She laughed softly. “Nice try, Slick, especially the way you spun it for my benefit, but if you think I’m leaving you alone to mess up all the progress we’ve made, forget it.” She straightened and stepped back. “Jump in the hot tub, then shower, then ice. What do you want for dinner?”
You. I want you for dinner.
He swung his legs over the side of the bench. “Actually, I want to make dinner tonight.”
She cocked her hip and planted one hand there. “You.”
“Yes, me. That’s what all the cooking lessons are for, right? So I can cook for myself?”
; “Yeah,” she said, drawing out the word. “Okay, fine. I’ll just watch.”
“You can’t just watch. It’s not in your genetic makeup. You’ll want to step in and take over. At best, you’ll get all bossy.”
“What a rude thing to say. I’m not bossy, I’m…informative.” She crossed her arms, and her mouth pursed in the cutest little pout. “Fine, I’ll zip my lips.”
“I doubt you’re capable. And even if you could, that would defeat the purpose of you being there. Here’s the deal: You hit the hot tub, you take a nice long shower, and I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”
Her pretty eyes narrowed; her head tilted. “Just what do you have up your sleeve, mister?”
“Why are you so suspicious?”
“Maybe because you continue to set up Pop-Tart smuggling operations no matter how often I confiscate your product and shut you down.”
He chuckled. “You make me sound like a drug dealer. But you are exceptionally talented at discovering my attempted evasions of that ridiculous Pop-Tart treaty. I’m going to get them past you…eventually.”
“Then you’d better stop asking your friends for help. They’re your weakest link.” She sighed and stored her tool. “Okay, what are you going to make?”
“It’s a surprise.” He eased off the table, his body aching with the movement.
“Noah, you can’t make something unless we have the ingredients—”
“This is why I don’t want you in the kitchen. I didn’t say I didn’t know what I’m making. I just said I didn’t want to tell you what I’m making.” When those lips pursed again and a furrow carved a vertical line between her brows, Noah gripped her biceps, bent to look into those gorgeous eyes of hers, and said, “Deal with it, Quinn.” He turned her around and walked her toward the back door. “Hot tub, shower, dinner—in that order.” He released her when they reached the kitchen. “And don’t even think about checking on me.”
Noah added chopped pistachios to the vinaigrette sauce for the asparagus, dusted his hands, and turned all the burners down to simmer. Now if he could just do that to his nerves, he’d be golden. Unfortunately, when he was thinking about Julia, it wasn’t that easy. In fact, nothing about Julia was easy—just one more thing that made her different.
He rinsed dishes and wiped down the counter with his mind trying to untangle the reasons for her magnetic force. When the task became too complicated, he tossed the towel aside, pulled his phone from his pocket, and dialed her cell for the second time.
She answered with, “Didn’t your mother teach you not to rush a sadist?”
“If said sadist is hungry, she’d better get her butt up here.”
“Said sadist is on the way.” And she disconnected, leaving Noah with a smile on his face and nerves tightening his belly.
He turned to the stove, ticked off all the preparations in his head, and hoped the meal really tasted as good as everything had tasted to him when he’d tested it out. He’d heard Finn bitch about his lack of taste buds, since the guy learned to cook at the age of about six. They’d bonded early over the lack of supervision and younger siblings depending on them. Finn had taught himself to cook. Noah had always been more of a warm-it-up-in-the-microwave type.
But more than the meal, Noah’s nerves stemmed from the simple task of pursuing a woman. He’d never done this. Ever. Women had always pursued him. It had begun in second grade and never quit. He’d always eaten it up. What man wouldn’t? But none of that was helping him now when he was trying to get close to Julia. Now, he just felt like a bumbling loser.
The back door opened far sooner than he’d expected.
“God, it’s so beautiful out tonight,” she said, her head lowered as she toed out of her boots. “The sky is this gorgeous inky purple, and the stars seem ultrawhite and sparkly. I wanted to just stop and stare but was afraid I’d freeze to death.”
She shucked her jacket and hung it on a peg by the door, and when she turned to face him, she was obviously hiding something behind her back.
He propped one hand on his hip, the other on the counter beside the stove. “That was fast.”
“I’m hungry, and, wow…” She tipped her chin back and took a deep breath of the heavily scented kitchen air. “It smells so good, my mouth is already watering.”