Page 81 of Elven Throne

Then he took another enormous bite and chewed silently.

“Then why do you look like someone’s forcing you to eat a plate of worms?” she asked. “I think it’s actually pretty decent.”

“It’s nothing,” he muttered with visibly great effort, swallowing and staring at the thick, greasy slice. “It’s fine. Just…not my favorite.”

Rebecca laughed. “You grew up just outside Chicago, and you’re not a fan of deep dish.”

“Not a fan ofpizza.”

“What? Who doesn’t like pizza?”

Maxwell stared at the thick layer of cheese without expression. “Me.”

Then he bit off almost half the slice and still looked miserable.

“Seriously?” Rebecca set hers down on the napkin beside her on the floor and gaped at him. “Then why are you eating it?”

“This is what we have,” he said. “And I’m hungry.”

“Why didn’t you say anything before wegotthe pizza?”

“You told me to stop at Gino’s East,” he replied blandly.

“Well I wouldn’t have suggested it if I knew you didn’t like it…”

“It’s food.”

“It’s notjustfoodwhen you look like you’re being tortured while eating it, Hannigan.”

He swallowed his bite, paused, then looked up at her from his seat on the floor across the half-empty pizza box. “This is not the first time I have ignored my preferences for what was best at the time. Nor do I imagine it will be the last.”

Puffing out a sigh, Rebecca stared at her own slice in front of her.

He wasn’t going to budge on this one, was he?

And who didn’t like pizza?

The instant flush rising in her cheeks and the burning tingle accompanying it told her he was watching her again.

“Fine,” she said, pretending she didn’t feel all of it. “Next time we go out for food,youpick the place.”

“Unnecessary.”

“Not when I have to sit here watching you choke it down and hating every bite while I’m trying to enjoy it.”

When he looked sharply up at her, his silver eyes flashed. “Should I move to that corner on the other side of the bed so you won’thaveto?”

She glared at him.

But then the facade of Maxwell’s stony expressionless broke, and he snorted.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow. “Are you screwing with me?”

“I would never,” he muttered.

Watching him, she lifted the pizza for another bite, paused, then lowered it again before asking, “Do you reallynotlike pizza?”

“Thatis the truth.” Then jammed the rest of it into his mouth.

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