Katherine marched into his kitchen and took charge, telling him what she needed. He pulled out the baking pans, mixing bowl, measuring cups, and spoons he’d just bought that Lark had washed for him.
“Would you preheat the oven to 350 for me?”
Kong stared at the stove and hesitated. When they’d first been released from Legratia, there’d been people hired to help them acclimate. Before they’d been freed, they’d never had to cook their own meals – they’d never used any sort of household appliance – so they’d been taught some basics. But that was a while ago and he hadn’t really been paying attention at the time. There’d always been too many other more exciting things he’d wanted to explore outside.
He could figure this out. It was an oven, not a nuclear warhead he was trying to disarm. He looked at the buttons and poked the one that said BAKE. It beeped and the display flashed a 350 so he hit START and the display changed to let him know it was preheating.
He grinned, proud of himself. Look at him, baking and shit.
He turned that smile on Katherine and when she returned it, warmth suffused him. This was nice. Joining her at the counter, he asked, “What’s next?”
Chapter Ten
Kong leaned against thecounter, watching, as Katherine measured out ingredients and added them to the mixing bowl.
“How was your day?” he asked.
“Great.” She cracked an egg into the bowl. “I almost got some of the Resurrection soldiers to smile. Oh! And I made a new friend.”
“Who?”
Not looking up, she discarded the empty shell and grabbed another egg. “Perrin.”
Kong nearly choked. “Perrin?”
“We ate lunch together.”
“Wow. You’re brave.”
A little scoffing sound escaped her like she thought he was kidding.
“Seriously,” he said. “I love Perrin, don’t get me wrong, but at least half of the people here are terrified of her. She’s got a death glare that’ll make your balls shrivel.”
Katherine laughed, the sound of it warming him through and she looked up at him with twinkling eyes. “Good thing I don’t have balls, then.”
Kong chuckled. Definitely a good thing.
She began to stir the batter and then stopped abruptly. “I also made progress with ORION.” Resuming her strokes, she explained, “The AI doesn’t like me.” She frowned before clarifying, “Well, as much as an AI can like or dislike anyone. I think it considers me a nuisance. It usually doesn’t speak to me unless I ask it a direct question but tonight, it actually said good night to me as I was leaving.”
She stirred a few more times, a thoughtful look on her face before she stopped again. Maybe her arm was getting tired. That batter looked thick.
“Do you need help with that?”
“What? Oh! No. I’m good. I was just thinking.” She hesitated a moment. “Unless you want to stir.”
Kong straightened up from his lean. “I’ll give it a whirl.”
It took him no time at all, and then Katherine was directing him to pour the batter into the pan she’d greased. Once that was done, she opened the oven to put the brownies in and exclaimed, “Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever seen an oven this clean. It looks brand new.”
“It pretty much is. I think it’s only been used twice.” Both times by Lark to warm up leftover pizza when she’d come over because she didn’t like how it tasted when it was warmed up in the microwave. Kong liked it cold.
“I always get food from the mess,” he explained. “Or Lark cooks over at her place.” He gestured vaguely toward where her apartment was across the hall.
The brownies in, Katherine set the timer and turned to look at him with a smile. “Well, we’ll have to break it in properly. Prepare a big feast. Work out those neglected burners.”
Kong grinned. That sounded like a damn good plan to him. He was always ready for a feast. “Just tell me when.”
“Sunday night?”
