Page 18 (2/2)
"Okay," I ain I closed hing as I felt it, I closed my lips around what he offered
"I’ve never seen a wo," heme come undone once more
"Yes, well, you’ve never met a woman who likes meatballs asstuffed beyond belief but not wanting the meal to end
Simon had just cookedevery single taste bud that needed to be hit He’d learned how tomeatballs from a woman in Naples, and he’d sworn they’d be the best I’d ever had After no less than seven jokes about balls and ree they were the best balls I had ever had in reat meatball
I then proceeded to eat almost a pound of pasta myself, as well as all of my meatballs, plus half of his I insisted he eat the last one, but he refused and brought the perfection that was his reat host, insisting that I sit, drink wine, and watch rather than help He entertainedready, and while the food was siood "Nonni made me promise if she showed me how to make her polpette I would only serve them with her special sauce If I dared serve these with a jar of Prego, she would cross the ocean to break her wooden spoon against hed, leaning back inthe top button on my jeans I had no shame I’d eaten an obscene amount
"You knohat Nonni randain when his eyes went to onna be okay there?" He raised his eyebrows as he got up to clear
"Yep, just need to breathe a little" I groaned, pulling myself up from the table
"No, no, you don’t have to help," he said, rushing to onna drop this off and pass out on that couch right there," I said, nodding toward the living rooo relax Anyone who just had that many balls in their mouth deserves a rest," he teased, and I flicked his ear
"I said no o die in peace" I shuffled into the living rooy of ood I reclined and popped open another button onso Simon cook was, in a word, hot He was really at ho about with the pie aside Even his salad--sihtly with leood Parmesan--was easy and perfect
"Pink Himalayan salt, thank you veryfroht it back from one of hisit on the salad Could have been pretentious, but it fit Si My earliest assu As assu to the dishes, and as one to help hiled on ain, my eyes drawn back to the tiny bottles of sand from all over the world I marveled at how traveled he was, and how he seeazed at the pictures of the woman in Bora Bora--her dark, beautiful skin and the sht about how different the three of the women in his harem were Oops, make that t that Katie/Spanx ith her new man
Suddenly I could smell the apple pie and heard the oven door clank shut I’d put it in his oven as soon as we came over so it would be ready after dinner
"Don’t you dare try to serve me pie now I am stuffed, I tell you, stuffed!" I yelled
"Quiet, it’s just cooling," he scolded, coonna have to scooch over, sister It’stoe as I struggled to sit up straight
"What is it that we’re watching?"
"The Exorcist," he whispered, turning off the light on the end table and leaving the rooover hi it," he hissed, turning it back off
"I’m not a wuss, but there is stupid and not stupid, and stupid is watching a hts off! That’s just asking for trouble!" I hissed back, turning it back on
It was starting to look like a disco in here…
"Okay, I’ll hts off, but--" he shushed et too scared, lights go back on Deal?"
I was still leaning across hiain when I noticed how close I was to his face And hoas angled across hi And I kneas capable of delivering one…
"Fine," I huffed as the opening credits came on I returned to a norave me a thumbs up
"If you show rowled, pulling an afghan off the back of the couch and curling it protectively around me One minute into the movie, and I was already spooked
I was tense froirls being ridiculous around guys when they watched scary an peed herself at the dinner party
By the time the priest ca on Sih, and I was viewing the han, which I had draped entirely overht in my face as I refused to leave any space between us I’d even accompanied him to the bathroom earlier e took a break He insisted I stay out in the hallway, but I stood just outside the door, eyes glancing around furtively, still with the afghan over my head
"Do you want htmares," he whispered back, his eyes on the screen
"Just no banging on the walls for a few nights, please I won’t be able to take it," I said, looking at hi lately?" he asked, rolling his eyes as he did every tihan on my head
"No, I haven’t actually Why is that?" I asked
He took a breath "Well, I--" he started, and then thefrom the TV, and we both jumped
"Okay, maybe this movie is a little scary You wanna sit closer?" he asked, pressing pause on the re hs "Do you want sohed
"No, I can take it like a h," he teased
I narrowed er through the weave "Guess which finger this is," I said, waving it at hi his arainst his chest