He took the kid to the bathroom, and they brushed their teeth together before Kai ambled off to his room to get dressed.Nikos took a shower before putting on the clothes Honey had given him. By the time he finished, it was twenty minutes later, and when he stepped back into the living room, he saw Kai sitting at the kitchen island, eating breakfast while Honey cooked in the kitchen.
“Nik,” Kai said as he waved him over. Honey glanced at him beneath her lashes but didn’t acknowledge him. She was dressed in simple gray sweats with her hair pinned up, but like always, Honey was beautiful even without trying. She wore no makeup, letting her natural beauty shine, and still, she looked as good as she did when she performed at the club. It was no wonder his uncle was obsessed with her.
Nikos nearly tried his hand last night and was glad that Kai interrupted them, even if he wouldn’t have gotten far. He doubted Honey would have given in, but Nikos knew he could be persistent when he wanted something.
Nikos sat down on the stool at the kitchen island and glanced between Kai and Honey, still surprised that she had a son. When he had come here last night, he hadn’t been expecting his tiny figure to come around the corner. Kai was a cute kid though and reminded him of himself when he was young— all charm, smiles, and mischief. Honey was lucky to have a cute kid like him.
“Good morning,” Nikos told Honey.
“Is it?” Honey asked sarcastically.
“Getting to start my morning with you is always good,” Nikos said without missing a beat. Honey rolled her eyes as she placed a plate in front of him. Nikos’s eyebrows rose. He wasn’t expecting to get a plate too.
“Dig in,” Kai said over a mouth full of food. “Mom’s food is the best!”
“Make sure you chew your food first, honey,” Honey said, and Kai complied, chewing the rest of his food as Honey wiped the corners of his mouth before he spoke again.
“Go ahead,” Kai urged eagerly, and Nikos looked down at the omelet on his plate. Shrugging, Nikos grabbed his knife and fork and cut into the omelet before taking a bite. Honey watched him with interest, and Nikos was already prepared to give her a flirtatious line about her cooking, whether the food was good or not. But when the flavor hit his tongue, he was surprised by how good it actually was. The flavors of tomatoes and sausage burst into his mouth.
“Wow,” Nikos said as he looked at Honey. “This is really good.”
“Told you!” Kai said proudly.
Honey’s tense shoulders relaxed. “You’re saying it as if you expected it to be bad.”
“I didn’t expect it to bethisgood,” Nikos said as he took another bite.
“My mom’s going to be a chef one day and have her own restaurant,” Kai bragged as he grabbed his orange juice. Nikos looked at Honey in a new light, feeling like he was looking at a different person. He didn’t know that Honey had those types of ambitions, and it made him realize that he didn’t know Honey at all outside the club. This Honey standing before him felt like an entirely different person.
At the club, Honey came off as standoffish, barely interacting with the other dancers or anyone else. A permanent frown was always on her face, and she had an air about her that said she didn’t want to be bothered, but here, she was totally different, at least with her son she was. She spoke to her son in a kind, gentle tone filled with affection, and she seemed more open. Thoughthat shouldn’t have been surprising at all, considering that it was her home after all.
But still, every time he saw Honey outside the club, he felt like he was peeling back different layers of her like an onion. He wondered what else there was to her.
“What did I tell you about talking and eating at the same time?” Honey said as she started to eat from her own plate.
“Sorry, mom.”
“After you finish eating, get your shoes on,” Honey told her son before she gave Nikos a pointed look. “And after you finish eating, go home.”
“Yes, mom,” Kai said.
“Yes, mom,” Nikos repeated, and Honey glared at him.
After they finished eating, in a flurry of rushed actions, they made their way out of the apartment and to the parking lot on the side of the building. Nikos glanced around the neighborhood, having no idea where he was. He had walked really far from Hugo’s place to make it here. But he had been so out of it last night that time had run away from him.
“Honey,” Nikos called as the woman in question hurried over to her car with her son in tow. She whipped her head back, looking at him with a puzzled look.
“Can I hitch a ride with you?” Nikos asked. “I don’t know the neighborhood.”
Honey paused, looking at him with mild irritation as she glanced around. “You could totally take an Uber or a Lyft, you know.”
“Can Nik come with us, mom?” Kai asked as he tugged on her hands. Honey looked exasperated, and Nikos smirked. Even after being in their presence for a short period of time, Nikoscould tell that Honey had a habit of giving in to her son’s wants as she nibbled on her bottom lip before she acquiesced.
“Get in,” she said reluctantly.
They all piled into the car together, and Honey pulled off, turning the radio on low in the background as her son asked him questions as if he were filling out an interview sheet.
“Do you have any children my age?” Kai asked curiously as he hung on the back of Nikos’s seat like a sloth. Honey had already given up on telling him to sit back because he kept doing it anyway.
