Chapter 7
Calvin silently cursed as he stared down at his meal.
He wasn’t cursing at the food. The food looked incredible.
He was just cursing himself, really.
As well you should, the wyvern said. That display just now was deplorable, even by your admittedly low standards.
And don’t I know it, Calvin thought glumly.
The wyvern reared back a little, clearly not used to Calvin agreeing with it. But it was correct. That had not been Calvin’s finest hour.
He could somewhat forgive the way he’d been behaving like a lovestruck teenager, if only because Diana had clearly also been blushing and stammering – the effect of the mate bond, of course, since Calvin hadn’t given her any reason to be especially impressed with him.
But now he was pretty sure that she thought he was hiding some sort of enormous secret.
Which I am, of course.
Several enormous secrets, if he wanted to be precise about it.
And he’d had the perfect opportunity to get them out in the open and clear the air – and what had he done?
He’d clammed up. And then Brandon had appeared with the food, and the moment had passed.
Diana had looked downright suspicious, and he couldn’t blame her one bit. Even now, she was still giving him the hairy eyeball – though the skepticism written across her pretty face was starting to fade somewhat as she got stuck into her meal.
Guess I’d better eat it before it goes cold, otherwise I’ll just look even more suspicious than I already do, he thought. Then I’ll tell her everything. I can’t keep going on like this – it’s ridiculous.
Reluctantly, he stabbed his fork into the omelet and cut a piece off, before taking a bite.
It was a perfunctory action, borne of necessity rather than any particular interest in the food. He was so distracted by trying to work out just how he was going to explain any of the countless weird things about his life to Diana that it took him a few seconds to realize that the omelet was good.
Damn good.
He took another mouthful, paying closer attention this time, and was almost blown away by how good it was.
The eggs were light and fluffy and cheesy, and the diced vegetables that had been liberally added were fresh and crisp and bursting with flavor – the perfect counterpoint to the smoky, rich, slightly spicy sausage.
Part of him wanted to slow down and savor it, but he knew that what he was really here for was the waffles, and it would be a travesty to not eat them at their peak freshness.
If they were half as good as the eggs, then he definitely wanted to fully enjoy them.
He’d only ordered the omelet as a savory cushion for the sweet waffles – he hadn’t been expecting to enjoy it so much.
He finished off the omelet in record time, pushing the empty plate out of the way so that he could dedicate his full attention to the main event.
And boy, did it look good.
The plate was piled high with rich, brown, chocolatey waffles, decorated with seductive swirls of lusciously thick cream and a vast assortment of colorful, shiny berries – at a glance, Calvin could see strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, a riot of reds and pinks and blues and purples that seemed to almost leap out from the whiteness of the cream.
The whole thing was topped off with a gleaming dark cascade of hot fudge sauce, and an enormous sprig of the greenest mint Calvin had ever seen.
And the smell –!
Without even realizing that he had moved, Calvin suddenly found that he’d leaned forward to take in that heavenly aroma, probably looking for all the world like some sort of strange dessert sommelier.
It’s like when you first open the oven door after a chocolate cake has just finished baking, and that wall of warm chocolate smell just hits you, he thought dreamily. Except somehow ten times better.
Suddenly, he was keenly aware of the feeling of Diana’s eyes upon him.
Sheepishly he looked up, to see her watching him with a strangely hungry look in her eyes.
“Dig in,” she said, her voice low. “It’s so good, oh my God.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” he said, picking up his cutlery and looking for the best place to start.
Where to begin? Should he taste each component separately first, or just gather every possible flavor onto his fork and shove the whole thing into his mouth?
He did really want to try the waffle itself, so he managed to locate a section that was free of toppings, and levered it carefully out from beneath the rest.
The crispy outside of the waffle made a delightful crunching sound as he cut into it, steam rising up into the air as he pulled it apart to reveal the soft, fluffy center.
Could this possibly taste as good as it looks?
He took a careful mouthful, and…
Oh man, that is amazing.
It was like someone had taken all the world’s deliciousness, and concentrated it within this one mouthful of waffle. Which was pretty lucky for him, Calvin supposed.
He took his time chewing it, just enjoying the warm, soft chocolate waffle as it practically melted on his tongue.
