Page 36 of The Addict

“Take over for me, will you dear?” she asked me before leaving the kitchen.

“Sure.” I took the spatula in my hands and tried to remember how to flip eggs so I didn’t fully embarrass myself in front of Delane. She didn’t need to know that our maids and cooks usually did this for us.

Don’t burn the fucking eggs, I kept repeating to myself.

A funny feeling began to form in my stomach. Delane and I were standing there together, cooking, like we were on a damn family sitcom. Occasionally, I caught her glancing in my direction, and I finally flashed her a smile. She blushed and resumed her cooking, and I smirked to myself, proud that I could get that reaction out of her.

I wondered what else I could do.

“This is fucking ridiculous,” I finally blurted, laughing out loud, and I was happy that Delane joined me to break the awful silence.

“I am glad you said something, because I wasn’t sure how I’d keep standing here cooking nonchalantly.” She laughed, grasping her sides with her free hands.

“Look, this doesn’t happen, okay?” I assured her, scraping at the pan while I did. “This never happens, and it’s weird, I’m not a superhero that brings home saved women on a regular basis.”

Delane continued to laugh, struggling to flip pancakes.

I threw my hands up in defeat. “I don’t know what my mom is thinking, to be honest. She only had sons, so she’s probably losing it with excitement to have another girl around.”

“I can see that.” Delane added with a smile.

“I think it’s my turn to ask some questions.” I told her, shutting off the fire on the stove. Success. Perfect eggs.

She bit her lip. “Like what?”

“Favorite color?”

“Red.”

I snorted and she popped me with an oven mitt. “Shut up! I didn’t ask for this hair color.”

I gravitated behind her, casually peeking over her shoulder at the pancakes. “Favorite food?”

She fidgeted from my closeness. “Italian.”

I dipped my head down, my hair brushing the back of her neck ever so slightly. “I have one more question.”

She spun around, her eyes wide and her face flushed. The movement of her chest was out of sync with my own, rapid. Making her squirm like this set me on fire.

“W-Well, go ahead and ask. I have nothing to hide.” She stumbled on her words.

I put my arms on the counter on either side of her and smirked. “Do you–”

“Noah, sweety?” My mom called.

I let out an internal sigh and stood up straight. Delane remained frozen in place. “Yes?”

“It’s for you, dear.”

I crossed my arms, perplexed at who would be calling our main line for me. “Did they give a name?”

My mom’s face appeared from the other room. She had the phone pressed tightly to her chest. “Honey, it’s Mr. Thorne.”

The blood ran cold in my veins.

I turned to look at Delane. She was shaking, her eyes darting from mine to the phone my mother was now holding. “Don’t,” she mouthed.

“Do you want me to tell him that you’re busy? He says he and you had some sort of meeting tonight. Is that right? I had no idea–”