Colliding Ambition

Chapter 17

I relent and stop. I grab the tomatoes and slice them, "Wait am I slicing or dicing?" I ask.

"Your dicing them so there will be 1/2 cups." He says, placing the 1/2 cup in front of me.

I start dicing as the silence prolongs, then I speak, "You said your grandma taught you how to cook?" I ask.

He nods, "And Harper, Kai's mom. She's cook at a restaurant."

I furrow my brows as I look over at him, "You mom never taught you?" I ask slowly. I remember my mom tried to teach me how to cook, the food caught on fire when my mom went to the bathroom. My Nana and Grandma both also tried to teach me, that didn't work out so they all just gave up.

He shakes his head, "No my mom is a judge so she was often in a court room that when it was time for dinner I was either at Kai's house or my grandma's, they both taught me how to cook while they cooked." He finishes cutting whatever he's cutting and puts it in the skillet on the stove.

"Who's your mom?" I ask finishes the first tomatoes which doesn't fill the whole cup so I grab the other tomato.

"Your cutting them wrong," He says softly, grabbing the knife and showing me, "And my mothers name is Alice Griffin." He says as I watch him showing me.

But something clicks in my head, "Wait, Alice Griffin? I've heard of her, she's like an amazing judge. She gets called all over the country for cases, but she lives in...Davenport, so your from Davenport?"

I remember seeing articles about how these cases were...extreme enough━yeah I think that's the word━that they called Alice in, she ended up having a decision made within a day of being there. Although I don't know what the case was or what she specializes in.

He nods, "Yup, here try cutting it like I did." He says passing the knife over to me, as I grab it our fingers touch which sends a...buzz through my body?

But I ignore it and cut, "Like this?" I ask as I cutting like he did.

The his hand covers mine over the knife and physically shows me how. But at this point all my attention is on is hand━his hand that completely covers mine, could cover 1/2 of my hands with only one of his. The way his hand is warm, which warms my own.

"There like that." He says, sounding not even bothered.

"Mhm, okay, uh, okay." I stammer breathlessly. Is that how I sound, shit it is. I clear my throat as he withdraws his hand. And I swear his breath is heavier, but that could just be my mind.

I ignore what just happened because all he was doing was showing me how to cut tomatoes. Which is what I do, ignoring my stomach.

"So do you always cook?"

"Not always, but most often in the season I do." He says while doing stuff with the chicken, or I think he's like stirring it.

"You know I haven't been in Chicago for a while but they have this food place here that also in New York, it has the best burgers. I don't go often because its across town but sometimes I go. It's called Alina's Dinning." I babble because when I get flushed I babble.

I look over at Rohan and find him already looking at me, fighting a smile or a laugh, I can't tell. "Are burgers your favourite food?" He asks.

I shake my head, "No, it's my Grandma's famous Chicken lasagna. And the burgers I'm talking about are chicken burgers, I only like chicken burgers." I shrug.

"Oh I've heard of that place. Though I've never made Chicken Lasagna, sounds good." He says as I finish cutting the tomatoes, and passing them to Rohan, "Okay so once you finish with the vegetables, you place them into the skillet." And I do, when I look inside I think I see onion.

"Okay now what do we do?" I ask. "And hey, what's your favourite restaurant?"

"We let that be for a minute," He pauses as he goes into the cabinets near him, taking out some spices. "Okay put some of these on the chicken." He passes them to me. "It's Eataly Chicago, the Italian restaurant."

"So I'm guessing your favourite food is Italian."

"Yup."

"A lot or not?" I ask leaning over him to put some but I pause until he answers.

He's silent for a second. I look over and see him just lookin at the way I'm leaning over him. I lean back. He shakes his head, like shaking what he was thinking away because he's back, "A little but still be generous."

I nod and again do as he says. After I do he takes it off heat and moves back to the counter. I furrow my brows, "Is it ready?"

He chuckles, "Almost," He grabs a jar that was on the counter and passes it to me, "Pour this on and around the chicken."

"Okay." I say going around him this time, and trying to open the jar, but alas I can't. Then Rohan's hand closes around it and again gently takes it from me and opens it easily. "I have a question, a random one, I've actually been wondering for a little." He gives it back.

I start pouring the sauce, which is alfredo sauce, over and around the chicken. "Sure, ask away." He says leaning against the counter as I finish pouring. He reaches and puts the stove on low and places the lid onto the skillet.

"Again weird question but, do you, like, believe in love?" I ask placing the jar in the sink and looking at Rohan. He's just furrowing his brows.

"Nope." He says right away.

My mouth gapes, "Why?"

"Because I have no reason to, sure people fall in love on television but that's staged. I never had love surrounding me, well not the way your asking," He explains crossing him arms over his chest.

At my confused look he explains more, "When my mom got pregnant and told my dad, he told her to abort the baby. She didn't want to but he threatened to leave her if she didn't, so she made the appointment. She decided to keep the baby though and when she told my dad he gave her 1 grand and left, didn't call since then. He made her believe he loved her, so no I don't believe in love."

Okay that makes sense, but━"You've never been in love yourself?" I ask reaching for my coffee.

He shakes his head, then levels me with a questionable look, "Have you ever been in love?"

I giggle, "God no, I never really had time for relationships, wait no, I never was interested in them. But that doesn't mean I don't believe in love or that I don't hope to be in it at least once in my life." I shrug. "I believe in love, I mean loving someone with all your heart, loving their faults. Feeling like your heart will explode because of how much you feel for someone, wanting to spend the rest of your live with that person for the rest of your life. How could you not believe in that?."

"Your hopeless." Rohan says chuckling.

I raise my eyebrows then smile, shrugging, "At least your warming up to me." I say taking as sip of coffee and smiling over the rim.

He glares, "I am not." I give him a look, "Don't push it." He says pushing off the counter and towards the living room.

"Wait, the food?"

"We let it cook for 2-4 hours." He says over his shoulder and disappears into the living room. I follow after I refill the coffee in my mug.