All too soon, though, it was gone, and so he moved on to one of the strawberries, keen to find out if it could possibly live up to the waffle.
It looked like something out of a commercial, it was so enticing. Deep red and shiny and flawless, it was like the platonic ideal of a strawberry.
Or like something that a unicorn grew, his wyvern muttered. Not that I would know anything about these things.
Clearly it was still hanging on to its unicorn theory…
but really, Calvin wasn’t entirely sure he blamed it.
The food here was beyond anything he’d had anywhere else.
The lemonade he could pass off as a fluke, or as a function of it having been made by his mate, but apparently everything in this town just tasted amazing.
He bit into the strawberry, and promptly had to keep himself from making some kind of embarrassing sound at just how delicious it was. It was the sweetest, juiciest, strawberry-est strawberry he’d ever tasted.
A sound from across the table got his attention, and he looked up to see that Diana clearly didn’t have any qualms about making noises of her own – she was chewing on her fried chicken waffle, eyes closed, a blissed-out expression on her face.
I’d like to see more of that expression.
The thought popped into his head unbidden, and he swallowed hard. He had to work out how to tell her that she was his mate, in a way that wouldn’t send her running for the hills.
Perhaps sensing that she was being watched, Diana opened her eyes, blinking owlishly at him in surprise.
Before she could get embarrassed, he gestured down at his waffles. “Would you like to try some? They’re really good.”
She blinked again, before nodding. “Only if you’ll try some of mine, though. I mean, if you want to.”
Our mate wishes to share her repast with us, his wyvern said triumphantly. Surely human wedding ceremonies are not far off.
Ignoring it, Calvin nodded. “If you really don’t mind.”
“Here.” Diana speared an enormous hunk of waffle and fried chicken on her fork, dragging it through the glistening maple syrup that had accumulated at the side of her plate and then holding it out toward him, her hand trembling ever so slightly.
Does she want me to take the fork, or does she want to feed the food to me?
As much as it felt like things were moving fast, he was pretty sure that it was the latter. Well, he hoped so, anyway. He’d look pretty silly if he’d misinterpreted the situation.
Calvin leaned forward, and his eyes locked with Diana’s, her gaze intense, as she placed the forkful of food into his mouth.
And now he could see why she’d been looking so blissful just before. Because it was really, really good.
The waffle practically overflowed with salty, melty cheese that was offset by the sweetness of the maple syrup, and somehow the fried chicken batter managed to be impossibly light and crispy.
What could’ve been an overwhelmingly heavy meal was, in reality, something that he could see would be perfectly satisfying.
He swallowed the mouthful almost reluctantly, trying to savor every last bit of it.
“Thanks,” he said. “That was amazing.”
Diana’s face broke out into a sunny smile. “Everything here is always good, so I wasn’t too worried, but you know what it’s like when you ask someone out for the first time and want everything to be perfect!”
“Perfect is one way to describe it,” he said, smiling back. “But now it’s time to return the favor.”
“Ooh, you don’t say.” Diana’s eyes were sparkling, and she raised her eyebrow in a way that made Calvin’s stomach flutter – just a bit.
“Of course,” Calvin managed to get out over the paroxysm of lust that was currently stampeding through him. He scooped up an enormous, juicy blackberry together with a sizeable piece of waffle, making sure to get plenty of cream and hot fudge sauce.
He paused for a moment, and then held the fork out.
When in Rome…
Diana leaned forward, her hands coming up to pull her hair out of the way as she took the fork into her mouth.
Calvin waited, happy just to watch as she chewed happily for a good long while.
“Oh, man,” she said eventually. “Do you think I’ll have room to order one of those for dessert? I might die, but what a way to go.”
“Well, I would prefer it if you didn’t die,” Calvin laughed. “How about you just help yourself to mine as much as you like?”
Diana’s eyes shone as she smiled. “I wouldn’t say no to that. And the same goes for you, of course – help yourself.”
“I might take you up on that,” Calvin said, meaning it – the chicken waffles really were that good. But first, he had to make headway on his own meal – he hadn’t even tried all of the components yet.
He stabbed his fork into a large piece of waffle, swirled it in cream and fudge sauce, and then carefully loaded one of each type of berry onto his fork.
Diana watched, her amusement clear, as he raised the fork and carefully lifted its precarious cargo to his mouth.