“My bad,” he mumbles around a mouthful of food before releasing a groan. “So good.”
Spooning a portion onto a plate, I set it in front of Cecilia before serving myself some.
“What is it?” she asks, leaning forward to take a small sniff.
“You’ve never hadcampechana?” Felix asks her.
She shakes her head. “No. I don’t think so.”
Felix whistles. “You’ve been missing out.” He grins. “After you try Julio’scampechana, you won’t know how you survived without it in your life. The only one of us with better cooking skills than J is Gabriel but you’ll have to come around more often if you want some of his cooking. The fucker is stingy and doesn’t make meals for us often.”
Reclaiming my seat beside her, I take a bite of my own food, hoping it’ll encourage her to do the same. She takes a tentative taste and we all watch for her reaction.
“Oh, my God.” We all grin at her response.
“Good, yeah?” Atticus asks as he elbows Deacon. “Bro, try it.”
He doesn’t look convinced, but after watching Cecilia take a few more bites, he shrugs and goes for it.
“Okay, this is hella good.”
“Right!” Felix confirms. “Wait until you try Gabe’s gorditas. They’re to die for.”
Rolling my eyes, I throw a napkin at his head. “You haven’t had those in ages,” I tell him.
“I know,” he whines. “Which is all the more reason why you should step up to the plate and make them for us soon. Cecilia wants to try out your cooking skills, don’t you, pequeñita?”Little one.
I grind my teeth, ignoring the nickname he uses for her. We’ll discuss that later. And instead look at Cecilia, who’s blush is now traveling down her neck.
“Yeah?” Felix encourages.
With a small smile, she nods. “Yeah, sure.”
Throwing my arm over the back of her chair, I lean in, blocking everyone else from view. “You want me to cook for you?” I ask, dropping my voice low. My heart is all of a sudden thundering in my chest. Felix was right when he said I don’t cook often, but I find myself wanting to cook for her.
“Mm Hmm,” she shrugs. “If you want to.”
My smile is wide as she tentatively matches my grin, and I sit back in my seat, leaving my arm draped over the back of her chair. She doesn’t admonish me.
“Alright then,” I tell her. “It’s a date.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cecilia’s lips part and her eyes widen at my casual use of the termdatebefore she takes in the smiles on the guy’s faces across from her. Felix cheers, making an unnecessary display of triumph that has the other guys laughing, but I don’t pay them much attention, waiting to see how Cecilia responds.
Her lips close and despite knowing she wants to, she doesn’t correct me. Instead, she offers me a barely perceptible nod.
Victory sweeps through me.
We eat our fill, and I make sure to add more to Cecilia’s plate when I see that it’s empty. The guys eventually wander off, finally leaving the two of us alone, but it’s getting late, and I know any minute Cecilia is going to tell me she has to go.
I start clearing our mess, putting what remains of thecampechanaback in the fridge while Cecilia starts to collect her things.
“We made decent headway,” she tells me.
“Yeah. Not too bad,” I agree.
“So, I … I guess?—”
“Did you make a decision about tomorrow?” I ask. I know I should leave it alone. She agreed to dinner with me and the guys, and that alone is a win. But I can’t help but push.
