Victor’s grins and laughs were few and far between, almost always reserved for Pip and Vivian. That was why Belle was so pleased and proud when she managed—every once in a blue moon—to draw a smile out of him.
“We’re getting low on food,” Victor said to Belle. “I was going to put in an order to have groceries delivered. Wondered if you wanted to offer some input.”
She appreciated the invitation. This week, they’d been living on the food Victor had stocked just prior to their arrival, and he’d shopped like a teenager with unlimited money rather than a responsible adult. While Pip had been on cloud nine with pizza, chicken nuggets, and Kraft macaroni and cheese for dinner, Vivian and Belle typically prepared more nutritional fare, and their meals always included vegetables and fruit.
“That would be great,” Belle said, even though she wasn’t a fan of ordering groceries online. She loved meandering up and down the aisles of the grocery store, never failing to discover something new to try. “Or if you want, we can make the list together, and Pip and I can go to store. I like to pick out my own produce.” Plus, it would get her out of the house and away from Victor and his ridiculously sexy bare feet for a couple of hours.
His brows furrowed. “Oh. Okay. We can all go to the store, then.”
Well…that didn’t break her way.
“Yay!” Pip shouted. Like Belle, she was a fan of grocery shopping. “Can we get more chocolate pudding?”
“Sure,” Victor said.
“Or maybe we could get yogurt this week,” Belle gently suggested. If given the choice, Pip would eat her weight in chocolate pudding, which wasn’t good for herorher tummy.
Victor shot her a look…then relented. “Belle’s right. Yogurt this week.”
She was touched and pleased that he was letting her take the lead on the food.
Belle had managed to hold her tongue about the kid-friendly, vegetable-free dinners for six whole nights before finally breaking last night. She’d looked at Victor point-blank when he’d said he was whipping up breakfast for dinner—pancakes and sausage—remarking that surely, as a professional athlete, he understood the importance of eating vegetables.
Victor had looked surprised, and that was when she realized he honestly believed he’d nailed the dinner plans for Pip. What he failed to understand was that Pip’s nights out with him for dinner were always “special occasion” meals, where it was perfectly fine for him to be the fun uncle who fed her McDonald’s Happy Meals, Matthew’s Pizza, or Miss Shirley’s chicken fingers and waffles.
Belle asked if they could skip the pancakes, offering to cook for them. She and Vivian took turns cooking at home, and Belle genuinely enjoyed being in the kitchen, playing around with new recipes.
Victor had agreed, so she’d rummaged through his pantry until she found the ingredients for a simple spaghetti that she pared with green beans. Vivian believed kids should be encouraged to eat all kinds of foods, which meant Pip had a decidedly grown-up palate. She didn’t blink twice at the mushrooms, zucchini, and onions Belle added to the spaghetti sauce, though she’d claimed to be too full to eat the green beans.
For dessert, Belle had served a fruit salad she’d whipped up from apples, bananas, and mandarin oranges. Pip had complained about not getting a red popsicle—Victor’s idea of dessert—but she still ate the fruit.
“Maybe we should make the menu for our dinners first,” Belle suggested. “Then we can make the grocery list from that.”
Victor snorted. “So instead of making just one list, you want to make two.” He was amused when he’d spotted her notebook of lists upon their arrival.
“If one list is good, two can only be better,” she joked.
Her heart did a tiny flip-flop when her comment earned her a too-brief, but very sexy grin from the gruff man.
“Okay,” Victor said. “Let me grab some shoes and I’ll meet you in the kitchen. We can work on your lists, then head to the store.”
Belle nodded in agreement, taking a few minutes to comb her hair and Pip’s before heading downstairs.
Victor was waiting for her in the kitchen, sitting on one of the tall stools by the island. Pip darted across the room, and he lifted her so that she could sit on his lap. Belle remained standing. Opening her notebook, she tore out a sheet of paper, handing it to Pip with a pencil so that she could draw.
Then she flipped to the next empty page. Running down the left-hand side, she wrote out the days of the week, skipping a couple lines in between so they could fill in what they planned to eat for meals.
“I had no idea you were so spontaneous.” Victor’s tone was so dry, someone might think he was serious, but she’d gotten used to his sarcasm. It was another thing that had captured her attention, another reason why she was so attracted to him. Sarcasm, after all, was her native language.
Belle grinned. “I learned within the first six months of living on my own that making a menu, and then the grocery list, was the smart way to go. Mainly because I was constantly running back to the store for forgotten items, and shopping after working fourteen hours sucked.”
“You worked fourteen-hour shifts?” Victor asked, and it occurred to her that, despite being in each other’s orbit for five years, she and Victor didn’t know each other very well. At least, not on a personal level.
The things she knew about his past were mainly surface-y, or through stories Vivian had shared about him and their childhood. Which made sense, considering they’d never spent any time alone with each other, only in the presence of Pip, Vivian, and whoever else might be around.
“For five years,” she replied. “You know I met Phil at the coffee shop where I worked as a barista?” she asked.
Victor nodded.
