Chapter 10 #2
She stood at the flat cooktop, stirring something in a skillet.
She looked even more delicious than the food smelled.
In a simple long-sleeved gray running shirt and blue joggers with her golden-brown hair held back with a somehow attractive dishrag, she looked at home in his kitchen.
The picture of simplistic beauty. He’d never realized how appealing and exciting it would be to come ‘home from work’ as it were and have his wife cooking for him.
Not his wife. His neck and cheeks burned anew, and he rubbed at his neck. He couldn’t even figure out how to date Chloe, let alone marry her.
“Hey. Thank you.” He gestured to whatever she had simmering in the pans. “I didn’t expect you to slave away in the kitchen all afternoon and evening.”
“It’s no big deal. I like to cook, and you’re disturbing your life to watch out for me and let me stay here.”
He shrugged. “You wouldn’t have your life disturbed and require a safehouse if it wasn’t for a murderous drug lord who’s sworn to torture and kill me.”
He realized immediately it was the wrong thing to say.
If he wanted romance, he should’ve said something about how he wanted to watch out for her and loved her being here.
Or he could’ve said in a husky voice with a smolder in his eyes that having her cook for him was the most beautiful of scenes, that he wished he’d developed a talent for painting instead of writing, or something cheesy like that.
As it was, he’d paint word pictures of her to remember this moment.
His entire body felt hot. He was not adept at romance. Even thinking sappy lines made him uncomfortable. He couldn’t even think of a movie line that would segue into romance.
How awkward would he feel, and make the situation, if he said such awkward romance lines out loud? He rubbed at the back of his neck.
“Please don’t say torture and kill in regards to yourself,” she begged, holding up a hand. “Only as you share your stories with me. I don’t want anything to happen to you, and it’s not your fault that Garcia jerk is after you.”
“Understood,” he managed.
“It might not even be the Guatemalan drug dealer,” she said. “Maybe it’s a treasure hunter or someone I offended.”
“That may be true, but I can’t imagine a world where you’ve offended someone.”
“You haven’t seen me when I’m hangry, now have you?”
He smiled. “I anticipate that interchange.”
“You shouldn’t.”
They both laughed.
“Besides maybe it is all on me.” Her lips twitched and she quoted Tomb Raider, “’Some men like dangerous women’.”
Davin grinned. He wished he could declare his devotion in that moment. “’Some men are foolish’.”
They laughed together again. Davin couldn’t think of any success with writing, any adventure he’d gone on, that felt as exhilarating as laughing with Chloe.
She splayed her hands over the pans. “Let’s pray and dish up before my creations get cold.”
“Again, thank you.”
He gestured for her to serve herself first. Then, following her, he filled his plate with sautéed chicken, sweet potatoes, and zucchini. She said a prayer and they began partaking. The meal was as delicious as it smelled.
Davin stewed throughout dinner about starting a romance between them.
How could he approach the subject? He became so distracted that their conversation was almost nonexistent.
When Chloe asked what he’d accomplished with the book this afternoon, he froze.
Did she somehow know he’d tried to weave romance in and failed?
“Not a lot,” he managed, focusing on cutting his chicken and eating a quick bite.
“I don’t know if I believe that. I walked by a couple times and you were in a completely different world. Typing furiously, as if you couldn’t get it out fast enough.”
His stomach pitched and he had to put his fork down. She’d walked by, and he hadn’t even noticed?
“I attempted to steer two FBI agents trapped alone in a snowy mountain cabin on the west side of the island without power and heat toward romance,” he began, then wished he could cut out his own tongue.
“Really?” Her eyes brightened, the gold becoming more pronounced.
He froze. Did she have any idea how appealing she was?
“How did the romance angle go?”
“Not well,” he admitted. He rubbed at his neck and held her gaze.
It was a level of comfort he didn’t have with many people, and certainly no females besides his mother and sister.
“They were already annoyed with each other, and the female agent exclaimed that she would prefer freezing to death to staying warm in his arms. They ended up in a verbal battle, mostly her reaming him for the mistakes he’d made.
They are currently shivering alone in their own unheated bedrooms without any extra blankets, at the end of a long, lonely night.
Of course it’s all the male agent’s fault as he was the one who rented the inadequate cabin. ”
Chloe’s lips twitched, and then she laughed.
He couldn’t resist joining her. They laughed together for a few beautiful moments.
When their laughter settled, she sighed.
“Oh my. I guess your characters aren’t ready for romance.
Except the man recognizing it’s all his fault.
” She winked. “They’ll most likely die lonely and unremembered, only their remarkable and lengthy career accomplishments to recommend them.
” She grinned as if that were a great joke.
Davin’s stomach twisted, but he managed to hang on to his smile.
How did she know his parents’—and truthfully his own—deepest concern?
Him alone, for now and all eternity, with no beloved family and no mourning descendants when he died.
Nobody to remember him, except through the stack of books he would churn out.
“That would be tragic,” he agreed.
She laughed, and he shared about the serial killer in the book and his agents’ conclusions about who it was. As they resumed eating, they explored different options for alternate motivations for the killer, and if they had the right suspect.
After dinner, they cleaned up together. When she brushed his arm twice as she put leftovers away, he decided he needed to somehow figure out the romance angle.
Maybe not for his books, but romance with Chloe was the most important research he could do tonight, or possibly for his entire life.
It seemed more important than any book he would write.
Chloe could be his one, his future, his light and love.
Could asking for her to help him do some romance research break through the walls between them and his own awkwardness with women?
It was only seven o’clock when they finished cleaning up.
It was on the tip of his tongue to bring up the failed romance angle and ask her for help rectifying it.
Before he could bravely place the suggestion into the air between them, she suggested a movie.
Losing any courage he’d dredged up, he heard himself say, “With our shared movie obsession, how in the world can we pick just one?”
“I’ve kept a close tally, and Ghostbusters is your number one quoted movie since you became writer-in-residence at Tome Raider.”
“Oh really? Well if there’s a number one, there’s got to be a number two.”
“Hmm. Princess Bride? That’s actually a romance.”
He laughed, but then he said, “Have you seen the new Mission Impossible? I’ve been wanting to watch it since it came out.”
What he really wanted to do was face palm himself.
Older movies were what they quoted, not a new one.
Why hadn’t he followed up on watching The Princess Bride?
That did have some romance. He could take to saying ‘As you wish’ and she’d know what he meant without him manning up and saying I love you.
He rolled his eyes. They weren’t close enough for love.
Were they? Sadly he didn’t know how relationships should progress.
The only redeeming idea was maybe they could sit close together and end up snuggling. His body heated up, but he knew snuggling was a stretch with his sad repertoire of making moves. Maybe pressed close together or with his arm around her, though even that seemed a lot to hope for.
Did Chloe sense how inexperienced he was? Would she take pity on him or not be attracted to a man who lacked confidence with the opposite sex? All the other men on this island seemed hunky and confident with women.
He prayed she’d give him a chance and be one of those ladies who wanted to help a semi-awkward man with romance, but it was a lot to hope for. Especially with a woman as accomplished, inspiring, and beautiful as Chloe.