Page 40 of Immortal By Morning
“Well, you could go without and risk the headache,” he pointed out. “Although I think those sunglasses look good on you. They make you look kind of mysterious and sexy.”
Even through the dark lenses, Crispin could see the way her eyes widened at that statement. It made him want to pull her into his arms and kiss her. But very aware that Lucian and the others were just up the hall waiting for them, he resisted the temptation, and instead said, “You never answered my question earlier. Are you hungry?”
Abril considered the query seriously and then decided, “I think my appetite is returning. I could eat.”
Positive that was a good sign, Crispin smiled as heushered her out of the office and back up the hall to the kitchen. He wasn’t surprised to enter and find that the men had all taken up positions around the island, removing chairs from the counter-height table at the far end and dragging them over to do so. They were now deep in a discussion about the security measures that needed to be taken to prevent another attack, as well as how they might be able to find out what this was all about.
Crispin left them to it, grabbed another chair from the table, and carried it past where the others were sitting at the end of the island closest to the sliding doors, and down to the opposite end closest to the refrigerator. It was so that she could keep him company while he made her something to eat.
“All right,” he said once he had her seated. He walked over to open the refrigerator. “What do you feel like eating?”
“I’m not sure what’s available,” she admitted, and before he could become concerned that her faulty memory was due to her head injury, she followed that up by saying, “Oh, right! There’s the chili from last night. But other than that, there isn’t much. Maybe some eggs and salad stuff. I was going to go shopping today.”
“We beat you to it,” Crispin announced. “Or Dani did. She made a quick stop to get groceries while I brought you home after the hospital,” he explained.
“Oh?” Abril asked, sounding interested. “What did she get?”
“Let me see,” Crispin murmured, his gaze sliding over the crammed shelves. “It looks like we have various deli meats, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, several typesof cheese,” he told her and then quickly listed off other items they might use, “Provolone, cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss. Any kind of cheese you’d want on a sandwich really. I know she got buns, too,” he added, his eyes sliding to the cupboard where bread was stored before returning to the contents of the refrigerator. “There are sausages, steaks, bacon—”
“A sandwich would be fine,” Abril interrupted, afraid she would expire from hunger before they got to the end of the list of things Dani had bought.
“All right,” Crispin said, and then turned a raised eyebrow her way. “Hot or cold? I can make a three-cheese grilled cheese sandwich. I could cook up bacon for it too.”
“Yeah right!” the man named Bricker said with amusement and told Abril, “Don’t risk it. You’d end up eating little charcoal squares. He hasn’t eaten since—”
“He cooks for our younger brothers and sisters all the time,” Crispin’s brother Cassius interrupted sharply, and told her, “Crispin used to be a chef.”
“Really?” Abril asked with interest, her gaze moving from one brother to the other. Much to her amazement, Crispin looked uncomfortable and actually blushed.
“I do cook for my siblings. However, the chef business was a long time ago,” he muttered, and then cleared his throat and said, “If you are not feeling like a grilled cheese, I can slice up tomatoes and onions, shred some lettuce and pull out all the fixings for Dagwood sandwiches.” He paused briefly and then added, “My youngest brother, Cole, calls them that. They are sandwiches that have tons of meat and cheese and everything from pickles, tomatoes, and lettuce to Italian, ranch, or Greek dressing on them. It is a wonder thathe can get his mouth around those sandwiches, but he seems to enjoy them.”
“I wouldn’t want to put you to all that effort,” Abril protested. “Just something quick and easy would be good. Heck, I can make my own—” She had started to rise as she said this last part, but stopped both talking and getting up when a heavy hand landed on her shoulder.
“Sausages,” Lucian announced as he forced her to sit down again. Moving around her to Crispin’s side, he added, “Less bother.”
He pulled a package of sausages out of the refrigerator, and then addressed the room at large. “I presume Dani picked up buns for the sausages?”
“I believe so,” Roberts said moving to the cupboard where bread was kept and opening it to examine the contents. After a moment, he said, “Yes,” and took out a package of buns.
Lucian nodded and turned to spear Abril with a look. “Where is the barbecue?”
Abril hesitated, a little annoyed at how high-handed he was being in deciding what everyone would eat. Nobody else seemed to mind, she acknowledged, or perhaps they were used to his entitled attitude. Her gaze moved to the sliding glass doors and the view beyond.
There used to be a large stone patio directly outside the sliding doors with the garden running along it. At least it had been like that when Gina had bought the place last year. Apparently, when the Bransons had bought the place there had been no patio. Just a large garden along the house with a stone pathway leading to the sliding glass doors. Of course, now both gardenand patio were gone, and a tent blocked her view. She was surprised to see that it was filled with people, all working diligently on extracting the bones from the dirt. Her surprise wasn’t because of what they were doing, but because she hadn’t noticed that anyone was even out there before now.
Finally, she said, “It used to be on a stone patio just outside those doors, but the patio was removed to start digging out the foundation for the addition.” She paused briefly to think, before admitting, “I’m not sure where they moved the barbecue to. Maybe around back on the patio outside the pool room.”
“Find it, Bricker,” Lucian ordered.
The man with dark hair and green eyes immediately nodded and headed out of the kitchen.
It was the sound of the front door opening and closing that had her suddenly thinking of Lilith and glancing around the kitchen for her.
“Where—” she began, only to pause when she heard the Lab’s nails scrabbling on the hardwood. A sound Abril recognized as Lilith getting to her feet. It was followed by more clicking of her nails on the floor, and then Lilith came into view as she rushed toward the door of the kitchen, obviously intending to try to follow Bricker outside.
“No, Lilith,” Abril said at once.
The Lab paused at once and then turned and came to sit at her side and nudge her hand, demanding attention. Abril gave in to the request and petted her absently, as Lucian began to bark orders, and the men began scrambling to fulfil them. Plates were pulled from the cupboard, silverware dragged from drawers, condiments were found and set on the island one after another. Meanwhile, Lucian, who had started all of this activity, was himself opening and closing cupboard doors in a search for something.
