Page 91 of I Am Sin

Dragon doesn’t respond. Just twirls more spaghetti on his fork and brings it to his lips.

God, those lips…

He does have gorgeous lips.

“I’m glad you like mushrooms,” I say.

“Yeah.” He twirls another forkful of spaghetti.

Now I’m curious. Curious about his Italian mother. Curious about his parents. About his childhood. About all those things that he never talks about.

About that tattoo on the back of his thigh.

About why he gave money to a freaking hooker.

I get feeling sorry for the woman. But he had to know exactly where that money would end up. It wasn’t going to help her. It was going to help her pimp.

But Dragon is not going to answer any of my questions.

He’s simply going to live in my house, eat my food, apparently, and keep to himself.

Unless we’re fucking like bunnies.

Though I doubt that will happen again.

I’d like to tell him that it meant something to me. That he fulfilled a need, and I’m grateful.

I can’t bring myself to talk to him at all.

So I finish my spaghetti, sop up the excess sauce with my slice of bread, wipe my lips with my napkin, drain my glass of water, and take my plate to the sink.

Dragon is finishing up as well.

“There’s more if you’d like another helping,” I say.

“Yeah, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

I walk to the table, take his plate, serve him what’s left over, about half a helping, and hand it back to him along with another slice of bread.

He doesn’t say thank you, but I don’t expect it.

I don’t think he means to seem ungrateful. I just don’t think he knows how to act. He’s always been quiet and dark. And he’s probably embarrassed by what happened between us.

He doesn’t need to be embarrassed about that. I enjoyed every minute of it. In fact, I’ve had a hard time not thinking about it.

Worrying about my wardrobe didn’t get it out of my mind. I tried to sit down and read, which also didn’t help.

Nothing’s going to get my mind off him.

Nothing until I start that job tomorrow.

Then I’ll have so much to think about, I won’t be able to give Dragon Locke a second thought.

At least I hope not.

I wipe my mouth with my napkin again. “Put your dishes in the sink when you’re done. Or better yet, rinse them off and shove them into the dishwasher. I only run a load when it’s full.”

---