Elizabeth Lennox

Savage Sweetness Introduction

Savage Sweetness - Introduction

Savage Sweetness - Cover

Kasim’s Story…

“Call,” Marco snarled, tossing his poker chips onto the huge pile.  “What do you have?”

Dash and Angela were already out of this hand so they chuckled at the sour expression on Marco’s features.  Callum tossed his cards onto the pile and shook his head.  “I got nothing.”

Angela snorted.  Kasim remained leaning back in his chair, examining the cards in his hand.  “I believe I have a full house,” he said, laying out his cards. 

Marco stared at the cards, then muttered a curse.  “Two pair,” he announced with disgust. 

Kasim chuckled and pulled all of the poker chips towards him.  The pile was exceptionally large this time.  He estimated that he’d won a whole fifty cents.  Not enough to even buy a soda, but it was the winning that mattered.  None of them gambled a great deal of money during these games.  He’d gone back to Alistar, still unaware of who had tried to kill him several years ago. 

“You are such an ass!” Marco snapped, then grinned and punched Kasim’s shoulder. 

Kasim laughed and nodded his head. “Yes.  Yes, I am!” 

“Who’s buying dinner tonight?” Callum asked.

“I am,” Kasim announced, setting the last stack of chips in front of himself.  “But I brought food to cook.”

There was a unanimous groan of despair, to which he ignored.  “I’m making something called ramen, but I brought vegetables to add to the mix.”

Still, the looks of resignation continued. “What?” he asked, pulling the bag of food he’d brought with him for the night’s poker game.  “You don’t think I can cook?”

Angela laughed.  Callum and Dash snorted and Marco, the only one courteous enough not to disrespect his skill, was busy shuffling the cards for the next hand. 

“I’ll prove you wrong,” he said and started slicing and dicing the red peppers, broccoli, onion and garlic.  The other four started talking and laughing about something.  Marco stood up and handed out beers to everyone. 

Fifteen minutes later, they were all examining their cards when Callum lifted his head and sniffed.  “Is…?”

“Something is burning,” Dash announced.

Kasim looked up, his head swiveling over to the tiny kitchenette in their shared apartment.  Sure enough, smoke was coming from the pan in which he was “sautéing” the vegetables. 

Kasim leapt up from his chair in a valiant attempt to save the pan as well as it’s contents.  At the same moment, the doorbell rang.  Angela stood up and answered the door while Kasim shoved the burning vegetables under the kitchen faucet. 

“Someone ordered some pizza?”

Dash, Callum and Marco all groaned with relief.  Kasim dumped the blackened vegetables into the trash, then turned to glare at Angela. 

“No trust!” he snapped.

Angela laughed softly, setting the pizza boxes down in the middle of their table.  She then walked over to Kasim, hugging him as she told him, “It was just a backup plan,” she assured him. Kasim scowled down at her, but there wasn’t much heat in his gaze.  He was too hungry to care and, to be honest, relieved that she’d had the foresight to order the pizza! 

 

Rosalee’s story…

“We’re done!”

Rosalee’s father tossed his snow-covered gloves into the bin that contained all of the winter scarves, hats and extra gloves, then pulled his cap off and did the same. 

“Think Mom has hot chocolate for us?” he asked, pulling Rosalee’s knit cap off as well.

Rosalee tugged at her gloves and sighed.  “I hope so.  That was a lot of snow!”

Her father hugged Rosalee close.  “Thank you for help shoveling.  You’re right, that was a lot, but with you out there helping me, it was a lot easier.

Both of them hung their coats up on the hooks and toed off their water-proof boots. 

“All done?” her mother asked, wiping her hands on a dish towel as she came out of the kitchen with her reading glasses perched on top of her head.  “Can I get out to the street now?”

Rosalee chuckled but it was her father who answered.  “You can get to the street, but that’s about as far as you can go,” he told his wife, resting a hand on Rosalee’s shoulder.  “The snow plows haven’t made it down the street yet.”

“Oh dear,” her mother sighed, then her features brightened.  “Well, I guess that means that I can’t deliver the reports in person, right?”

“Exactly!” her father replied. 

“Is there hot chocolate?” Rosalee asked, her eyebrows lifted with hope.

Her mother laughed, but nodded.  “Isn’t it a tradition to have hot chocolate as soon as you come out of the snow?”

Rosalee grinned, nodding emphatically.  Was there anything better than hot chocolate on a snowy day?  Nope!  It was the best thing to warm up a body from the inside out.  She hurried into the kitchen where two cups of steaming hot chocolate were set on the table.  The marshmallows were already melting inside the heated, chocolatey milk! 

“Thanks mom!” she whispered, climbing onto the chair and wrapping her cold fingers around the warmth of the ceramic mug.  When she grew up, she would have hot chocolate every single day!  She wouldn’t wait for snow to come along.  What was the point in waiting for something decadent?  One should embrace decadence every day! 

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