“Weapons?”
“Obviously,” I moving to the drawer for a whisk. “Mini tuna tartare cones with gold leaf—sharp enough to pierce an ego. Spicy karaage bites served on skewers that look like daggers. Wagyu sliders with wasabi aioli, each one wrapped in edible rice paper.”
“Mmmm.”
Once done with the eggs, I pushed it over to the guard and pulled out an assortment of small cast-iron pans. Next, I lined them on the counter and drizzled oil into each—olive, sesame, avocado—letting the air fill with layered scent.
Hiro actually grinned—wide, boyish, incredulous. “This is going to be fun.”
“I think so, but what do you think about the Claws? Will they be happy?”
Hiro didn’t move for a moment. His knife rested against the cutting board, forgotten. He just watched me, and this mix of awe and sorrow lived behind his eyes. “I think they will feel loved and appreciated.”
“And no longer slighted?”
“Yes.”
“Awesome.” I reached past him to grab a clean towel.
Hiro returned to chopping and got back into a good rhythm with the potatoes, but then after a few minutes, he glanced at me and paused with his knife hovering mid-air. "What happened?"
“Huh?” I stopped what I was doing. “What do you mean, what happened?”
His gaze fixed on my shoulder.
I followed it and realized he'd spotted the Band-Aid peeking out of my shirt. There was also a smaller one on my lower neck too.
Heat crept up my face. "Oh. That’s. . .nothing."
His eyes narrowed slightly, studying the placement. "Those are new. You didn't have those Band-Aids on when you came into the war room yesterday."
I blinked, impressed with him despite my embarrassment. He really was good with details. Observant in a way that probably made him deadly in his line of work.
"Yeah, I didn't have the Band-Aids then."
He set down the knife completely and turned to face me. "My brother's not hurting you, right?"
"Oh, no! No, no." The words tumbled out quickly, followed by a nervous chuckle I couldn't quite suppress. "Actually, this is. . .I guess we can call this a love bite."
His eyes widened. "A love bite?"
I busied myself grabbing fresh herbs from the counter. "Yes. Just, you know intense little love bites."
"During sex?"
My face was absolutely on fire now. I started arranging the herbs with far more concentration than necessary. "Yes."
"Very interesting." Hiro went back to chopping, but I could hear the curiosity in his voice. "My brother typically doesn’t bite during sex. I've never seen him do that."
I pulled out the eggs for the Benedict, grateful for the distraction of preparation. "Well, it's not like you would know what he does intimately. Or would you?"
Hiro looked at me, completely unbothered by the question. "I've seen him have sex a lot. And during those times, he never bit a woman."
What?!
Chapter fourteen
Healing and Hunger
