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.Only then did Miles realize how much taller Nic was, and his proximity sent an unwantedflutter of desire through Miles.“If I shout to clear out, don’t come back into the deli, all right?” Nic said quietly.Helooked over the customers again with concern.“I’ll take responsibility for getting bystandersout of the way.But you need to be prepared for me to give you a signal to stay clear of thestorefront, and I mean it.”Alarm rang through Miles.“I thought you said there was no danger.”“I said it was unlikely,” Nic reminded him.“But we have to be prepared for anyscenario, and I’ve seen simple jobs go badly as often as I’ve seen complex operations sailsmoothly.”Miles nodded stiffly.“If you say clear out, I’ll hunker in the kitchen.”“And call your boyfriend upstairs and warn him not to come down.”“That’s unlikely in any case,” Miles said with unexpected bitterness.Nic clearly caught it.“Oh.You want me to accidentally shoot him for you?” He smirkedas Miles shook his head.“No!”Nic laughed.“Of course not.Just stay clear, all right?”Miles nodded, feeling a little annoyed to be instructed to stay out of his own store.“I’mgoing to work on my kohlrabi.”“I’ll holler if I need help.” Nic turned happily back to the register, pointing at the keysand talking under his breath as he memorized each one’s purpose.Miles stayed in the kitchen until the front door chimed.He put down his knife andstarted back out, but stopped when he saw Nic cheerily greet the two guys from thebrokerage next door and take their bagel and coffee orders.He rang them up without failand whistled as he made their drinks.“Miles.Bagels toasted?” Nic yelled around the corner.“Yeah.Spreads are marked in the fridge.There’s lox there too, and I always serve thelox with capers.”“Got it.” Without missing a beat, Nic rinsed his hands and reached for a sesame and apumpernickel bagel.He grabbed the sharp bread knife and held it up over his other hand.Miles nearly called out a warning about how easy it was to slice a finger when cuttingbagels, but Nic clearly had done this before.He held the bread flat and sliced horizontallythrough it, keeping extraneous appendages clear of the serrated edge.Maybe this would all be okay?Miles stood in the doorway and watched for the next two customers, but then he startedin on his appetizers and couldn’t break free.From the sounds emanating from the front ofthe store, it seemed everything was fine.He heard Nic happily joke with the next customerwho wanted a Black Friday sale, and unlike Miles, he didn’t need to apply a freakish maskof pseudojoy to hide his bitterness.And there were no gunshots.So far so good.Around eleven there was a lull, and Nic came back into the kitchen for more orders.“I usually wipe the tables down and the counter, and unload the dishes during lags,”Miles explained.“Then I prep for the lunch rush by preslicing bread and setting up mystation.”“What’s today’s soup?” Nic asked.Without asking he lifted the lid off the large soup poton the stove and sniffed.“I’m making a pumpkin soup for tonight, so I figured I’d double the batch and serve itfor today’s lunch.”“It smells amazing,” Nic said.Miles fished out a spoon from the drawer.“Here, try it.Tell me what you think.Is itsalty enough?”Nic reached into the large pot and got himself a sample.At once, an image of Itai doingthe same thing sprang to Miles’s memory.Itai had nearly burned himself leaning over sucha large, extremely hot metal pot.Nic, however, maneuvered around the stove like someonewho spent a lot of time in kitchens.“Fuck.It’s the best soup I’ve ever had, Miles,” Nic declared.He dropped the spoon andwithout hesitating reached for another and took another bite.“Damn! I have to get thisrecipe.”“You cook at home?” Miles asked, amused and flattered as a third spoon was removedand used for tasting.He handed Nic a small bowl and ladled out a portion.“I cook every night,” Nic said.“I’m going through a noodle kick at the moment, but I’dlove to tackle a soup like this.” He greedily spooned from the bowl Miles had provided.“My dough skills aren’t great,” Miles admitted, “so if you know how to make goodnoodles, that would be cool to see what your techniques are.”Nic’s face brightened in a big, beautiful smile.“Sure! We could whip up a batch in thiskitchen when you have some time.”“That would be awesome.”“I’ve wanted to noodle with you ever since I met you.”Miles choked on his follow-up comment.“Uh…” He couldn’t read the twinkle in thedetective’s eye.“Maybe I could make my grandmother’s kugel recipe.”“Kugel…that’s a noodle dish?” Nic asked.Miles nodded.“Jewish noodles, either sweet or savory.I could make the dessert kugelwith cinnamon and cheese, but the savory is traditionally made with schmaltz—renderedchicken fat—so obviously I’d have to modify to make it pareve
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