No Strings

“No.” Ben chuckles. “I ordered in, and since Brody ended up going to his mom’s house to spend the night, there’s way too much food.”

Wait… “He’s not here?”

“I might’ve forgotten to tell him you agreed to come over,” he admits, at least having the decency to look apologetic. “Paola is heading back to Seattle tomorrow, so when he asked if he could spend the night and go to school from her house in the morning, I told him okay, realizing I forgot to tell him you were coming over. I didn’t want to make him feel bad or cancel on his mom, so I just left it alone.”

“Oh, well, we can just”—I wave my hand in the air—“do this another night.”

“No way. We have tons of food. Please, stay.”

There is a lot of food on that table, and it would be a shame for it to go to waste.

“Okay, sure,” I agree, walking over and having a seat at the table. “You got all the good stuff.” I grab a pair of chopsticks and load my plate up with some sushi, pad Thai, rice, and shrimp tempura while Ben pours us each a glass of white wine.

“How was your day?” I ask, making conversation as I dip my sushi into the soy sauce.

“It was good,” he says with a lazy smile. “Although, I’m not sure my assistant knows what to do with me being at the office all the time. I’ve been working remotely for so long…” He laughs out loud, and I try and fail to ignore the way his throaty laugh shoots through my veins like the best kind of drug, giving me an instant high.

“Since my team has everything under control, I’ve been focusing my attention on Artfully Delicious,” he adds.

“I bet your sister and her husband are excited.”

“Yeah. She loves handling the PR and event planning for Lush, but her passion has always been art.” He takes a bite of his food, and I’m so distracted by the way his throat bobs as he swallows, I don’t hear what he says next. It must’ve been a question, though, because he’s looking at me as if he’s waiting for me to answer.

I nod and shove a mouthful of food into my mouth, hoping that was the correct answer, but when he throws his head back in a laugh, I know it wasn’t.

“I zoned out,” I mutter, embarrassed. “What did you ask?”

“I said you’re staring at me like you want to eat me instead of that sushi.”

“You did not!” I fling a piece of rice at him.

“No, I didn’t.” He leans over and runs the back of his knuckles down my cheek, sending a shiver up my spine. “If you want a repeat of Friday night, all you have to do is say so,” he murmurs, taking a sip of his wine.

“Not happening,” I say with more force than I feel.

Ben nods in understanding, but the way his gaze heats up feels like a direct contradiction. As we talk about our day, he keeps his eyes locked on mine, only glancing down briefly to see what he’s eating. The action feels intimate as if he’s so enraptured in our conversation he can’t stand to look away for longer than a second. When my glass of wine is empty, he pours me some more, moving closer.

“What is that?” I point at the white strips on his plate.

“Calamari.” He picks a piece up with his chopsticks. “Have you ever had any?”

When I shake my head, he brings the piece of food up to my mouth, feeding me a bite. I chew slowly, tasting the meat. It’s chewy yet also tender and has a mild flavor to it.

“Good?”

“It’s… different.”

He chuckles. “It’s an acquired taste.”

We finish our plates, and then Ben pulls out a box of colored circles. “What is that?”

“You’ve never had Mochi?”

“Never even heard of it.” Tonight is clearly a night for trying new foods.

Ben picks up the pink circle and brings it up to my mouth. “Take a small bite,” he instructs when I open my mouth. The circle is cold as my teeth bite down, breaking it apart. Inside is… ice cream, I think. It’s strawberry and refreshing. The outside is kind of chewy, but the inside is soft and so good.

“What do you think?” Ben asks, popping the other half into his mouth.

“It’s delicious.” I finish chewing and swallowing, already glancing into the box to see what other ones he has. When I reach my hand out to grab a white one, he pulls the box back and shakes his head, making me pout.

“Uh-uh.” He grabs the white one I was eyeing. “This is vanilla.” He brings it up to my lips. “Take a small bite.”

This time, when I open my mouth, I make it a point to chomp down on his fingers, taking the entire piece of Mochi into my mouth just to mess with him. It’s super cold, and the inside of my mouth damn near freezes, but it’s worth it when Ben’s eyes go wide in shock, making me laugh.