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“Does it qualify as a meal though? That’s a dessert?”
He glanced back at me as I said this, but I was too busy trying to recover from what had to be the sexiest thing I’d heard all day. But at the same time, the fact that he knew how to make it made me feel a little sour because it meant that he’d previously met with a woman in his life who maybe taught him.
And just like that, my smile deflated.
I tried to play it off, to act like I didn’t care whatsoever; however, when he came over to me then with a wooden spoon stained with the sauce, I decided once again not to hold back.
I tasted it and was quite amazed by the outcome.
“That’s great,” I said, and he nodded.
“Dinner’s almost ready. One thing I love the most about this dish is how everything can be done in one pan. I’ll add some shrimp to it,” he said and headed over to the refrigerator. He brought out some already-baked shrimp and plopped it in the pan, and I continued to watch until I couldn’t keep my mouth shut anymore.
“The tiramisu,” I said. “You learned how to make it for a previous girlfriend?”
“No,” he replied, and it almost felt as though my spine was going to give out from the instant relief that I felt.
“I learned it for my mom’s sake,” he said. I was taken aback by this because I hadn’t heard anything about his parents from Sophie. There were no pictures or mention of them, and so I paid even more attention now to everything he was saying.
I wanted to ask for more information, but I was sure this would be prying, especially since he wasn’t offering any more. I sighed and concluded it.
“That is incredibly sweet,” I said, and it was as though I had unlocked my access to more intimate conversation.
“Yeah,” he replied. “She loved it a lot, but she wasn’t allowed to eat it when she got sick, so I couldn’t just buy generic ones for her. So I tried to make it as healthy as possible by switching out a few of the ingredients, and then I brought it to her. She always complained about the taste, but she never left a piece uneaten. Those were great days.”
As he concluded this statement, I couldn’t help but admire him even more. If I could guess accurately, I would guess that his mother hadn’t made it, and as he spoke fondly of her and referred to the days as great days, I truly admired him for it.
And so when the food was finally ready and he turned around to face me with the most gorgeous smile I'd ever seen, I headed over to him. He wrapped an arm around my waist as he looked down at the pan, and I did the same. My mouth watered, butabove all, I wanted to watch him very closely and commit all of him to my memory, so I continued to watch him until eventually, he noticed. He leaned down then surprisingly, and once again, he was taking my lips with his.
I didn’t want the food to go to waste and I wanted to know how it tasted. However, the longer he kissed me, the less I wanted to part away.
“I think we can have an entrée,” I said when we broke away from the kiss.
Amused, he smiled, but before I could expect a response, he was kissing me once again, and I completely gave in. By the time we parted, all thoughts had been completely wiped away from my mind.
“Let’s eat,” he said so easily, so casually, while I had to reach for the counter to stabilize myself. He smiled as he watched me, but soon enough, I was able to take my seat on one of the island counters. He brought the plates over and joined me, and the aroma alone made me sigh.
The first bite was heavenly, so much better than I could have imagined, and immediately I understood Elena’s compliment of him.
“This is amazing,” I told him. “I’m pretty sure if you wanted to learn about other recipes, you’d be amazing at them as well.”
He smiled, and I watched as he rolled the noodles on his fork. He, however, didn’t respond, but I was content with just watching him.
I knew he built all that he had now by himself, but the grace, dominance, and work ethic that he naturally exuded seemed to have been ingrained in him from birth.
He was like a drug, I realized as I stared at him. Everything about him seemed to be the perfect fit for all I had always wanted, and this just made me feel even sadder because howcould I, against all odds, come so close to what I wanted, yet I couldn't have him?
“Eat before it gets cold,” he urged, and he didn’t have to ask me twice.
I was starving as I hadn’t had anything to eat after that very charged and complicated brunch we had. Not much had been solved, but currently, with the warmth of the apartment, the stunning views, slow jazz, and this dream of a man, every single problem seemed so far away that they might have as well been nonexistent.
As we ate though, I thought about his words from earlier, about the proposition, and even though it sounded preposterous at the time, I couldn’t quite get it out of my mind now. The longer I thought about it, the more, per se, it sounded even funnier. And so, I wanted to bring it up as we ate, but it seemed pointless.
A lot of things seemed pointless now that I had made the ultimate decision to leave. Him, his office... his bed... this one was going to hurt.
“What is it?” he asked without even looking at me, and I was somewhat startled.
“How did you know I was staring at you?” I smiled as I picked up my glass, and he shrugged his shoulders.
