Page 21 of Dirty Desires
Chapter Nine
Nina
I woke up early the next morning. Julia had given each couple one meal a day to cook. It was Sunday, and Ashton and I had been assigned breakfast duty.
The night had ended on a great note. He’d confided in me about something he had never told a single person. I thought that was great progress. And the fact that he seemed kind of surprised when I walked him to my door, kissed him on the cheek, then told him goodnight was just the icing on the cake.
I could feel him trusting me more and more. And I knew I was falling hard for the man. It was scary how much I thought about him. How much I genuinely cared for him—that was something that was new to me.
His feelings and his state of mind had suddenly become a top priority to me. And I knew I would do whatever I had to for him to feel comfortable at all times with me.
After showering and dressing in some shorts and a T-shirt, I headed to Ashton’s room to knock on his door. “Are you up and ready to make breakfast, Ashton?”
He opened the door with a smile on his handsome face. Wearing shorts and a T-shirt too, he and I matched perfectly. “I am. I was just waiting for you to let me know you were ready.”
We headed downstairs to the kitchen to see what kinds of supplies were available to us. “Are you a good cook, Ashton?”
His wide shoulders shrugged. “I’m not sure. No one has told me that I am. But then again, I haven’t cooked for anyone else in a while, only myself. I like the food I make though.”
I found it a little sad that he hadn’t cooked for anyone. “At my apartment, we generally only cook when we want to. When we do want to, we cook enough for all of us. I haven’t made anything for breakfast in a long time. But breakfast isn’t hard to make anyway.”
I was singing a different tune as soon as we walked into the gourmet kitchen—I was in over my head and knew it immediately. I spun around in a circle. “Ashton, I don’t even know where the fridge is.”
“These rich people’s houses have appliances configured right into the walls.” He found the fridge, which was the same color of the wood-paneled wall, and opened it. “See?”
The next thing that had me befuddled was the range. “And how about that thing? Can you work it? There’re so many burners and knobs, it looks like you would need a college degree just to cook on it.”
His lips pulled up to one side as he looked it over. “Ah. We’ll get the hang of it. Come on, let’s decide what we’re going to make. We’ve got eggs.” He handed me the carton, and I placed them on the island countertop.
“I wonder if they have stuff for us to make pancakes,” I said as I began to push on the wall to see if I could find some hidden cabinets somewhere. I found a pantry full of food. Next to it was another area, where all kinds of fancy cookware and cooking devices were kept. “Holy hell, being rich means you’ve got everything in the world at your fingertips.” I spotted a Belgian waffle maker and grabbed it, taking it back out to the kitchen.
Ashton had taken out milk, cheeses, some cream, and all kinds of jellies and jams. “Oh, a waffle maker. I like waffles better than pancakes. Glad you found that, Nina.”
“What I didn’t find was waffle mix. But there were all the ingredients in there to make up some batter.” I pulled out my cell to look up a recipe. “Flour, sugar, baking powder, you name it, they’ve got it. Now to find a recipe. For the record, I like waffles better too.”
“I’m thinking waffles, scrambled eggs.” Ashton reached back in the fridge, pulling out a package of bacon and a tube of breakfast sausage. “Which one, bacon or sausage?”
“Well, to be honest, I can’t cook bacon to save my life.” I was terrible with the stuff. “I love it, but I always burn the hell out of it.”
“I cook it in the oven, and it always comes out perfect.” He smiled at me then tossed the sausage to me. “Can you make some sausage patties then?”
“I can do that.” I caught the package of breakfast meat and placed it next to the waffle ingredients. “I think two types of meat and two entrees is plenty for us all. Don’t you?”
“You bet.” He went to the oven, which was built into the wall. After studying it for a moment, he pushed some buttons, and it began to heat up. “Now to find a cookie sheet and a bowl to mix the eggs in.”
Jerking my head to the hidden room of cooking utensils, I said, “In there. Everything you could ever need is in that little room off the back of the pantry.”
His awe was obvious as he went into the deluxe pantry. “Holy crap!”
“I know, right.” I laughed as I thought about how someone who was used to have so many things at their disposal would survive with the few items I had at my apartment.
When he came back, he had a weird looking copper pan with a rack built into it. “You will never guess what I found in there, Nina.”
“If you’re talking about the thing in your hand, you’re right. I couldn’t possibly guess what that thing is called or what it’s used for.” I looked the thing over as he sat it on the countertop.
“Watch this.” He took the bacon out of the package, then laid it in strips over the raised rack. “Tada! This will turn out even better than the way I make it at home.” He went to the sink to wash his hands, which I noted with appreciation.
A man who knows his way around a kitchen and knows when to wash his hands is my kind of man.
