Page 50 of Allure

“Wonderful. How would you like that served?”

“Medium rare. Um, let’s go with Oscar style.” I do love jumbo lump crab meat.

“Very good. What would you like for your starch?”

I hesitate and glance at Declan. Normally, I’m a steak and potatoes kind of girl, but that lobster mac and cheese is catching my eye.

“Definitely the lobster mac and cheese,” he says.

“Works for me. Thank you.”

“Excellent, and for the gentleman?”

I can’t help snorting.

Declan smirks at me, not looking at his menu. "I'll have the porterhouse steak, rare, Oscar-style with the lobster mac and cheese."

“Very well. I will bring out your salads in just a moment.”

Kyle leaves after taking our menus, and Declan slowly shakes his head.

“What’s wrong?”

"I suppose medium-rare isn't terrible."

“I don’t like my cow to moo yet.”

“I don’t get it raw,” he says with a chuckle.

"How do I know that you don't just sear both sides of the meat when you grill? If you have ever grilled a steak."

"I have grilled a steak, thank you very much."

“I wasn’t sure, considering you had tutors for eight, nine years.”

“Yes, we do have a family chef.”

“You do?”

He nods.

I lower my head. "We used to until my father died, which is ironic because my mom never cooked."

"So, how did you eat?"

I snort. “How do you think?”

“You had to?”

“Well, it was either cook or starve, so… yeah. I learned how to cook, and my mom was a picky eater, so I had to learn how to make more than just chicken parm, which I would’ve been happy eating every night. My mom, not so much.”

Declan’s smiling at me. Actually smiling, not smirking.

And I have a feeling I know why.

Because I opened up to him some. I shared about my past.

I hadn’t even intended to, but it happened, and now I don’t know what to do or say because I don’t want to share more.

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