Fire Whiskey for My Soul

Chapter Three

I finished breakfast in regular time then started back up to my room.

"Morning, hun", Steve greeted me with a kiss of top of my head as he started down.

"Can you take the coffee that's ready and then start a new one?", I called after him.

"Yep", he assured me, already dressed in his security uniform and ready to go. I used a French press for coffee and I only made one cup at a time because I thought it tasted better that way.

"Hey, Paige, can you give me your opinion?", Brad poked his head out from his room.

"Of course".

He had on Steve's navy blue solid suit, which was too small for Steve across the shoulders so it never got worn. I was correct in thinking it would fit Brad nicely. He looked goooood in a suit. Not even awkward like men tend to do if they don't typically wear them. He seriously oozed confidence and coolness. I was unabashedly admiring. He held his arms out, questioning the choice.

"This fits great", I assured him. "You look really good. Really good". I scrutinized. "Only...let's add this belt"....I grabbed a light brown belt that coordinated with the shoes.  "And let's grab a tie...". I had to run back to Steve's room for that. I brought back the box of ties and held up a couple different ones, finally deciding on a skinny brown patterned tie to go with the blue and white gingham shirt.

"You belong on G.Q.", I teased as I reached up and draped the tie around his neck.

I started in on a perfect Windsor knot as he held his head at that rigid awkward angle men always use when someone is tying their tie and they want to ensure they don't catch their face in there.

"I'm sorry again about last night", he started in quietly.

"I'm going to get mad if you apologize again", I said sternly, "so you need to stop. If anything, it was my fault. My hair was in my eyes and I was half asleep. I about plowed you over".

I stopped and looked up at him. We both laughed.

"No, you didn't", he said.

"No, I didn't", I agreed, still laughing.

Steve stuck his head in. "Say, hun, did you want me to make the next cup of coffee?"

"If you can handle pouring eight ounces of boiling water on top of a heaping scoop of grounds in the French press, then yes, Steve, that is exactly what I requested you do", I said with as much restraint as I could muster. I finished the knot and tightened it.

"Don't you remember how to tie those, Brad?", Steve asked.

Brad smiled at him. "I sure do", he replied.

Steve looked at me. "Yep", he said with a chuckle and moved on.

"Okay, you're complete", I told Brad, then started rattling off instructions. "There's boiling water downstairs if you want oatmeal. Otherwise there's bread and whatnot for toast, and I always make some eggs and meat for Steve, so there's scrambled eggs and ham in the warmer. I make the coffee one cup at a time, and Steve might mess it up, but I need to get ready. If you want to wait for me to make the coffee, I can help you when I come back down".

He purposefully took me by the shoulders and looked directly into my eyes in his calm way and said, "You need to breathe".

I raised my eyebrows. "I'm behind schedule now, let go". I tried to wriggle away but he had an amazing grip. Much stronger than he looked, I noted.

"You need to breathe", he repeated.

"Now?", I pleaded as I squirmed. "Come on, wasting time makes me angry".