Page 51 of Moonlight Hearts

I walked up behind him and looked into the pan.He was slowly heating up some oil, probably olive.“Hey, I know how to dice onions now.Kasey taught me.I could’ve done these for you, and then you could’ve judged my newly acquired skill.”

“Huh.Will I have to follow up with our cook about bringing you to tears?”

“Sous chef, I keep telling you, and leave Kasey alone.I asked him to teach me.Sorry if I scared you with the crying.”I kissed his cheek.“Oh, do you think I was taking advantage of him?Basically, I got a free cooking lesson out of him.”

Soyer sighed, looked up at the ceiling while shaking his head.“Fuck help me, but perhaps you can ask him whether he’d be comfortable coming by for Thanks-fucking-giving as a gesture of your gratitude.”

That made me snort.“I can ask him if he wants to stuff himself with us, but I’m not going to say that.”

“Suit yourself.”

“I’ll ask Elias too.”

“Fuck me.”

“Would he bring his Ben?Probably not if he brings his men, right?Wouldhe bring his men?Soyer, if you’re renting a table, can you also rent a juicer for the vampires?”

“A juicer.Sure.Some virgin blood too.”He tossed the perfectly minced garlic in the pan and let it sizzle for a moment, then stirred with the wooden spoon he liked using so much that it had taken on a dark patina.“What am I going to do with you, Amory?”

I hugged him from behind and leaned my head on his shoulder; the left one, so I wouldn’t bother him too much while he was still chopping things.“Are you trying to tell me that a juicer is maybe not a good idea?”

“No, my heart, it’s a kind idea not many would have considered.I don’t know if Simeon or Valentin enjoy juice, but Elias will make a show of it.”

I tensed with excitement when that sparked another idea.“Maybe he can have a chocolate milkshake?Because of the holiday?”

Soyer started working on a few tomatoes.“I won’t be getting into that, and it might be good for you not to either.But you will do what you think is right.That independent streak.”

“You could give me advice, Soyer.”

The tomatoes went in, filling the pan with the sizzle of their juices exploding and mixing with the garlic.“You can suggest whatever you want to suggest to your lawyer.You won’t cause offense there.”

“See?That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“I see how it is now.All this feisty energy of yours normally gets taken care of by dealing with the hungry people at the diner, but now it’s still here.And you don’t seem to know what to do with it, so you start considering…philanthropy.”

He said the word like it was the dirtiest, most depraved thing ever, which, oddly, made me want to kiss him again.He was too busy cooking though.

“We could watch a movie later on.”

“Only if we do it in bed.”

That made me feel all warm inside.I’d get to cuddle Soyer that way.“Sounds good.”

“Good.Then how about you find dishes, hmm?This’ll have to simmer for a while, but we can have wine while we wait, and some bread.”

“All right.What are you making?”

“Well, I’m not sure.Lovechild of an eggplant ragu and pasta alla Norma.Eggplant pasta.We’ll see how it goes.”

I nodded.“Deep dishes, then.”

“Yup.”

I got his nice plates from the cabinet, remembering that time when I had, maybe, stolen my ring from the sugar bowl Soyer had hidden it in.The memory of that day made me smile, and when my mind reader saw, he said nothing, just chuckled, shook his head, and cubed the eggplant.I kissed him all the same, plates in hand and ready to wait with him until the food was done.

Chapter Sixteen

“Haveyoureallyneverhad a Thanksgiving?”