Page 79 of Dark OZ

“Okaaay,” I said slowly, puzzled at his reaction to touching me. I couldn’t tell if he liked the tender action, or if he was regretting it entirely.

When I returned to the small table that sat in the corner of the kitchen, two exquisite looking plates waited on the table, along with a large glass of water.

“You still need to hydrate, otherwise I’d be serving this with Chianti.” Nick sprinkled some shaved pieces of the pecorino that I’d tasted earlier on top of the dish.

“Thank you.”

Nick smiled again, followed by an immediate frown. Was he not used to being thanked? It wasn’t surprising. Danny didn’t seem the type to thank anyone for anything, and Crowe seemed like he might always be too distracted to remember anything as mundane as manners. I spun the thick noodles around my fork.

“So, you’re a wine guy? Danny has scotch, Crowe beer. I wouldn’t have guessed you for wine.”

“Of course. I’m not a neanderthal. I enjoy beer too, just not the over hopped shit Crowe buys. I prefer my beer and my scotch to be malty, and a dark wine that has some spice to it.”

I shoved the knot of noodles into my mouth. “Makes sense—“ I brought my hand to my mouth, covering it to hide the small mouthgasam that was going on. ”Fuck me sideways, this is really good.” I swallowed hard. “I can’t believe we made this.”

Nick bowed his head in acceptance. “You’re a good student. This was passable.”

I gaped at him. “Passable?” Then realizing my mouth was unforgivably empty, shoved another forkful into it.

“Next time, I’ll make Pasta alla Norcina with fresh penne rigate.” The way Nick’s mouth moved around the rolling Rs, his accent thick with each syllable, mesmerized me.

“I’m listening.” Maybe listening to him talk in Italian should be my goal instead. Short term at the very least.

“It’s the kind of dish that makes your toes curl. Just the smell of the truffle oil, mixing with the wine and the garlic, is enough to leave you feeling satiated. Especially when the weather is crisp like it’s been lately. There are few pleasures in this world as good as a perfectly prepared plate of pasta.”

Fucking hell. I rubbed my legs together to ward off the pooling heat. How did he just manage to make pasta sound so arousing?

“You seem very confident of that, sir.” I smirked, taking another bite just to give my mouth something to do other than leaping over the table and devouring him.

We ate in easy silence. I was too busy going to pasta heaven to talk. Nick kept stealing pleased glances at me between bites. He definitely liked seeing someone enjoy his cooking. Which was fine by me, because I more than enjoyed eating it.

When I was half way through my plate, there was a yell from the back of the apartment, followed by a loud thud and more shouting.

“I don’t suppose you’d know anything about that?”

I laughed into my water glass. “What about what?” I’d forgotten how I’d left the boys. I wondered which one had woken first.

Crowe and Danny wobbled in a few moments later.

“Ooo pasta for breakfast.” Crowe scooped up a long noodle and sucked it through his lips.

I snatched my plate away before he could take anything else. “That’s not for you.”

Crowe leaned over me, stealing a tomato with a wink and popping it between his lips before I could fight him for it, which I would.

“What was that racket back there? Did Danny turn you down?” Nick said with banal amusement. It was impressive how easy it was for him to feign indifference.

“Please, I’m out of his league.” Crowe winked at Danny.

“No,” Danny said, over the running water filling up the coffee pot. “That asshole was copping a feel of my junk when I woke up.”

“And apparently the civil thing to do when you find a sleeping man touching your dick is to knee him in the balls hard enough that he’s knocked out of bed,” Crowe said, with more amusement than he should have after being woken up that way. “Besides, he’s leaving out the part where he had his hand holding my ass and was nuzzling his face into my hair. Fair is fair in my book. By my count, I owe you one.”

Danny clicked the coffee maker on, then squared off in front of Crowe. “Not a chance, and especially not after I had to listen to you fucking my girl all night.”

“Our girl.”

“Keep fighting over me and I won’t be anyone’s girl,” I snapped.

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