yes, I made a delivery," Drew said. "I liked going over there. It was cool meeting Mr. Jones. He was a nice guy. He and Billy both told me to go train at the gym sometime."

"You should. You'd like it over there," I said. "And Mac knows everybody." I added, smiling and nodding. "He goes to the gym quite a bit. He's the first baby, you know, grandbaby or whatever in the family, so my mom and aunt love keeping him. He's always at the hardware store or over at Uncle Billy's gym."

"He was popular at the diner, too," Drew said.

I regarded him thoughtfully. "Thank you for dinner. And thank you for saying that about a publisher. Don't worry if it doesn't work out. Just the fact that you're talking about it and taking me seriously means a lot."

"Of course I'm taking it seriously. I hope you're taking it seriously," he said. "I hope you know how good your stuff is."

"I do," I said. "I take it very seriously, I mean. And thank you."

"Okay, because we're going to find someone for you to talk to."

"Thank you, Drew. Thank you for even trying. That's an amazing birthday present. I really appreciate it. Maaaaac!" I added his name in a louder tone at the end of my statement. Drew took his hand off of my back when I yelled for Mac, and I glanced at him with a little smile. "Here you go," I said as I handed him his plate.

We went to the table together, and I prayed for my food and Mac's like I always do. It crossed my mind to skip the prayer or at least not say it out loud. I wasn't ashamed of