Page 36 of Finding Home
“What does Miss Chloe want?” I ask.
Her hand pauses with her glass halfway to her mouth. “Oh! I’m not picky. Unless you want me to cook them, then I’m picky,” she says with a soft laugh.
I shake my head. “Not asking you to cook anything, North. Just asking for an opinion.”
She raises a brow at me before looking over to Lila quickly and then back to me. “Pasta would probably work best.”
I nod and get to work. Chloe and Lila chat at the table while I finish making dinner, and when it’s ready, I plate it and place it in front of the girls. They immediately dig in, and Lila does her happy dance in her seat.
Lila hums around her fork as she takes a bite. “My favourite,” she says as she goes in for more.
Chloe full on moans around her fork, and it fills me with an overwhelming sense of pride, and it forces me to adjust myself in my pants.
“This is the best chicken parm I’ve ever had,” she says as she repetitively points her fork at her plate.
“Thank you.”
“See,” Lila says. “Daddy is a really good cook.”
Chloe smiles at her. “You’re right, he is.”
I feel myself fucking blush. Me. Blush.What the fuck?But something about having Chloe compliment me has my cheeks heating and me ducking my head in the hope she won’t see it. Both girls completely clear their plates, and I watch as Chloe runs her finger over the last portion of sauce on her plate before she sucks it into her mouth.
I close my eyes, trying to avoid looking at her, but I can’t. My eyes open again, and I watch as she releases her finger from her mouth with a grin.
“Daddy, I’m done. Can I go play with my toys again?”
“Yeah, Peanut. Go ahead.”
She takes her plate to the kitchen counter beside the sink before she makes her way upstairs. I can’t move from my seat, because if I do, Chloe is going to get an eyeful of what her sucking on her finger did to me. I shuffle in my seat, and I swear to God she smirks before she leans over and grabs my plate and says, “You cooked, I’ll clean.”
All I can manage is a grunt as she leaves the table, and I close my eyes and start reciting the last twenty first-round picks in the NHL draft. When I’ve finally gotten my dick under control. I leave the table and start wiping it down.
When we both finish, Chloe turns and faces me. “Thanks for dinner. It was amazing.”
“Of course,” I say.
“So, my mom said that dinner tomorrow works perfectly. She asked that we’re at her place by six thirty. I can text you the address,” she says.
“Why don’t we just ride there together?”
She swallows and nods. “Yeah, I guess that works.”
We stand there staring at each other, neither of us saying anything until Chloe finally breaks the silence. “I’m, um, I’m gonna get ready for bed,” she says and walks past me.
I watch her leave, not once looking over her shoulder, and my shoulders slump. I take a deep breath and head upstairs to find Lila, hoping to spend a little bit of time with her before I need to get her ready for bed.
TWENTY-ONE
CHLOE
Holy shit, I’m nervous. I pace in the living room as I wait for Everett and Lila to come down so we can head to my parents’ place for dinner. I don’t know why I’m nervous. It’s not like I’m introducing my parents to a new boyfriend, it’s just the new fire chief—who I happen to live with.
The sound of Everett’s footsteps has me turning around in time to catch him coming down the stairs, his T-shirt pulled snuggly across his chest and his jeans pulled perfectly across his thighs. When he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he turns and grabs his keys off the hook by the door, and my eyes can’t help but drift down and snag on his ass and the way his jeans look like they’ve been painted on.
When he turns around, I clear my throat and tuck a piece of hair behind my ear as I try to hide my blush at being caught checking him out. I catch his smirk out of the corner of my eye, and it only has my cheeks heating more.
Being forward with him at the fire station was empowering. The look on his face as I talked about wanting a man versus needing one, and basically described our night together, was a confidence boost. His pupils dilated, and his breathing accelerated. The second I got into my car afterwards, I held a little self-chastising session for being so open with him about it. I don’t need our living situation to be any more awkward. Between calling him hot and telling him I want aman who will eat and fuck me the way he did, I seem to be doing just that.
