“Close them, Walker.”
He rested the painting on his chest, like it was a pillow, and did as I’d instructed.
“I want you to mentally put us in that cabin. I want you to picture us on the couch, snuggled under a blanket, with a roaring fire in front of us. It’s late. Really late. And outside, we hear the sound of nature and birds and the rustling of leaves on the trees. The outdoors is just starting to wake up, the sun stirring beneath the horizon.” I smiled as the calmness began to spread through his expression.
“We’re so tired, but we don’t want to go to sleep. We want to watch the sky fill with color. I do anyway. You, on the other hand, want to talk about food. You relentlessly want to feed me. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. But dinner is my favorite, and you know that. Because every evening, we sit on the back porch with plates in our laps and iced tea that I brewed earlier. We talk. We watch the clouds move across the water until it gets dark.” I took a deep breath, wishing I could bring Walker to that cabin, hoping I could make that happen one day.
“My stomach is full. So full, like the night we were in San Diego, and I can’t imagine eating another bite. The dinner you made completely blew me away. I can’t stop thinking about it. When I tell you that, you agree that it came out better than you’d intended. You don’t even want to eat dessert because you don’t want to change the flavor in your mouth.”
I massaged the back of his palm. “Open youreyes, Walker.” When my vision was filled with his beautiful green stare, I added, “What do you taste?”
He pulled his bottom lip into his mouth. “You’re good.”
“Stop. What do you taste?”
With his lip still inward, he ran his tongue over it, his chair bouncing, and he pulled the painting off his chest to look at it. “A pan-seared halibut with a lemon dill and butter sauce, topped with capers and small vine tomatoes.”
“Now meat. Go.”
He gave me a look that told me I was skating on ice that was very thin. “A filet with blue cheese butter, covered in shiitake mushrooms with a wine-spiked drizzle.”
I was smiling so hard that it hurt. “And for our friends who don’t eat animals—what do you have for them?”
“A vegan ramen with an exotic mushroom broth, topped with crispy tofu and charred corn and a chili oil drizzle.”
“Mmm,yesss.” I clapped. “That is one sexy menu, and I want all of it.” I held out my hand and nodded toward his door. “Let’s go make it.”
“Now?” He looked startled.
“Yes. Right now.”
He sat up straight. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”
“My boss gave me a watch that happens to give me that info.”
He chuckled. “Don’t you have to work in the morning?”
“I do.”
“You’re not going to get any sleep, Alivia.”
“I don’t care.”
As I was about to wiggle off the desk, his hand went to my knee, stopping me. “I need to ask you something.” His thumb stroked across the bone—a spot I’d cut shaving more times than I could count. “If we make this menu tonight and I feel good about it, will you come to the event with me?” He went silent,and I wasn’t sure what he meant until he added, “And be my sous chef?”
“What?”
“Is that a no?”
“A no?” I laughed. “That’s a hell yes!”
I threw my arms around him and buried my face in his neck. He’d been in the kitchen all evening, and I could smell Charred on him, but the scent that was also there was one I loved so much. One I got a whiff of every time I was close to him. One that was a combination of ginger, grapefruit, and sage, and it made me close my eyes and kiss him.
“I can’t do it without you, Alivia,” he said when I separated us. “I need your help. I know that.”
“I’ll be there.” I held him even tighter. “And I won’t leave your side.”
TWENTY-FIVE
