Page 30 of Sharing Shadow Secrets (High Five Novella #6)

S tanding in the pantry with Taylor, she’s looking around aimlessly. “What were you going to do for dinner?” I ask.

“Probably grab something on the road.”

She could stay for dinner. I don’t want her to leave yet. “Why don’t I just cook?”

“Don’t want me to leave?” she flirts.

“I hear you’re on a budget.” I smile. “Let me make dinner.”

“What were you going to make for yourself?”

“Chicken with something. Maybe brussels sprouts or a sweet potato.”

“So healthy.”

“I try, but we can have something else.” I glance around. “We could have pasta with meat sauce or …”

“We can be healthy,” Taylor says, grabbing for my hand, giving it a quick squeeze. Then she lets go, deeply inhaling. “Okay. I’ll have dinner here, then I need to hit the road.”

“Sounds good,” I say, happy to have more time with her.

I grab a bag of sweet potatoes, and Taylor tilts her head. “What?”

“Is this pantry just magically stocked all the time?”

“We have an estate manager, so he makes sure there are our favorite things here when we’re around.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

“It’s nice.” I grab the avocado oil and motion back to the kitchen. “How about you peel the potatoes while I get the chicken ready?”

“Teamwork.”

I’ll never get over how much I love her smile. I pull open a drawer and hand her the peeler, then grab for everything else I need to bake the chicken.

“What should we listen to?” I ask.

“Whatever. I’d be down for pretty much anything but EDM right now. Maybe something like Jack Johnson—chill.”

“Jack Johnson. I haven’t heard that name in a long time.” I walk to the tablet on the wall and tap play on his top hits.

We silently work as the music fills the room.

It’s always better when we’re together. Staring at Taylor, watching her peel the potatoes, I agree.

I love how at ease and peaceful I feel with her.

Texting her the past few weeks has been nice, but nothing like spending time with her in person.

I’ve just kept myself busy with work, training, and hanging with my friends, although she’s always on my mind.

Her phone starts ringing, and her brows furrow. “It says ‘maybe Chad Braun’ … I think this is Nicholas’s friend. They must have been emailing about me since the meeting.”

“Take it,” I encourage.

“Hi. This is Taylor,” she answers, and I like her professional voice. It’s sweeter than her regular voice. After seasoning the chicken, I slide it into the oven as she continues speaking. “One sec,” she says. “I need to get my laptop. Let me put you on hold for a minute.”

I look toward her, and she flashes an awkward smile.

“There’s a small library down the hall you can use.

” I point toward it, and she nods, then runs to the front door, leaving her muted phone on the island.

I hear it open and then seconds later she sprints back to the kitchen with her laptop in hand. “You’re too cute.”

She smiles, picks up her phone, and makes her way down the hall.

Hopefully she lands this. Then, she’ll be halfway to her goal.

A s I’m portioning the brussels sprouts from the air fryer across two plates, Taylor returns to the kitchen. “Oh my God. I am so sorry. I did not think that would be such a long call.”

“It’s cool,” I say, happy to have her full attention again. I'd like to say I didn’t know exactly how long that call was, but these twenty-seven minutes without her reminded me just how much I love spending time with her.

“But guess what?” she asks, beaming.

“What?”

“I’m now doing social media for a boat rental company.”

“That’s amazing! Congrats.” I step to her, wanting to hug Taylor. She jumps up, and I spin her, then set her down on the counter. I get the urge to kiss her again, but instead whisper, “We’re really bad at being just friends.”

“Can’t be good at everything.”

Staring into her eyes, I want to kiss her, but I shouldn’t. Each little thing is making it harder to not do more. I squeeze her thighs. “Time for dinner.”

She slides off the counter. “Thanks for cooking.”

“Anytime.”

I would love to do this again, even as friends.

Taylor eats quickly, and I don’t know why I find that cute. “Did you skip lunch?”

“I’ve been so slammed all day. Preparing for my kickoff with Nicholas, driving up here, I forgot to eat.”

“How about you steal some snacks before you go?”

She taps her phone. “If I leave now, I’ll get home at about nine …” Then it looks like she is debating about something. “You’re going to find this annoying about me,” she says, putting her napkin on the plate. “I hate driving at night.”

“That’s not annoying, grandma,” I tease. “Stay here then.”

“Mmmmm …”

“This isn’t a one-bed situation, Taylor. There are dozens of beds for you to choose from. Get your Goldilocks on.”

A smile spreads across her face. “How do you know about one-bed situations?”

“From those books.”

She squints at me. “How do you know about those books?”

“Aren’t they the top selling books in the country?”

“Stop being coy!” She swats my arm.

“My ex and I used to have a few drinking games we played while listening to them.”

“Take a drink every time the word throb is used,” I hear Kate’s voice saying the first time we played it at her lake house, the summer we met, eight years ago.

“You two were together for a long time …” she trails off.

I deeply inhale and decide to tell her more about that relationship.

“When we met, we were both having arguably the craziest summers of our lives, and together we were like gasoline to a fire. You could say that was the height of my addiction. I was doing coke all day, drinking all day, and then taking other stuff when it felt right.” Maybe I should feel self-conscious about sharing that, but that’s my past. She doesn’t look sheepish after hearing more about my addiction; rather, she’s fully engaged in this conversation, holding my gaze.

“I kept partying for a couple years after that until I decided to get sober.”

“How’s being sober?”

“The best decision I’ve ever made.” She nods, and I’m curious if she feels nervous to talk about all of this. “I was talking about you in therapy today.”

“Really?” she asks, a mix of surprised and teasing.

“My therapist likes that you have boundaries and purpose, which are two things I also really like about you.”

She looks down, hiding a smile.

“But back to books, the one you recommended is the filthiest one I’ve ever listened to.”

She laughs. “I know worse … I’ll make you a list.” Taylor looks deep in thought before she hits her thighs with both hands. “Okay. I’ll stay the night.”

“Nice. Want to have a fire outside? I love sitting by the fire in the evenings.”

“You should totally do that! I … I am thinking about the scope I just sold Chad and need to put it together into a contract for him to sign. I also want to get acclimated with his existing social presence.”

Her mind’s on work. I get it.

“It is a school night,” I say, reaching for her plate and stacking it with mine.

“Exactly.”

“Let me show you the room everyone always fights over when they visit,” I say, wishing we could cuddle in my bed, but understanding why we can’t.