“I mean, when you chop vegetables you need to curl your fingers under to avoid injury.”
I can feel my brows connecting, a look of absolute confusion on my face. He laughs at my expression. “For someone who claims to watch a lot ofFood Network, I’m surprised you didn’t pick up that technique.”
I scoff. He smirks again. My heart picks up just a fraction at how handsome he is when he smiles.
I shake it off and focus.
“Do you want me to show you?” he asks softly.
“Show me what? How to chop vegetables?”
“Yes.” I stare at him for a beat. Then he steps closer, hooking a finger under my chin and nudging it up just to ensure I don’t look away, which is exactly what I was considering doing as he got so close. “You’re a determined woman, Jane. You’re capable of anything given the correct tools and teachings. I’m sure you can be a great cook with practice. Let me help you get there. That way you can tell everyone to shut up. Prove them wrong.”
I watch him for a moment, the words circling in my brain. Finally, I say, “Please.”
“Please?”
“Please teach me.”
A cocky smile touches his lips and he drops my chin. “I never in my life thought I’d hear you begging me for something.”
I roll my eyes. “You wish that was begging.”
His eyes sparkle like the sun on the water outside my room and my insides turn to molten lava. “I do.”
Chapter 24
“This is incredible,” I admit around a mouthful of pasta.
We had spent all afternoon in Celeste’s second kitchen laughing and working and learning. The idea of it coming to an end, of us having to go back to the villa and pretend like nothing is going on between us at the moment, makes my chest ache. Pretending he’s nothing more than a groomsman in my sister’s wedding, even for another couple of weeks, is going to be a lot harder than I initially thought. But I can’t bring myself to tell Kate, not days before her wedding.
No matter how much I want to. I can be patient. I can wait until we get home.
I think.
“Did it hurt to admit that I was right?” Reid teases.
I hold up my thumb and forefinger, showing the fraction of space between them to him. “A little bit.”
He smirks in response, then he lifts a napkin from the table and reaches toward my face. I watch with bated breath as he gets closer and finally dabs at my chin with another half-smirk. “You have pasta sauce all over your face.”
“Worth it.”
I’m only momentarily surprised that I’m not embarrassed to be seen looking like a mess with sauce on my face and my hair a disaster from hours in the kitchen making what will probably be the best meal of my life. But whatever this is between me and Reid, however these strong emotions are pooling in my chest, it’s all making me feel that much more comfortable around him.
Lamps flick on in the corner of the room and I break my stare with Reid to look around, realizing how dark the room got around us as we learned how to cook and fed each other pasta like we were inLady and the Tramp. For a moment, I wonder if I missed the sunset and night was starting to crest over us, but a look outside the plethora of windows shows dark clouds quickly swooping in.
“Is it supposed to rain?” I ask, not breaking my gaze from the impending weather outside.
“I don’t know.”
I look back to Reid. “What do you mean you don’t know? You didn’t check the weather when we left?”
“Why would I have checked the weather?”
I flail a hand toward the window, where the soft patter of rain starts against the glass. “For this exact reason.”
“It’s just rain, Jane. We’ll be alright.”
