“Are you going to pretend you didn’t like that?” He steps back around the counter and starts portioning out the steak and potatoes until I’m satisfied with what’s piled on my plate.
“I mean, I didn’thateit.”
I serve myself some salad, then watch him as he prepares his own plate. I watch him some more as he comes around the counter with the two beers he’s just pulled out of the fridge and sits down beside me at the island. “Mhmm. That’s what I thought. I hope you enjoy my epic cooking skills.”
I take a bite of the steak which is smothered in this mouthwatering garlic butter. I glare at him. He watches me as I chew. When I swallow I debate punching him in the arm.
“Well?”
“Could you cook like this when your ex was in the picture?”
“I started cooking like this when I was twelve, so yeah.”
I keep from saying what’s on the tip of my tongue and take another bite. He nudges my leg under the counter.
To each their own, but I cannot for the life of me imagine what the fuck his ex was thinking when she left this perfect man.
Ten
Shep
“Iwantto tell my friends about this steak, but I'm afraid at least four or five of them would show up at your door,” she says. She’s almost cleaned her plate twice. I’m thinking about asking her if she wants thirds, but she’s slowing down. She talked through most of the meal, giving me plenty of time to eat my own dinner.
“If they can find it. You save any room for dessert?” I ask, looking at her nearly clear plate.
“There’s dessert?”
“May-Bell is a baking machine.”
“I’m stuffed. It’s so much easier to eat when someone isn’t playing with your tits—What are you thinking?” she asks with a smile. “You may be quiet and brooding, but your expressions give you up every time.”
“I was just thinking that I should make you spend the rest of our meals completely naked.”
“You’re a pervert,” she says. Her glare is full of mocking.
“I’m pretty sure you’d enjoy it though. It can be something we work on together. You being naked for me isn’t something to be ashamed of.”
“But just for you? Not anyone else.” I don’t tell her how my body reacts to the thought.
“Yeah.”
“Mhmm.” She pushes her plate away. “There’s this place in Brooklyn that serves up the best cut of meat I’ve ever had, but you might have them beat.”
“High praise. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“Have you been to New York?”
I laugh. “You’re asking if I’ve ever been off the mountain.”
“I mean, I know you have. You have your sexcapades in LA, but—”
“I went to RISD and we went to the city pretty frequently.”
“Oh.”
“I'm not some backwoods yokel. Though I have few friends who are and they are pretty solid people,” I say.
“You know I didn’t mean that. I just meant you seem so comfortable here and you mentioned how much of a pain it is to go up and down and up and down. What made you settle back up here after getting a taste of city life?” she asks.