Nash Brothers Box Set - Carrie Aarons Page 0,212

miles. If you don’t want to go there, though, we can pick somewhere else.”

“No, we can go!” she says too quickly, and it’s so unlike Penelope to just appease anyone.

I drum my hands on the steering wheel and try to focus on the radio to drown out my thoughts.

But it doesn’t work. “Can we cut the crap?

My voice slices through the air, and Penelope’s head whips in my direction.

“You don’t look pretty, you look beautiful. Radiant, is more like it. I should tell you that I’ve wanted to take you out since I laid eyes on you as a pre-teen and that I’m so nervous, I can’t stop my knee from shaking. Even now, as I vomit up all my feelings, it won’t stop.”

We both look down at my knee which is swaying more than a house in an earthquake.

“And I should tell you that I’m taking you out to sushi to impress you, to make you think I have an affinity for worldly things, which honestly just makes me sound like even more of a prick than I usually am. Really, all I want to do is spend time with you, and I hope to God that you enjoy this as much as I know I’m going to.”

A beat passes.

“I’m nervous, too.” Penelope gives me a small smile. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done this. And with anyone I like half as much as you. Also, I changed my shoes about six times.”

A sigh of relief whooshes from my lungs. “Thank fuck. I didn’t want to be the only one nervous for this.”

“My God, Forrest Nash … I think you’ve transformed from the Beast into a prince right before my very eyes.” Penelope reaches across the car and settles a hand on my thigh.

“Ames was talking about Cinderella, not Beauty and the Beast,” I counter.

She tilts her head to the side, considering me. “Yes, but the Beast had a library and you’re a nerd, so it fits more.”

27

Penelope

Staring down at the jiggly, raw piece of tuna on my plate, I’m not sure whether to eat it or ball it up in my napkin and throw it in the garbage.

Forrest has already dug in, his chopsticks perfectly poised, dunking his sushi piece into a concoction of soy sauce and other green and pink items he mixed in off the big sushi plate in front of us.

“It’s not going to bite you.” He chuckles after swallowing.

“I’m a little afraid it’s going to crawl off my plate and go back to the ocean.” I cringe.

Forrest takes a drink of sake from his glass, the same kind he ordered me. I’ve never tried it before, but I am pleasantly surprised at the taste. It has left a nice buzz in my veins, which has calmed some of the nerves leading into the date.

“Who knew you were a picky eater? And here I thought you were this adventurous girl.”

Forrest is goading me, I know this, but I never have been one to step down from a challenge. With an “I’ll show you” glance thrown at him, I reach down onto my plate. I pluck the fish and rice up between my thumb and forefinger, dunk it in the soy sauce and shove it in my mouth.

The texture is foreign, the taste ones I’ve never experienced before. Looking at all the ingredients, you wouldn’t think they’d mesh well. The salty dunking sauce, raw fish, cucumber, this orange mayo looking sauce, seaweed … it all seems a strange combination.

But after the initial bite starts to register on my palette, I’m surprised at how much I like it. It’s fresh but rich, salty, and spicy, it has a slimy texture but the rice holds that at bay enough to get past it.

“It’s … not bad.” I smile, proud of myself for trying something new, and proving to Forrest that I’m not a coward.

My date looks triumphant on my behalf. “You just tried a spicy tuna roll, which is way more advanced than what most people start with. Bravo.”

I give him a little seated bow and follow my first bite of sushi up with a sip of sake.

“Next, we have to teach you how to use chopsticks.” Forrest watches my tongue dart out to catch a stray drop of my drink on my lips. “It’s not very civilized to eat sushi with your fingers.”

“We do some very uncivilized things, and I’ve never heard you complain before.” I blink a sweet, innocent glance at him while the