She waved her hand towards the middle of the table. “I guess this is the perfect opportunity for you to impress me with your skills.”
I laid some of the sliced steak, marinated beef short ribs, sweet peppers and shitake mushrooms on the grill to start us out. It didn’t take long before the steak was done, and I pulled it from the grill to put on our plates. Carissa went to take a bite, but I stopped her and poured some of the yakiniku sauce on it first.
“You don’t want to miss out on the sauce. It’s what makes yakiniku more than just grilled meat.”
She looked up at me doubtfully, her nose wrinkled up adorably. “What does it taste like?”
“It’s hard to describe the taste of yakiniku sauce if you’ve never had it.”
“I guess I’ll have to trust you and just give it a try then.” She was only joking around, but my chest expanded at hearing her say she trusted me. I wasn’t sure how long I’d have with her to build the kind of trust I had a feeling I was going to need, but it felt like a small step in the right direction. “Mmm, it’s really good. Sweet, garlicky and soy-saucy all at the same time.”
I ate one of the slices off my plate and had to agree with her, the restaurant had outdone themselves with their sauce recipe. As we devoured the food I’d already cooked, I placed more items on the grill, including a portion of pork belly. It only took a couple of moments before flames leapt upwards.
“So much for being an expert at grilling,” Carissa giggled, bending as far back away from the table as she could get.
“Don’t blame me, it’s the pork belly’s fault,” I protested. “I wanted to give you the full yakiniku experience—playing with fire and trying lots of different things.”
“Just be careful. Sometimes when you play with fire, you get burned.”
“I can handle the heat for the both of us.” She didn’t know it yet, but I wasn’t talking about the flames shooting up from the grill. I was referring to the danger heading her way—trouble she’d never even know about if I could keep her in the dark while also protecting her from it.
6
CARISSA
Igulped down some of my water, trying to cool myself off—and not from the heat of the grill. It was Vaughn’s raspy voice that had my pulse racing. He might have been talking about the fire, but my mind immediately jumped to the heat burning between us instead. I had no doubt he knew exactly how to handle it, but I was completely out of my depth with him. It didn’t stop me from wanting to fling myself into the deep end with him, though.
“I already know you’re an expert griller,” I teased as I cut off a charred portion of the pork belly and put it on his plate. “And an amazing kisser. But I don’t know much else about you.”
“I’m twenty-nine, single, and self-employed,” he rattled off.
“You’re going to have to do better than that. I already knew your age, assumed you were single or else we wouldn’t be here together, and saying you’re self-employed doesn’t tell me anything about what you do.”
“I’m an extremely private person. Sharing about myself doesn’t come naturally to me,” he explained.
“I might be new to the dating thing, but I’m pretty sure that’s what first dates are all about. Getting to know each other.”A horrible thought crossed my mind. “Unless. I mean. I guess that’s only if you want a second date. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
“Carissa, stop,” he barked out, stopping my awkward rambling. “I don’t just want a second date with you, I want all the dates. Never, not even for a single moment, mistake my discomfort at talking about myself for not wanting you. Not unless you need me to prove exactly how much I want you.”
“Okay,” I whispered, awfully tempted to do exactly that. Instead, I decided to make it a little easier for him to share by telling him about myself. “I’m nineteen, single, and have no idea what I’m going to do with my life. Both of my best friends live in Europe, Celina and Bryony, and I’ve been wondering if I wouldn’t have been better off staying with one of them instead of coming home. I’d planned to go to college in the Fall, but my parents have been avoiding the subject. Since I’m dependent upon them until I can access the trust my grandparents left to me, I’m kind of stuck at a standstill for now. It’s especially difficult since I’m not close to them. Like, at all since I’ve spent the last six years at an all-girls boarding school in Switzerland.”
“I’m fucking thrilled you decided to come home—”
Vaughn’s response was cut off by the arrival of the waiter. He placed dishes of ice cream in front of each of us, cleared the table and then quietly left us alone again. Vaughn dipped a spoon into my dish and lifted it to my mouth.
“You have to try the ice cream. It’s black sesame flavored.”
I let him slide the spoon between my parted lips, enjoying the cool creaminess before the flavor exploded on my taste buds. The toasted black sesame reminded me of the roasted buckwheat Celina was basically addicted to. “Delicious.”
He dipped his head and swept his tongue across my lips. “Exquisite,” he agreed.
“Vaughn?”
“Yes.”
“The ice cream is amazing, but your kisses are even better.”
“I guess I’d better give you another one since I did say you deserved the best.”
