She laughed as pink came to her cheeks. “I was determined, wasn’t I?”
I shrugged. “I was a bit slow on the go.”
“Really? I thought it was that dumb bro’ code.”
“That’s why I didn’t chase you. Once you were obvious on how much you wanted me. How desperate you were to have me-”
She rolled her eyes.
“Am I lying?”
“No.”
“Well, when I realized that, I had to work extra hard to maintain the bro’ code. I guess I was too weak.” I took a sip of wine. “Or more likely, I couldn’t resist. I was desperate too, Sinclair.”
She shifted uncomfortably. I let it go, taking a bite of my spaghetti, watching her as she did the same.
“Oh wow, that’s good. Where’d you learn to cook?” she asked.
It was ridiculous how much her praise boosted my pride. “When we were on missions, all we had were MREs – meals-ready-made – and after a while, they really started to suck. So eventually, I found places to pick up spices and would experiment adding them to the MREs. I took that and experimented more when I was in a place I could shop and cook. It was soothing and I like food, so it was a win-win.”
“It’s delicious.”
“Do you cook?” I asked. It wasn’t a prerequisite for my wanting her as my wife, but I had to admit, it was nice to come home for lunch and dinner and have it already on the table.
She snorted. “Hardly. I’m a bit hopeless there. But I want to learn. My goal is for me and Alyssa to get our own place.”
I flinched. This was their place. I sipped my wine to keep from saying it out loud and spooking her.
I also didn’t want to talk about her living somewhere else, so I changed the subject. “So, if you don’t cook, what do you do for fun or to relax?”
“I go with Trina to bug Ryder at the Salvation Station.”
“Are they together?” I asked. I realized I hadn’t spent much time with Ryder. I really needed to get together with him to catch up.
“No, but he keeps making comments like they hooked up once, but maybe it's wishful thinking. Personally, I think it would be great.”
“There’s no sister code?” I sipped my wine.
She looked up at me and laughed. “I have no problem with my friend being with my brother.”
I shook my head. “Women are so much more enlightened.”
She smiled smugly.
“So why did I note a hint of you being annoyed that I hired Jeannette Schmidt to represent me?”
“You would bring that up.” She shook her head.
“There’s something appealing about you being jealous.” I dragged my garlic bread through my sauce.
“I’m not jealous. Not now, anyway.”
Ouch.
“In high school, though, I wanted to scratch her eyes out. Especially when it got out that you were fucking her.”
I shrugged. “I had to learn somewhere. I was a sophomore and she was a senior.”