Page 55 of The Dating Dare

“All right. I’ll do my best. I’ll undress you with my eyes at a later, more convenient time.”

“At a later, more convenient time, you can undress me with your hands and teeth,” she said in a husky voice.

“You’re so cruel. Do you know that?”

“Maybe a little, but I so enjoy watching your eyes turn nearly black when you’re turned on.”

“If you do anything remotely close to this, I’ll kiss you senseless with Aria and Lucien watching.”

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll behave. Okay?”

Seth mumbled something under his breath and opened the front door to let her through. As soon as she walked into the open kitchen, Tara realized she’d forgotten the beer in her frenzy to see Seth.

“Shit,” she said, covering her face with her hand.

“Well, hello. Nice to see you, too,” Aria teased, pulling Tara into a nice, tight hug. “What’s going on?”

“Hi, Aria. It is so great to see you, and your hubs. Hey, Lucien.” She waved at him. “But it just hit me that I forgot to bring the beer.”

“That’s a shame. We do love your beer. But it isn’t a catastrophe,” Lucien said, coming to stand beside Aria, tugging her close. “I brought plenty of wine to get all of us happily drunk.”

“Well, thank heavens for that.” Tara smiled at the couple. “I promise to visit you guys soon and bring over a keg of beer.”

“We’ll take that.” Aria high-fived her husband.

They were just so gosh darn cute. An invisible thumb pushed down on a pressure point in her heart, making it ache just so. The point where she felt her loneliness the keenest. But having Seth by her side eased the ache.

“It smells like foodie heaven in here.” Tara walked toward the kitchen island. “What do you have going?”

“Oh, a little of this and a little of that,” Aria said with a shrug.

“Well, madam.” Seth appeared at her side and twirled an imaginary mustache. “First, let me lead you to our table, where the antipasti have already been set out for us. It’s a charcuterie board large enough for a party of twenty with all the meats and cheeses you can imagine.”

Tara’s eyes widened at the beautiful sight. There were prosciutto and iberico in the mix, and myriad arrays of hard to soft cheeses. When she spotted both crumbly and creamy blue cheese, she nearly swooned. With the honey, preserves, and a variety of fruits and crackers, she could make dinner out of the charcuterie board alone. But alas, Aria had other nefarious plans to fatten her up.

“The primo will be bucatini all’Amatriciana. She’s generous with the chili flakes, so expect a robust kick,” Seth continued.Mmm. Bacon-y, tomato-y, spicy pasta.Tara had already been salivating at the salumi and cheeses, but she was all but drooling now. “The secondo will be osso buco with a side of roasted seasonal vegetables.”

“Don’t tell me. She even made dessert, right?”

“Why, of course. The dinner won’t be complete without the dolce.” Seth did a decent job of looking mildly outraged. “The dessert will be Limoncello mousse cake.”

“Oh, my goose bumps, Aria. So you threw this together just like that?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say just like that.” Aria laughed. “Good food takes time. I’ve been in the kitchen for nearly three hours.”

“And you still look like you walked out of a fashion magazine. Oh, I give up.” Tara threw up her hands.

“Ha! Says the hottie who turns heads everywhere she goes,” Aria retorted, shaking her head.

“Yes, yes. Both of you are ridiculously gorgeous,” Seth jumped in. “But Lucien and I helped, too. I set out that spectacular charcuterie board, and Lucien poured the wine to keep our chef happy.”

“That’s awesome. Thank you, everyone.” Tara was actually impressed. The meat and cheese board was beautifully laid out. He really did have an artist’s eye. “Whereas I had one job to do…”

Seth chuckled and tousled her hair. He’d become increasingly affectionate toward her, and it felt normal for them to constantly touch, nudge, and bump each other. But to Aria’s keen eyes, it was a new development. And her raised eyebrow told Tara that it was noted with interest. Seth awkwardly stepped aside from Tara, and she busied herself rearranging random items on the island.

“So when do we eat?” Tara blurted a little louder than necessary.

“Right now,” Aria announced, clapping her hands together. Tara was grateful she didn’t say anything about Seth and her unintentional PDA. “Let’s enjoy the charcuterie that our host set out like an artist’s palette.”

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