He cooks too.
He was so sweet, and in so many ways. His care was subtle but always present. Even when he was pushing me away, he was doing things for me, always there looking out for me. I realized now all the guys had in some way, shape, or form in the past, Jax, LJ, and Knight. I was highly surprised they didn’t all come out for this trip just to be here. I guess I assumed Royal hadn’t allowed that, on his own for this one.
“Royal?” I crept down the hallway, the suite incredibly warm and smelled so stinkin’ good. It was a smell I couldn’t identify, something hot but nothing like bacon or eggs. I appreciated those smells despite being vegan. I didn’t have to eat the food to know it still smelled good, and I wasn’t ignorant to good-smelling things.
What’s he making?
“Royal?” I found him in the kitchen, well… at least someone. Whoever was whistling a happy tune, shaking his chiseled hips in his designer jeans. He was a little shorter than Royal and the buzzed haircut definitely told me it wasn’t him. I caught looks of the guy in the kitchen over the bar and must have announced myself because Jax turned around with a frying pan in his hand.
He grinned. “Ah, mon cherie! Comment allez vous?”
My eyebrows had to have jumped at least the height of my forehead. He spoke French? I shook my head, only to see LJ skirt through the kitchen with a spoon. The tall blond scooped some of whatever Jax had in the pan right out of it, blowing on a sample before tasting it.
Jax frowned. “What the fuck, dude?”
LJ whacked him with the wooden spoon before tossing it into the kitchen sink and washing his hands behind the bar. He flashed white teeth at me. “You’ll have to forgive him. He took all of a semester of French before switching over to German.”
Looking hurt, Jax placed the spatula to his chest. “What can I say? My family has ties to the motherland.”
“More like to Hitler.” LJ dodged quick when Jax attempted to swing the frying pan full of food at him, and chuckling, LJ came out of the kitchen. Finding me, the extremely tall blond boy with a rather long wingspan threw an arm around me, bringing me into a hug. “Hey, good to see you.”
It was surprisingly good to see him too, and Jax. I was actually just thinking about all of them.
I hugged him back. “You too. Where’s Royal? Knight?”
“Went for some OJ and some smacks.” LJ came away. He pointed over the bar. “This one’s cooking you both out of house and home.”
Appearing hurt again, Jax came out of the kitchen with his frying pan and spatula. “Am not. I’m just trying out a new recipe my moms taught me.”
Folding his arms, LJ lounged back against the suite’s dining room table. He tossed a nod at me. “Jax’s moms are celebrity chefs.”
“Only during the week.” Jax ventured over to the dining table too, which I now realized had quite the spread. There was a bowl of cut melon in the center, oatmeal and various things used to sweeten and flavor it next to that, and carafe of what looked like milk.
“You’re vegan, right?” Jax asked, his frying pan filled with what looked like eggs but didn’t smell like it. From the looks of it, there were peppers, mushrooms, and some kind of meat mixed in there with yellow crumbles. He raised the pan. “I present a vegan tofu scramble. I’ve been dying to make this. One of my moms is vegan too.”
“How did you know I was vegan and where did you even get all this stuff?” I asked, laughing when I took one of the seats.
Jax pushed the food onto my plate, and it looked hella good. “Royal. He had all the food already in the fridge.”
Of course he did, another one of those things he did. He could fool the world all he wanted with his brooding attitude.
He was still sweet as hell.
Kind of in awe, I shook my head. “What did you use for meat?”
“Seitan.” Jax placed the pan in the center on an oven mitt, and when LJ frowned—he’d taken a seat next to me and hadn’t gotten served—Jax threw a hand at him. “Um, all this so isn’t for you, bro,” he chided before wiggling his eyebrows at me. “What do you think, December?”
He appeared very excited for my response so I sampled what he made.
“Dude,” I basically moaned. Grabbing another forkful, I shoved it into my mouth. “What the fuck?”
“I know, right?” His grin strong, Jax backed away, heading toward the kitchen. “Wait until you have it with chocolate almond milk. We only put regular on the table.”
“You know, you really don’t have to open and consume everything in the fridge? We’re checking out later today.”
Royal appeared from behind my chair when I turned, never failing to look hot as hell. He had his North Face jacket on, his cheeks flushed and red. I started to get up, but he came to me, a bag of groceries in his hands. He kissed my cheek. “Good morning, princess.”
I’d never not like him calling me that, calling me anything really. I just loved him saying my name. I loved loving him.
“Hey.” I pulled back. “You got groceries?”
“Got three more mouths to feed.” He wagged blond eyebrows. “Four if you count Knight’s gladiator ass.”
“Shut the fuck up.” Knight came around the corner in his big-ass puffer coat, and I was reminded by how he’d let me wear that once. He’d saved me, literally giving me the coat off his back. He came into the
