His smile fell. “Okay.”
“What’s wrong? I can substitute cow’s milk.”
“I can’t have gluten either,” he said in a small voice, looking at his feet.
“Excellent. I like experimenting with recipes, and I have enough ingredients to work around that, including gluten-free flour.” I lifted his head with a tentacle under his chin.
His beautiful green eyes had appeared in my dreams, and the way he looked at me filled my stomach with butterflies. It was impossible for someone to have such a strong grip on my emotions within two days of meeting. Yet here we were.
“Can we do it now?” He hopped off the counter.
“Yup.”
I grabbed a fresh pair of boxers and pulled them on while balancing myself on my tentacles, then followed the ball of energy that headed to the kitchen. I glanced at mySwimming with the SharksT-shirt, but decided I liked the way Kaos looked at my chest too much to cover it up.
Chapter Eight
Kaos
“Okay, let’s see what we've got here. Almond flour.” Spiro set a white bag on the counter. “Dairy free butter, caster sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and jam.” He placed several more ingredients next to each other and shuffled them like a magician would his cups. With hands on his hips and tentacles organizing everything, he nodded. “How do you feel about Victoria Sponge Cake?”
I hopped onto the counter and wiggled my toes. “I wanna feel it in my mouth.”
“I can arrange that.” The hooded look Spiro gave me confirmed that his mind was as deep in the gutter as mine. I’d already came twice today. Far from my daily record.
Spiro proceeded to add flour to a bowl, then mix, measure, and magic everything with his hands and tentacles so quickly that I couldn’t keep track of it.
“Will you be okay with all the ingredients you see?”
I stretched my hands above my head, arching. “Yeah. If I start choking, my epi-pen is on my nightstand.”
Spiro paused, all his limbs frozen mid-action. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope. You need to stab me with the pointy end.” I waggled my eyebrows, enjoying immensely how Spiro shook his head in exasperation. “The instructions are on it.”
“You’ll show me when we’re done. This is not a joke. I didn’t realize your allergies were so severe.”
“I’ll be fine.” Using the free moment, I replied to the email about a room availability next week and confirmed I wouldn’t be taking it. Was I making a mistake? I eyed the tentacled hottie with rippling muscles and suckers galore, and decided that even if I had fun with him for a few days before he kicked me out, it would still be worth staying.
I bounced in my seat. “Can I help?”
Spiro’s expression was skeptical, but he handed me a bowl. “Mix.”
I balanced the sleek stainless steel on my lap and grabbed the spoon. The batter already smelled good.
My pocket vibrated, and I startled, sending the bowl across the kitchen. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” I launched after it, but my phone kept ringing. As I was pulling it out of my hoodie, stepped on the spoon I’d yeeted, and dropped the phone into the spilled batter. It landed with a dull splat.
“Kaos! What did you do?” Spiro’s shocked voice boomed.
“It just flew out of my hands!” I plucked my phone from the splatted mass and wiped it on my hoodie.
“How?” He held me by the hips as I was slipping on the mess, then turned me to face him. His eyes scanned me as if he were checking for injuries. He was visibly upset, but not angry.
I better fix it all so he could forgive me faster, if that were even possible. I pushed away from him.
“I’ll clean it up.” Kneeling on the tiles, I reached for the paper towel on the counter. It fell on my head, then bounced and rolled out on the floor like a white carpet for a special event.
“No!” Spiro’s voice was sharp but not malicious.
