AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I Googled what bears like to eat.” She shrugged.
“You could have just asked.”
“What fun would that have been?” She grinned, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Plenty. Let me try it. What do you like, Marissa?” She didn’t miss the growl to my words.
She lowered her gaze, working on dipping the calamari rings in the egg and breading. “I’m pretty flexible. You know how it is in production. You eat whatever’s available.”
“I don’t want to know what you put up with when you’re at work.” The next growl got her to look up at me with those gorgeous dark eyes and pay attention. “I want to know what you want when you’re treating yourself.”
Her lips parted.
“I actually like cooking,” she finally said. “I had to figure it out because my parents were always working, and my little brother and sister would have starved to death if I didn’t. I love making a big bowl of pasta, maybe some chicken parm, and salad.”
“So there’s a little of you in this meal tonight, too.”
She nodded.
“I like that.”
“Thanks.” She let out a heavy exhale like she’d been holding her breath. “I remembered what you said on stage about your ideal night in. How you wanted to cook. And that’s something I think I’m good at, so I thought it might be fun to cook together.”
Marissa had been so wrapped up in the world of reality shows she hadn’t let herself live like a normal person. It was easy to get lost in the whirlwind of the schedule, the immediacy of it all. Forget the Hudaknocker. She needed to find out who she was when she wasn’t at work.
We sampled the appetizers once the calamari came out of the fryer. Watching Marissa pull the tomatoes and mozzarella off the spear, and pop them into her mouth, made my bear rumble. She wrapped her full lips around her thumb and sucked on it, my mind going to a completely scandalous place, and my cock twitched.
I wanted her lips on me. I wanted more. So much more.
“Ready to work on the main course?” Sunny asked. “Marissa chose shrimp fettuccine Alfredo.”
“One of my favorites.”
Marissa smashed the garlic, and I worked on combining the heavy cream and parmesan. Sunny showed us how to make homemade pasta, which only needed to cook for a few minutes. The shrimp came off the grill, and we were ready to eat.
Only one table remained in the dining area. Gretta dimmed the lights as we brought the food to the table, and Sunny lit the candles in the middle of our table.
“Bjorn, who knew you were a good cook?” Marissa teased as she swirled her pasta around her fork. “This is delicious.”
“I couldn’t have done it without my sous chef.” I took a bite. The food hit the spot.
“Oh, I’m not an assistant. I’m the lead chef.” She laughed.
So she liked a little competition. That wasn’t a huge surprise. “We’ll see what happens when we go head-to-head on the grill.”
“The bear talks a big game. Good to know.” The candlelight was dancing in her eyes.
I leaned closer. “Want to make a bet?”
“Sure.” She mimicked my body language. “But I have a feeling there’s no way I can lose.”
A few guys I’d never seen before came into the mercantile.
“You’re awfully growly tonight,” Marissa said as she turned to see who had my hackles raised. “What’s wrong?”
I couldn’t tell her that until we recovered the Hudaknocker, I would look at everyone with suspicion, especially after what happened to Wendy on the last episode.
“It’s just the band,” Marissa added when I didn’t answer.
