Why was that so fucking charming?
He read the list and pretended he didn’t notice Reese leaning over the corner of the table to get a better look at his legs. His lips twitched when he saw Mati had includedcondomsandlube, in her curling, elegant script.
“Okay, I’ll be back with all this. Any food allergies?”
They shook their heads, clearly curious why he would ask. They’d learn soon enough.
He gave them a long look. “I don’t need to tell you not to leave, right?”
“And we won’t let in anyone but Chance or Kieran,” Mati promised.
“Okay,” David said, hovering by the table.
He had the weirdest urge to kiss them goodbye.
So he did.
Chapter Ten
David was only gone for an hour, but Mati still let out a sigh of relief as soon as he stepped through the door.
When he moved to the side to drag in a loaded down luggage cart, she didn’t know what the fuck to think. The bulge and ripple of his muscles in his running shorts and thin long-sleeve t-shirt as he unloaded the cart was a sight to behold, no doubt, but it was the contents of the half-dozen boxes that really captivated her.
“You did not buy all that at the grocery store and carry it back here,” she said, poking at the growing collection of food and kitchen implements on the table.
David laughed. “No. Chance raided my apartment for most of this and left it for me downstairs,” he said, indicating thefucking pots and pansin one box, and a laptop case leaning against it. “I only got the fresh food and what you two asked for at the store.”
Reese hefted a very large, very fancy skillet in the air. “Well, this makes perfect sense, then,” he observed dryly.
Mati fished a bottle of wine from a different box. “Did Chance choose the vintage, or did you tell him what to bring?”
“I told him,” David said as if this were obvious. “He doesn’t know what I’m planning to cook.”
Mati and Reese exchanged a look. She bit her cheek to keep from smiling.
“So, you’re planning to…cook us dinner?” Reese asked.
David stood up straight, a whisk in one hand and a corkscrew in the other. “Is that weird?”
Mati lied. “No, not at all. It’s just...that’s not much of a kitchen to work with.” She gestured at the kitchenette and its two-burner stove, mini-fridge, and four square feet of counter space.
“I like to keep busy,” David said with a nonchalant shrug while pulling a cornucopia of produce from a grocery sack. “And it’s big enough.”
She resisted the clichéthat’s what she saidjoke and picked up a plump, deep red tomato. “Nice. Fresh, not hydroponic, and in the dead of winter. What are you making?”
David plucked the tomato out of her hand. “You know your produce. And it’s a surprise.”
Mati didn’t point out it was going to be hard to keep it a secret when they’d practically be in his lap while he was cooking it. Hell, if given half a chance, she wouldliterallybe in his lap while he was cooking it.
“My father owns a produce distribution company,” she said. “I’ve been slinging tomatoes since I was a kid.”
David raised his voice to be heard while his head was in the refrigerator. “That’s cool. How come you don’t work for him?”
There was an awkward pause. Reese flashed her a concerned look.
David turned around, perhaps sensing he’d struck a nerve.
“My brothers run the business,” she said in an even voice, long-practiced at making it sound nicer than it was. “And thank goodness. I much prefer working for Reese.” Which was true.
