“Is he g*y then?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think Alex is g*y but I don’t really know.”
“Then he definitely wants to f**k you.” I said grimly out the window now coated with drizzle and setting a mood in perfect harmony with how I felt.
“Ethan, look at me.”
The tone of her command shocked the hell out of me. And got me hard.
I looked over at my girl who had come to mean so much to me in such a short time and wondered what she wanted to say. I didn’t know how to share her, or how to not be jealous, or how to be the graceful partner of a nude art model that other men only wanted to drool over or fantasize about f**king. I just didn’t know how to be that man.
“Alex Craven is not a he.”
Brynne rolled her lips together to keep from laughing outright. It didn’t matter. I was relieved enough to take her teasing and then some.
“Oh,” I managed, feeling very, very foolish, “well then, you should go to dinner with Alex Craven and I’ll wish you a ton of luck, baby. She sounds like she really wants to hire you.” I nodded.
She laughed at me and said, “You worry far too much, baby.”
I leaned toward her lips but didn’t touch them. “I can’t help worrying, and I love it when you call me baby.” I kissed her again, this time not like a Neanderthal, but how I should have kissed her in the first place. I threaded my fingers around her head and tried to show her what she meant to me. I pulled back slowly with a few nibbles to her bottom lip, bringing my hand down the side of her face and down her neck. “I want to take you home now. My place. I need that…badly.”
I hope she knew this was my version of a request. I’d asked her to bring enough clothes for a few days but couldn’t be sure she’d actually done it. I just wanted her with me all the time. I couldn’t explain it any different than a very deep wanting…a requirement of having her right there for me to talk to and touch. And f**k. It made me such a needy bastard but I just didn’t care anymore, and holding back from pushing her was annoyingly difficult.
“All right, your place tonight.” She brought her hand up to my hair and fingered it, searching me again with her intelligent eyes. I swear she could read me like an open book and I wondered why she even put up with me. I hoped it was because she was beginning to love me back, but hated to ponder much because I always returned to… what if she doesn’t?
“Thank you.” I took her hand from where she held it and brought it to my lips to kiss. I lifted my eyes to see her reaction and was pretty damn happy to see that smile of hers. I smiled back and put the car in drive. Time to get my girl home alone where I could act on all those things I really wanted to do with her.
The chicken parmigiana in my mouth was perfectly prepared with succulent meat, savory sauce, and spices, but the company sitting across from me at my table was even better.
I’d watched her make it earlier while I worked from my laptop. Sort of. I’d come out and set up on the kitchen bar and got to look over and smile at her sometimes. I enjoyed the sounds of her working in the kitchen very much. It was a nice feeling along with the delicious smells coming from a room I rarely spent much time in. Smells of our dinner that Brynne was making with her lovely hands.
Pretty f**king sexy stuff if you ask me.
It was different than what Annabelle did for me—an employee who cleaned and cooked things and labeled them in the freezer. This was something real. A thing people do because they care, not because they are being paid.
Having a woman in my home cooking for me was not something I had any experience with either. But I was pretty sure I could get used to it. Yup. Brynne had me hooked. Brilliant, sexy, beautiful, accomplished, a damn fine cook—and beyond fine spread out underneath me in my bed. Did I mention sexy and beautiful? I thought about bedtime for us later.
I took another bite and savored the taste. She had her hair up in one of those claw clips and a deep v-necked top in crimson that drew my eyes right down to her mouth watering ni**les which were budded up nicely and screaming for my mouth. A few long strands of hair had slipped from her hair clip and rested over the swells of her cle**age. Mmmmm…delicious.
“I’m glad you think so. This is really simple to make,” she said.
I watched her mouth and lips as she took a sip of wine, totally shocked I had spoken aloud and glad she thought I was merely talking about the food. “How did you learn to c**k so well?” I sputtered, “I mean cook!”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
I gave her a grin and a wink. “You do both so well, baby, my c**k and the cooking part.”
“You idiot,” she scolded. “I watched cooking shows and learned. My dad let me experiment on him after the divorce. You can ask him about when I first started cooking.” She laughed and speared another bite of dinner and popped it into her mouth. “But better not ask him about when I started cocking you!”
I laughed at myself and hung my head. “Not as good as this food you’ve made tonight then?”
“Not even close. My first attempts were awful, and Daddy paid the price. He never complained though.”
“Your dad is no fool, and he loves you so very much.”
“I’m glad you two talked it out. He really does like you, Ethan. He respects you a lot.” She smiled at me.
“Ahhh, well I feel the same about him.” I hesitated before bringing up her mum, but figured I should. “I don’t think your mum was too impressed with me today though. Sorry about that. I thought it best to introduce myself and tell her what I was doing in your life—I probably could have said it more tactfully though.”