J.R. Ward the Black Dagger Brotherhood Novels 5-8 - J. R. Ward [605]
“I thought we’d eat in the kitchen,” he said.
So much for candlelight, but what did it matter? As long as she was with him, she glowed enough to light up the whole damn penthouse.
Rehvenge took her hand and drew her through the dining room and out the other side of a swinging butler’s door. The kitchen was black granite and stainless steel, very urban and sleek, and at one end of the countertop, where there was an overhang, two place settings were arranged in front of a pair of stools. A white candle was lit, the flame lazy on top of its diminishing wax pedestal.
“Oh, this smells fantastic.” She slid up onto one of the stools. “Italian. And you said you could only make one thing.”
“Yeah, I really slaved over this.” He turned toward the oven with a flourish and removed a flat pan with…
Ehlena burst out laughing. “French-bread pizza.”
“Only the best for you.”
“DiGiorno?”
“Of course. And I splurged on the supreme kind. I figured you could pick off what you don’t like.” He used a pair of sterling-silver tongs to transfer the pizzas onto the plates and then put the baking sheet back on the top of the stove. “I have red wine, too.”
As he came over with the bottle, all she could do was stare up at him and smile.
“You know,” he said as he poured some into her glass, “I like the way you’re looking at me.”
She put her hands over her face. “I can’t help it.”
“Don’t try. It makes me feel taller.”
“And you’re not small to begin with.” She tried to get a grip, but just felt like giggling as he filled his own glass, put the bottle down, and took a seat next to her.
“Shall we?” he said, picking up his knife and fork.
“Oh, my God, I’m glad you do that, too.”
“Do what?”
“Eat pizza with a knife and fork. The other nurses at work give me such a hard…” She let the sentence drift. “Well, anyway, I’m glad there’s someone like me.”
There was the sound of crispy bread splintering under knife blades as they both worked on their dinner.
Rehvenge waited until she took her first bite and then said, “Let me see you through your job search.”
He timed it perfectly, because she never talked with her mouth full, so he had plenty of airspace to continue. “Let me carry you and your father until you have another job that earns you as much as you made at the clinic.” She started to shake her head, but he held up his hand. “Wait, think about it. Without my being an ass, you wouldn’t have done what you did to get fired. So it’s only fair that I make amends, and if it helps, think about it from a legal point of view. Under the Old Law I owe you, and I am nothing if not law-abiding.”
She wiped her mouth. “It just feels…weird.”
“Because someone’s helping you for once instead of the other way around?”
Well, damn it, yes. “I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“But I’ve offered, and believe me, I have the means.”
True enough, she thought, looking at his coat and the heavy silverware he was eating with and the porcelain plate and the—
“You have lovely table manners,” she murmured for no good reason.
He paused. “My mother’s doing.”
Ehlena put her hand on his huge shoulder. “Can I say I’m sorry again?”
He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “There’s something better you can do for me.”
“What?”
“Let me take care of you. So that your job search is more about finding something you want to do rather than a mad dash into any old thing just to pay the bills.” He lifted his eyes to the ceiling and clasped his chest as if he had a case of the vapors. “That would relieve my suffering so much. You and you alone have the power to save me.”
Ehlena laughed a little, but couldn’t keep any semblance of joviality up. Beneath the surface of him, she sensed he was hurting, and the pain came out in the shadows under his eyes and the grim set of his jaw. Clearly, he was making an effort to be normal for her benefit, and though she appreciated it, she didn’t know how