I raised a brow. “Work wearing you down that bad? Or is it the cold weather? Or the squirrel?”
That earned me the look. “The man.”
“I bet he’s a stud.”
That cracked her. She tried to hold a glare but failed as her lips curved with a laugh.
“Okay,” she said finally. “You might be right about that.”
“Might be?”
“Don’t get cocky.”
She moved toward the kitchen island, pulling her hair up into a messy knot. The motion exposed the smooth line of her neck, and I swear every ounce of blood in my body made a unanimous decision to abandon my brain entirely.
I forced myself to focus. “So, shall we go, or do you want me to cook, or are we ordering in?”
“Please,” she said, grabbing a takeout menu from the counter. “Just because you won the cookoff doesn’t mean I trust anything else.”
I held up a hand. “Fair. So, takeout?”
She nodded, flipping through a menu, her brow furrowing in concentration. The silence stretched, comfortable but charged, and I couldn’t stop watching her. The way she bit her lip while she read, the soft hum she made when she found something that looked good, it all drove me crazy.
Then, just as I was about to say something dumb to break the tension, she turned around.
There was a spark in her eyes now, and when she met my gaze, it felt like she’d flipped the balance of the room completely in her favor.
“Drew,” she said, voice low and curious.
“Yeah?”
She smiled slowly. “You know what?”
“What?”
Chapter Eleven
Melanie
The thing about Drew Benedict was that he always looked like he was waiting for the next disaster with a grin.
So, when I said, “How about we stay in and I cook dinner?” the surprise on his face was almost worth the inevitable teasing that followed.
His brows shot up. “You? Cook?”
“Don’t look so skeptical,” I said, folding my arms. “I can handle pasta.”
“And we know my chili is world-winning,” he said, clearly amused. “So we could feed ourselves for two nights a week.”
“Two nights a week? What are you even talking about?”
“Well, when I finally wear you down to stay in this town, we only have to figure out dinner five nights a week.”
His words sank into my soul, did a backflip, and I coughed them right out.
“I’m not staying.”
Drew’s gaze stayed on me. “All hypothetical. But staying in tonight sounds perfect.”
