Hungry for You (23 page)

Alex shrugged as she set the second container down. “He probably sent two different kinds of dishes in case one or the other of us didn’t like one of them.”

Cale nodded and began to open the first container as she took the lid off the second. They then took a minute to examine each dish.

“That’s coq au vin, and some sort of salad,” Alex announced, pointing to his dish.

“Chicken in wine?” Cale murmured, then glanced to her dish, and asked, “And that one?”

“Gratin Dauphinois and Basque chicken,” she saidafter a moment, and then explained, “Basically cheesy potatoes and chicken cooked with ham, peppers, tomatoes, and garlic.”

“I don’t recall those being on your menu,” Cale said with a frown.

“No.” She smiled slightly. “But the ingredients are in the kitchen anyway. He probably wanted to make something different than what everyone was ordering.”

Cale nodded and then raised an eyebrow. “So which one do you want? ”

“Both,” she admitted with a laugh. “Let’s share.”

“Sounds good,” he decided and moved away to find silverware as he asked, “In the dining room?”

“Sure.” Alex picked up both dishes and headed for the door to the dining room, but paused when Cale suddenly went rushing past her.

“Let me get the blinds.”

“Oh.” Alex paused in the doorway, thinking it was a good thing they’d arrived and been hung this last week. The moment the last one was closed, she moved to one of the tables closer to the kitchen door and set down the plates.

“Good choice,” Cale complimented as he rejoined her. “This way we don’t have to bother with the lights.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Alex murmured, glancing around. The light splashing through the kitchen door and the long opening above the counter that the orders would be passed through gave off enough light for them to eat without having to turn on the overheads. It was actually nice, good ambience.

A moan from Cale drew her gaze around, and she smiled when she saw him chewing. He’d started without her.

“This one is very good,” he announced after swallowing.

“Well, Emile didn’t get famous by cooking bad food,” she said with a sigh.

“Would you like to be as famous as he?” Cale asked curiously as he watched her lift a forkful of Basque chicken to her mouth.

Alex paused to consider the question, and admitted, “Probably every chef wants to be the next Emile, but …”

“But?” he prompted.

“But I don’t think I’d care for the kind of fame he suffers,” she admitted. When Cale raised his eyebrows in question, she shrugged. “The man lives in a fishbowl. Papparazzi follow him around like he’s an actor, all of them just hoping and praying to catch him having one of his famous tantrums. He’s forever landing in the news for one thing or another.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t like that.”

“Hmm. No I guess not.”

Alex could feel him watching her as she ate and was suddenly incredibly self-conscious.

“How is it?” Cale asked.

Alex saw the hungry way he was watching her collect more food on her fork and nearly laughed aloud. It seemed her self-consciousness had been for nothing. It was the food he was lusting after now, not her.

“Here,” she said with a smile, and held the forkful of food out to him.

Cale closed his hand around hers and helped steer the food to his mouth, the action forcing her to rise up slightly out of her seat. His eyes were on her as he did it, and little silver flames seemed to dance in their centers as he closed his lips over the forkful of food, and then slowly eased her hand back to remove the clean fork.

Her hand still caught in his, Alex found herself watching with fascination as he chewed and swallowed. Then his tongue slid out to run over his lips, and he smiled. “Delicious. The only thing that would make it better was if I were eating it off your body.”

Alex’s eyes rounded at the images that brought to mind. When he then released her hand, she dropped back into her seat with a little bump, her gaze still locked with his.

“You should eat,” he said solemnly. “You’re going to need your energy.”

Alex opened her mouth, closed it again, and then dropped her gaze almost desperately to her plate. She was trying to regain her composure when he said, “Try this.”

She lifted her head reluctantly to find that he was holding out a forkful of coq au vin. Swallowing, Alex hesitated, and then leaned forward and opened her mouth to accept the offering. Cale slid it in and her mouth closed automatically, but she was terribly aware of his eyes watching her as she did. When he began to withdraw the fork in a slow, leisurely fashion, her mind meandered its way into the gutter, thinking of his body withdrawing from hers during sex.

