Page 205 of Force Play
He kisses me gently before leading me out of the hallway. We turn the corner, and I see a white tablecloth laid across the dining room table and a centerpiece of sunflowers and battery-operated candles. On either side of that are glasses of wine and dishes already plated with the dinner he made.
“Welcome to your date night, Lucia,” he smiles, and I lay my head on his shoulder.
“This is lovely, Ari.” He walks me over to the table and pulls a chair out for me to sit. I slide down and settle myself before taking a look at the food in front of me. “Oh my God. Is this—”
“Arròs al forn,” Ari answers happily.
My heart thumps in my chest. “You made a Spanish dish?”
He nods. “I followed the recipe to a T. I hope it turned out alright.”
“It looks and smells amazing,” I smile before reaching across the table and taking his hand. “Thank you, Jae-Hyun.”
“Anything for you, love.”
I take my fork and gather some of the rice and pork before I bite it off. “Mmm…” I moan, savoring the flavor. “This is incredible, Ari.”
“Yeah?” His smile is full of pride, lighting up the room.
“Yeah,” I grin. “It reminds me a lot of what my mom would cook when I was growing up.”
His gaze is soft and full of love, and I just want to wrap myself up in it.
I can see how much effort Ari put into tonight. He’s cooked Korean meals for us before, but he went out of his way tonight to make something forme.
And it’s not even just Spanish food—it’sValencian.
We’ve only been together for a few days, but if this is what a lifetime with him will be like, I can’t wait.
Once we finish our dinner, Ari pulls some of my favorite Korean mochi out. An entire box of just the ganache ones. He feeds them to me just like he did that night in Koreatown.
Now, he takes my hand and leads me out onto the balcony. I’ve not actually come out here yet since the weather wasn’t great until recently. But right now, the sun has set and the stars dance overhead.
The ones we can see through all the lights of NYC, at least.
He has the balcony decorated with string lights and more sunflowers.
“Oh, this is lovely,” I say, stepping outside and walking over to the railing. “And the view is spectacular.”
Ari walks over to join me, resting his hand on my lower back as he slips in beside me. “The view was one of my favorite parts of this place when I bought it.”
“Get some comfier furniture, and I might just spend the entire summer out here reading.”
“Done,” he smiles. “Pick out what you want, and we’ll get it.”
I rest my head over his heart. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He kisses me softly before leading me away from the railing. “As nice as the view is, that’s not why we’re out here.”
“It’s not?”
He shakes his head and pulls out his phone, connecting it to a speaker I didn’t realize was there.
What starts playing is a song I know he picked for me—Heroby Enrique Iglesias.
My favorite artist.
“Dance with me, love.”
