“Come on then.”
We went into the kitchen. She walked around the counter and sat down on one of the bar stools, her hands flat out in front of her. “What are we having?”
“Spaghetti à la Reid,” I said proudly.
“Can you elaborate on that?” she grinned, raising her eyebrows.
“Sure. It’s spaghetti, onion, garlic, tomato, basil, and my secret ingredient—anchovies.”
“Ugh. No way!” she screwed her nose up in disgust. “Sorry, but I draw the line at those fishy little monsters.”
“You can’t even taste it once it’s dissolved into the sauce,” I protested.
She shook her head adamantly.
“Fine. I’ll omit the anchovies in yours.” I begrudgingly agreed.
I placed a cutting board, an onion, and a clove of garlic in front of her and handed her a knife.
“Finely diced?” she asked. I nodded. While she did that, I put a pot of water on the stove to boil. Heating the frying pan, I splashed in some olive oil and added the very nicely diced onion and garlic, my mouth salivating at the smell filling the air.
“That’s a lot of garlic,” she grinned.
“What, now you don’t like garlic?” I shot back.
“No,” she giggled, “I love it, I’m just cautious about garlic breath. I was planning on doing a lot of kissing later.”
“Why wait till then?” I leaned across the counter, kissing her lips. “Besides, we’ll both have garlic breath, so it won’t really matter.” I threw in the tomatoes, some basil, salt and pepper, and then turned the heat down to a simmer. Next, I added the spaghetti to the boiling water, with a sprinkling of salt.
“You look like you’re made for the kitchen,” she smiled.
“I helped Mom out a lot with cooking and cleaning and things, so I’m pretty domesticated.”
“Mmm. Very sexy,” she laughed, her eyes twinkling at me.
I narrowed my eyes, not quite sure if she was messing with me or not.
“So, you’re close to your mom?” I saw her eyes drop and instantly felt bad.
“Yeah, I am. Were you close to yours?” I asked softly.
“Yeah. I mean, we fought. I’m a teenage girl—fighting with your mom is normal—but she was also my best friend. I could talk to her about anything, you know?” She smiled in spite of herself. “Well, maybe not everything. I probably wouldn’t be telling her about you.”
“Yeah, that probably wouldn’t go down so well,” I winced. “Is Layna your only extended family?”
“Yeah. My grandparents died when I was little, and Dad had no siblings. I’m lucky to have her though. She’s been so supportive. Besides, there are people worse off than me. I had a wonderful family for a short time. That was better than not having them at all.” She shrugged as if it made perfect sense.
Again, she had amazed me. How can you lose so much and still remain so strong? How the hell can she be so positive? She had this way of making me feel very self-absorbed. Thinking about my life and the things I had no control over consumed me. Here was a girl who had lost everything and was still able to see the good in things.
I stirred the sauce, tasting it to see if it was ready. Almost perfect. All that was missing were the anchovies. The spaghetti was ready, so I strained it and then divided it into the two bowls. Over the top of one I spooned the sauce. Then I broke a few anchovies into the pan and stirred it until they had dissolved.
“Try this,” I said, after I’d poured the sauce over mine. She made a face. “Just do it,” I said with a laugh.
She sighed but obliged, curling a few strands of pasta around her fork before lifting it to her mouth. Her eyes lit up.
“Holy shit, that’s really good,” she muttered, shocked. She went back in for another forkful. I sniggered, pulling her plate back over to me.
“Have that. I’ll have this one.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I grumbled. “Maybe you’ll listen to me next time?”
“Probably not.” She grinned and I laughed. At least she was honest.
***
After dinner, we talked. The conversation just flowed. I felt like we could sit there for hours and never run out of topics. I loved that she had her own opinions on things. She would argue if she didn’t agree, and she was passionate about her beliefs.
“So...I might go try out that hot tub.” She smiled at me mischievously.
“Really?” I murmured, stretching my arms behind my head.
She turned, stretching her leg over mine until she was sitting on my lap. Wow. She lifted her sweater over her head, dropping it on the floor. My hand found its way to her chest, my fingers releasing her breasts from the cups of her pale pink bra.
Leaning forward, I took a nipple in my mouth, flicking it with my tongue until it sat erect. She cried out as my mouth closed over her other one, my hands resting on the arch of her back.
“Maybe I’ll join you in the hot tub,” I murmured, kissing my way up her neck.