Page 28 of Full Service

“Yes, well, this man is off-limits.” I point to myself and then point again. He needs to get the hint.

He scoffs playfully and then links his legs with mine. “I ate some of your salad.”

I stare down at the half-empty plate and then glower at him. “Why did you do that?”

“You were picking at it, and I’m a growing boy.”

“That’s true. Your frontal lobe isn’t even fully developed.”

A laugh escapes him, and he shakes his head. “Fuck you, Dr. Sinclair. My brain is just fine.”

“It’s still growing. Some say it doesn’t fully develop until men are thirty.”

“Ah, so you think I’m too impulsive?”

I do, and for some fucked up reason, I like it. It’s dangerous. Maybe my brain is an anomaly and my lobe isn’t fully formed either.

Would explain a lot actually.

“You are ridiculous, is what you are.”

Everly’s white teeth flash at me. “You like my kind of ridiculous, though. Admit it.”

I clamp my lips closed.

His blue eyes twinkle as he reaches his fork forward and spears some of my salad.

My brows meet as he chews.

“That’s my food.”

“You aren’t eating it.”

“I was going to until you got your germs on it.”

He swallows and takes another sensual sip of his water. “My tongue was in your mouth earlier and you weren’t complaining.”

My mouth falls open. “That’s because…that’s because I hate watermelon. I needed it gone.”

His lips crook up. “Gone with the help of my tongue. On yours.”

I can feel the tips of my ears turn pink. “We will not mention this again.”

I gather my salad closer to me and turn my attention to the green leaves. This is a sad dinner. I’d really have liked a hamburger with fries, but my cholesterol would kill me. Literally.

I stab at them and put them into my mouth, the crunch very unseemly and unsexy.

“Want a bite of my burger?” he asks and then holds it out to me. It’s half gone, just a few more bites and he’ll have devoured it all.

I shake my head. “No. Germs. I don’t want to get sick. You probably have a cold.”

“If I do, then you’re already infected.”

I roll my eyes and keep eating. I don’t stop until the bowl is almost licked clean. This salad cost as much as my gas bill. I’m going to eat every chia seed.

“There. All done,” I say, and Everly grins at me.

“Good boy.”

---