I laugh. ‘Don’t you think a doctor should be doing that?’
His eyes light up, then he fillets the avocado like a pro. ‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘You’re full of unexpected talents,’ I say, sounding like I’m head over heels in love with him.
Which I’m not. Day by day. Moment by moment. No more, but also no less. That’s what we agreed on, and that’s exactly how it works for me. It’s just… nice.
Grinning, I focus on the pan and stir the vegetables. Steam rises and mingles with the cool breeze drifting in through the open window.
‘Okay, we’ve got a critical patient here,’ I hear Jaden call out suddenly, sounding alarmed. ‘Unseasoned vegetables. I repeat: unseasoned vegetables!’
I burst out laughing on the spot.
‘We have to act fast!’ He reaches for the saltshaker. ‘Give me the pepper powder, Dr. Moore.’
‘Pepper powder?’ Gasping for breath, I hand him the pepper mill. ‘Good rescue teams work with precise terminology.’
He seasons the vegetables more generously than I would and then sniffs the air theatrically. ‘Patient stabilized. Seasoning within normal range.’
‘You are…’
Crazy. One of a kind. Intoxicating.
His eyes meet mine. ‘What?’
Instead of answering him, I rise up on my tiptoes and kiss him so intensely that I feel a little dizzy. Everything around me blurs, becomes wonderfully unimportant.
‘What did I do to deserve that?’ he asks after we pull apart again.
‘Simply by being you.’ Warmth floods my chest. ‘This is a great evening, thank you.’
‘The patient isn’t cured yet,’ he replies, pointing at our half-finished meal.
I shake my head, laughing, while he sets to work on the steaks as if they were particularly delicate surgical cases. The scent of roasted aromas and spices fills the kitchen, the oil sizzling softly.
As warm and light as this moment feels, that’s how warm and light everything inside me is too. On the way here, I still had a thousand questions in my head, but now I don’t need any answers anymore.
It is what it is, and just like that it’s wonderful.
Even when Jaden fills two wineglasses a little later and hands one of them to me, I accept it willingly. We clink glasses and I take a sip. Without a guilty conscience, but with a relaxed smile.
‘What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done in your life?’ he wants to know from me, motioning for me to sit down.
‘Eating something you cooked, I think.’ I raise my brows, he laughs. ‘And you?’
He reaches for knife and fork. ‘Inviting you here.’
I try to read in his face whether that’s a joke or serious. ‘And what about the hot blonde you told me about when I was stitching up your head wound?’
‘You still remember that?’ he asks with a smirk, spearing a piece of bell pepper with his fork. ‘Interesting.’
My cheeks start to burn.
‘Don’t worry, she’s no match for you,’ he says, and his expression softens.
‘She doesn’t exist, does she?’ I lean back in my chair.
‘No.’
