Page 4 of Vain

“Bowls?”

I open my mouth before snapping it shut again. I point to the cupboard where they’re kept, watching in fascination as he grabs two and decants the pasta into them.

“I guess there was enough for two, after all.” I manage to find my voice after he moves around the island, taking a seat. He grins at me, all pearly white teeth, making something flutter in my stomach. I know a lot of handsome men. Hollywood is like a tree filled with low-hanging, pretty boy fruit just ready for picking. But this boy,this man,is something else entirely.

He is too rugged to be considered handsome and too intense to be considered pretty, yet there is something so utterly captivating about his face that I’m finding it hard to look away. He’s younger than I was expecting, my age perhaps, or maybe a year or two older, with a warm tan complexion and ebony hair that’s short at the sides but long on top. His eyes are so dark they almost look black and they’re framed with long lashes that I’m instantly jealous of.

“You gonna eat before it gets cold?”

I jump and duck my head, hoping he didn’t notice me checking him out. “I…um…I was going to take it up to my room.”

I wasn’t. I hate eating anything other than snacks upstairs. It makes the whole place smell for days. Besides, if I don’t come out for food, I don’t come out much at all.

“And leave me to eat alone on my first night?” he teases.

“I…” have no words. I don’t want to be a bitch and abandon him to eat alone. Thanks to my issues, he’s in a new place and without his friends and family. Hell, he could have a girlfriend or wife at home, wishing he was there instead of here with some flighty actress who can’t even?—

“Tilly? You okay?”

I shake my head, my eyes dropping to his bare ring finger. “Sorry, I zoned out for a minute.”

I walk around the island, leaving plenty of space between us before I take a seat, leaving the stool between us free.

“My mom can cook, but whoever is making your food can weave magic,” he tells me, shoveling another forkful into his mouth before he turns to look at me. “Don’t tell her I said that.”

Amused, I find myself grinning despite myself. “Your secret is safe with me. And you’re right. Marley is a wizard in the kitchen.” I let my hair fall forward as I take a bite of my food.

I don’t engage in any more conversation. I focus on eating. Though I’m itching to jump off my chair and run away, a tangible force is holding me here.

Once I finish my last mouthful, I look over at my guest and flush when I see him watching me.

“I was half hoping you weren’t going to finish that.”

I chuckle before standing. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I was starving. That’s what drove me downstairs to begin with.”

Walking around the island, I grab both empty bowls and put them in the dishwasher.

“With food like that, I’m not sure how you stay out of the kitchen.”

“Can’t have an ass like this eating too much food like that.” I swallow, surprised that I said that out loud.

His eyes rake over me with a different kind of hunger now, making me shiver. “Can’t argue with that.”

I bite my lip and toss a tablet in the dishwasher, keeping my back to him as I turn it on. Turning back around to ask him if he wants some dessert, I find his eyes on the space where my ass would have been.

He looks up at me and grins unrepentantly.

“Do you want dessert?” I cringe as soon as it’s out, realizing how suggestive that sounds. “I mean the semifreddo. It needs to defrost for a little longer.”

“If it tastes half as good as the pasta did, I’ll wait all night for it.”

“It’s even better,” I whisper as he gets off the chair and walks around the island toward me. He stops when he’s a hair’s breadth away, close enough for his breath to skate over my skin but without touching me.

“You want to sit outside while we wait? I noticed the fire pit on.”

I open my mouth to say no, but he looks so earnest I reluctantly agree. “Okay, for a little while.”

I step around him and head outside, not waiting for him to catch up, hoping a little bit of space between us will give me a chance to catch my breath.