26. Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Delilah
“ H ow far are we?”
“Two minutes.”
Cedric nods, face scrunched up in concentration, and I stifle a giggle. I walk up behind his perch, where he is currently dwarfing the stool he’s sitting on, and place my hands on his shoulders.
“Oh my god, Cedric, are these muscles or knots?” I ask, feeling the hardness beneath his cotton shirt. I push my thumbs into his skin, though the muscle there hardly gives way .
“Delilah,” he says roughly.
“Yes?” I ask as I massage him lightly.
“Do you want the pizza to burn?”
“Why would it burn?”
“Because you’re– distracting me.”
“Oh,” I say, taking my hands off him immediately. Getting flustered seems plain silly given what we were doing in this house less than a day ago, but I manage it anyway.
I am suddenly reminded of the heat of Cedric on top of me, of his hands touching me everywhere, his lips trailing down my neck–
“Is it time?”
I glance at my phone as the last few seconds tick by, my heart beating furiously in my chest. “Yep,” I manage.
Cedric puts on my pink oven mittens, and though the sight should be hilarious, it makes me feel even more disoriented. I’m nearly bewildered with both arousal and tenderness for this man, and I need to tamper it down before something happens. Like turning into a werewolf in the middle of my kitchen and causing different states of mayhem, among which ruining a perfectly good apron.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Cedric as he carefully pries the baking tray out of the oven. I make my way to the bathroom as quickly as possible, Blaine in tow. Turning the sink faucet to its coldest setting, I sprinkle some drops on my face, patting my cheeks. When I look up, I heave a breath of relief. My eyes don’t look particularly bright–supernaturally bright, that is–and I don’t feel the tell-tale signs of shifting.
See? This is manageable.
I hadn’t realized, however, that I look a bit of a mess. I’d put my hair up with a claw clip earlier, and there’s stray strands poking out from the makeshift ponytail; there’s a smudge of flour on my neck, and how did it get there? I could fix both things easily, but if I am going to be honest with Cedric, eventually, I might as well start with the small things. And messy hair is the least of my concerns.
When I return to the kitchen, he is prone on the counter, sprinkling mozzarella strands with the precision of a Michelin star chef.
“Look at you go,” I say.
“It’s quite relaxing,” he replies, laying down the last bits of cheesy goodness.
“Agreed,” I say with a smile as I gesture for him to hand me the mittens so I can put the pizza back in for its final baking round.
I set the timer and catch Cedric looking at me. He’s rolled up his sleeves, and as he’s leaning on the counter, he looks like he jumped out of some high cuisine magazine.
“You really should have been more generous,” I say, keeping my face as stoic as possible.
“I beg your pardon?”
“It’s not fair how you hoarded all the pretty genes.”
He scoffs, though it sounds suspiciously like a laugh.
“I mean, think about all the people that see you strolling down the street–”
“I do not stroll –”
“And proceed to have a terrible day, because they know they will never look like that,” I continue, ignoring him, though a grin tugs at my lips. “What about us? You ransacked the beautiful gene pool, and we got stuck with the crumbs.”
“How far are we?” he asks, as if to change the topic.
“Uhm, three minutes left,” I say with a quick look at my phone’s timer.
He pushes himself off the counter breezily and steps closer to me .
“I have a proposal.”
My mouth drops open, though I know he’s definitely not asking for my hand in marriage. “Sure.”
“Once the three minutes are up, we’re going to let the pizza cool down,” he says, slowly pulling at the string that keeps my apron tied. “Then we’re going to eat some.”
“Makes sense,” I say, feeling dazed. Haven’t I just calmed down, like a minute ago? Is his secret that he’s a hypnotist?
“And then I’m going to tell you that it kills me, the way you sell yourself short. The way your brain is always running at the speed of bloody light, thinking about all the ways you can make yourself smaller. Occupy less space. I’m going to tell you that you are the single most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and that sure, it’s not everything, but you should be reminded of that fact every day. I’m going to ask you about whatever you want to tell me, and I’m going to answer your questions, if I can. And then, no matter how desperately I want to stay, and no matter whether you’ll tell me to, I’ll kiss you goodnight and I’ll walk to my hotel. Because I need you to know that I want to spend time with you, in whatever capacity that is. I want to quell your doubts, and soothe your fears. I don’t need to take you to bed for that.”
The timer goes off, and I both hear it and not. I stare at Cedric as he retrieves the mittens and once again takes the pizza out of the oven, as if he hadn’t spun my world on its axis. He turns to me then, an eyebrow raised in question.
“Sounds like a plan,” I say, and even though my heart is bursting in my ribcage, this time, Shifting is the furthest thing from my mind.