Jorja winced internally when Talon didn’t use a paper towel under the skins. How he didn’t cut himself with the knife either, she’d never know, because that was one huge knife for such a small potato. She sipped from the wine glass, almost spilling it when something nudged at her elbow. “Hi.”
“Behave, Zombie,” Talon ordered.
“He’s okay,” she reassured him, then turned back to the dog. “You and I would be better friends if you had warned me there was an asshole in the restaurant.” She carefully reached for the dog’s head and smiled when he allowed her to rub his ears. “Aren’t you a handsome boy?”
“Someone grab some plates,” Remi called. “Tal, if you want your fries cooked, hurry up, because I’m not standing here all night.”
“Hell no.” Gunnar opened a drawer. “The dishwasher is already on. We’ll use paper plates, that way we can just trash them when we’re done.”
“You just don’t want dishes in the sink.” Another brother appeared in the doorway. “Is there enough for me too, or do I gotta do the peeling thing?”
“I got you, bro.” Talon nodded to the pile of peeled potatoes in front of him and handed the knife to his brother. “You get to slice them while I wash my hands.”
Gunnar dropped the paper plates on the counter next to Remi and some packages of disposable cutlery in the center of the table. Before Jorja knew what was happening, Remi placed a huge helping of fries covered with curry sauce and melted cheese in front of her. The smell… wow… just wow! She probably wouldn’t be able to make a dent in the mountain of food. But oh boy, if it tasted half as good as it looked, heaven in the shape of a food coma was definitely in her near future. “Thank you.”
“Eat up.” Remi smacked at the fork the fourth brotheraimed at her plate. “Don’t you dare touch her food. Not everyone likes to share, Colt.”
“Crap, sorry.” Colt winced in apology. “I forget not everyone grew up with hounds for brothers.” He turned away to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of something, and handed it to her. “To get the authentic experience, you gotta have malt vinegar on the fries.”
Vinegar on fries? She glanced doubtfully from the bottle to her plate and back again. “Is this some Italian custom I don’t know about?”
“Nope, it’s as Irish as curry cheese fries are.” Gunnar placed a plate of food in front of Talon and handed another to Colt. “Go sit down and eat.”
“I didn’t know your family was Irish.” She picked up one fry from her plate, shook some vinegar onto it, and sniffed it before deciding it didn’t smell as weird as she thought it would. Jorja popped the fry into her mouth and hoped it tasted as good as it smelled.
Holy hell, that’s yummy.
Yum—eeee!
Why haven’t I had vinegar on fries before?
Flavor and saltiness exploded over her tastebuds, a marriage of yumminess that she could totally get on board with. “These are awesome.”
“Right?” Gunnar was the last one to sit down. “A friend of ours in Texas, Matt G., only eats his fries with vinegar on them. He made me try them one night at his place in Texas. They’ve been a favorite ever since.”
She could see why. Given the silence as they munched on the curry cheese fries, she could tell how much all of them enjoyed this midnight snack. She made it about halfway through the plate of food before she had to admit defeat. She lowered her fork to the plate and leaned back against her chair, patting her belly. “That was so yum. Thank you, Remi.”
“You’re welcome.” Remi pushed his empty plate back. “Did you have enough?”
“Yeah. I can’t eat another bite,” Jorja assured him.
“Not even cheesecake gelato?” Gunnar interrupted. “I might be able to scrounge up some when we get to my place.”
“Whoa, bro.” Colt refilled wine glasses around the table. “You’ve been holding out on us?”
“You aren’t invited to my place.” Gunnar narrowed his eyes at his brother. “And I’ll know if you try to pick the locks.” He pointed his fork at all three of them. “Stay out of my freezer, understood?”
All of them, even Talon, who Jorja had determined was the quiet one, pouted at Gunnar’s question. Cheesecake gelato must be freaking awesome if it was enough to make these grown men pout like little boys. “I don’t think I could fit any.” She already knew she couldn’t. “I mean, I could try, but I don’t think I’d do it justice.”
“Cheesecake gelato is something you have to be able to do justice to,” Gunnar agreed. “I’ll give you some to try tomorrow.”
She didn’t understand why just having this meal with the brothers had removed most of her anger… she just knew it had.
That’s okay, I’m sure it won’t be long before Jerk-God annoys the crap out of me again.
“Then let’s go to bed.”
Hah… less than thirty seconds. That’s how long it takes.
