“I have to keep you on your toes.”
She eyes the ingredients I have laid out. “This looks too simple. Where are the rest of the ingredients.”
“Traditional fettuccine alfredo is noodles, parmesan, and butter,” I tell her as I start to boil a pot of water and heat the stainless-steel frying pan. “Most people don’t know how easy it is to make because Americans have to make everything more complicated than it should be. My nonna taught my mom, her daughter-in-law, because my dad can’t cook worth shit, and my mom taught me.”
“I love that. So, you’re Italian?”
I add some oil to the pan and start frying the chicken with salt and pepper. “I am. I’m actually half Italian and half Mexican,” I state, giving her a piece of me that wasn’t made up by the department.
“This all makes sense then.” She waves a hand from my head to my feet, and I raise a brow. “You’re every girl's wet dream. Tall, dark, and handsome. And you don’t even realize every woman turns her head to look at you when you walk by. It’s kind of infuriating, to be honest.”
I laugh. “You’re one to talk. You can’t bethatclueless.”
“Like I’ve told you before, you’re crazy and you won’t convince me otherwise.”
I smile at her because this girl is delusional. She’s a fucking smoke show but I digress. “What about you? Do you like to cook?”
“When I have food,” she says and her eyes widen like she just said something she shouldn’t.
It’s not lost on me that she’s living paycheck to paycheck, but if she’s skipping meals then that’s a problem. What I don’t understand is how she has a full-time job and a side gig, and she can’t afford food. Sure, it’s expensive in Southern California, but she has to be making enough to at least eat.
I let it slide because it’s none of my business… yet. “What do you like to cook?” I ask and flip the chicken in the pan and then add my noodles to the boiling water.
“Um… breakfast food. My mom would wake me up extra early before school so I could help her make homemade pancakes or whatever quiche we could come up with. It was our thing.” She has a small smile on her face like she’s reliving a memory.
“She sounds like an amazing mom. Breakfast is my second favorite meal of the day behind dinner. I could do without lunch, to be honest.”
“Lunch is my least favorite too. I forget about it most of the time.”
I smile at her. “Same.”
We fall into a comfortable silence as I finish cooking the chicken and the fettuccine noodles, and the entire time her eyes follow my every move. When it’s time to add the butter and freshly grated parmesan, I call her over, “Come here. I’ll show you this next part.”
She hops off her stool and rounds the island to stand in front of the stove. “First you’re going to add the butter.” I pull her in front of me, so her back is to my front, and I hand her a few pieces of cubed butter. She places them in the pan, and theyinstantly start to melt. “Perfect,” I tell her, “next, you’re going to add a little bit of the pasta water.” I guide her hand to a small ladle that sits in the extra pasta water I set aside. I wrap my hand around hers so we can put the water in the pan together.
The scent of vanilla invades my nostrils as I stand behind her. Fuck, she smells good.
“What next?”
My eyes pop open. Did I really just close my eyes to smell her?
I clear my throat, hoping she didn’t notice, and say, “I’ll grate the parmesan and you mix.”
I hand her a wooden spoon and she does exactly as I ask while I grate the block of parmesan directly into the pan. “Good girl,” I praise, and her shoulders visibly relax.
My erection brushes against her as I move to put the noodles and the chicken in the pan with the freshly made sauce. When I move back behind her, I put my hand over hers on the wooden spoon to mix the ingredients and that’s when she looks back up at me and gives me the most beautiful smile. “This looks amazing.”
God, I want to devour her. Instead, I take a deep breath and pull my hand back. “Bon appetit,” I say.
Like a complete fucking idiot.
~ ~ ~
Jordan moans through each bite of her food, and I feel myself getting hard to the point where I might just come in my pants like a teenage boy. I’ve never had anyone be this excited over a meal I’ve cooked, granted I’ve only cooked for family and friends, but still. She’s made my ego grow tenfold and my dick too.
“This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever put in my mouth,” she exclaims while sucking a noodle through her luscious lips.
I almost tell her it’s because she hasn’t tasted my cock, but I hold myself back. “Thanks, that means a lot,” I say instead, and shove a bite of sauce covered noodles in my mouth.
