Benji nodded eagerly, holding his hands up for inspection. “See?”
He’d also had his clothes changed—the oversized shirt he’d been wearing before had been replaced by a Benji-sized version in an almost identical plaid, worn over another shirt with a ballerina printed on it. They didn’t make shirts with male ballet dancers on them, I supposed.
“Awesome,” Cooper said, beaming down at Benji. “You wanna put in the secret ingredient?” he asked, shooting me a wink.
Benji nodded eagerly.
“How’s your heat tolerance?” Cooper asked me, turning to another cupboard. This one was oriented so that when he reached into it, his t-shirt hiked up over the waistband of his jeans, revealing a thin strip of flesh and that tempting treasure trail again.
My tongue darted out to wet my lips unconsciously as I stared at it, heat trickling south and making me squirm internally.Godhe was hot. I wanted to get my hands—no, mymouth—on that skin, taste the salt of it, breathe in?—
Cooper and Benji were both still looking at me. Waiting for an answer.
“Uh,” I said, scrambling to remember what he’d asked.
He showed me a jar of chili flakes. “Because I’m gonna let Benji add these, and he’s kinda heavy handed.”
I raised an eyebrow at Benji. “Really?”
Benji nodded, beaming up at me.
“First time I made this for him, I set some of the sauce aside before I added them. He caught me,” Cooper said, petting Benji’s hair again. “So now he adds them so he knows we’re all eating the same thing. He hasn’t killed anyone yet.”
“Well, go easy on me, okay?” I said. Benji nodded again as though he was swearing a solemn oath. I trusted him.
Cooper handed him the open chili flakes and picked him up by the waist. “Do your worst,” he said, bouncing Benji in his arms. “And then we can eat.”
8
COOPER
“Ididwarnyou he was heavy-handed,” I said, glancing sheepishly at Felix as we stepped off the front porch and into the cool night air. Mom and Dad had insisted that I walk Felix home while they put Benji to bed.
I knew a setup when I saw one. It wasn’t going to work, but I wasn’t about to fight it, either. I hadn’t spent this much time with an adult not related to me since I’d moved back home.
Spending time with Felix felt good. I didn’t want the night to be over just yet.
“I’m fine,” Felix said, licking the inside of his mouth. “Or I will be, anyway. Tastebuds probably grow back.”
I snorted, and got a smile in response.
“It wasn’t actually that bad,” Felix said. “I was just surprised.”
“Benji is full of surprises,” I said, which was one of my better attempts at understatement. Everything about him had surprised me when I went from only seeing him at family get-togethers to seeing him every single day.
I wouldn’t have traded any of it for anything. Even if I sometimes felt like I was drowning.
“I bet.” Felix tucked his hands into his pockets—incredible, given how tight his jeans were.
Not that I was looking, obviously.
Not more than a little, anyway.
“I’m impressed, you know,” Felix continued, drawing my attention away from the fit of his jeans.
“Impressed?”
Felix nodded. “The more I think about it, the more impressed I am. Taking on a six-year-old like that, full time, all of a sudden. It’s a lot.”
