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“Afraid to get tipsy around me, Allison?” Nick asked playfully.
I stood in front of the fridge and looked over my shoulder at him. He was watching me; heat gripped my entire body at the sensation. “I just don’t feel in the mood for it,” I whispered.
His eyes darkened a bit, but he nodded. I opened the fridge and once again was stunned at the amount of food inside.
I’d simply assumed that just because my fridge had been deplorably empty before taking the twins in, his would be the same.
“Want me to give you a tour of the apartment after we eat? Or before? I can wait with the cooking.”
“Let’s eat first.” I took out a jug of orange juice. Maybe it would be easier to resist him on a full stomach.
“This isn’t going to take long.”
“I can put the spaghetti in the water,” I said as he was cracking eggs.
“That would help.”
I filled a pot with water and put the spaghetti in it once it was boiling. It certainly didn’t take Nick long to whip up the sauce.
“Easy dinner,” I remarked.
“Indeed. I like cooking more elaborate stuff, but I don’t really have time, and it’s inefficient. But soon I won’t have that problem anymore. I can cook for you and the twins.”
Suddenly, he was even more attractive in my eyes.
“It smells amazing,” I exclaimed a few seconds later, trying to put my mind on something else. The scent of onions mixed with that of ham and herbs.
I opened a few drawers until I found a wooden spoon and then was about to dip it into the sauce, but Nick gripped my wrist. The contact singed me. As I looked up at him, my breath quickened.
“No tasting until it’s done. You’ll just be disappointed.”
I smiled and took a step back as he let go of me, as if I didn’t just get turned on because the man touched my wrist.
I was going to make a fool of myself this evening. I just knew it.
“Then I’ll wait for your approval before I dive in.”
“It’s only going to be ready when it’s on your plate.”
My shoulders slumped. “You’re no fun.”
He took a step toward me, tilting closer. “We both know that’s not true.”
Ah, this man. Why was he calling me out like that? It wasn’t fair. How could he move so effortlessly between flirty and non-flirty? I couldn’t keep up.
The food was ready in a matter of minutes. We ate at the small table he had in front of the kitchen island.
I took a bite and barely suppressed a moan. “This is delicious. You’re a very good chef.”
“Thanks. I started playing around in the kitchen as a kid, especially once my older brothers had a lot of after-school activities and they couldn’t continue cooking. Mom did her best, but with working two jobs, there was only so much she could do at home.”
“I still don’t understand how that all went down,” I admitted. “How your father was a gazillionaire, yet you were struggling.”
Nick shrugged. “I keep asking myself the same, how come Mom bought his story, but you have to remember, the internet and social media weren’t a thing back then. We lived in Maine, so the goings-on in another state weren’t important to us. Short of going to Boston and investigating, I don’t think she could have done anything else. But still...”
“And he wasn’t contributing at all?”
“He was, some. Just not enough for my mom to be able to only have one job.”