Page 29 of Dirty

“Do you have a skillet?”

“Yep.”

“Some oil?”

“Yep.”

“An onion?”

“Sure do.”

“Tomatoes?”

“We’ve got those, too.”

“Chiles?”

“Huh?”

“Any kind of peppers?”

“Hold, please.”

I grabbed all the things he asked for and set them on the counter.

He turned on the stove, put a little oil in the skillet, and while it came to temperature, he chopped the onion, tomato, and jalapenos and mixed them together. After adding salt and pepper to the mix, he tossed the meat in the skillet and added a few of the finely chopped onions.

He was big, muscular, respectful, and quite handsome. As I watched him, none of those things seemed to matter. Seeing him cook, however, wadded me into a ball of sexual tension.

I never knew watching a man cook could be sexy, but after thinking about it, I’d never seen a man cook.

He lifted the skillet from the stove, did a flippity thing with his wrist, and tossed the ingredients into the air. They landed back down in the pan without spilling a drop. He did it again as it were no big deal then set it back on the burner.

“Tortillas?” he asked over his shoulder.

I tried my best to take my eyes off him for a moment, but it wasn’t easy. Eventually, I turned toward the fridge and opened it. “Here’s where it gets kinda weird.”

“How’s that?” he asked.

“I don’t like flour tortillas. I only eat corn,” I said as I pulled the tortillas from the refrigerator.

He let out a low laugh. “I prefer the corn.”

“Really?” I asked excitedly.

“Really. Flour tortillas are for the rich and anyone who wants to get fat. Corn tortillas are for the working man.”

He flipped the skillet again. I noticed the muscles in his arm flex when he did it. As if watching him cook wasn’t enough, he had to be buff and tattooed as well.

“I work for a living.” He glanced at me, and his blue eyes smiled. “And, I’m not trying to get fat.”

He could have scraped me off the floor with the spatula. I’d officially melted. I’d seen too much Adam Cholo Downey for one night.

I handed him the tortillas. “Here.”

He spooned the contents of the skillet into the bowl and then poured some oil in the skillet. After warming the oil, he added a few tortillas and sprinkled them with salt.

“Grab the plates?” he asked.