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"That is a wonderful idea. Fancy potatoes?" he asked. "We can have it with the steak. Fast and easy."
"Yes, and yes," I replied and helped him in retrieving the ingredients. I was so excited I had to admit, but I was equally just as scared. I knew most people were still at the party, but this was exactly what bothered me because they were sure to return soon and would possibly meet us in the humongous kitchen. We weren't naked, of course, or writhing in each other's arms, but I didn't know of any other way to announce to everyone that we were together; otherwise, why the hell would we be interacting in the middle of the night, much less cooking together? So, I made quick work of all my subsequent chores.
I helped him with slicing the potatoes, seasoning, and popping them in the air fryer, while we worked on the steak together. He claimed his was the best; I argued my own was just as good if not better, and in the end, we decided to do it together while exchanging technique and, of course, kisses. Truly, I love the way he kissed me. Five minutes didn't go by before he leaned down, eager and hungry. They were brief but oh so sweet, and each time he drew away, my grip on the edge of the counter tightened.
Still and despite how often I wanted to jump him, I managed to control myself until the steak was done. I was distracted also by his reverse seasoning method, but he convinced me with enough kisses to trust him, and by the end of it, I was excited to taste. After cutting the steak into pieces, he stabbed one with a fork, and my hand reached out to take it; however, he pushed my hand away. He instead insisted silently that I accept it the way he was presenting it, and I felt myself melt. I held his gaze as I ate and chewed, and he did the same to me. The taste was divine, and at the soft moans that emanated from me, he leaned forward and began to kiss my skin. From the underside of my jaw, he moved down my neck all the way down till his mouth covered the hardened peaks of my nipples through the shift of my sleeping shift. I was on cloud nine. I felt like I was floating, like I was in a dream, and I never wanted it to end.
The way he looked at me, the way he spoke to me… I felt like the center of his world when hours earlier it was easy to convince myself that I didn't even exist. This made me, though, understand and accept this for what it was. It was a fantasy, and even if there was something more, it surely couldn't be acknowledged or acted on until after this week was over. I nodded, watching him as he brought a piece of the steak to his lips as well and took a bite.
“Let's plate it," he said, and I retrieved the plates that we would be using. There was a huge dining room away from the kitchen, but we didn't bother going that far. He pulled out the stools by the island, and we both took a seat.
"Wine?" he asked. I didn't really think I could stomach any extra alcohol for the night, but I didn't exactly fancy water either, so I accepted the bottle he retrieved. He poured the rich red liquid into the wine glass he had brought along, and I watched it flow. He sat back down afterward, and I realized once again that not only were we sharing the same plate, we were also sharing the same wine glass. He took a long sip, and I was tempted to do the same as well, making sure to hold his gaze and sip from the exact same place that he had. He smiled then, and once again, he kissed me, and I drowned in the taste. Eventually, we both parted, and as though shaken, we continued on quietly with our meal.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Drake
I couldn't remember having this much fun with anyone. It was intimate yet simple, and it truly felt that I could remain in her presence forever. I was well aware that this was not the preferable way to go, but I couldn't help it because I wanted to know everything that I possibly could about her. As we ate, I couldn't continually suppress the questions that I had, especially about her work.
"Is photography something you want to do forever?" I asked. "Or is it just a hobby?"
"Forever," she instantly replied, and I couldn't help but smile at her assertiveness. "I'm in love with it, so anywhere it takes me, no matter how big or small, I'm ready to go."
I completely understood her, and it made me nod.
"You are the same in a way, right?" she asked after another long silence.
I was startled at what she was saying, but she soon explained.
"You liked fitness," she said. "You quit your high paying 9-5 to pursue it."
This made my entire chest flood with warmth, but of course, I made sure to control my expression to convey the image that I was as uninvested as possible.
"Yeah," I replied. "I grew to like the business because of my dad. He had gyms; however, he didn't want me to go that route. He'd tried to grow his business using the brick-and-mortar route, but after running into severe problems about a decade or more earlier, he sort of gave up on that.”
"Until you brought the licensing business model," she said, and I nodded.
"Yeah. That revolutionized everything."
Nodding, she set the fork down to take a sip of the wine, and I watched once again as she ensured to close her lips around where mine had been. Once again, it was so simple, yet I felt the effect in my chest in a way that I couldn't quite describe.
We weren't dating, so I had no claim whatsoever to her, but in that moment, I felt as though she was completely mine. She was definitely treating me like this was the case.
"Do you have any advice for me?" she asked. I was surprised to hear this.
"Pertaining to what?" I asked.
"My company, and how to increase it from personal one-on-one service related to something much bigger and scalable.”
“You don’t want to be involved in the personal side?" I asked, loving that we were having such a technical conversation like this because business growth was one of my favorite things to converse and strategize about all the time, with anyone.
I nodded then and thought of her question, and eventually, I came up with a suitable answer.
"You need to know where the money is," I said. "At the time, I wanted to be emotional about the business and simply wanted to keep growing the gyms, but when my father's business started dwindling, I knew that we needed to step up or be forced to step down. I was really intrigued by the challenge by then, so I started attending lots of courses, and that was when I found out that we could license out the business's marketing methods.”
“Using my marketing methods, the gyms started getting filled when I implemented them. And then I quit my job when I saw how effective it was and joined fitness altogether.”
At my words, she nodded, perhaps trying to decipher how she could implement these in her own work.
