Best Served Cold

“Are you kidding? I haven’t eaten that for two years. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN – RAELYNN

I laughed as I pushed open the front door to Best Served Cold. “That is not what happened, and you know it!”

Chase groaned. “It was. You deliberately let the ice melt over the floor so I’d slip on the water.”

“The freezer broke and defrosted itself. It wasn’t even close to being my fault.” I tossed my keys on the counter and set my purse next to them. “Not like you breaking my toe.”

“It was an accident.” He clapped with every word, blue-green eyes alive with laughter. “Unlike the water.”

“You didn’t even get hurt. All you got was a bruised ego, and I was the only person who was there to see it!”

He followed me through to the kitchen with a barking laugh. “That’s bullshit. My ego didn’t get bruised.”

“Oh, yeah right.” I scoffed, opening the freezer and getting a blast of cold air to the face. “That’s why you’re telling me it was deliberate. Face it, Chase. You walked into the kitchen, didn’t watch where you were going and slipped on your ass.”

He shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m listening to this.”

“I can’t believe it’s still an argument, but here we are.” I pulled the tub of chocolate fudge brownie ice cream out and set it on the counter, shoving the freezer door closed. “Am I making this into a sundae or can I just scoop it into a bowl?”

Chase looked at me and without blinking said, “If you just scoop that into a bowl we’re never speaking again.”

“Tempting.” I smirked.

He grabbed a sundae glass and put it in front of me. “Don’t swear at me. That stuff is too good to just be eaten without caring about it.”

“Calm down, princess.” I pulled the glass toward me. “Get me one, too.”

“Princess? You just called me a princess?”

“Are you acting like one?”

“I’m a big fan of this ice cream.”

I took the sundae glass from him. “You know you can buy it in tubs from literally any grocery store, right?”

He shrugged and leaned against the countertop. “It’s not yours though, is it?”

Our eyes met, and I blushed, looking away. I was no Ben and Jerry’s, but it was no lie that fresh ice cream was better than anything else.

I pulled down the chocolate sprinkles and reached for the sauce from the fridge. “Can you get the whipped cream for me?”

Chase moved, brushing past me as he went to the other fridge. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself reacting to his fleeting touch and focused on scooping the first bits of ice cream into the glasses.

The fridge opened and closed behind me. Seconds later, his hand settled on my lower back, fingers creeping toward my hip. He leaned forward and set the can of whipped cream on the metal counter next to me.

“Thank you.” My face turned instinctively toward his.

His breath fluttered across my lips. “You’re welcome.”

Neither of us moved for a second. My heart thumped hard in my chest. This position was so familiar—he used to stand here and watch me all the time, and it would always drive me crazy.

He reached forward and went to pinch a piece of brownie from the ice cream tub. My fingers connected with the back of his hand with a sharp slap.

“Shit!”

“Don’t touch the tub! You know the rules!” I whipped around and brandished my ice cream scoop as a weapon between us.

Not that there was a lot of room between us right now.

Nope. My scoop was touching his abs.

Jesus. It was getting more action than I was.

“Rae?” Chase said in a low voice.

I jerked my head up and met his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Your scoop is leaking ice cream through my shirt.”

“Shit!” I jumped back, bumping my ass into the counter, and dropped the scoop.

Chase laughed, bending down to pick it up. “Here, butterfingers.”

I took it from him with a glare and reached over to rinse it in the sink. “Do you want your ice cream or not?”

“I do.”

“Then stop hovering over me. You’re not a drone.”

He laughed and stepped to the side, holding his hands up in defeat. “All right, all right.”

I shot him one more look and focused on making the sundaes. The ice cream had only just started to melt, so I quickly got to work. Within a couple of minutes, I was looking at two rich chocolate fudge ice cream sundaes, complete with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and wafers in the top.

“Grab spoons.” I picked up the glasses and swept past him into the main store. I could hear him rifling through the drawers in the kitchen as I set the two glasses on the counter and pulled up two of my new stools.

Yes, they were still covered in plastic. I wasn’t removing that until I was ready. Pretty bar stools were surprisingly expensive.