Page 77 of Bad Habit
Twelve
Mac
Faith closed her eyes as she drew a tiny bite of a chocolate-and-peanut-butter tart off her fork so slowly she must be letting it melt off the tines.
“Good?” I asked.
Without opening her eyes or removing the fork, she nodded. Then the metal slowly slid from her lips, making me so hard I could barely breathe.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “I want to memorize the taste and texture so I’ll never forget.”
“I love how you get so much pleasure out of everything.”
“Try some!” She dug her fork into the dessert and reached the bite across the table. “Why didn’t you order dessert?”
“Sweets aren’t really my thing.” I’d order a second steak before dessert, but I took her offered treat, looking into her eyes as I pulled the morsel off the fork. “You’re right. It’s delicious.”
“Want more?”
I shook my head. “You enjoy it.”
“I hate to waste it, but I’m too full.”
“I’ll ask the waiter to pack it up. You can have it later.”
“Really?” An even bigger smile washed onto her face. “Chocolate is amazing. I’m surprised it isn’t illegal. Or one of the deadly sins on its own.”
I chuckled, then realized she was serious. “This is the first time you’ve had chocolate?”
Nodding, she looked down. “I’ve had a lot of firsts on this trip.”
“How could you not have had chocolate—ever?”
She shrugged. “Mother said it was a decadent luxury—a sin.”
“You didn’t sneak any behind her back?”
“Never had the opportunity. The nearest town was more than fifteen miles away, and we didn’t go often. When we did, Mother never let me out of her sight.”
“That must have been rough, especially once you got older.”
“It seemed normal. And often Mother went to town without me.”
“She left you alone? In the woods? Weren’t you frightened?”
“Of what?”
“I don’t know… Intruders? Bears?”
Faith tipped her head to the side as if considering my question. “No one ever came to our cabin. Ever. So the idea of an intruder never occurred to me. As for bears? We stayed away from them and they stayed away from us.”
“That easy?”
She shrugged. “In the late spring, when they have cubs, you have to be extra careful, but bears are shy.”
“I can’t even imagine living in isolation like that.”
“Did you always live in the city?”
