Page 35 of A Dream for Daphne

It was the look on his face when she turned to see why he asked that.

She grabbed some of the beef that they’d mixed spices in and rolled it into a ball. “You need to apply pressure to get it to form. Then you slap it down. If it breaks too much then you didn’t do it right. I saw one of the chefs do it at my last job.”

“Oh,” he said. “The meatball. That’s what you’re talking about.”

He’d actually crossed his legs when she was explaining.

She felt the heat fill her face. They’d stayed inside to talk where the air conditioning was running, but he’d lit the grill and they were going to sit on the deck while he cooked.

She was stunned she’d said as much as she had about her background, but it didn’t feel as if there was a reason to hold that back now.

It was as she’d said, he had seen her naked. Might as well bare her soul. Or parts of it.

“If I handled you that way that night, you wouldn’t have wanted to talk to me again,” she said, then put her hand in front of her mouth. It was covered with meat and she started to cough and gag.

He laughed. “You don’t know that,” he said.

She was spitting in his sink and felt like an idiot. Talk about having no manners.

She turned the water on to wash her hands and then ran the soapy water around her mouth again.

When she turned, Abe was laughing so hard that his eyes were watering.

“It’s not funny,” she said. “You can get food poisoning with raw meat.”

“True,” he said. “But you didn’t swallow it.”

“No,” she said. “I’ve made such a fool of myself in front of you. This is just one more thing. I don’t date often and now I know why.”

“I’m of the firm belief that if you can’t be yourself in front of someone, then don’t waste your time. I’m not running. Though if you slap my balls down like you did that meatball, sorry, I’m not sure how I’ll react.”

“You said you might like it,” she said innocently.

He stopped laughing. The air got thick and she wondered if he was going to lean in and kiss her.

Though she told herself that wasn’t going to happen, she realized she wouldn’t fight him off if it did happen.

Worse yet, shewantedhim to do it!

What a scary thought that was to have.

He cleared his throat and took a step back. “Not sure I want to find out,” he said. “I think the grill is ready if you want to finish getting them ready, but I’ll go check.”

“Sure,” she said, her eyes landing on his back while he walked out.

Maybe they traveled down to his ass while she was at it.

It was hard not to when she remembered her hands on his bare ass cheeks holding him tight to her as they were rocking on the hotel bed.

Yeah, there went the flames over her body again.

This was a mistake.

She put her hands on the counter, her head down, taking a few deep breaths.

He chose that moment to come back in.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, rushing toward her. “Are you feeling ill from that raw meat?”

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