Finding Mr. Write (Business of Love #5) - Ali Parker Page 0,24
as she smelled the dish and smiled. When her eyes opened, their bright green fell on me. “This smells amazing.”
“It tastes even better.”
She picked up her cutlery and set to work on her meal. I could tell by the way she shimmied in her chair like she was doing a little happy dance that she liked it.
While we ate, I asked her dozens of questions about herself. She’d been living in my head like this hollow cut-out of a woman and her name was appearing in my work. I needed to know more about her if I wanted to use her as a muse.
“So you’re an only child?” I asked.
Briar nodded and added more curry to her plate of rice. “Yes, my parents only ever wanted one. At least that’s what they claimed when I begged them to make me a little brother or sister when I was little. I didn’t know what I wanted, of course. I just liked the idea of it all. As I got older and hung out with friends who had little siblings, I was secretly grateful that I didn’t have to share my parents’ attention or any of my personal belongings with another kid. Selfish, I know.”
“Not really,” I said. “I’m an only child too, so I get where you’re coming from.”
She smiled appreciatively at that. “My parents are the light of my life, if I’m being honest. Being an only child made us a really tight unit and I miss them a lot. I’m happy they’re traveling because they love it so much, but even as a grown ass woman, I still get separation anxiety when I don’t see them enough.”
“Where are they now?”
“The south of France for another week, I believe. Then they’re heading to Scotland.”
“Have you ever traveled with them? Or on your own?”
Briar shook her head. “We used to go camping when I was little because it was affordable and easy. But I’ve never left the country.”
“If you could go anywhere, where would you go?”
She finished chewing her bite of curry and shrugged. “I don’t know. Nobody’s ever asked me that before.”
“Think about it.”
She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I suppose I’ve always wanted to go someplace tropical. Like the Bahamas or Fiji or Belize.”
I imagined that a tropical vacation would look spectacular on Briar.
So would a bikini.
We finished our meal around two o’clock and Briar asked if I could take her back to the motel so she could get things in order for tomorrow. She had a phone call scheduled with her folks for early this evening and she wanted to get some groceries. I agreed begrudgingly and wished we could have spent a little more time together.
I would settle for what I could get at this point. She had a lot on her plate.
I drove her back to her motel and parked in front of her room. She took off her seatbelt and twisted toward me in her seat. “Thank you for today. It was nice to celebrate with someone rather than just spend the rest of the day by myself.”
“My pleasure. I had a nice time with you.”
She smiled sweetly and put her hand on mine over my shifter. “I’m glad we ran into each other last night, Wes.”
“Likewise.”
Her green eyes danced back and forth between mine, and as she stared at me, it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the car. I couldn’t look anywhere but at her eyes and her lips, and I found myself subconsciously leaning toward her as her cheeks flushed pink and her lips parted ever so slightly. She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and pinched it between her white teeth.
Then she blinked, shook her head, and opened the car door so she could step outside. She leaned over and smiled. “Thanks again, Wes. Maybe we’ll see each other again soon?”
“I hope so.”
Chapter 11
Briar
The front doors of the apartment building were solid wood. There was an old-fashioned knocker mounted on the door in the shape of an owl and it had been spray-painted black to match the hinges on the door.
To the right was the intercom system which listed all fifty units in the building. I scanned the list until I found the name I was looking for, Sonia Alef. I pressed the button next to her name. The speaker beeped and then went fuzzy until a bubbly female voice spoke.
“Hello?”
“Um, hi,” I said, suddenly nervous. “This is Briar.”