Pete freezes mid-toss. “Man, you’re no fun.”
“Being sanitary might not be fun, but it’s necessary,” Sly says, taking the apple from him and setting it back on the pile like it personally offended him. Then his attention shifts to Wren. “If you want apples, we’ll buy some. Don’t eat anything that’s been sitting out.”
She nods quickly, trying not to smile, and I swear Sly’s jaw unclenches just a little. How is it that this one little woman has the ability to disarm us all like that? To cut through our anger and fear and worries with one little laugh or smile.
Dex wanders over to the free sample stand and returns with his fists full of toothpicks, spearing tiny cubes of cheese. “They’re giving out food here. For free. This place is amazing!”
“It’s marketing,” I say. “They want you to buy it, but you’re only supposed to take one.”
He nods. “Right, I’d be insulting them by not taking it.”
I let out a sigh. “That’s not what I meant?—”
“For you, Eli!” he says with a big smile, shoving a toothpick in my face with a cube of cheese at the end.
I press my lips together, but decide to take it. “Thanks.”
Wren looks up at Sly as she asks, “The cheese was sitting out, doesn’t that mean we shouldn’t eat it?”
“It’s different. It’s been prepared for you to consume. Produce hasn’t been washed, it contains pesticides or other chemicals, and who knows how many ungloved hands have touched it.”
She blinks at him once, then looks down at her cube of cheese. “Sooooo… Can I eat it?”
“Yes, Wren, you can eat the cheese.” She smiles happily and shoves it in her mouth before moaning in approval.
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter, turning away before I start sporting an erection in the middle of the produce department.
I hear Pete chuckle, but I ignore him. My eyes catch on Jagger. He’s standing a few feet away, arms folded, scanning the store like he’s mapping exit routes. His focus flicks between Wren and every stranger within sight. We’re all protective of her, but he always seems extra watchful, like he understands the threat better than anyone else.
I steer our cart down the aisle, trying to get our littleband of misfits going. “Let’s keep moving. The longer we stand here, the more attention we draw.”
Pete falls into step beside Wren, pointing out items like she’s on a field trip. “That’s kiwi, that’s pineapple. It’s my favorite.”
She laughs again before telling him, “Peter, I know what most of this food is. Don’t forget I’ve done a lot of cooking, I just haven’t been in a grocery store.”
He nods and turns her attention to items with different varieties or flavors she may not have known existed. The aisle full of chips and drinks has her the most stunned, that is until we get to the cereal aisle.
“I can’t believe we’ve been with you for a month and you still haven’t tried cereal,” Pete says with a shake of his head. “It’s a travesty!”
“Barely,” Sly says as we stroll through the aisle.
“You don’t like cereal?” she asks Sly.
“It’s not that I don’t like it, but it’s nutritionally deficient. Ninety-five percent of these are packed with more sugar than anything else. They are in no way a balanced breakfast.”
Dex grabs a family-size box of Cheerios and points to the front. “This one says it is.” I lean forward and read where he’s pointing, and sure enough, it states in bold,part of a balanced breakfast.
Sly shakes his head. “It’s lying.”
Dex tosses it in the cart anyway, and when Sly raises an eyebrow in question, he points to Wren. “She’s never tried it.”
“Fine,” Sly concedes. “Just one box.”
We move down the aisle into snacks, and I watch in half-amused disbelief as Dex and Pete argue over which snack cake brand “has the best frosting-to-cake ratio.”
Jagger moves in behind Wren as she stretches on her toes, trying to reach a box of brownies on the top shelf. Without a word, he takes it down and hands it to her. She blinks up at him, a little startled, and whispers a soft, “Thank you.” He nods once, then leans down and kisses her gently. It’s a mere peck, really, but it leaves her looking breathless with red cheeks as if they’d just made out.
I try not to let my mind wander, but it’s hard not to imagine what she’d be like in bed. I bet she’d be extremely responsive to the slightest touch.
