He twisted around to shoot me a smile over his shoulder. "Good thing there’s no need to worry about that with you."
“Yeah…”
Okay, that naturally brought to mind whatIwasn’t telling him. But that wasn’t a secret, not really. Even with an inside source, angels were still about as foreign to me as anyone else. I needed to understand more before I tried explaining to him.
Lysander saw I went distracted and guessed which part tripped me up. The whole he’d dated and I hadn’t or had no memory of it thing. He extended his hand and I got up to move closer to him.
He pulled me in close when I took his hand. “This is new for me too, Max. I haven’t ever clicked with someone how I do with you.”
"Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“We, uh, before anything goes further…” He sent me an apologetic smile. “We need to have a conversation first.”
Tearing each other’s clothes off and figuring it out as we went along sounded like a much more fun plan, but I unfortunately agreed. We needed to act like mature, healthy adults who talked about our feelings and expectations and a bunch of other stuff I totallyrockedat talking about.
My nerves grew, becoming out of this world enormous, I mean, very large… very large and earthly. Having him so near and eager to get closer, it all brought good nerves and excitement. I was eager to see what happened next. I just had to survive this conversation first.
Lysander chuckled and I felt it rumble against my chest. “Communicating doesn’t have to be completely painful.”
"Really?"
"Here, look at this." He made room for me in front of the stove and the pot there.
Inside the pot, red liquid bubbled softly. “Soup?”
“Yeah, tonight’s menu is tomato soup and grilled cheese. Not exactly gourmet, but I thought—”
"It sounds perfect." Filled with cheese and nothing too fancy, that was my happy place.
"Well, timing is the key to cooking. Soup, stew, anything with blending ingredients and getting the flavor just right requires low heat, a simmer.” He used one of the other boilers, turning it on and cranking up the heat to create a roaring flame, then he turned it down low so the dial landed at the same place as the other one with the soup. “Too much fire and it burns or gets chewy, all you need is a little heat over a longer period of time. The flavor builds and all the ingredients become succulent and melt in your mouth.”
His voice sounded so rich as he narrated, his breath grazing over my ear. The metaphor did make talking about this easier. It also made me a weird combination of hungry and horny at the same time.
“Is this normally how you cook?” I asked.
"Sometimes. But learning new recipes is half the fun. Whatever pace you’re comfortable with is good for me. As long as we both—no, wait, it’s really importantto methat you enjoy the flavor of any cooking we do."
Lysander’s brain always whirred inside his head. He’d probably read shelves and shelves full of books with loftier metaphors than those he used. He could probably do this all night, find ways to translate any aspect of a relationship into a cooking code.
I couldn’t do the same. Especially because the meaning of his words hit me right in the center of my chest.It’s really importantto methat you enjoy the flavor of any cooking we do.That absolutely meantI just want you to be happy.
“I don’t know how to turn this into talking about, uh, soup. But Aaron and I have been exhaustively discussing intimacy and healthy relationships. Emphasis on exhaustively.” I looked down at the pot in front of us as a smile formed on my face. "So I’ve been thinking about this and what I really want is…” I grabbed the dial for the stove and cranked it to the right. “Let’s turn up the heat.”
Turning my body to connect with his, he smiled as our lips brushed together.
We’d just begun wrapping our arms around each other when he pulled back and started messing with the stove and food. “I appreciate your point, but we should probably turn this down and stop all the actual cooking before we get too distracted.”
We both started giggling even as we kept kissing. Starting on a new adventure, I couldn’t wait to keep exploring with him.
~
Max
I liked this kind of cooking.
Lysander and I ended up next to the stove, our sides pressed against the counter as we kissed and kissed, barely even coming up for air. His slow exploration of my mouth caused goosebumps to erupt on my arms, shivering as I anticipated what came next with excitement. When I pressed my tongue inside his mouth and tried to repeat his motions, his breath hitched and I felt his hardness growing against my thigh.
We stumbled from the kitchen towards his couch, staring heavily at each other for a moment as we stood there. Lysander’s untucked shirt, mused hair, and flushed cheeks were intoxicating.
