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“You don’t,” he agreed. “But the grocery store does carry aluminum pans.”
He had a point. But then I also felt bad that he was buying what was probably a lot more expensive ingredients than he usually did so that he could cook for my sorry ass, and I knew he didn’t make that much money as a janitor.
“Stop it, Val,” he admonished, and I felt my ears flush as I was reminded of just how good Taavi Camal is at reading my thoughts.
“I just—”
“Cállete.”
I blinked at him.
“Shut up,” he translated.
I only didn’t object to being hushed because I could hear the warmth in his voice… and because he was coming over to the couch, a half-smile hovering on his lips.
I decided to be a good little elf and ate another cracker, my eyes following Taavi’s progress across the room. I wanted him to come and cuddle with me on the couch. I also recognized that was unlikely to happen because he was probably going to be a responsible adult and not want to risk my health or some shit.
He pressed the backs of his fingers against my forehead, and they were slightly warm. The lips that he used to kiss the same spot were warmer, and I closed my eyes to bask in the attention.
I wasn’t used to it—the casual affection, the way he always wanted to touch me, even if only my hand or arm… or a kiss on the forehead, which he usually couldn’t reach because of our difference in height. It surprised me every time, and I loved it.
“Eat more crackers, Val,” he murmured, his lips still on my skin. “And drink your Sprite.”
The crackers stayed down, as did the first fucking amazing enchilada, which led to me eating my own body weight in beans cheese, tortillas, and sauce, which Taavi corrected me wassalsa rojaand not just generic enchilada sauce, because I guess there were multiple types of possible sauces, all of which I was going to be subject to at some point in the future.
I was a more than willing victim.
I’d eaten myself into a food coma exacerbated by the fact that I was still barely able to drag my sorry ass off the couch to go to the bathroom, although I had successfully managed it without assistance, even if I had sat on the toilet for a good minute or two extra just to get up the energy to make it back to the couch.
Once we were done with dinner, Taavi had inserted himself under my legs, holding my knees in his lap as I aimlessly flicked through the movie and tv options. I looked over at him, one of his hands lazily stroking my calf.
“I’m just going to fall asleep,” I admitted. “So you should pick it.”
He just shrugged. “Whatever is fine.”
I passed him the remote, and he frowned at me, but he took it. After a lot of flicking through options, he ended up withJurassic Park.
“Have you seen it?” I asked him, my eyelids already feeling heavy as the red and yellow opening titles faded in and out.
“Not since I was a kid,” Taavi answered, watching the foliage moving, although his eyes flicked over to me.
“Mmmm.”
I felt him shift so that he could set the remote on the table, then he leaned back, his warm hand back on my thigh.
“Do you want to go to bed?” he asked, his voice gentle.
“No.” I wanted to stay right where I was. First, moving was going to be difficult. Second, I liked that Taavi was touching me, and while reason would have told me that he could also touch me in a bed—and that was, in fact, pretty normal—I was too tired to think much beyond the fact that I liked where I was and I didn’t want to move.
“Val.”
“Stay.”
I felt him sigh. “Okay, but I don’t want to spend the whole night on this couch.”
“’Kay.”
I drifted in and out, that strange half-sleep where you think you’re awake, but the scene in the movie goes rapidly from Dennis Nedry at his desk to someone getting chased through a kitchen by velociraptors, and I remembered the movie well enough to know that those two things didn’t happen particularly close together.
