I laughed as I made myself comfortable at the bar on the other side of the kitchen.
“Is it bad to say I wanted to impress you?” I could see a smile form on Ryker’s face, but he didn’t turn toward me.
“You’ve already impressed me.” His head shot up at my words.
“Yeah?” He seemed skeptical of me saying that.
“Yeah,” I got up and made my way over to him, wrapping my arms around his waist as he continued to stir our dinner before the timer went off.
“Dinner’s ready.”
I let go as Ryker turned to pull out two plates from the cabinet. He plated our dinner before grabbing two glasses out of a different cabinet. I grabbed the plates, taking them to the table.
“What would you like to drink?” Ryker turned around to ask me.
Me holding our plates and him getting us drinks felt domesticated, something I hadn’t felt before, even when I was dating Parker. I shook the thought of him out of my head again. I normally didn’t think about him at all, but it seemed that with getting closer to Ryker, some of my anxiety around being in a relationship was creeping in.
I just needed to remember what Jemma and I spoke about: Ryker isn’t Parker.
“I’m good with whatever you’re having.”
Ryker followed with two glasses of water, and my stomach growled. I realized I hadn’t eaten or drunk anything today, besides a tea this morning and some chips.
“This looks amazing.” I took a seat and grabbed my fork, shoveling a bite in before Ryker could even get in his chair. A soft moan escaped me as I chewed the food. Ryker let out a small laugh as he took his seat and joined me. The garlic bread he made looked homemade, and I about fainted from the pungent garlic taste. This was heavenly, and I wanted more.
“This tastes incredible.” I finally said after a few bites.
“It’s one of my favorite dishes to make.”
“Why is that?” I questioned as I shoveled another bite in.
“Makes tons of leftovers.” Ryker let out a little laugh, and I followed suit because I couldn’t blame him for that. I loved making dishes that gave me more to eat in the following days. Give me extra lunches and dinners anytime.
“I love your laugh,” Ryker said after a few more bites, and when I looked up at him, he wasn’t looking at me. He was staring down at his plate and scooping up another bite.
“I love it when you make me laugh.” I followed up with the compliment and took another bite myself. My plate was almost empty, and my stomach was nearly full.
The rest of dinner was relatively quiet, but while there was silence between us, it didn’t feel awkward. It felt like we were just having another evening together after spending thousands of them together. Like it was natural for us to do.
After Ryker finished his plate, he took both of our plates to the kitchen. I stood wanting to help.
“Sit,” he demanded without looking up at me. “I’ll take care of the cleanup.”
I sat back down in the chair and watched from afar as Ryker cleaned up dinner. Once he was done, he stood in the middle of the kitchen, staring at me. His hands were in his pockets, and his shoulders slumped forward. He looked awkward, like he wasn’t sure what to do next.
I stood from the table, bringing my now-empty glass of water to the sink. He was rocking back and forth on his feet, like he was trying to make a decision, but wouldn’t look me in the eyes.
“Everything okay?” I questioned.
I hadn’t seen him like this yet.
Nervous.
He was normally the suave one walking in and making sure I wasn’t freaking out, but this was a different side to him. One I wanted to unwrap more of. He’d started opening up last night,but I knew there was more to what he was letting on about his life; I just wasn’t sure what it was.
“I want to show you something.” At the statement, Ryker stopped moving entirely, his demeanor turning more serious.
“Okay.” I drawled out the word as Ryker looked at me, his eyebrows scrunching together with concern.
