Read Online Stay by Paige Prince - Free Book Online

threading his fingers into my hair.
    I was ready to forget all about Agent 007 and engage in some of our own adventures when my stomach made the loudest, most embarrassing noise in my life. The neighbors might’ve even heard. I was a little surprised cat lady downstairs hadn’t started beating on the ceiling.
    Evan pulled away from me, smothering a laugh. “Hungry, baby?”
    I traced my fingers along the lines of his tribal tattoo, wondering if it had meaning or if it was just a cool design the artist created. “Maybe a little. I kind of forgot to eat today unless it was to taste something I cooked.”
    When he sat up, bringing me with him, the world spun a little. I think sometimes he forgot how much taller and stronger he was than me. “What do you mean ‘forgot’ to eat? How does that even happen?” Standing up, he pulled me to the bar separating the kitchen from the living area and pointed at the stool I had for guests to use while I cooked. “Sit.”
    The tone in his voice left no room for argument. I sat. In my mind, I panted like a good little puppy and barked, begging for treats. The laugh escaped before I could stop it.
    “What’s funny about you not eating?” Evan asked, his hand resting on the refrigerator handle.
    “Nothing.” I shook my head and felt a little dizzy, so I placed my hands on the cool granite of the countertop to keep from falling off the stool. Maybe I should have taken a break today. “I just pictured a puppy when you told me to sit. My mind wanders to strange places sometimes. Especially when I’m hungry.”
    “Do you have a grill pan? Or a Panini press?”
    Nodding, I pointed to the cabinet by the stove where I stored all my larger kitchen equipment.
    It was so busy at the restaurant that day, I didn’t have time for a bathroom break much less thirty minutes for lunch. While I loved the fact Mystique was quickly becoming the “it” spot for lunch and dinner, my feet and stomach were definitely suffering from it.
    Evan pulled several different kinds of cheese, bacon, and baby spinach from the fridge, kumato tomatoes from a bowl on the bar, a honeycrisp apple from the fruit bowl on the dining table, and whole grain wheat bread from the breadbox. Even with all my chef training, I’d never seen anything that called for all these ingredients. The apple, especially, threw me off, but I had to admit I was intrigued.
    “Whatcha makin’?” I asked, leaning over the bar to inspect his haul as he grabbed a skillet from the cabinet.
    The sound of the frying pan hitting the stove was like music to my ears. As much as my feet ached and my lower back screamed by the end of a working day, I loved being in the kitchen. Loved the sounds and smells as a meal came together.
    “We call it Elaborate Grilled Cheese.” Evan put several slices of bacon on to fry and turned to slice the cheese, apple, and tomatoes. “My niece’s daycare provider Christine told me about it one day when I picked her up as a favor to my sister, who had a flat tire and was sitting on the roadside waiting for AAA since her spare was flat, too. I was closer to the daycare than to my sister, otherwise I would have picked her up, first.”
    I’d never seen him cook before, but his hands moved with grace and knowledge, like he’d done this so many times before, it was second nature to him. Goodbye, panties. There was nothing sexier on this planet than a man who knew how to cook, and the guy currently rocking my world as often as possible stood in my kitchen holding a knife in his hand like he’d been born with one.
    Evan continued speaking as though he hadn’t just turned my insides to jelly. “When she told me about what she’d had for lunch—Elaborate Grilled Cheese—I decided I had to try it, myself. So, I took my niece to the store after we left and grabbed what I could remember her telling me went into it. My sister came over to pick Jenna up and found her four-year-old munching on bacon and cheese