She smiled in relief. “Okay. I was actually thinking I made a mistake inviting you because all the recipes say you have to give it your full attention.”
“I’ll keep the glasses filled, dishes cleared, and provide moral support no matter the outcome. Deal?”
“Deal.” She smiled at me and clinked her glass to mine. “Here we go.”
“Here we go, Chef King,” I said back to her.
17
AUDRA
As soon as he said his favorite food was carbonara, I regretted inviting him over. I was confident in my cooking, but trying out a hard-to-make meal he usually ate in Italy … like the country? It was not looking good for me. But Donovan surprised me. He kept insisting he was easy to please and made me feel safe to make a mistake.
“So why carbonara?” he asked as he wrapped the crusty bread to put in the oven without being asked. The man seemed to know his way around the kitchen, and I appreciated that, even if we kept bumping into each other.
“Well, I watch a lot of cooking shows, so this recipe looked interesting. And truth be told, I don’t really travel, so this is my way of kind of seeing the world. I know it sounds stupid, but…”
He put his hand over mine, and the touch of it stopped me in my tracks. “Audra, that’s not stupid at all. I think it’s amazing.” Then, it was almost as if he realized he was still touching me and pulled back.
“What about you?” I cleared my throat. “Do you like to travel?”
“You could say that.” A smirk spread across his face, and I didn’t know how to read it. But I didn’t have time to dissect it because I had to move on to the next step in the recipe. “Where would you go if you could go anywhere in the world?” he followed up with.
I paused and tried to think about where I would love to go, but that list was too long, and I realized I couldn’t engage in that conversation at that moment. We could chit-chat at the table. As it stood, I realized I didn’t prep enough and was going to need some more help.
“Hey, so I know I told you I didn’t need help, but I think I do. Can you slowly add this in? I have to keep stirring. Not sure how people with just two arms make this.” I handed him the mixture.
He didn’t hesitate and did exactly what he was supposed to as I stirred. This was the hard part; you couldn’t scramble the egg, but it had to be whisked in. Holding my breath as I whisked, the sauce finally started to take shape, and I sighed in relief.
Looking up, I expected to see him staring at the bowl of pasta with the intensity I had been, but it was apparent he was just staring at me. I hoped I didn’t have splattered sauce on my face or something.
“This looks like it’s it, Audra. I think you did it,” he smiled warmly, keeping the intensity of his gaze on mine. This man’s eyes were straight-up hypnotizing.
“Well, texture-wise, I think it looks like it’s supposed to. Let’s see how it tastes.” He dipped the spoon in the sauce and brought it to his lips. I couldn’t take my eyes away. Normally, I might have something to say about the fact that he just tried itbefore me, but at the moment, I couldn’t look away. He closed his eyes and made a sound of appreciation. “Holy shit, this is amazing.” He dipped the spoon again, and held it up for me to try. I did without hesitation. Oh my, it really was good.
“I think we nailed it,” I said excitedly, feeling relief and pride all at once.
“I think we did,” he said back to me. Before I knew it, our meals were plated, and we were sitting down at my little kitchen table. The night was seamless. We laughed, talked, and I got to know the man that I didn’t think even liked me. It was easily the best time I’ve had with a man in years, and we didn’t even sleep together. Around midnight, he looked at the clock, but neither of us had any idea how much time had passed. He left soon after that realization, but as he walked out the door, all I could think about was how I wanted more. To touch more, to know more, to explore whatever was sparking between us more.
The next couple of days,I worked my ass off and had no time for anything else. But after my shift on Thursday, I had plans. Some rare celestial event with planets was happening, and Bennett had been geeking out over it for a month. Last week, he and Murphy decided to throw a party so they could enjoy it with other people, and they were calling it a Parade of Planets Party. With the two of them, everything had to have a name and everything was worthy of a celebration.
Because of the craziness of the week, I hadn’t had time to find out who was going to this thing. I could assume the usual suspects, but I was mostly curious about one specific individual attending. We hadn’t exchanged numbers yet, so I had noway of finding out, and there was no chance I would ask Maeve.
But what if I just stopped by the office on the way to work? I may or may not have made extra chicken, bacon, and gruyere sandwiches last night. There was no way I’d be able to eat all of them, and I wanted to avoid wasting food. Taking them to the office to share sounded reasonable and legit. Right?
Before I knew it, I was walking up the office stairs.
“Who ordered the food?” I announced when I walked through the threshold. Maeve stood up, looking confused, but Donovan popped his head out of his office with a smile.
“Let me guess,” Maeve said sarcastically, “you guys randomly ran into each other somewhere last night and Audra agreed to bring you food again?” She rolled her eyes.
“Not quite,” I giggled. Maeve hated not knowing things. It was part of the reason she was so bothered about Jules not admitting to anything happening between her and Murphy. It’s not like she could care or judge; she was just a busybody. “I just overbought chicken and needed to make a lot of sandwiches. I’m just not going to eat them all. And” — I looked up at Donovan in the doorway with a smile — “you’re easy to please.”
His dimples popped out. “Well, I can’t wait,” he said back to me.
“What’s for lunch, Audra?” Maeve asked, reminding me she was still, in fact, there with us.
“Chicken sandwiches with bacon, garlic parm aioli, spinach, and gruyere cheese on a brioche bun.”
