“Elara? Did I frighten you into silence?”
His teasing tone had her snapping out of her reverie in a second, and she shot her narrowed gaze up to his face.Of course,he was smirking at her; the arrogant man. He knew how beautiful he was.
“No!” she insisted, dropping the food onto the counter. “I... It is just annoying when you sneak up to me like that!”
As she pulled away from the counter, she saw the smirk vanish from Constantine’s face. His eyes widened as his lips parted slightly, his gaze eagerly roaming up and down her nightgown.
“That is what you sleep in?” he rasped.
Elara blushed and busied herself by looking for a knife and a plate.
“Sometimes,” she murmured. “Though I am not sleeping tonight, it seems.”
“Yes,” Constantine murmured, placing his hands on the countertop as she began to slice the bread. “I fear I have encountered the same predicament. I thought perhaps it might be because I have grown hungry again, so I came down to raid the larder. I see you had the same idea.”
Elara shrugged as she kept her hands busy, trying her best not to lift her eyes and greedily look over his naked chest.
“It helped when I was a child,” she confessed. “I was hoping it would work again. Did you say there was a larder?”
“There is,” Constantine agreed. “I was going to see if there was any leftover ham from dinner.”
“Oh, please do,” she quickly replied, excited by the idea.
She looked up just in time to see Constantine give her a curious look, but instead of teasing her, he went to the larder, and a moment later, came back with a platter of sliced ham.
“Oh, yes, I can make my favorite late-night delicacy,” Elara said eagerly, smiling as she plucked a slice of ham from the platter and put it on the piece of bread already lathered with marmalade.
“What in God’s name are you doing?” Constantine asked, sounding positively offended by what she had just done.
Elara looked up and giggled when she saw his expression matched his tone.
“It sounds strange, I know, but it is quite delicious,” she insisted, putting the buttered piece of bread atop the ham.
“No, thank you,” Constantine quickly retorted, shaking his head. “I will surely lose sleep entirely after seeing you eat that.”
Elara tsked her tongue as she cut the sandwich in half.
“Come now, you cannot be afraid of a nibble!” she teased.
“I am not,” he replied, his brow furrowing as he continued to look intensely at her invention. “I just prefer not to do my stomach such a grave disservice. You will never fall asleep if you eat that, I am sure of it.”
“You would think so, but the opposite is true,” she replied, coming toward him with half of the sandwich. Constantine backed away as if it were a snake, and Elara giggled.
“Come on then, just a bite,” she goaded, taking more steps toward him. “For me.”
Constantine positively glowered at her as she sarcastically cooed the words, only serving to make her giggle again.
“Careful, Elara,” he warned. Even still, his lips twitched, as if he was trying to hide a smile.
“If you do not like it, I will never insist you do anything for me ever again,” she offered.
With a dubious look, Constantine met her eyes, then his gaze went back down at the sandwich, then up at her again. Then, with a sigh and a roll of his eyes, he stepped toward her and opened his mouth. It surprised Elara at first, as she thought he would take it from her with his hands, but without complaint, she took another step toward him and brought it to his mouth.
He bit down as he tensed, but then as he chewed, his brows raised, and the sound of contentment rumbled from his chest. Glee shot through Elara’s heart as he finished chewing and then swallowed.
“Well?” she asked.
Constantine grinned as he wiped his bottom lip with his thumb.
