“You’ve never had ice cream?”
“No.” Teilo quickly looked over to check where Ben and Nico were. They were still talking to Ben’s father and Kylo. “Is that bad? Should I ask Ben for some, or where can I get it? I will get it for you if you need it, and you can give me some idea where to find it. I’m good at finding things.”
“That’s sweet of you. But I have an entire freezer full of ice cream, son, so don’t you worry about that.” She went over to the large white appliance, bending down and pulling out a drawer, before tugging a tub out of it. Teilo could see from his place by the counter that there were a lot of similar tubs in that drawer.
Coming back, she put the tub on the counter and then reached into another drawer under the counter, and pulled out two spoons. “Now, some people,” she said, handing one spoon to Teilo and keeping one for herself, “they’ll tell you that you should eat ice cream in a cone, or between biscuits, or even serving up scoops in a bowl. But to me,” she raised her spoon and shook it in Teilo’s direction, “this is just my opinion mind, but to me, the only way to eat ice cream is out of the tub.”
“Out of the tub.” Teilo nodded. “Did you need the knife?”
“No, no, you can put that down in the sink over there, thank you.” There was a ripping sound, like clacking plastic, as Mom ripped off the lid. “Sniff this,” she said, holding the tub up. “What does that smell like to you?”
Teilo sniffed. He had an excellent sense of smell. But the smell of the ice cream was totally different to anything he’d scented before. It was sweet, sugary, but creamy, too. And there was something else—chocolate. Teilo remembered that smell. Judd used to have a bar in his lab coat pocket all the time.
This chocolate wasn’t soggy melting goo on a sweaty man. This was crisp, not musky—it was a flavor note that made Teilo’s mouth water. “Sugar, cream, chocolate and ice?” He looked up to see Mom was watching him closely.
She smiled and nodded. “Do you want to try some?”
Teilo watched as she dug her spoon into the hardness that was already melting thanks to the heat of the kitchen. She raised her clump of ice cream to her lips and ate it. “Yum. That first spoonful is always the best. Now you try it?”
Copying her movements, Teilo’s clump was a bit bigger than Mom’s, but she was still smiling, so she didn’t seem to mind. Opening his mouth, he tipped the spoonful into it. It was melting fast enough to just slide off the metal.
Closing his mouth, he went to chew, but there wasn’t anything chewy about it. Cold was Teilo’s first thought. Really cold. Like icy, but then as his tongue adapted to it, the clump melted over his gums and tongue, tinging everything with sugar and chocolate cream.
He wanted to make the moment last. But the ice cream was melting into a goo, and Teilo had to swallow. When there was no more of his mouthful left, he ran his tongue over the gums and teeth, picking up the last hints of flavor. When he looked at Mom, Teilo knew his eyes were wide, but he had to know. “Can anyone get this ice cream? Like, can Ben get some for us, too?”
“Yes, Ben can get some too, but in the meantime, here,” Mom pushed the tub over to him. “I have plenty, and watching you experience that for the first time was pure food porn. You earned it. You can have it.”
Unsure what she meant by food porn, Teilo didn’t hesitate. Grabbing the tub and her spoon and taking them to the door leading out onto the porch, he yelled, “Nico! Nico.”
The alarm was evident on Nico’s face as he sprinted toward him. Teilo should’ve felt bad for worrying him. Instead, he held up the tub as Nico skidded to a halt in front of him, Ben and Kylo stopping immediately behind him. “Ice cream,” he said proudly. “You have to try ice cream. I earned it chopping vegetables.”
“Hey, how come they don’t get a lecture on how dinner’s only going to be half an hour,” Kylo grumbled to his Mom as he went past them and into the kitchen.
Teilo watched Nico take his first taste, and as he saw Nico’s eyes widen and his mouth make all sorts of sexy movements, Teilo thought he probably knew what food porn meant. Nico eating ice cream, with all the tongue action, was causing flutters in places a lot lower than his stomach. Running on a hunch, Teilo held out his spoon to Ben. “Did you want some, too?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ben
Whatever Ben had expected, it wasn’t to be eating ice cream watching his mates’ blissed out expressions while his family laughed around him.
All the sexy thoughts that came with looking at Nico, then Teilo gave Ben ideas that weren’t fit for company. His Mom gave him several amused stares as they munched their way through the food. Teilo’s reluctance to be parted with the ice cream made him chuckle still. He’d let Ben put it away with a promise he could have more after dinner.
That was barely minutes earlier, now there were several tubs open on the countertop, and Teilo, encouraged by his Mom, was trying all the different flavors.
“You can scoop them into a bowl,” Ben pointed out when Teilo dipped his spoon from one tub to another.
He glanced at Ben, then Mom. “Mom said the best way is out of the tub.”
The easy way he called her Mom left him blinking back tears and his Mom sniffing into a tissue. “Mom is always right.”
“Even when she’s wrong,” Dad muttered loud enough to make everyone laugh and bring a furrow between both mates’ brows.
“Remember, I mentioned the joking?”
Dad laughed and rocked in his chair, that creaked with each movement. “Who said I was joking?”
Mom cast him a look that Ben had seen a few thousand times. Affection and amusement. “I’m always right.”
