Steven blinked in confusion. “Since when have you been interested in cooking?”
Since your cooking put that look on Katie’s face.
“I’ve always been interested. I just haven’t had time to do it.” It was technically true. He was interested in someone else cooking because he loved to eat.
“You cook, too?” The knots in Katie’s brows said she didn’t buy it.
“I have a few special dishes.” If boxed mac and cheese counted.
Please don’t ask me if it’s the truth.
Steven squinted his eyes, as an evil smile slid onto his lips. “Why don’t you cook for us tomorrow night, Gary? You can show us one of your specialties.”
“I… uh…” His heart thumped against his chest wall like an insane man trying to escape from a padded room. Just in time, he remembered making dinner arrangements. “We can’t, because Zoe made us a reservation at Sweet Caroline’s tomorrow night.”
“Another night, then.” Katie took another bite of scallop, her eyes fluttering closed as she chewed and swallowed. “I’m looking forward to seeing how your dinner compares to this one.”
Gary scrambled for another out. “I’ll make you a deal. Tuesday is zip-lining. If you come with us, I’ll cook dinner.”
“Zip-lining?” He could see the pulse of the artery on her neck. “You don’t want me to go with you. I’d probably chicken out.”
“You should come,” Steven said. “Lots of people are nervous the first time they do it.”
“I thought you brought me here to work.”
She and Steven locked gazes, and something seemed to pass between them.
“Now that I’m here, I’m not so keen on working.” Steven carefully sliced his scallop into even-sized pieces, just as Katie had done, and a sinking feeling settled in Gary’s stomach.
Why had Steven brought his PA if he didn’t plan to do any work? Gary could only think of one reasonable explanation. Steven had stronger feelings for Katie than he cared to admit. In retrospect, he realized Steven had only agreed to make the trip after Gary suggested Katie come along.
If his best friend liked Katie, Gary ought to do the gentlemanly thing and step aside. But at the moment, Gary wasn’t feeling very gentlemanly.
After the meal, during which Katie continued to gush over Steven’s cooking, she offered to wash dishes, and Gary assumed Steven would offer to help. Instead, he announced his departure to bed so he could get in a ten-mile run in the morning before the kayak trip. If Steven didn’t have the good sense to take advantage of every possible moment with Katie, Gary didn’t feel obligated to advise him otherwise.
All’s fair in love and war, right?
Gary carried a stack of plates and silverware into the kitchen and began to load them into the dishwasher, but Katie shooed him out of the way and removed the plates.
“You have to rinse them in soapy water first.”
Soon the dishes were washed so thoroughly, Gary wondered aloud why they needed to go in the dishwasher at all.
“Because the dishwasher gets them really hot, to kill more germs.”
“I read an article that said it’s actually better to put your dishes in the dishwasher without rinsing them.” He dutifully added the sparkling clean plates into the dishwasher, along with the water glasses.
“I don’t care what they say.” A small shudder shook her head. “I’ve seen dishes come out of the dishwasher with baked on food, so I don’t trust them to clean really dirty dishes.”
She found a scrubber sponge under the cabinet and applied it to the sauce pan, rinsing it in a stream of steaming hot water. “You can dry this off. It’s bad for pots and pans to go in the dishwasher.”
&nb
sp; As he took the pan from her, their hands brushed together, sending nothing short of a zing through his skin. Static electricity?
“You and Steven are so different,” she said, “How did you become friends?”
Something inside him wanted her to know the truth.