I headed over to the kitchen and stood next to him and looked at the stove top. He had a pot of water boiling, and next to it he had a pot with a deep red sauce.
“Wow, did you make the sauce yourself?”
“Do I get extra points if I did?” he grinned at me.
“Sure.”
“Well, I can’t lie. This is actually from a bottle, two bottles to be exact.” He held up two empty bottles next to the stove and I laughed.
“Oh wow, you mixed them together?”
“I like to mix them together and then add in some fresh tomatoes. Gives it a more rustic taste, you know?”
“Ooh, fancy term for a fancy cook. Rustic, eh?”
“Are you making fun of me, Gemma?”
He reached over to me and pulled me against his body. I fluttered my eyelashes at him. “Would I do such a thing, Lucas?”
“I think you would.” He kissed me soft and then harder. Our lips melded together and I ran my hand down his back. This felt nice. This felt comfortable.
He pulled away slightly and then looked down at my pink cheeks. “I’ve missed kissing you,” he said with a grin and then looked over the pot. “Okay, I’m going to put this on a low heat and then I’ll add the pasta. Would you like linguine, fettuccine, spaghetti, angel hair, rigatoni, tortellini?”
“Wow, you have like every single pasta out there.”
“I haven’t finished. Fusilli.”
“Wait, I think spaghetti’s good if you’re down for that.”
“I’m always down for spaghetti,” he grinned. “Okay, let me put the spaghetti on and then I was going to make some garlic bread for us.”
“You’re going to make the garlic bread or are you going to pull it out of the freezer?” I teased him.
“Actually, I bought a loaf of French bread and I have some butter and I have some garlic. If you actually mince the garlic for me, I’ll mix it with the butter and then I’ll wrap it all in some aluminum foil and put it in the oven.”
“You’ll wrap the butter in the aluminum foil?” I looked confused.
“No, goofy. Once you cut up the garlic, I’ll mix it with the butter, then I’ll spread it on the French bread that I will cut. And then we’ll wrap the French bread in the foil and put it in the oven.”
“Oh, I see. That makes more sense,” I laughed. “Sounds delicious. Are we going to have a salad as well?”
“Yeah, I actually already made the salad.” He made a face. “Okay, I’m lying again. I didn’t make the salad. I went to the deli on the corner and I bought a salad earlier this afternoon when you told me that you were going to come over.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to do that, Lucas.”
“Yeah, I did actually. You deserve the best and the salads at this deli are amazing,” he grinned. “And then I thought afterward we’d have some cheesecake. And before you ask, no I didn’t make it, but I did buy it from the Cheesecake Factory.”
“The Cheesecake Factory,” I burst out laughing. “I didn’t even know they had a Cheesecake Factory in the city.”
“Oh, well now you do. I got two slices because I know how much you like your desserts.”
“Yes, I do.”
“And then we can share it, you know, and maybe watch a movie or do something else.”
He looked over at me and I saw his eyes falling to my lips. “Sounds good to me,” I smiled back. I felt warm inside. I couldn’t wait until after dessert. I was going to snack on him and blow his mind.
“That was absolutely delicious. Thank you for cooking.” I patted my belly and leaned back in the seat. “I can’t remember the last time I had such a yummy homemade meal.”
“Now you’re being too kind, Gemma. It wasn’t that special.” He looked pleased with himself, even if he didn’t quite believe me.
“No, I’m serious. Like I can’t remember the last time someone’s actually cooked a meal for me, you know? That’s really nice.”
“You’re telling me you’re not having plenty of dates at different men’s apartments while they cook and make you delicious food?”
“Are you asking me about the other dates I’m going on?” I said lightly, though I started to feel a little tense. Was this the moment we were going to talk about our other dates? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know about him and the other women he was seeing just yet.