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“So, what do you want to watch while I cook?” Blake scrolled through, and her eyes flew wide at the amount of choice. The guy was clearly a movie buff.
“Don’t Grace and Cara usually help you in the kitchen?”
Blake snorted. “No. If Cara is even in the vicinity of an oven, things burn. Katie joins us on a Sunday now too, and she can at least chop and peel. My mom is usually in charge of the wine.” Rose laughed, and he blinked at her for a moment before turning back to the TV. “Are you still into those murder mystery movies? The old black and white ones?”
Shocked, her head snapped around to look at him. “Yourememberthat?”
“Ugh, yes, how could I forget? It was when you got into French cinema that it was the worst, you had a beret in every color and refused to speak in anything but French, despite the fact that you didn’t actually know a lick of it.”
“I was eleven,” she protested, and he laughed.
“So what do you like now?” Blake’s eyes were intent on hers as he waited for her answer.
She shrugged. “I don’t really watch movies anymore. I don’t…”
“Have the time?” he said knowingly. “Well, we’re going to change that right now, princess.”
“I want to help you cook though.”
“Sure,” he said with an easy grin, dimples flashing. “Normally I would do fresh veggies and cook from scratch, but until Cara does a grocery run for us we’re stuck with the frozen stuff.”
Rose shrugged. “Fine by me, I can use a microwave. It’s not often I have any semblance of a home cooked meal anyway.”
Blake looked horrified as he mouthed the word ‘microwave’. “We’ll put the frozen veg in boiling water. I’m not going to just nuke them.”
“Why not?” Her face scrunched up and then smoothed out as she laughed at the disgust on Blake’s.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask me that. Sit, watch, I’ll be back once the chicken is in the oven.”
She nodded absently, closing her eyes while he picked out a film and opening them in a daze at the quick press of lips to her forehead. “Blake?”
“Yeah?”
She hesitated for a second before swallowing and letting it drop. “Maia sent over her mock-up of the room for the gala. I love it, but we need your final approval to go ahead.”
A smile quirked his lips and caught her attention for a second before she pulled her eyes back up to meet his. “If you love it then that’s good enough for me, princess. I trust you.”
* * *
Monday’s frenemydinner had been nice, homey, and despite its moniker, she was pretty sure none of the food had been poisoned by Blake. It was probably the longest she and Blake had gone without arguing maybe ever. Plus, it was essentially her fault that he’d had to miss his first Sunday family dinner the night before, so letting him cook for her and watching movies together had been the least she could do. A temporary ceasefire. He’d picked an action movie for her to watch, which had been okay, and then a romantic comedy that she thought she might have already seen on TV with Maia, and then he’d settled down next to her and turned on what she knew was his favorite genre: fantasy.
All in all, she couldn’t remember ever having an evening more relaxing. With Bailey sprawled across her lap and a belly full of immaculately cooked chicken, it almost felt like home.
Reality was now intruding though, making up for the ease of yesterday with a phone call with Detective Jones this morning. Rose had sunk right back into her normal schedule, up at six-thirty, ready in an hour, sipping coffee by eight. Blake blinked at the sight of her sitting at the dining table when he walked into the kitchen with only a half-hour until the video call with Jones. For a moment, she was too distracted by all the abs on show to complain that he was going to make them late.
Blake’s towel was slung low on his hips, the white complimenting his tan in a way that made her envious of never getting outside. When was the last time she’d taken a holiday? Rose swallowed hard, trying to drag her eyes off of the bead of water slowly rolling down, down, down…
“Rose?”
“Hm?” Her eyes flashed upwards and caught a cocky smile playing across Blake’s face that he tried to hide, unsuccessfully.
“Just checking on you. Think you had a bit of drool escaping.”
Her spine straightened as she glared at him. “I wasnotdrooling. What are you doing walking around half naked anyway? We’re supposed to be on a call with Jones in less than thirty minutes.” Rose knew she was a stress head. Especially about appointments. It was even worse when she traveled. But she couldn’t help it. She wasn’t sure what Jones was going to tell them or what questions he might ask, and the uncertainty of it all wasn’t helping her already-shot nerves.
Blake grabbed a cup of coffee and reclined against the counter, not even bothering to hold his towel as it slipped dangerously low. “Relax, princess. It only takes me ten minutes to get ready. I’ve got plenty of time.”
She sniffed disbelievingly, opting to stare out at the garden through the backdoor than at him while he stood half-naked. “Do you want me to take Bailey out while you get dressed?” It was a big concession for her, voluntarily offering to go outside with all this still going on, and so she was more than a little bit relieved when he shook his head. Still, Doctor Makers would be pleased with her for challenging herself when she spoke to him later in the week.
