I cleaned up in the bathroom, admiring the old claw foot tub and hoping I’d have a chance to enjoy it. Then I headed downstairs, following the scent of garlic.
He was in the kitchen with his back to me as he stirred something on the stove.
“It smells like an Italian restaurant in here,” I said as I went to peek at what he was cooking.
“You sound surprised,” he said, moving one pot over to the sink to drain water from the pasta.
“In high school, I always got the feeling you couldn’t microwave pizza snacks.”
He laughed. “I’ve learned a few new tricks since then.” He winked at me.
Was he talking about sexual tricks or were my hormones seeing innuendo where there was none? Because that night at the oak tree, he did show a few new tricks, the second orgasm being my favorite. Cripes, again with the naughty thoughts.
“Hungry?” he asked as he quirked an eyebrow at me.
“Starving.” And yes, that was innuendo on my part because Wyatt cooking was extremely sexy.
17
Wyatt
I was no gourmet cook, but I could whip up a pretty good batch of spaghetti. I focused on serving the plates to distract me from the fact that the woman of my dreams was in my kitchen, moving into my house. If only she was moving into my bedroom too.
I turned to put the plates out, seeing her standing by the table. She looked at home. Like she belonged. Because she did. Ten years ago, our plan was that she’d be here. We would fill the house with our love and laughter and kids. I fucked up that dream, but that didn’t mean all was lost. If I played my cards right, maybe we could still have that.
“Do you want wine?” I asked as I grabbed a bottle of red and two glasses from the cupboard.
“Sure. But don’t think I’m going to get hammered and let you have your way with me again.” She said it jokingly, but I knew there was a tinge of truth. She had a wall up and I had to respect it, hoping eventually she’d knock it down.
I poured us both a drink, setting the glasses by our plates and motioning for her to sit.
“Remember when you were the one chasing me?” I said as I sat across from her.
She laughed as pink came to her cheeks. “I was determined, wasn’t I?”
I shrugged. “I was a bit slow on the go.”
“Really? I thought it was that dumb bro’ code.”
“That’s why I didn’t chase you. Once you were obvious on how much you wanted me. How desperate you were to have me-”
She rolled her eyes.
“Am I lying?”
“No.”
“Well, when I realized that, I had to work extra hard to maintain the bro’ code. I guess I was too weak.” I took a sip of wine. “Or more likely, I couldn’t resist. I was desperate too, Sinclair.”
She shifted uncomfortably. I let it go, taking a bite of my spaghetti, watching her as she did the same.
“Oh wow, that’s good. Where’d you learn to cook?” she asked.
It was ridiculous how much her praise boosted my pride. “When we were on missions, all we had were MREs – meals-ready-made – and after a while, they really started to suck. So eventually, I found places to pick up spices and would experiment adding them to the MREs. I took that and experimented more when I was in a place I could shop and cook. It was soothing and I like food, so it was a win-win.”
“It’s delicious.”
“Do you cook?” I asked. It wasn’t a prerequisite for my wanting her as my wife, but I had to admit, it was nice to come home for lunch and dinner and have it already on the table.
She snorted. “Hardly. I’m a bit hopeless there. But I want to learn. My goal is for me and Alyssa to get our own place.”
I flinched. This was their place. I sipped my wine to keep from saying it out loud and spooking her.
I also didn’t want to talk about her living somewhere else, so I changed the subject. “So, if you don’t cook, what do you do for fun or to relax?”
“I go with Trina to bug Ryder at the Salvation Station.”
“Are they together?” I asked. I realized I hadn’t spent much time with Ryder. I really needed to get together with him to catch up.
“No, but he keeps making comments like they hooked up once, but maybe it's wishful thinking. Personally, I think it would be great.”
“There’s no sister code?” I sipped my wine.
She looked up at me and laughed. “I have no problem with my friend being with my brother.”
I shook my head. “Women are so much more enlightened.”
She smiled smugly.
“So why did I note a hint of you being annoyed that I hired Jeannette Schmidt to represent me?”
“You would bring that up.” She shook her head.
“There’s something appealing about you being jealous.” I dragged my garlic bread through my sauce.
“I’m not jealous. Not now, anyway.”
Ouch.
“In high school, though, I wanted to scratch her eyes out. Especially when it got out that you were fucking her.”
I shrugged. “I had to learn somewhere. I was a sophomore and she was a senior.”
“Are all men horndogs or is that just you and Ryder?” she asked with a pointed look at me, like it was a serious question.
“All men like sex, although I think that women like it just fine too.” I leaned forward. “I do believe you’re the one who seduced me, Sinclair.”
“You really like to remind me of that, don’t you?”
I grinned. “I do. It’s a favorite memory of mine.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not so easy this time, pal…the other night notwithstanding.”
I nodded. “It seems only fair that this time I do the pursuing.”
She stilled for a moment, and then finished twisting her spaghetti on her fork.