“Is it hot in here?” Alex asked faintly as soon as she’d swallowed. She managed to drag her gaze from his with some effort and return it to her plate.

“Oui.
A little,” he murmured, and then suggested, “If you’re uncomfortable, why don’t you take off my shirt?”

Her eyes shot to his again. He’d said it so smoothly, as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world. And considering that she’d had sex twice with him, Alex supposed she shouldn’t be so shocked at the prospect of being naked again. Actually, she really wasn’t. What was shocking her was that she wanted to do it. She wanted to stand up, move in front of him, and slowly undo every button of his shirt, shrug it off, and then jump on his lap and ride him like a cowgirl.

So much for a professional footing,
she thought wryly, and then admitted that that had gone out the window hours ago.

“Come here.”

Alex raised her head as he scooted his seat back and held out his hand. She hesitated, but then took the hand he offered and stood, allowing him to tug her gently around the table as he turned in his seat so that he sat it sideways. Once he had her where he wanted her, Cale released her hand and reached for the front of his shirt, quickly releasing button after button. He then eased the two flaps apart, the soft material brushing over her suddenly erect and very sensitive nipples.

“Mmmm,” he murmured, running a hand up over the skin of her belly to cup one full breast. “Even Emile can’t compete with Chef Alex.”

A small burst of nervous laughter slipped from her lips at his teasing, but it ended on a gasp as he leaned forward to press a kiss to her stomach. Swallowing, she laced her fingers into his hair and cupped his head as his hands slid up the outside of her legs to smooth over her hips. His lips moved across her stomach from one side to the other, nibbling and tickling in a way that made her muscles jump and her toes curl into the carpeting.

“Beautiful,” he whispered against her flesh, then he slid one hand around to cup her behind and urge her closer as his lips moved down to run over her hipbone. The other hand, however, was trailing up her inner thigh, and Alex bit her lip and closed her eyes as it skated across her skin toward the core of her. It never went there, however. Instead, it shifted under her thigh and raised it even as he slid from the chair to kneel on the floor.

Alex blinked her eyes open, clutching at his head a little desperately as he slid her one leg over his shoulder and ducked. When his tongue rasped over her tender flesh, she moaned and shuddered violently, the leg she was standing on beginning to tremble madly.

The man had a very talented mouth. She’d thought him a skilled kisser, but it was nothing compared to what he was doing now. It was as if he knew exactly where to touch to best pleasure her, when to exert pressure and when not to, when to go fast and when to slow down. Within seconds, Alex found herself a sad trembling mass and was sure she wouldn’t even still be standing if not for his hands bracing her thighs. Afraidshe was going to collapse on the poor man, she tugged at his hair to make him stop.

Cale leaned back to peer up at her, hesitated, and then started to stand. Relieved, Alex reached for him then, and started to drop to her own knees, intending to earn herself a break by pleasuring him. But her knees had barely hit the floor and her mouth had only just closed around him when he caught her arms and dragged her back to her feet. Alex allowed it more out of shock than anything. As brief as the contact between her mouth and his erection had been, it had sent a shock of pleasure through her as if she had been experiencing the caress herself.

“I—” Alex began, but her attempt to tell him of her strange experience ended on a gasp as Cale lifted her onto the table beside theirs. He moved between her legs and slid into her before that gasp ended. By the time they’d both cried out, and then passed out moments later, Alex had already forgotten the strange incident.

Twelve

Alex shifted sleepily, and then gasped in surprised
pain as her knee banged into something hard. Blinking her eyes open, she peered about, a sigh slipping from her lips as she stared around her kitchen from a perspective she’d never thought she’d have. She was on the cold ceramic tiles that covered the floor, somewhere between one of the grills and one of the food-prep tables. The table was what her knee had hit.

She rubbed the spot to ease the soreness, and then glanced toward the man collapsed half on top of her. Cale Valens, an amazing chef, incredible business manager, and extraordinary lover. The man appeared to be exceptional at everything he did. She could vouch for that. She also couldn’t seem to get enough of him. All he had to do was touch her, and she melted like warm chocolate.

