Page 55 of Obsession

He smirked when he saw me getting into the game as well. He pulled out a chair and sat down – so commanding in my humble kitchen, the room too small for him, too simple, as if the dark king himself were visiting a poor commoner. The analogies in my head amused me as I grabbed some tissues to wipe the water from my arms and neck. We were both wet, and my black tank top was sticking to my body the way his t-shirt was sticking to his. If we were able to resist that moment without fighting – or doing much worse things – we might have a chance to be friends. He also ran his fingers through his hair and pulled it back.

Nope, I wasn’t going to think about how hot he looked with such a simple gesture.

I turned to the cupboards to get out plates and cutlery.

“Did you play in the rain in New York?”

I bit my lip because I did not know if I wanted to talk to him about it, then I looked at him. “You weren’t in French class when I said I was from New York. How do you know that?”

He propped his elbows on the table and gave me a sweet smile, even though it seemed almost devilish.

“Everyone at school is talking about you, it’s not hard to find out.”

“I wonder why they are talking about me,” I muttered, putting the plate down in front of him.

“Because you’re breath-taking.”

I froze in mid-motion and looked at him. I thought about how he’d beaten Joshua to a pulp because of me, but his face told me his thoughts were very different from mine. My skin caught fire even under the wet clothes, and I couldn’t resist his gaze without doing something stupid, so I turned to the oven and took out the tray.

The steam rose with the delicious aroma, and I heard Harris let out another hum of satisfaction. With my brain onstrike after what he had called me, I forgot to put on heat-protective gloves and reached for the tray with my bare hands.

“Katherine!” His scream came at the same time as mine and in the next second he was beside me, pulling me away from the stove. “Are you okay? Is the burn bad?”

He took my palm in his and examined it, then pulled me to the sink and turned on the water. As he held my hand under the cold stream, I tried not to swear. The oven had turned off automatically long ago, and the tray wasn’t even that hot, but it still stung like hell.

“This is all your fault,” I muttered my thoughts, and he looked down at me.

“Are you blaming me for your mistakes again?”

I screwed up my face as I looked at him, rubbing my fingers together under the water as the burning subsided. He chuckled and brought my fingers closer to his face to examine them.

“I think you’ll live; you didn’t hold it long enough to get a scar. How about you sit down, and I’ll take care of the tray, okay?”

I nodded and stumbled to the table as my mind shattered into a thousand pieces caused by his breath on my face. The burning subsided as I only touched the tray with my fingertips, thank God, and at least I hadn’t dropped it on the floor.

Harris improvised by using a kitchen towel to get it out of the oven and then placed it directly on a chopping board on the table. He leaned down and almost stuck his nose in it.

“My God, it smells fantastic. I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in years.”

I raised an eyebrow as he found the cutlery drawer and pulled out a spatula. He tried to hand it to me, but I shook my head.

“Go ahead, I’m not that hungry.”

His face turned serious.

“Is it the burn?”

“No, I’m fine, really. Look…” I took the spatula and squeezed it in my hand so he could see I was fine, and then I put some vegetables on my plate.

When it was his turn, I realized that it would have been better if he had eaten straight from the tray. He filled his plate to the brim, and I couldn’t contain my giggles. He stabbed a piece of meat with his fork and shoved it into his mouth, letting out a sound of satisfaction that was clearly a moan. He leaned back in his chair and looked me straight in the eye.

“Will you marry me?”

I laughed.

“After a piece of meat?”

“Enough to convince me.”

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