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ChapterTwenty-Six
Dominik
I shot up in bed as the air conditioning unit rattled to life.
The foggy haze of sleep muffled my eyes, causing me to rub them in order to focus. I found myself staring at the dark waters of the ocean with a small shark staring at me through the three-feet-thick glass that surrounded my basement. And as I stood to my feet, I walked over and watched it watch me.
“What?” I asked. “Never seen a naked man before?”
The shark simply stared at me until I slammed my fist against the glass, then it whipped around and high-tailed it back into the darkness. I drew in a deep breath, lifting my arms over my head and popping the vertebrae of my spine back into place. And as I relished the scent of sex that filled the space around me, the sound of something sizzling caught my ear.
Before a wondrous smell pierced through the musky air.
“Is that… steak?” I murmured.
With a crack of my neck, I pivoted on my heels. I snatched my clothes up from the floor and dug out my cell phone, only to find that it was damn near eleven at night. Jesus fucking hell, no wonder I was exhausted. I needed sleep. I needed a good night’s rest before tackling work in the morning. But the luscious smell of steak forced me back into my sweatpants before I jammed my phone into my pocket.
Is she… cooking?
As I pulled myself up the stairs, the sound of the sizzling ceased. I emerged into the kitchen only to find a very disheveled Eden standing at the stove wrapped in nothing but a microfiber towel. I leaned against the doorway and crossed my arms over my chest. The plate of shrimp was the first thing to catch my eye before she added three slabs of steak to the plate as well.
But, once she dropped a full plate of chopped vegetables into the pan, the sizzling kicked back up with a force that tugged a smirk across my cheeks.
“Bah, dah, buh buh baaah, hm hm, lee lee doop doop doooo.”
Hearing her sing to herself was… something else. A chuckle bubbled up the back of my throat, but I forced it down as my gaze traveled along her body. Her prickly legs poked out from the bottom of the towel, teasing me with their existence as the slit of the towel rushed all the way up to her hip. Her curves were too much for the fabric itself to contain, and as her wild hair came into view, I felt my groin tightening.
Before I could push off the doorframe to take her for a second time, however, her humming stopped.
“No,” she said calmly. “I’m spent for the night. Keep it to yourself.”
I let the chuckle bubble to the surface. “That isn’t something for you to dictate.”
She started moving the vegetables around in the pan. “If you want my cooperation, you’ll save it for tomorrow.”
That didn’t stop me from drinking in her sheer beauty with my eyes, though.
“These veggies are almost done,” she said as she reached for a plate out of a cabinet above her head, “so feel free to make yourself a plate.”
I took the plate when she handed it to me. “Don’t mind if I do.”
“There’s lemonade cooling in the fridge. Might need some ice with it still, though.”
I picked up a slab of filet mignon with my fingertips and tossed it onto the plate. “Appreciate it.”
“Uh huh.”
And as I reached for a set of tongs to grab some shrimp, I leaned into her ear. “If you’re not careful, though, I’ll end up making this part of your duties.”
The second I saw her spatula whipping itself through the air, I ducked. The wall behind me became splattered with the liquid of the pan-seared vegetables and I barked with laughter. She shot me a look before a grin spread across those rosy red cheeks of hers, and I could’ve sworn I heard her giggle beneath her breath.
“You’re such a jerk, you know that?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I’ve been told on occasion that I can be a bit much.”
She dumped the vegetables into a bowl at her side. “A bit much? I think someone’s been trying to butter you up with all those nice words.”
“I mean, I have been told that I’m a handful.”
