Page 79 of Hard Rock Muse
“Doing your husbandly duties?” I teased. “Using your big manly muscles to do the hard part?”
“Unless you want to do it?” He raised an eyebrow.
“That’s okay,” I said hastily. “I’d probably just mess it up like I do everything else in the kitchen.”
“You are aware I’m not much better?”
I bumped his hip with mine.
“Then this is going to be an interesting experiment, won’t it?” I said.
I put the water on to boil and got out the penne. It wasn’t dehydrated from a box. It was freshly made and took a precise amount of minutes and seconds to cook.
“I’m going to mess this one up,” I said, inspecting the instructions on the packet. “This is either going to come out undercooked and chewy or overcooked and slimy.”
“You want to switch after all?” he asked.
“Maybe,” I said. “I doubt I can screw up turning leaves into a paste.”
We switched places. Julian had already chopped the basil, pine nuts and garlic. All I needed to do was throw it into the mixer.
“Remember the first time we tried to make a nice dinner together?” I asked.
“I remember,” he said, a faint smile on his face. “You told your mom to stay out of the kitchen and let us do it by ourselves, but she couldn’t help peeking in and giving us instructions.”
“All I wanted was a romantic evening with my new boyfriend,” I said, lamenting at the memory.
“Maybe that’s why she was so nosy,” Julian said. “She wanted to make sure our romantic evening didn’t turn into something a little more carnal.”
“She didn’t need to worry about that.”
Julian and I shared a soft smile.
Neither of us had been inexperienced when we’d first started dating. We’d each had girlfriends and boyfriends before — both in Julian’s case. Neither of us were anxious virgins.
Still, we hadn’t rushed. We’d taken our time. I think we both knew what we had was something special. Something more than just a teenaged crush. Somehow, we got each other. We had clicked. We hadn’t wanted to ruin things with adolescent fumblings. We’d waited until we were both secure in our feelings for each other.
“Remember our first kiss?” Julian asked as he stirred the pasta. “I thought I’d be nervous. But I wasn’t. Things just felt…”
“Right,” I completed.
He turned from the pot to look at me, his eyes going soft. “Yeah. Things felt right.”
“Do you remember me asking you to take off your sweater and give it to me right then and there?”
“You wanted to snuggle with it after I went back home after our date.” Julian chuckled. “You always did say you liked the way I smelled.”
“I do,” I agreed.
“Isn’t that just what they call pheromones?” he said. “It’s a biological thing.”
“Whatever it is, it makes you smell amazing.”
“You make me sound like a tasty dish of food.”
“I wouldn’t say no to taking a bite out of you.”
We met each other’s eyes. I gave him a heated stare. I saw a similar heat reflected in his. I slowly dragged my eyes up and down his body, taking in his broad chest and slim hips, enjoying the flex of his throat as he swallowed.
