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“It’s good,” he manages to say.
Lolli, who finishes her serving in record time, strolls into the room with the grace of a lioness and rubs herself against Daniel’s leg.
I see the exact moment when his face scrunches up as if he’s about to get sick.
And I see now why he never talks or moves and doesn’t like to be interrupted while he eats. It’s like he considers meals a battle he has to go through alone and with no external stimuli.
“Good isn’t even a compliment,” my brother grumbles.
Daniel starts to get up, probably to go throw up what he ate. I quickly pull a lollipop from my bag, open the wrapper, and stuff it between his lips when he opens them.
He stares at me for a beat, the lollipop still frozen in his mouth. And then for a moment, a brief moment in time, his expression softens.
For a brief moment, I see the stars in his shiny, bright eyes. The same eyes that looked at me and didn’t hate me.
But it’s gone when he crunches on the lollipop, not bothering to suck on it first. When he swallows, he throws the stick to Lolli who runs after it.
“Peaches.”
My heart flips and falls to my stomach. I can’t stop looking at him, at the dip in his chin and the small teases of those gorgeous dimples. Or what’s between them, his glistening lips.
“The lollipops always have a peach flavor.” He cocks his head to the discarded stick.
“I know right?” Jay says after chewing a mouthful of fish, seeming to have forgotten about the earlier subject. “She only ever buys those. Nikki is weird.”
Daniel’s gaze rakes over me with so much heat that it feels like he’s melting my clothes while they’re on me. “She is.”
Then he goes back to eating, leaving me heaving.
Jeez.
He finishes the entire dish despite Jay’s chatter. I try to talk to my brother instead of Daniel to not distract him from eating, but he’s a very demanding rascal who doesn’t like being ignored by our guest.
“Go take a shower, Nikki. Daniel and I will do the dishes.”
“That’s okay.” I spring to my feet. “I’ll do them.”
“No. You prepared the food. It’s only right that Daniel and I do the dishes.”
“I paid for this food,” Daniel says in his haughty tone. “I don’t do dishes at a restaurant.”
“Yes, but you also don’t visit a chef’s house, so this is a compromise,” Jay counters and pushes me in the direction of the bathroom before Daniel or I can protest.
Suppressing a smile at my boss’s knitted brows and narrowed eyes, I get some clothes and head to the bathroom.
Since the walls in this building are so thin, I can hear them bickering over soap and whatnot.
I catch myself grinning as the water sprays over me and I grasp my white gold necklace. It has a pendant the exact color of my eyes. It has a dainty oval shape and is emerald-colored enamel over gold. This is the most valuable item I own, or more like, the only thing I kept from my previous life, along with the box it came in.
And while I’ve been wearing the necklace since I first got it, I begrudgingly remove it and carefully hide it in a towel. I will put it in a box later.
Daniel can’t see it or he’ll get ideas.
Ideas even I don’t want to entertain.
I end up taking a long shower, allowing the muscles in my body to loosen up.
Once I’m done, I throw on a cotton robe, dry my hair with a towel, then step out of the bathroom.