In the last—she didn’t even know how many hours—they had made love in her office, the dining room, the office again on the couch, and, finally, the kitchen. The last time hadn’t been any more planned than the others. They’d come in here in search of food, but their desire for each other had derailed their attempt to enjoy the groceries Bricker had brought them. Which was how she now found herself waking up on the cold kitchen floor, half-covered by Cale and surrounded by the remains of their attempted picnic.

Her gaze slid over the half-eaten fruit strewn on the floor around them and the nearly empty can of whipped cream. Aware that her nipples were growing hard again as she recalled how that can had gotten emptied, Alex decided it was time to move. While making love in almost every room of her restaurant had been fun, she’d had enough of hard surfaces. A nice soft bed with warm blankets and clean sheets would be her first choice from now on.

Alex sighed faintly at the thought as she eased out from under Cale. She had given up thinking that they could return to a more professional relationship. Actually, Alex didn’t even want it anymore. The idea of giving up the pleasure they’d shared tonight was no longer one she even wished to consider. The man had gotten under her skin … and in her skin. And she wanted him there again, and again, and again for as long as possible. Alex suspected it would break her heart when he left, but there was nothing she could do about that at this point. She’d already fallen for the guy, and the only thing she could do was make as many memories with him as she could before he left.

Cale sighed sleepily and shifted onto his side, and Alex froze briefly, half-upright; but when his breathing returned to a slow, steady rhythm, she finished standing, and then tiptoed across the room to her office and through it to the bathroom. She leaned into the tub and turned on the taps, deciding she would take a quick shower to remove the sticky film the whipped cream had left behind. Then she would get dressed before Cale woke and wake him to suggest they head to her place.

Alex adjusted the knobs until the water was nice and hot without being scalding, and then hit the button to send the water through the showerhead rather than the taps. She stepped into the tub, pulling the door closed before too much water could escape. As she turned under the warm spray, Alex had to admit that leaving the bathroom in place rather than making her office larger had been a brilliant move. It had certainly come in handy tonight. She just wished she’d thought to buy more than the liquid hand soap they’d been forced to use tonight. She pressed the pump to squirt some of the vanilla-scented soap into her hand and began to work her hands to make a lather.

Some shampoo and a proper bar of soap, or even body scrub would have been nice too, she thought as she spread the lather over her body, washing away the sticky whipped cream. Getting some proper bath towels in here would be nice as well. The overlarge hand towels she’d bought for the bathroom were still really too small to be of much use, it had barely reached around Cale’s hips. Recalling how skimpy the item hadbeen on him, Alex felt heat flow through her and immediately turned into the spray to rinse the lather away.

“Mmm. Warm and wet Alex, my favorite meal.”

Alex glanced over her shoulder with a start. Her eyes widened with alarm when she saw that Cale had the door open and was stepping in to join her.

“Oh, no,” she said, backing into the corner to avoid his touch when he reached for her. She knew from experience that if he even so much as brushed against her, she’d fall into his arms. If that happened, she’d find herself waking up on top, or under, him in the bottom of the tub. If she woke up at all, Alex thought grimly. With her luck, she’d pass out on her back on the bottom of the tub and drown from the water spraying into her mouth.

Realizing that Cale had frozen and was now peering at her uncertainly, she smiled wryly, and explained, “I was hoping we could try a bed next time. Maybe go to my place? ”

Cale relaxed and nodded, his voice solemn when he said,
“Oui.
I’d like that.”

Alex let out a relieved breath, but knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet. Now that it had been unleashed, their passion for each other was volatile enough that they still might end up a soggy puddle in the bottom of the tub should they brush against each other even accidentally. She glanced down at herself and saw that the water had rinsed the soap away.

“Then I’ll get out and get dressed. I was done in here anyway,” she said, easing toward the sliding panel at her end of the tub.

“Are you sure? I can get out and wait if you—”