I now had a proper electric kettle, three varieties of excellent tea, and a small teapot I absolutely didn’t need, but had fallen in love with immediately. I’d also bought some groceries.
Arnold had been most surprised by that, I thought. The fact that after we’d acquired the most important items, I’d asked to be taken to a grocery store rather than a boutique or whatever else he’d expected.
The fact of the matter, however, was that I’d come with enough clothing and whatnot to see me through the next few weeks, but I still had standards when it came to nutrition, and those standards included food that didn’t come in a takeout container.
A perfunctory check of Will’s fridge yesterday had revealed that neither twin appeared to do much cooking. There had beena few eggs, some bread, beer, and glass jars filled with what had seemed to be sauces and relishes.
None of which could be used to prepare a proper meal. Arnold helped me carry the grocery bags to the kitchen, then bid me farewell. “You have my number now. Call if you need a ride.”
“I will. Thank you, Arnold.”
He hovered for a beat, but whatever he’d wanted to say never came. Instead, he simply gave me a strangely stiff nod and disappeared.
Shaking off the lingering feeling that something was amiss, I started packing away my groceries, rummaged about the kitchen, and finally got cooking. When the front door opened that evening, I was proud of what I’d achieved.
It was mildly miraculous that I’d managed to put together a meal here, considering that the last kitchen I’d cooked in regularly had belonged to a medieval castle, but even so, this didn’t look half bad.
Somehow, it’d all come together as a civilized dinner party for two consisting of pasta, bread, and salad. Candles flickered between the places I’d set on the dining room table and a glass of whiskey sat on the kitchen counter, waiting for Jesse to arrive home.
My heart skipped when I heard him come in. “Eliza? You home?”
“In here,” I called, walking to the kitchen doorway and smiling at him across the space.
Gosh, he’s not getting any less handsome, is he?
That dark hair was slightly tousled after the day, the longer bits on top a little mussed and the ends curling ever so slightly around the back of his collar. He was already shrugging out of another bespoke suit jacket, sliding his tie loose right after and hooking both onto the coat rack beside the door.
As he looked over at me, he reached for the buttons at his cuffs and undid them, slowly rolling up his sleeves. He returned my smile. It completely transformed his features, smoothing away the tension of the day like it had simply melted clear out of him.
“Hey,” he said softly. “How was your day?”
“Excellent.” I waved him over, my heart suddenly pounding as I watched him cock his head, almost like he was asking a silent question. “Come. I’ll tell you all about it over dinner, but I think we might have to purchase that spa as our home.”
He chuckled and followed me into the kitchen. The faint, masculine scent of him wafted over to me and I inhaled deeply, feeling the familiar tingle race down my spine. “Welcome home, Jesse.”
I picked up the whiskey and handed it to him, noticing the faint shadow of exhaustion under his eyes but not pointing it out. He froze as his gaze flicked between me, the whiskey, and the dining room table half visible off the other side of the kitchen.
“You cooked?” he asked. “Are those candles?”
“Yes and yes.” I offered him a shy smile. “I’m not promising it’s going to be edible, but the bread was bought, so that should be okay, and there are only so many ways to fuck up a salad, isn’t there?”
A surprised laugh came out of him, but at least it snapped him out of whatever had come over him when he’d seen what I’d done. “I was going to take you out for dinner. You didn’t have to do this.”
“No, but I wanted to. Besides, you look tired. I’m sure the last thing you feel like doing is taking to the streets once more.”
He looked at me with a mixture of what seemed strangely like awe and admiration. As if he’d spotted a rare animal in the wildand couldn’t believe he was actually seeing it firsthand. “I can’t remember the last time I had a homecooked meal.”
“Well, then. Let’s sit and hope this one doesn’t disappoint you.” I waved him toward his brother’s table and took a seat across from him, the candlelight flickering warmly between us. “Dig in.”
He laughed. “This is impressive, Eliza. Honestly, I can’t believe you did all this.”
I beamed at him. “What can I say? I had a productive day.”
“That seems to be an understatement,” he said, taking a sip of his drink before dishing up. “The idea was for you to relax, though.”
“Oh, and I did relax. Very much so. I’d simply had enough relaxing by the time I got done at the spa. I needed to do something productive or I would’ve spontaneously turned into a couch potato.”
As I spoke, he took his first bite, those gorgeous blue eyes fluttering closed as he chewed. Once he’d swallowed, he finally opened them again and looked straight at me. “That’s definitely edible. It’s really good, actually.”
