Zeke walks into the cabin sweaty and disheveled just as I reach the landing. He lets the front door slam behind him and then walks past me on the stairs without so much as a glance.
I’m tempted to follow him and talk some sense into him without my own jealousy and anger riding my every word, but I know it won’t do any good.
When I reach the kitchen, Thorin is spooning a huge heap of spaghetti onto the last plate. My mouth waters when I see steam curling from the thick, meaty sauce.
Aurelia is getting really fucking good.
Pride spears my chest just like this morning during training when she made me lose my footing and very nearly put me on my ass. I know how tenacious Aurelia can be. I’ve seen it when we’re training. Even when her mouth is complaining, her eyes and ears are soaking up everything, feeding her need to master any task put before her. I also know her secret. Though she’s usually so full of confidence, I know that Aurelia still doubts whether she can survive without her uncle controlling every aspect of her life. That insecurity only doubled after seeing him at the ranch, but one glance at the subdued pleasure in her expression as she admires her handiwork tells me she’s coming around again.
That’s right. My baby can do any-fucking-thing and I dare anyone to tell her differently.
She’s standing at the island across from Thorin when I wrap my arms around her waist. Aurelia immediately melts into me with a sigh, and I kiss her neck. “I hope you’re hungry.”
“I’m starving. Thank you.” I kiss her neck again and then pull away to help Thorin carry the plates over to the table. He made four even though Zeke still won’t eat. As always, he’ll wait until Aurelia has climbed into bed with one of us for the night and then make himself a sandwich or something. During meals, the broody bastard usually sits quietly at the far end of the table to watch the rest of us interact. Still, Aurelia always makes sure he has something to eat despite the sting of rejection that always comes from her efforts.
Once the plates are in their correct settings, I grab the leftover food and set it on the table in the middle for easy-to-reach seconds. Aurelia pauses at that since we never havebefore. It took us a while to get past the awful taste and fear of food poisoning to even finish our plates despite our size and voracious appetites, so until now, a second helping was out of the question.
I wink at her when she gapes at me and then I lick my lips with a different kind of hunger when she blushes so prettily. The three of us sit, and then I hear the shower turn off downstairs, and minutes later, footsteps on the stairs.
Zeke and I lock gazes when he walks into the dining room wearing only basketball shorts and socks. Water from his shower still clings to his bare chest while his black hair looks ruffled, sticking out in every direction as if he’d quickly toweled it dry.
“I hope you like spaghetti,” Aurelia says as he joins us at the table.
He doesn’t sit. Instead, he stares at his plate,nottouching it at the end of the table. In what can only be described as a fuck you to Thorin and me, Zeke lifts his plate and moves into Seth’s old seat across from Aurelia. She’s in the middle of pouring a glass of water for herself when he sits down. She keeps pouring, her gaze locked on Zeke while I watch the water get dangerously close to the rim with no signs of her stopping. Thorin reaches out at the last moment and relieves her of the pitcher before the ice water can spill over the top.
He sets the pitcher down with a thud, and it finally snaps her out of it. Aurelia’s questioning gaze becomes embarrassed, dropping to her own plate as she shifts and fidgets in her seat like she’s suddenly nervous.
“Looks good,” Zeke compliments, and her wide-eyed gaze flies back to his. “I love spaghetti.”
Hehatesspaghetti. I barely suppress the urge to roll my eyes. Even if he liked the dish, Zeke won’t eat her food. He never does, so what the fuck is he playing at? One glance at Thorin and theannoyed look on his face at the lie, and I know he’s thinking the same thing. We’re not left wondering for long.
I’ve got one eye on my plate in front of me and the other watching Zeke so the moment he reaches for the fork sitting next to his plate, my entire focus shifts that way—as does Thorin’s and Aurelia’s. We all watch in shock as he stabs the huge mound of spaghetti and slowly twirls it around the prongs, his gaze pointed with intent across the table at Aurelia.
One glance at the girl sitting next to me and I see she’s no longer breathing. Her lips are parted just the tiniest bit as she watches Zeke twirl that fucking spaghetti.
Finally, he raises the fork, his lips parting halfway, and then he cleans the fork with one bite. He chews, slowly…thoughtfully. It feels like it goes on forever before he finally swallows.
“Mmm,” Zeke hums rather dramatically. “It tastes good too, princess. Really fucking good.”
A rush of breath escapes Aurelia. “I…” She seems at a loss for words for a moment. “Th-thank you.”
He winks, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Thorin roll his eyes. “You’re welcome.”
The rest of dinner passes uneventfully with the four of us mostly eating in silence. After dinner, Aurelia grabs the ice cream from the deep freezer and fills up four bowls before passing them around.
“You going to fuck that spoon next, Zeke, or can the rest of us eat in peace?”
Aurelia throws Thorin a confused frown, but he’s too busy glaring at Zeke to notice.
Zeke laughs but says nothing. He digs into his ice cream, and the rest of us do the same. After dinner, Thorin and I do the dishes, both of us quiet so we can listen to Aurelia and Zeke playing cards in the living room.
“Want to clue me in on what the fuck is going on? What exactly did you say to him?” Thorin whispers as he stacks the dried plate with the others.
I blow out a breath as I scrub a glass cup too hard until it shatters in my hand. Cursing, I drop the broken pieces inside the sink and hold my hand under the running water while Thorin grabs a first aid kit from under the sink. “Keeping them apart isn’t going to be as simple as we thought,” I answer as Thorin takes my hand and inspects the wounds. “He likes her.”
“Since when?”
“Since always,” I answer with a grunt. “Wanting her was never the problem. Trusting her was.”
