Page 5 of His New Toy

He has a chef,Seth thought to himself, a little hysterically.Of course he does.

“Can I, uh, can I do anything to help?” Seth asked, as Clark pulled out a covered tray and set it on the kitchen island, before turning on his oven.

“Oh,” Clark glanced up at him, looking pleased. “If you’d like to, you could set the kitchen table. If you don’t mind eating in here, that is. I tend to prefer the more intimate kitchen sitting over my dining room, unless I have a lot of company.”

“Kitchen is fine,” Seth said quickly. He mostly just ate in his room, away from the other people in the house he shared. It was the most private he could get with his food.

“Wonderful,” Clark said. He pointed to his cabinets. “Plates are in there, cups are there, and the placemats and cutlery are in these drawers over here.”

“Got it,” Seth said, relieved to be given a task. He made quick work of getting everything out and taking it out to the kitchen table in the next room. He didn’t know how to set it fancy or anything, but it was neat if nothing else.

Clark came in to observe his work after a few minutes. “Good boy,” he said approvingly. “Nice work. I’ve put the food in, and it should be ready soon.” He turned and headed back into the refrigerator, seemingly unaware at how Seth’s posture had gone ramrod straight. Seth made himself follow.

“What would you like to drink?” Clark asked, opening the fridge again.

“Just water is fine,” Seth said quickly. He definitely couldn’t be trusted with anything stronger.

“Flat or sparkling?”

Clark hadn’t asked last time. “Sparkling?” Seth tried.

“Ah,” Clark smiled, pulling two tall, fancy looking bottles from the fridge. “A man after my own heart.” He handed one of the bottles to Seth, who took it uncertainly. “So tell me, other than your work at Turner‘s Toys, what do you do?”

Clark was leaning over the kitchen island, pose relaxed as he looked across at Seth. Seth couldn’t tell if it was the question or the intensity of his attention that was making him sweat.

“Oh, um, nothing much. I’ve been spending a lot of time at the library recently doing a coding course, so between that and work, there’s not really a lot of time for other stuff.”

“The library has a coding course?” Clark asked, looking interested.

“Oh, uh, no,” Seth said. “It’s an online boot camp? My laptop quit on me a couple months ago, and the library has decent computers. I’ve been going there to do the work.”

“I see.” Clark took a sip from his drink and licked his lips. “Coding is a good skill to have.”

“Yeah, I really like doing the repairs at Turner’s toy hospital, but I’m hoping that when I finish the course I can get my foot in somewhere that pays a little more.”

Clark hummed in agreement. “You’re an enterprising young man.”

Seth looked down, fiddling with the glass bottle. The water was bubbly sharp, like this whole evening was turning out to be. “Thanks,” he said. “What about you? What do you do?”

Clark leaned back from the counter, and the pull of his shirt drew attention to those strong shoulders. “A bit of investing, some real estate. Recently I’ve been considering taking on a new venture.”

“Oh?”

The man stepped around the island toward Seth. “I enjoy a good challenge, and my current projects are now all well in hand. I like the game of it, you know? Learning how something works, and applying myself with single-minded determination until I’ve achieved the goal.”

Clark was standing before him then, too close, eyes steady.

“What about you Seth?”

“Sir?” Nerves had him falling back on politeness. Clark’s answering smile reminded Seth of a shark.

“Do you enjoy being challenged?”

Seth felt suddenly like the conversation had skipped steps, and they were talking about something entirely different.

“Um. Not really. I’m not that competitive.”

Clark nodded. The man’s large hand was resting on the island now beside Seth’s. They weren’t touching, but Seth couldn’t help noticing how they could be if he moved his own hand just an inch.

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