The only interference they had was the one time Joel’s phone rang, but he was quick to swipe the end button, paying rapt attention to Rina. He watched as her lips moved, accentuating every word she said, and the way her eyes lit with excitement when spoke about something she particularly enjoyed.
There were gaps in the story, like how she breezed over the doorbell she’d heard ring that morning, but didn’t actually tell him what she’d found. But Joel didn’t push it. If he was going to be friends with her, he needed to allow it to work out naturally. She didn’t trust him enough to share every single detail about herself. And in truth, Joel couldn’t blame her. She’d been through a lot.
“How about your day?” Rina laughed, her red hair catching in the light. “I’ve been the only one talking. Now that I think about it, I just might have bored you to death.”
“No.” Joel shook his head slowly, his eyes watching her face intently, memorizing every detail. “You can’t bore me. I actually enjoy hearing you talk.”
“You’re just trying to be polite.” Rina waved his compliments away without thinking twice about it. Maybe if she had, she would have noticed the swift change in Joel’s countenance at the idea of her not believing he meant what he said.
But he masked it quickly with a small smile, reminding himself that he had no hold over her. Joel hoped that would change with time. Apart from him wanting publicity for his brand, Joel had also seen something in Rina that he hadn’t been able to let go of all those years.
From the moment she made her debut, he remembered telling his parents about how he had a crush on the new talent. They laughed him off and asked that he focus on his modeling career. But Joel had made a promise to himself that this moment was going to come, where he would be seated in the same room as Rina, laughing over some joke only the both of them understood.
Maybe they weren’t exactly there yet, but Joel hoped it wouldn’t be too long.
“Come on,” Rina drawled. “Tell me something remarkable that happened to you this morning. Of course, other than the fact that you were excited you were going to be seeing Rina Powers.”
Rina meant the last part of her words as a joke, but it made Joel grin. “You wish.” He rolled his eyes but retained his smile. “I … I attempted a casserole.”
“You what?”
“In my defense,” Joel started, raising his hands in the air in mock surrender. “I was tired of doing takeouts. I love a homecooked meal, but seeing as my parents have moved back to the country, I have no choice but to make do with Chinese or Italian, and of course, attempt to make my own meals while trying not to burn down the house.”
“You should stay away from the kitchen for as long as possible,” Rina laughed. “I cannot even picture you running around the tiled ground with an apron on, hoping that after all of that stress, the food would at least come out good. And then you’re seated on the island, one forkful in your mouth. In that split second, you realize that in fact, all of the stress was for naught.”
“Okay, storyteller.” Joel got up from the seat beside Rina, moving behind the desk. “One, my kitchen is made up of wooden boards, and second, I don’t even cook with an apron.”
“Well, you can’t blame me for stereotyping you. Most guys cook with their aprons on. I think they get scared that the meal would get onto their t-shirt.” Rina felt relaxed in Joel’s presence, dropping her purse on the table. Her eyes glowed with excitement at having such a fun conversation, and at the same time, having a job on the way.
She could have almost forgotten the threat Finn had made earlier that day.
Almost.
“You might be right,” Joel murmured, retrieving a document from the top drawer. He’d ensured he’d gotten it ready three days ago because he was even more excited than Rina to be doing this. “Maybe I would have used an apron if I had that to consider.”
“What?” Rina chuckled, her eyes trying to read meaning into what he’d just said.
“I cook without a shirt,” Joel blurted. “The kitchen gets hot so that regulates my body temperature. If you ask me, it’s more efficient than installing air-conditioning.”
Rina tried not to act all weird by that sudden revelation, but even if she wanted to, Joel made it impossible as he had moved on from that to even something more intense and sudden.
“You should come around sometime,” he said like he was extending an invitation to his favorite concert, or giving a description of what the sun meant to him. “I might suck at making a casserole, but you should try my pasta. It’s one to die for.”
Rina didn’t know what to say. Although, Joel was the type of man she’d dreamed of while she was younger – hot, tall, model body, dreamy eyes, great conversations there was just something gnawing at her brain, telling her it needed to be considered.
While all of her wanted to casually accept the invitation, Rina knew there was a high chance of that turning out to be a mistake in the long run. She had only just met him, and they hadn’t established a relationship strong enough for visits and meals.
Joel, sensing the hesitation, tried to make the situation lighter by chuckling. “I came on too strong, right? I just wanted you to come see my floorboards; more evidence that there can’t be any running on tiles if I don’t have that in my kitchen.”
He made Rina laugh, doubling over from how good he had made the moment seem much easier and more tolerable.
“It doesn’t have to be now, thought,” he continued, feeling great with himself. “You can just think about it and give me a response later. No pressure.”
“Yeah,” Rina breathed softly. “No pressure.”