Page 37
She laughed. “And that.”
A few minutes later, we were back at the house, and my stomach flip-flopped when I saw Ellis’s car in the driveway. Lena, on the other hand, exhaled in relief.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. Just glad Ellis is home. I don’t know if I can take it, standing up to make dinner. Not yet.”
“I get it. I’ll help him.”
She squeezed my arm again. “Thanks, friend.”
We made our way inside and found Ellis sitting in the armchair, sketching on his tablet. “Hey,” he said, glancing up for a second before looking back at his drawing. “Give me two seconds to finish this up.”
Lena settled on the couch and propped her foot on the coffee table with a soft groan.
A moment later, Ellis stopped drawing and tucked his pencil into his tablet case before setting it aside. “How was the library meeting?”
Lena lit up with a smile. “It was great. Olivia talked Kieran here into joining the committee.”
His eyebrows shot up and he looked at me skeptically. “Really?”
I shrugged and waved it away with one hand. “It’s not a big deal. Just a little help.”
He hummed and nodded, but didn’t say anything else for a few seconds. “Who’s hungry? I was thinking about grilling. Lena, you feeling up for helping?”
She shook her head and pointed at her ankle. “It’s hurting pretty badly right now. Too much time on my feet today. But I bet Kieran can give you a hand.”
“Me?” My body flooded with heat and I worried I might be blushing. “Yeah, sure. Of course I can. What do you need?”
Ellis hesitated for a second before forcing a smile. “Come on in. I was just setting up.”
I followed Ellis into the kitchen, where there was a large bowl on the counter and a package of ground beef sitting next to it. There was an array of spices on the counter as well.
He turned to me. “Do you want to mix or be my assistant?”
“Assistant, I guess,” I said with a little shrug. I could do some basic grilling, but I definitely didn’t know what to do with all those seasonings he’d pulled out.
Ellis nodded and washed his hands at the sink. “Okay. I’ll let you know how much of each spice to add, and I’ll mix everything in. Sound good?”
“Perfect.”
A few quiet minutes passed, the only words spoken between us being Ellis’s requests for each ingredient while he carefully mixed them into the meat with his bare hands. I watched him, a little in awe of how easily it all came. When we’d gotten to the end of the list, Ellis nodded to an empty plate he’d set out, along with some parchment paper.
“Can you put paper between the stack of patties, once I put them on the plate?”
“Of course.”
He quickly created three burger patties out of the beef, placed two on the plate, and then nodded. “Paper.” I did as he asked and he plated the third. “Can you turn the sink on for me?”
As he stood at the sink, washing his hands, I started putting things back in the spice cabinet. Because of the kitchen’s layout, I had to stand unreasonably close to him, my heart thudding hard in my chest as I did. When he finished washing and drying his hands, he turned, which I noticed a beat too late. We bumped into each other and once again, Ellis froze.
We stood, barely a breath apart, and I watched as his gaze flickered between my eyes before moving down to my mouth and back up again. The intensity of his stare made butterflies explode in my stomach. I wanted to reach out and touch him and suddenly, I knew, just knew deep down, he was thinking the same thing.
My throat was very tight and I swallowed before backing away. “Sorry,” I muttered, my face heating for real this time.
“It’s fine,” he said softly, his voice husky.
He’s attracted to me, I thought as I finished putting everything away and cleaning up the counter. It’s not just me that’s into him. The realization was welcome, a wash of relief, but it didn’t help the urge I had to reach out and touch him, to kiss him, to see what his body felt like against mine.
