Page 30 of Reckless With You
She needed someone, and I was it.
“I don’t really believe you.”
“You don’t have to. But you’re going to eat my fucking cooking.”
“Well, that sounds nice.”
“I’m an amazing cook. Ask any of the women I’ve dated.” I winked, and she just rolled her eyes. But I saw humor there. Sometimes, a little self-deprecating humor helped.
“So, you’re good at breakfast?” she asked, and I shook my head.
“Dinner, honey. They never stay the night.”
“You are a manwhore.”
“Am not.”
“Yeah, that’s not what Devin says. Caleb, too. I think even Dimitri’s mentioned it.”
“Your brothers have a very low opinion of me, apparently.”
“My brothers love you.”
I let that settle into me and smiled. They were my family. And it was nice. I was going to make sure that Amelia knew she was loved, too. Even if I wasn’t really sure how to go about it. “Well, it doesn’t matter if my food is good or not, you’re going to eat it. However, I’m making pasta with clams and a nice wine sauce.”
“Oh, that sounds amazing. I never really eat clams or anything because Dimitri’s allergic.”
“Yeah, shellfish allergies are not something you want to take lightly. But I remember Devin mentioning that you weren’t allergic, so I figured this was fine.”
“I love clams. But you really don’t have to cook for me. I’ll be fine.”
“I already have everything here. And while I will take no for an answer if you really don’t want me here—I don’t want to be pushy—I don’t want you to say no.”
“You’re riding the line of being annoying, caring, sweet, and weird all at once. I don’t really know how that happens.”
“It’s not really a line then. More like a square. Or a circle.”
“I really sucked at geometry,” she said, shaking her head.
“You’re a landscape architect. How are you bad at geometry?”
“It just never made sense when it was on paper. The only thing that I really understood was the trapezoid.”
I paused, taking out the veggies from the bag as she came up to my side. “What do you mean, trapezoid?”
“Well, my teacher taught me that a trapezoid was like an open box that had a lid, and there was this alien called a zoid. And in order to trap the zoid, you had to put it in the box and close the lid. But when you did, the insides folded in a bit. Hence, the trapezoid.”
I looked at her, blinking, and then turned my head back and laughed.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I know. But I remembered it because of that. And I know that when I have children, I will help them learn what a trapezoid is from that thing I learned so many years ago. But, no, I didn’t like geometry in school, even though I love the idea of it now. At least, I think I do.”
“Well, you’re brilliant, just so you know.” I leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose. She blushed, shaking her head.
“Yeah, not so brilliant sometimes. But thanks for coming over. I guess I should actually leave the house other than for work, but I don’t usually feel like it.” She shrugged and stuffed her hands into her sweater pockets.
“You don’t have to leave the house if you don’t want to. It’s okay to have people come to you. I know Devin’s busy with Erin. I haven’t really seen them often. Zoey’s busy, too.”