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“I haven’t, but those are for you.”
“Vannah.” He shook his head. “You said it yourself. You made enough for all my co-workers and while I’m still not sure I’ll be sharing these with them—” or anything else about her “—I sure as hell don’t mind sharing with the chef herself.”
Byron stopped short of adding, especially one as sweet as her. He was already pushing it by inviting her to have lunch with him. Yet, at the same time his insides were also going nuts because she appeared to accept the invitation. She’d already pulled the purse off her shoulder with a smile and came around the counter with him when he motioned for her to do so.
Starting to pull out a chair for her, Byron thought of something. “Or we can go in the break room. Seating might be more ideal in there.” Ignoring the warning sirens going off in his head, Byron took it one step further. “We can also go upstairs to my apartment. I have a full kitchen there where there’s more than just bottled water I can offer you to drink in that fridge, as opposed to the water dispenser in the break room.”
Holding his breath for a moment, he exhaled in relief, smiling big when she crinkled her nose in a curious gesture and glanced upstairs. “You live up there?”
“You didn’t know that?” Seeing her blush intensely this time, as she shook her head had him chuckling, but he let her off the hook. “Yeah, I do.” He asked one of the guys to come cover the lobby while he went to lunch. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
She followed him up and despite the battle of contradicting arguments going on in his head, the excitement about getting some more time—alonetime with her—was winning out. He was a grown man, for fuck’s sake. He could handle this.
Texting Gus, to let him know he’d be upstairs for a while and he’d have to cover the lobby, Byron walked Vannah through his small apartment.
“No school today?” he asked as she took a seat at his kitchen table.
“I had classes this morning. Then I have to put in some hours in study lab later this afternoon.”
Byron set the tray of enchiladas down on the table and grabbed some plates. Relieved that he actually had more than just bottled water and beer in his fridge he offered her the other options. “Aside from water, we got juice boxes, Coke Zero and Starbucks bottled coffee.”
“Ooh, I’ll take Starbucks.”
Grabbing one for her and a soda for himself, he took the seat next to her at the table. She’d already served them both. Three enchiladas for him and one for herself.
Byron stared at her single serving curiously. “Just one?”
“Unlikeallmy siblings who eat very large servings per three square meals a day, I eat small portions all day long.” She peered at him curiously as she bit into her forkful of food but waited until she was done chewing before going on. To his surprise, it had nothing to do with her eating habits. “Juice boxes?” She chuckled suddenly. “Big guy like you is into juice boxes?”
Byron started to laugh as he bit into his food but then had to stop as the explosion of flavors went off in his mouth. “Damnthis is good,” he said covering his mouth as he finished chewing.
Before he could answer her question about the juice boxes, he inhaled several more bites then took a quick swig of his soda and wiped his mouth. “No wonder your brothers eat the whole damn thing by themselves. I ain’t sharing shit with those guys down there.”
Hearing her amusement this up close did even more to him than all the other times he’d heard that sweet laughter. But he shook it off answering her question instead. “My nieces and nephews.”
He explained about Beast’s daughters and Nine and Orlando’s kids coming by the shop often. How for safety reasons they usually ended up in his apartment, instead of hanging out in the shop.
“They raid my fridge and take over my TV and tablet. It’s why I stay stocked up on that kind of stuff. Cereal, rice crispy treats, ice cream you name it. And when they spend the night, I don’t cook so I’m all over Grubhub and Uber eats.”
For a moment he was caught in those sweet eyes as she smiled at him, chewing her food slowly. “So, you’rethatuncle, uh? The favorite fun uncle, that lets you eat junk food and stay up past your bedtime?”
“Shh.” He lifted a finger to his lips. “Pretty sure I’d get my ass handed to me if my brothers knew just what a pushover I am when it comes to their kids.”
“Brothers?” She tilted her head as her brows furrowed. “I thought you only had the one.”
“I always refer to Orlando, and Nine as my brothers as well. Their kids all call each other cousins and call me uncle.” He shrugged. “I figured mine will do the same to them someday too. So, it feels like I have three instead of one.” He paused when his phone rang. “Speaking of, I gotta take this. It’s Nine.”
“Go ahead,” she said taking a swig of her coffee.
Byron stood up as Vannah motioned to ask if he wanted more enchiladas on his now empty plate. Nodding, Byron gave her a thumbs up. “What’s up? Anything good?”
Nine filled him in on what they’d found at the auction. Byron tried in vain to pay attention, but he kept getting distracted by Vannah. First, she’d taken a swig of her coffee that dribbled down her neck and chest, and it’d been all he could do to keep his eyes off her as she worked her ample cleavage with a napkin.
Then after she plated his enchiladas and was done with her wet cleavage, she’d started tapping her phone screen. At the moment, he was once again pulled away from his thoughts on what Nine was saying when he noticed her cover her mouth stifling a laugh as she tapped away on her phone. He turned away so he could try and keep up with everything Nine was telling him but then just seconds later, his eyes were back on her as she took a photo of the enchilada tray. She tapped away at the screen again, all the while she wore that big, beautiful smile he’d been so drawn to since day one.
“Did you get them?”
Nine’s question pulled him out of his stupor. “What?”
