Mind? The man made me dinner and had an open bottle of wine waiting just for me when I walked in the door. In short, no, I didn’t mind in the least. I grabbed the bottle opener out of the drawer and quickly popped the cap off before tossing said cap into the trash can that he’d cleverly hidden in the cabinet beneath the sink.
The corner of his mouth tilted up as he sliced the chicken breast and pulled a drumstick off the bird. I sat the bottle of beer on the counter in front of him and slid onto my stool as he deposited the meat on my plate.
When he used the meat fork to snag the skin and tug it loose, I looked at him in alarm. “Don’t take the skin. It’s my favorite part.”
Once again, he smirked slightly before draping the skin back over the meat on my plate. “Apologies.”
I made a face at him. “I’ll forgive you this time, but you should know that I get territorial about my food.”
“I think I already picked that up,” he replied dryly. “Especially when you refused to let me have more than a couple of bites of the dessert we ordered at the Greek restaurant.”
I shrugged and proceeded to put a small pile of salad on my plate, followed by another pile of potatoes and carrots. “It was good and you didn’t show the proper amount of appreciation.”
He outright laughed then. “I don’t recall having the opportunity since I barely got the first bite and had to fight for the second. I wasn’t even sure if it tasted good or not.”
“Oh, it was good,” I retorted as I dished up salad for him as well. “We’ll have to go again and you can order your own dessert.”
Landen was still smiling as I picked up my knife and fork and cut off a bit of chicken breast,withthe skin. It might not be healthy but the skin truly was the best part when it was crisp and covered with herbs and butter.
He watched as I put the first bite in my mouth. The flavors of lemon, butter, herbs, and spices exploded on my tongue and I closed my eyes in delight.
“This is the best chicken I’ve ever eaten,” I moaned after I swallowed. “You have to give me the recipe.”
“No way,” he refused. “If you want my roast chicken, you’ll have to come over here to eat it. And stay the night.”
I opened one eye and peered at him. “Are you trying to use your cooking as a bribe to get me to move in with you?”
“Maybe. Would it work?”
I shrugged and opened my other eye so I could see to cut another bite of chicken. “That depends on how many dishes you can make and how good they are. I’m not cheap, you know.”
He chuckled. “I guess I should take some cooking classes.”
I nearly choked on the food I just put into my mouth. “Seriously?”
His expression changed then. The teasing light in his eyes turned warmer. Not sexual but affectionate. It made the food in my mouth suddenly tasteless and my heart hammer in my ribcage. He looked almost…loving.
Maybe Landen was in just as deep as I was. Though he was physically affectionate, he wasn’t prone to talking about his emotions. At least not in the short time we’d been together, which was a large part of why I wanted to wait to move in with him. The fact he was so interested in having me in his space said a lot but all the sexual chemistry between us was enough to fry my brain. It would suck if I dove in head first, as he was encouraging me to do, only to discover that after the initial attraction between us faded, we didn’t get along. Or that he lost interest in me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, jolting me out of my thoughts.
I didn’t want to answer him honestly and possibly ruin the wonderful dinner he’d prepared, but I would. Because I would want him to do the same if I asked him a question. Also, I made a mental note to never play poker again. At least not with him. He read my expressions too easily. I wondered if everyone was able to as well or if Landen just had an innate talent for understanding my moods.
“I was thinking about how upset I would be if I moved in with you and we couldn’t get along. Or if you changed your mind once you realized that I can be a pain in the ass to live with.”
He blinked at my words and seemed surprised by my bluntness. If I hadn’t been wound up so tightly, I would have laughed. Landen should know by now that I didn’t mince words. Neither did he and that was a large part of why I liked him. More than liked him if the pounding of my heart was anything to go by.
He reached out and took my hand in his, the expression on his face softening. It was a good look. “That’s why you want to wait, isn’t it? Not because we don’t know each other that well, but because you’re afraid of being hurt.”
I had to smile a little. “They’re part of the same whole, Landen.Becausewe don’t know each other well, I can’t be sure we would be able to handle living together yet. Neither one of us is used to having someone in our personal space all the time. Issues are bound to pop up and if we’re not equally invested in the relationship, one of us will end up getting hurt and the other will feel horrible for causing that pain.”
His eyes moved over my face. “Do you think I’m not invested in you?”
God, the answer to that question was a minefield. I squeezed his hand. “Clearly you’re invested in me, Landen. You want me to move in. But neither of us has really talked about how we feel. About each other. We have great sexual chemistry and you make me laugh. Challenge me. Those are all good things, but I have no idea how you truly feel about me because you haven’t told me.”
“You haven’t told me either,” he pointed out. He didn’t sound pissed. Or even hurt. Only matter of fact.
“That’s true,” I admitted but said nothing else because my throat tightened to the point that I wasn’t sure I could physically speak. I wanted to talk about this because it was important but I was also afraid that Landen didn’t feel the same way I did. At the moment, it felt like someone had thrown me into the deep end of the pool and I didn’t know how to swim.
