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“You want to sit in my lap?”
“Pwease?”
“Uh, sure,” I replied.
“You don’t have to,” Gavin argued.
“No. I would love for him to sit with me.” I gave him a sheepish look. “I’m just not used to being all flirty and then…”
“Cockblocked?”
My eyes bulged as I glanced between him and Owen. “Did you really just say that in front of him?”
Gavin laughed. “It’s okay. He has no idea it means something bad.”
“I see.”
Owen started climbing into my lap, so I reached over to pull him up by the waist. “There you go.”
“Tanks.
He then grabbed a spoon and thrust it into the käsespätzle. A massive bite wiggled on the spoon as he brought it to his mouth. “Hang on. Let me help,” I suggested.
My hand came over his tiny one to guide the spoon to his mouth. “There you go.”
As he chewed happily, I grabbed the knife and fork to begin cutting up his chicken. When he reached for more käsespätzle, I asked, “You like it?”
“It’s good.”
I grinned at him. “That is one of my favorites. I’ve loved it since I was your age.”
When I glanced over at Gavin, his fork was frozen halfway to his mouth as he stared wide-eyed at us. “Are you okay?”
Shaking his head, he replied, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Before I could warn him about how spicy the dish was he was about to eat, he jammed the bite in his mouth. After one chew, his eyes started to water. “Holy. Shit,” he choked out.
“I’m so sorry. I should’ve warned you. That’s feuerfleisch or really spicy pork.”
In a somewhat strangled voice, Gavin reached for his beer stein. “It’s spicy all right.”
I couldn’t help laughing at the absurdity of his expression and voice. “I think you’re all talk, Mr. Mulvaney.”
After gulping down the rest of his beer and a swig of Owen’s milk, he said, “Excuse me?”
“I thought you liked spicy things.”
He scowled. “Yeah, well, there’s good spicy and bad spicy.” Pointing at the dish, “That is scorching.”
With an apologetic look, I said, “Rory might’ve had them make it extra spicy.”
“To sabotage me?”
“Maybe.”
“Wow, she’s good. I mean, she came out here all generous while she was plotting to take me out all the time.”
Shaking my head, I teasingly countered, “Or it could be you really only like spicy things in your women.”
