right. “Let’s eat.”
“Do you need me to get something from the fridge?”
“No, I have everything set. Unless you want something else?”
He tried to hide his smile but failed. “No, I’m good.”
Dinner was a quiet affair. The sound of our forks against the plates was a soft accompaniment to the music filling all of the empty spaces.
Brando seemed to be a meticulous eater, taking small scoops. Compared to how he had eaten at the diner, his pace was slower, and I wondered if he even liked chicken potpie. I hadn’t thought to ask. Or perhaps my cooking was just bad. Besides Grandmother Poésy, and apart from baked goods, I had never cooked for anyone.
“Scarlett.” He placed his fork down with care, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
“Hmm?”
“I can hear your thoughts.”
“You can?”
“You think because I’m not scarfing down my food that it’s bad. That I don’t like it.”
I laughed, more like exploded, because it was the truth and I couldn’t even deny it. Explosive laughter after someone read you was always a telltale sign that the person had been right. There’s no recovering.
He didn’t laugh, but his eyes had lost some of their powerful intensity. When he looked at me, his eyes felt warm, almost soft. “You don’t scarf down what’s mean to be savored, Ballerina Girl. It’s like making love for the first time. A man knows what he has, and he’ll take his time feeling what’s meant to be shared. No one has ever cooked for me before.”
Can a heart float? Can a stomach sink? All at once? In the logical sense, any doctor would debunk the theory, but in that moment, I honestly knew that both at once could happen. Without warning, the floating heart in my chest broke for him. The hurt seemed to deflate all of the wonderful feelings. When his eyes softened, when he lowered his guard, I could see and feel something that I doubted the rest of the world could.
The issue with his father, and Maggie Beautiful. I doubted that he was ever free to be a child. A gap existed where the child would’ve been and where the man was now—he had missed something, and I knew what it was, a childhood.
He had been a man for a long time. All of his life, if the feelings storming through me were right. I didn’t doubt them. He had given me that much of himself. His truth.
“Hallelujah moment!” I sighed, turning my face up to the ceiling, pretending to think. Showing him the heartbreak I felt for his lost childhood would only send us two paces back. We were sharing, and I didn’t want him to clam up on me. “I understand now. You have so much patience with the suckers. Your logic makes sense.”
He picked up his beer, took a drink. He waved the bottle at me. “You have none.”
“True, true.” I grinned. “I’m a sucker killer.”
He pulled the bottle from his mouth before he could take another drink. He laughed, a sound that I’d gladly trade my heart for. “I’m willing to wager that you’d eat my entire stash in under a few minutes. I’ve seen you. For a ballerina, you’re savage.”
“I have good teeth.” I chomped at him. “I believe in brushing, flossing, going to the dentist for regular checkups and cleanings.”
“Teeth, ah?” He smiled wide, showing off his perfect set. In the glow of the candles, paired with the darkness of his skin and hair, those eyes, he seemed almost wicked. Straight out of an enchanted Italian forest somewhere. Those eyes could lure me to great passion while also having the potential to leave me alone out in the cold, starved for his love. His eyes were one of the most powerful weapons in his possession. They moved me beyond my own limits. They took me from shy to uninhibited. I had never been as open with anyone as I was with him.
My heart sped up and a rush of butterflies made my heart float again. “You seem to have wonderful dental health.”
He stared at me for a moment before he laughed. His laugh vibrated to the marrow of my bones. He threw his head back and roared, his throat working in the soft light. I was pretty sure birds flew from their trees from the warning, and women everywhere wept at the beauty of the rare sound.
After he settled, he sighed, wiping at his eyes, a grin lingering. “Teeth.” He shook his head and started eating again.
“Well,” I