Page 14

She bit down into the pickle, and almost made an embarrassing noise at just how good it was as the flavor practically burst onto her tongue – it was tangy, firm, briny and crunchy, with just the right amount of kick to it.

“Mmph,” she said, as she alternately chewed the pickle and tried to suck cooling air into her mouth. “So good. Oh my God. Here.”

What she had been intending to do was hold the basket of pickles out to Ethan, so he could take one. Maybe put one on his plate, if he was being weird about it.

What she actually did was hold out the pickle she’d taken a bite out of, and shove it in his face.

By the time she realized what she’d done, it was too late to change her mind without looking at least somewhat silly… and she’d never been one to back down from a challenge. If she was going to look silly, then she was going to do it properly.

Instead of brushing the whole thing off with a laugh, she inched the pickle closer to his mouth and raised her eyebrow.

The expression on Ethan’s face would’ve been hilarious, if it hadn’t been quite so infuriating.

Seeing a grown man wrinkle his nose at a fried pickle, of all things, was quite the experience. While on the one hand she could appreciate a man who ate healthily, there was such a thing as taking things too far… and she was willing to bet that he didn’t actually enjoy his regular meals.

There was healthy eating, and then there was joyless eating, and she was pretty sure she knew which one was correct in Ethan’s case.

“Go on, you big baby,” she goaded, wiggling the pickle under his nose. “Or are you scared? Scared of a little pickle?”

His eyes narrowed, and before she could react, he chomped down on the pickle, his lips brushing her fingers.

The contact sent a shiver all the way down her body, but it wasn’t enough to entirely distract her from the frankly hilarious sight of him chewing angrily, his face going through a range of emotions, from disgust, to curiosity, to resignation, and then – a- ha!

– to enjoyment. He closed his eyes for a moment as he ate, and Chloe didn’t work too hard to keep the triumphant smile off her face.

“There. That wasn’t too horrible, was it? Managed to choke it down somehow?”

His eyelids snapped open, and he stared at her for a long moment, before he swallowed.

Chloe swallowed too, though for an entirely different reason. He had the tiniest bit of batter on the corner of his lips, and she wanted nothing more than to lick it off –

What the hell is wrong with me?? You don’t want a relationship! And especially not with this guy! He probably has a color-coded wardrobe just for his suits! His idea of a romantic evening is probably eating boiled fish and watching news about the stock market!

But he was also fantastic with animals, and he had helped her out at the clinic despite being under no obligation to do so, and excitement and mystery seemed to follow at his heels like an overly loyal dog.

And yeah, he was also insanely good-looking on top of it all, and he had caught her when she fell, and there was something about him that just made her feel safe .

… Okay. So maybe she had a bit of a thing for him.

But there was no point in pursuing it. She was starting up a business in a new town, and he was presumably going to go back to being some sort of corporate asshole in the big city, whether he was an asshole in his personal life or not, and that was that.

To distract herself from the sudden pang of frustration that was shooting through her belly, she picked up the loaded hot dog and took a big bite out of it without even looking at it closely enough to appreciate what it might have in it.

But as it turned out she didn’t need to look anyway, because each flavor seemed to pop out on her tongue, with a depth and intensity that took her breath away. She had no idea where this diner sourced its ingredients, but wherever it was, she wanted to start shopping there!

The mustard was silky smooth and had just enough of a bite to it to make it interesting, while being balanced out by the sweetness of the ketchup and the relish.

The onions and lettuce were fresh and crunchy, the cheese was warm and melty and flavorful, and a surprise jalapeno made its warming presence known.

And the sausage itself – well, she had to say that it definitely was not bain-marie offcuts! She practically moaned in pleasure at the taste of it, warm and hearty, and wrapped in what was hands-down the best hot dog bun she had ever tasted.

Chloe chewed, and then chewed some more, before finally managing to swallow the enormous mouthful.

“Oh. Wow. ” She raised the hot dog to pass it to Ethan, since apparently that was what they were doing now –

And stopped, astonished, as she watched Ethan chowing down on a burger of his own free will .

Nope, there was no denying it – he was definitely eating the burger.

And enjoying it, with the ravenousness of a starving man.

