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I point the spoon at him. “Plate.”

Oliver reaches past him, takes one from the stack and slides it across the counter.

“Thanks,” I say.

Heather’s hand tightens at exactly the wrong moment. The spoon hits the edge of the plate with a sharp crack.

“Careful,” she says.

I plate the potatoes without dropping another fucking thing.

She steps away when the last plate hits the table. The loss of her hand pisses me off more than come cooling on the front of my apron. Heather sits and tastes the potatoes first. Nobody talks. She tries the eggs, then the onions.

I stand beside the counter with my cock out.

Heather chews, swallows, and looks at my face. “You’re useful.”

Useful. She can call me Simon all fucking day if she keeps saying that.

She takes another bite. “Food is yours. Don’t make me regret it.”

I look at the empty knife block.

She follows my eyes, takes my chef’s knife off the counter, and slides the blade into the leather guard at her hip. “You earn it.”

I turn back toward the stove. It’s the only thing in this kitchen she needs me to touch.

“Put yourself away and sit down, Simon.” She points to my chair.

CHAPTER 37

Heather

Simon has no new marks.

I check twice.

He stands naked in the center of his room while I inspect him. His body carries a record of everything that’s happened to him since I brought him home. Most of it belongs to me.

Simon watches my hands move over him. “You planning to do this every night?”

“Yes.” I take his wrist and turn it beneath the red light. “Hands open.”

He obeys, although his mouth tightens when I inspect beneath his nails. They’re still clean, and he hasn’t worried at the skin around them. I move behind him and run my hands over his shoulders, down his back and along his sides. When I reach the bruise over his ribs, he pulls away.

I put my thumb against it. “That hurts.”

“You were there.”

I press until his stomach tightens.

Simon looks down at my hand. His mouth hardens, but he doesn’t move away.

Mine.

I let go and continue.

His shoulders are clean. His back has no fresh scratches. There’s a small red place near his hip where his trousers rubbed today, but nothing deliberate.