Sweets - 𝘈 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺

44 - Chardonnay

Alexa still felt off and anxious from the havoc that tore through her morning, but she was glad to have Chris over, trying to make things better.

Alexa looked over the couch, crossing her arms on the back cushion and resting her chin on them. Chris was in the kitchen standing with his back to her, focusing on the chicken he had frying in front of him. The smell was delectable as it wafted through the small apartment.

Even being fully clothed, Alexa couldn't help but stare at Chris' physique. His broad shoulders held up confidently above his back that narrowed down to his small waist. His shirt hugged every muscle and she got a bit distracted when it rode up a pinch as he reached up into the cupboard beside him to grab some spices.

She was pulled from her careening sinful thoughts when Chris asked, "Do you have olive oil, Sweets?"

"Yeah, in the next cabinet over," Alexa replied, "Second shelf."

Chris nodded and gave her a thumbs up over his shoulder as he took another step over and opened the cabinet to find the bottle he was looking for.

"Thank you again for coming over," Alexa said into the gentle, relaxed quiet of the space between them.

"Always, baby," Chris said with a small smile, "Honestly, even if you weren't having a shitty day, I was still hoping to come over and see you."

Alexa smiled but then her heart felt a small pang of sadness when she remembered that he had to go away for a week.

"Well, then I'm double glad you came over," Alexa replied, standing up now and walking over to the kitchen so she could be closer to Chris. She sat at the island behind him and continued to watch him cook.

Alexa couldn't help the honesty that was rushing through her at that moment, "I'm sad you've gotta leave." She wondered if her honesty was just gushing out because of her shitty day, or if she would have admitted it on any normal day anyway.

Her confession made Chris turn around, "I know. Me too." He turned back for a moment to turn the knob on the stove and took the pan off of the hot burner. He turned around to face her again and closed the distance between them. He leaned on the other side of the island to face her and reached across the countertop to take her unsplinted hand in his, slowly playing with her fingers delicately.

The realization of how short the time was that they had together had just now started to weigh down on them, thickening the tension in the air.

"Well, let's just focus on now, yeah?" Chris asked as he laced their fingers together and lifted her hand up to kiss the back of it.

Alexa threw on a small and gave him a solid nod, "Right. Yeah," She tried to change the subject, "Well...whatever you made smells amazing."

A full smile took over Chris' face at that. He straightened up and walked back towards the stovetop. Right as he got there, a timer chimed and he slid on an oven mitt to pull out a small tray with two baked potatoes on them.

"This lovely afternoon, we will be dining on some Honey Balsamic Chicken. Yes. It isn't dinner yet. And yes it isn't quite lunch anymore. But here we are."

"My grandma always called it linner." Alexa said with a small laugh.

Chris laughed in return, "Linner it is."

Chris plated chicken along with a potato for each of them, adding a bit of seasoning to both before he slid a plate across the island counter top to Alexa.

"Bon appetite," Chris said dramatically as he handed her a fork rather theatrically.

"Well, thank you very much," Alexa responded as she plucked the fork from Chris' light grasp.