Which, in a way, she supposed he was. She couldn’t imagine having denied herself delicious food for…

however long he’d been doing it for, especially given that he obviously had the means to eat whatever he wanted.

Had he been denying himself these things all along out of some kind of monk-like asceticism, or had he really never just tasted junk food before, and had no idea what he was missing?

She watched as he continued to blissfully devour the burger, apparently unaware of anything else that was going on. It was kind of cute, really, but eventually she had to clear her throat a couple of times to get his attention.

“Mm?” He looked up, blinking, a piece of lettuce dangling from his mouth. After a moment he seemed to realize, and his tongue went in search of the lettuce, pulling it up slowly and messily.

Chloe watched him in fascination. It shouldn’t have been sexy, watching him haul a piece of lettuce into his mouth like a particularly uncoordinated giraffe. It shouldn’t have been even remotely appealing.

Then why did it look so damn good?!

She cleared her throat again, though more with embarrassment this time, and tried to sound offhand. “Hey – leave some of that for me, will you? I’m glad you’re discovering your tastebuds and all, but I did want to at least try the hamburger.”

Startled, Ethan looked down at the half-devoured burger in his hands, before looking back up at her. “Oh. Sorry. I’ll buy you a new one –”

He started to stand up – burger, bizarrely, still clutched in his hands – but Chloe waved him back down.

“No, no, I wasn’t being serious – I only wanted a taste.

We already have way more food than we’ll ever need.

” Though she was starting to suspect that they were going to make much more of a dent in it than she’d originally thought, given the rate Ethan was going at.

She indicated the half-eaten hot dog. “Do you want to swap?”

He nodded eagerly, and the two of them passed their condiment-loaded, half-eaten meals across the table to each other.

After a few bites of the juiciest burger Chloe had ever had the pleasure of tasting, she took a self-enforced food break for a minute to let her stomach settle… but food breaks didn’t mean drink breaks.

She searched amongst all the items on the table until she located the enormous metal milkshake cups, glistening with condensation, and the smaller, empty milkshake glasses next to them.

“Here,” she said, pouring a small amount from one of the cups into one of the glasses. “I got a malted chocolate thickshake and a malted banana maple thickshake. I thought you might like to try the banana one, since it has fruit –”

She watched, entranced, as Ethan ignored the small taste of banana thickshake that she was so kindly pouring for him, and instead grabbed the enormous silver cup that housed the chocolate thickshake, lifted it to his oh-so-kissable lips, and started chugging. And chugging. And chugging.

“I’ve created a monster,” Chloe murmured.

She stared for a long moment as he continued to drink… before shrugging.

“Well, when in Rome,” she sighed, before picking up the silver cup containing the malted banana maple thickshake and taking her own long swallow.

Oh my God. It’s like an orgasm in my mouth.

The shake was sweet, but not overly so, and was quite possibly the creamiest thing she’d ever tasted. It was obviously made with real bananas and maple syrup, and she had to physically force herself to stop drinking.

If his was even half as good as this one, then I totally get it.

She looked over at where Ethan had – finally – put his drink down.

His eyes were bright, and somehow he looked more…

messy than before. Not that his clothes had magically rumpled themselves or his hair was sticking up in all directions or anything, but he looked like an actual human, rather than some kind of inhumanly perfect cog in the corporate machine.

And it seemed that all it took was actually getting him to allow himself to enjoy something for once.

“Good shake?” she asked wryly.

“Hm?” He looked confused for a moment, like he was coming back to reality. “Oh. Yeah. Not bad, I guess.”

Chloe burst out laughing at that. Like he hadn’t just been drinking that stuff down like his life depended on it! “Not bad?! Okay. Whatever helps you sleep at night, I guess.”

He stared at her intently, then, to the point where she started to feel self-conscious. It was like he thought she was the most fascinating thing in the whole world.

She opened her mouth to ask him what was going on, when he reached over – and, before she could react, gently wiped some banana shake from her cheek.

That warm buzz from earlier passed through her again, and she shivered. It was inexplicable. It wasn’t like she’d never had boyfriends before, but the gentlest, most ordinary touch from Ethan set her afire in a way that the most deliberate touches from her previous boyfriends never had.

This guy is going to be the death of me, I swear.