“You too, sunshine.”
He speaks without thinking and a flush stains his neck. On a man as rugged as him, it’s fucking adorable. And I like that he sees me as something so warm and bright. I’m used to being the ball ache people can’t wait to forget.
I fetch two forks and we make short work of the plate. When we’re done, I show him the almost final draft of the menu, scribbled on the last page of the notebook he gave me when we met. It seems a long time ago, but it’s barely a month. He makes Vermont feel like home.
Get a grip. It’s not home. You’ll be gone before the leaves turn red.
It’s a theory that usually comforts me, but today I get a strange knot in my stomach instead.
“Smoked almonds?” Kai glances up from the menu. “With broccoli? No offence, but that sounds fuckin’ weird.”
“You said that about the butter beans and ate the whole pot.” Accepting the challenge, I fetch the tub of nuts I smoked this morning while I was fretting over coconut cream.
Kai eats one. Then two.
Then a handful.
I grin. “See?”
“You’re a genius.”
“Nah, just greedy. I cook what I want to eat.”
“Is that a life lesson?”
I snort into a laugh. “If you get your life lessons from Christmas crackers.”
Kai puts the lid back on the almonds. He glances around at the thunderfucking mess I’ve made of the kitchen, then fixes me with a gaze that seems to pin me in place. “You’re not supposed to work today.”
“Had to. Tanner wants me to interview some staff later.”
“That’s later. You didn’t have to work the whole day.”
“Coconuts ain’t gonna cream themselves, mate.”
“That a euphemism?”
“Nope. Dessert.”
Kai watches me move to the dishwasher. “I have to go back to the job I agreed to take this morning. Meet the owner before I order materials. I’ll be gone a couple hours. Will you be done by then?”
“Can be. Why?”
“I have to go somewhere I never wanna go, and I was wondering if you’d come with me.”
I’d go with him to hell and back. I don’t know why. Not yet. Just that I would. “Sure. Come find me.”
Kai gives me a soft smile that reaches every part of me, sudden and sweet. “Always do, huh?”
He backs up and leaves via the back door. I drift after him, tracking him as he disappears down the alley that leads to the main street. For a dude who’s never noticed an attraction to men, he’s scarily good at flirting. My heart is pounding. My skin tingling. I feel like a different person to the one he came to see an hour ago.
How does hedothat?
* * *
KAI
I take Joss to my dad’s place in South Burlington. It’s the last place on earth I want to be, but perhaps not the pit of Hades he’s expecting.
