The Opium Room Read Online Free PDF Page B

on top, her face in her palm inches from one guy’s face who, by the look on it, was clearly enjoying her company.
    After a minute, Martin returned with the drinks, and he set the knife down on a napkin.
    “I really like your sister. She’s quite a character.” Lea picked up her glass and took a huge gulp, drinking half of it down.
    “She’s a social butterfly, for sure, but I worry about some of the people she hangs out with.” Fox took a swig off his beer, then he picked up the knife and handed it to Lea. “Demonstrate the making of a cupcake sandwich, please ma’am.”
    Lea liked his southern accent. It was barely detectable most of the time unless he said certain words or certain things like he just did. Now, that made her heart flutter. She took the knife from his hand and pushed the box his way. “All right, but I’ll let you handle getting it out of the box.”
    While Fox worked the edges of the box apart, Lea considered all the cupcake sandwiches, ice cream, and chocolate she’d mindlessly put down since her divorce. She’d gained fifteen pounds, but hadn’t worried about it… until now. Watching Fox carefully take apart the box without knocking over the cupcake, visions of him taking off her clothes flashed through her mind. But what would he think of her when she stood naked before him?
    Stop it, Lea. Men are bad for the soul.
    Besides, her recently acquired vajiggle jaggle was not beautimous, as June on her favorite reality show, would say.
    Fox pushed the edges of the box down flat, leaving the cupcake standing upright. “There you go.”
    Lea steadied the cupcake with one hand and sliced a horizontal cut through the center of the cake. She took off the bottom portion of the cake, and put it on top of the icing, squishing it down. “There you go. A cupcake sandwich. A huge cupcake sandwich.”
    “Well, aren’t you clever,” Fox said. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
    “It definitely makes for a neater eating experience.”
    “Well, who goes first?”
    “What? You aren’t suggesting that I try to eat this monster in public, are you?” Lea asked.
    “Come on. It looks too good. One of us has to at least sample it.”
    “You’re right,” Lea admitted. “You go first.”
    Fox picked it up with both hands like a Whopper and took a huge bite. He didn’t seem to mind the mess he’d made. “Mmm.” With his eyes closed, he chewed with blatant disregard for the crumbs on both sides of his mouth. Setting the cupcake down, he said, “Damn. That was better than anything I’ve ever tasted.”
    Lea could tell he meant it, too. And any man who enjoyed sweets as much as he did had the makings of the perfect man. “I can see that you enjoyed it. You act as though you’ve never had anything from your own bakery.”
    “I haven’t. It smells great when I’m walking by, but I’m always too busy to stop in. And when they brew up the coffee, you can smell it all throughout the hotel.”
    “Oh my God, I loooooove coffee.”
    “That’s good to know. I’ll have to remember that. Now go on.” Fox gestured to the remaining portion of the cupcake sandwich. “It’s your turn.”
    “All right. It’s only fair, I guess.” Lea picked up the sandwich and put it up to her mouth. How in the world would she finagle this monster in like a lady? It wasn’t possible. So, she did the only other thing she could think of. She opened her mouth wide and shoved it in, holding her hand under her chin to catch the falling crumbs.
    “Atta girl,” Fox cheered.
    Lea laughed at Fox’s egging her on to make a pig of herself. The fact that she was a little tipsy made the whole situation even funnier. And when she attempted to bring her head back down, it felt awfully heavy. “Whoa.”
    “You all right?” she heard Fox ask with visible alarm in his voice.
    “Yeah, I’m…” She put both her arms on the back of her chair and tucked her chin against her chest. The room spun around her. She closed her eyes,