Chapter 17 Dante #2
Alex watched as I added seasonings to doctor the premade sauce I was using and prayed for forgiveness from my mother. She would never have used sauce from a jar, but I was in a hurry.
“How do you make it into chicken Parmesan?” Alex asked.
“I browned the chicken on both sides, but it’s not cooked all the way through. I’ll put it in this dish, top it with sauce and cheese, and pop it in the oven. While it finishes cooking in there, I’ll make the pasta.”
“That’s a lot of steps.”
It never seemed like it to me. “It’s really not complicated.”
“My level is making toast or really shitty scrambled eggs.”
I grimaced. “There’s no excuse for shitty scrambled eggs. You need to practice.”
“Not much chance for that. We have our meals made for us at the frat, and I don’t have my own kitchen.”
“Well, you can use mine to practice.”
“Somehow, I don’t think I’ll want to practice cooking when I’m over here.”
I snorted. “We can’t fuck all the time.”
“You would really have me over here just for cooking lessons?”
“If we’re going to do this, we’re doing it fully. If all I liked about you was that you were a hot fuck, I could find that somewhere else. This is something else, Alex. You made me want to break all my rules, take every risk.”
His eyes went wide. “I never thought you would… I mean, I thought I could seduce you. I could offer myself. I thought you’d enjoy a little gay virgin frat boy. But you… you actually…”
“Like you? Yes. Believe it or not, that’s possible.”
He huffed. “I wasn’t sure it was possible.”
I didn’t like him talking about himself that way. “You have friends.”
“I have frat brothers and acquaintances.”
“Dammit, Alexander. You can be so much more than that.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
“I’m going to make you believe it.”
“With your dick?”
Was he truly incapable of being serious? “No.”
“Please?”
I shook my head and focused on cooking. I finished topping the chicken and slid it into the preheated oven. I explained the importance of salting the water before putting the pasta in. Alex watched it all in wonder, as if I were making magic, not a simple dinner.
“I never imagined I’d be here watching you cook.”
“Did you think I’d just rip your clothes off, shove you down on the bed, and get off, and then send you on your way?”
“Well, kind of. That’s sort of how all my encounters with guys have gone.”
I wanted to find every one of those guys and break their necks. “I told you I’d take care of you, and then I’d teach you to take care of yourself.”
Alex met my gaze. “I knew I wanted you, but I had no idea how much I needed you.”
“Come here.” I opened my arms. He jumped down from the counter and cleared the space between us almost instantly. I wrapped my arms around him, and he nuzzled his head into the crook of my shoulder.
“I wish I could stay here. I wish I never had to leave.”
I wished that too, but I didn’t say it. It was insane.
The next day, I was going up against some of the most powerful men in the Russian mafia, and I couldn’t mention that to Alex.
I might not come back. I might come back broken.
I had no business being with anyone, student or not.
This wasn’t the time for a relationship of any kind.
I was still trying to establish myself in my career and make my family understand what I meant by not helping them, though I wasn’t being very clear about that myself.
I held Alex to me as I occasionally stirred the pasta. When everything was ready, I sent him to take a seat at the table, plated it up for us, and poured each of us a glass of wine.
“You didn’t even card me, Professor,” Alex said when I set the wine in front of him.
I was glad he was back in a teasing mood. “Serving you a little wine with dinner is nothing compared to fucking you.”
“Yeah, I guess not. Maybe we’re past worrying about things like that.”
“We’re long past it.” And God help me, we were never going back.
Alex loved the dinner as much as he had the pasta alla norma. “Do you really think I can learn to cook like this?”
“Yes, if you’re patient and you listen and practice.”
He frowned. “I’m not sure that sounds like much fun.”
“Learning anything takes practice, and everything can’t be fun.”
He sighed. ‘That’s too bad.”
I tried to remind myself I didn’t need to take him on as a project, but it wasn’t working.
After dinner, I told him I had papers to grade. He turned on some reality TV show I’d never watched and curled up on the couch beside me. He whistled when I put my glasses on, and I think he spent more time staring at me than watching the television. But I got through the work I’d intended to do.
When I closed my laptop and set it down, I realized he’d fallen asleep. I turned the TV off and scooped him up in my arms.
He stirred and looked at me. “I feel like a princess. I love that you can carry me.”
I loved that I could carry him too, and I loved the way he snuggled against me and held tightly to my neck as I walked to the bedroom. I could get very used to this.
I thought Alex had gone back to sleep, but when I laid him down, he said, “Are you going to wake me up early so I can leave before sunrise?”
I shook my head. “It will be dark when I start my run. You can head out the back with me. Do you think you can keep up with me as far as the frat house?”
“Yes, but won’t people see us together?”
I shrugged. “So we were both out for a jog, and we recognized each other. That’s no big deal. No one is going to suspect what is happening.” At least I hoped to hell not.
“Are you going to be more of an asshole to me in class so no one notices you staring at me?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Maybe, but you’d like every minute of it. Now, turn over and go back to sleep.”
He grinned. “I can’t believe I really get to sleep here.”
Neither could I.