Page 27 of Seduction Under the Southern Stars
“Nah, I’m good.” I help myself to a Sprite Zero from the side. “I can be hilarious and obnoxious without alcohol.”
She giggles and starts ladling the chili from the pot over the tortilla chips.
Fraser has a glass of the Rosé while Joel opens a beer, and then Elora tells us to help ourselves to one of the dishes and the toppings. I choose a dish, scoop up some of the chili onto a chip, and eat it.
Then I have a fit of coughing. “Jesus Christ.”
The others all start laughing. “You probably should have warned him,” Zoe says, spooning sour cream over her chili.
“That’s so fucking hot!” My voice is little more than a squeak.
“Oh Linc,” Elora says innocently, “be careful. The chili’s quite spicy.”
“Fuck me. Anyone got a fire extinguisher?”
“Wuss.” She winks at me, topping her chili with avocado, cheese, sour cream, and holy shit, more fresh chilis.
I pick up my dish and follow the others into the living room. Joel and Zoe take the armchairs, Hallie sits in the corner of the sofa, and Fraser sits next to her. I sit at the other end. Zoe switches on the fairy lights that are strung around the room and puts some music on her phone. The air smells of citrus from the candles mixed with the spicy scent of the chili, which isn’t an unpleasant mixture. They’ve opened the windows, and the summer breeze brings a welcome coolness to the warmth of the room.
Elora comes in and starts dragging over a beanbag, but I gesture to her. “We can squeeze up.”
“There’s not enough room for four on there.”
“Course there is.”
Fraser and I shift a few inches more apart. It means that he’s squeezing Hallie into the corner, but I have a feeling she’s not going to be disappointed about that.
Elora comes over and lowers down elegantly. She’s right, there isn’t really room for four, and we’re shoulder to shoulder, pressed up against one another.
“I should move,” she says.
“Good luck with that. You’ll need a shoehorn to get you out of there.”
She glances up at me. “How’s the chili?”
“Blistering.”
“Too much?”
“It’s terrific. It has taken a layer of skin off the top of my mouth, though.”
Zoe snorts. “I thought you’d have been used to it, living in the UK for so long. Don’t they like their curries and stuff hotter over there?”
“Yeah, but there’s hot and then there’s volcanic.”
They all laugh. “Are you living in London?” Joel asks.
“Yeah, I’m renting a flat in Camden. I’m not there much, though. I travel a lot.”
“Do you live on your own?” Zoe asks.
I nod, scooping up a heap of sour cream with the next mouthful of chili to try and cool it off.
“No girlfriend?” Zoe persists.
“No, not at the moment.”
“But there has been, I presume?”
