“Or, um…meaty, maybe. No, that’s not right. More likeearthy, or of the flesh.” She shivered. In fact, that was exactly how she would describe Ivan.
He took a slow sip in silhouette, eyes closed. Her gaze traveled along his neck to where his Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed, then back up to catch the flash of his eyes on her.
“Seems all right to me, but my taste buds are burned out from too much Coors.”
“I’ve never been a big drinker.”
He smiled. “That’s okay too.”
“What else you got for me to taste?”
“Oh, this is a blue cheese. Lady at the store told me it’s French. The mother of all blues, she called it. Here.” He handed her a cracker and made up his own.
“Roquefort.”
“You know this stuff?”
“Yeah.” She didn’t elaborate. Joey had enjoyed teaching her all about the finer things in life. Cheese and foie gras. She’d enjoyed the cheese but refused the goose liver. You could take the girl out of the commune, but you couldn’t force her to eat tortured animals. She hadn’t been completely deaf to her mother’s teachings, after all.
They ate a little of everything. Sometimes he fed her and sometimes the other way around, but what she liked most was rediscovering it all with this man. Erasing the bad and replacing it with the good. She liked the way he offered without insisting. She liked the way he listened to her opinion.
Before she knew it, the bottle was gone, and they’d decimated the snacks.
“What’d you like best?”
“Your venison.”
“Yeah? You just sayin’ that?”
“No. It was good.”
“You ever think about hunting?”
She jerked a little at the thought before letting it settle over her.
“No. Never. Do you use a gun?”
“Yeah, that and a tomahawk.”
“Wha—Oh. Ha-ha.” She snuggled farther into him, liking this. Likinghimso much.
“We’re out of red. Wanna try the white?”
“You brought it?”
“Girl, I broughteverything.”
“Everything?”
“Got the condoms.”
“What about the scarves?”
He hesitated before saying, “No.”
She let out a big breath. “Good.”
“Come here,” he said, pulling her to him and into a heady kiss, slow and sweet and deep. “Everything okay?”
