The Erotic Secrets Of A French Maid

'If I can offer a piece of advice?'

She stiffened, wary of criticism. 'What?'

'I don't know anything about architecture, but I know a little about committees. Whatever key words or phrases they use in describing the objective of the contest, be sure to repeat those same words and phrases back to them in the description of your entry. They love that.'

'Oh,' she said, and blinked in surprise. 'That's very helpful.'

He laughed. 'You didn't think I was going to try to give you advice on the design, did you?' He gestured at the photos on the wall. 'With an eye like yours, I have no doubt you'll come up with something stunning.'

She smiled crookedly. 'Thanks for the confidence. I wish I shared it.'

'If you keep working at it, I'm sure you'll surprise yourself with what you can create.'

Emma headed back to the kitchen, hoping that was true. Everything she drew felt hopelessly pedestrian. No hint of flair, no nod to the uniqueness of Seattle beyond the tired attempt to throw salmon and fir trees into the design.

Over the weekend she'd found herself abandoning her drawings in favor of preparing for tonight; it was more entertaining to plan a complex dinner and sexual escapade than to sit and stare at blank paper and face the fear that she didn't possess the creativity she needed.

Tonight's sexual extravagance was number 64 from 101 Ways to Shock His Rocks, a piece of fine literature she'd purchased at a sex shop. Personally, she thought that number 64 was treading into disturbing territory, but the description promised to draw a night of unforgettable, primitive passion from her man. Who was she to argue? She'd thought that most of the stuff in the sex shop was icky, but it wouldn't be such a profitable business if it didn't deliver what it promised.

At least, that's what she'd told herself as she handed her Visa to the cashier and slunk out of the store with a big plastic bag of obscene treasures.

She plated their meals and carried them and the bowl of pan juices out to the table. Russ joined her.

'Duck stuffed with chicken liver, candied orange, and pears,' she announced, setting the plates down. 'Green beans braised with tomatoes and basil. And there's a cream cheese crostata with orange marmalade for dessert.'

'This is amazing.'

She stared at the plates of food, so prettily done, and frowned. 'It's not.'

'What?'

She sat down as he held her chair for her and clenched her teeth against the threat of tears. 'It's just recipes from a magazine. I didn't even come up with menu myself: I used the magazine for that, too.'

'Uh…so?'

She shook her head angrily. 'No creativity! A true cook creates her own recipes and instinctively understands what foods go together to make a meal. I just follow the directions I'm given!'

'I'd have a mess on my hands if I tried that. I probably wouldn't know what half the ingredients were, to begin with.'

'But maybe you'd be creative. I'm not-I don't take any risks. I don't substitute, I don't experiment, or vary. I don't fling things together with whatever is in the pantry.'

He was quiet, seeming not to know how to respond. Why was she dumping this on him? He wasn't her boyfriend. He wasn't here to listen to her problems; he was here for a pleasant evening of food and sex.

'Let's eat,' she said, picking up her fork. 'It's getting cold.'

They ate in silence for several minutes. Emma stewed in a broth of her own insecurities, basting herself with self-criticism. When Russ spoke, it was as if the words were coming from far away and it took her a moment to hear what he was asking.

'Did your mother cook this way? Duck, chicken livers, etcetera.'

'Sometimes. Not usually. It would be a bit much for two picky kids.'

'So once you were on your own, you started cooking this way?

She laughed. 'It's not exactly in my budget.'

'And yet you expect yourself to have mastery of a skill that people spend a lifetime developing?'

She stabbed a bean with her fork and lifted it up as Exhibit A. 'Beans and tomatoes are humble ingredients. There should be creativity even with humble ingredients. I've cooked plenty of beans and tomatoes in my life. Why did I never think to put them together?'

'That's an impossible question. You may as well ask why you never paired beans with apricots or peanuts or kumquats.'

'I appreciate your attempt at logic.' She knew he was trying to help, but sometimes logic didn't tell the whole story. 'The answer would be the same, though: I'm not a creative cook.'

'You're too hard on yourself. It takes mastery of the basics of any skill before creativity and experimentation can be done with a regular degree of success. I doubt that at your age you have sufficient mastery of any skill to allow you to be a creative genius in its sphere.'

'I think you meant to comfort me by saying that,' Emma commented wryly.

A little frown of worry appeared between his brows. 'Did I succeed?'

She shrugged one shoulder, feeling a bit better despite herself. 'Perhaps.'

He nodded in satisfaction and turned his attention to the duck, cutting off a neat piece with knife and fork. 'Good. A bit of reason is more effective than a hug. Lasts longer, too.'

Emma coughed on her sip of wine. 'I'm no longer puzzled that you're not married yet.'

He looked at her in surprise.

'Oh, come on,' she said. 'Don't tell me you honestly don't see that a woman you were romantically involved with would want the hug first, reasoning later. If at all.'

'But reasoning and thoughts do affect a person's emotional state.'

'And so does a hug, at least for a woman. And the hug will get quicker results.'

'Give a woman a hug and she's happy for a day. Teach a woman to reason and-'

'You did not just say that.'

'No, I didn't. You interrupted me.'

She raised one brow. 'Excuse me. You were saying?'

'Teach a woman to reason, and she'll find seventeen ways in which you are wrong, with subparts A and B for six of them.'

'You have a hostile view toward women, don't you? I thought you were just kidding, that first day when you told Kevin that gold diggers would be after him.'

'It's not a hostile view.'

'Then what is it?'

He chewed for a minute, then glanced her way. 'Wary.'

She cocked her head. 'Wary? Why?'

'Alien race. Can't predict what they're going to do. How they're going to react.'

Had someone hurt him, beyond the ordinary heartbreaks of love? Emma stared at him, trying to discern the truth from the subtle clues hidden in inflections of his voice and the microexpressions of his face.

'Men and women hurt each other,' she said. 'That's never going to change; it comes with the territory. But it's a glorious territory, all considered, and I wouldn't want to live my life without spending a good deal of time in it.'

'Just not now.'

'No, not at this moment. Except like this,' she said, gesturing between them. She looked at him for a moment, considering. 'Can I tell you something?'

'Sure.'

'I wasn't certain, initially, that I wanted to do this. I mean, it's kind of sleazy-sounding on the surface, don't you think? After all, being paid for sex isn't exactly what most girls aim for in life.'

'Er, no, I suppose not.'

'But the truth is,' she said, leaning forward confidentially, 'I'm kind of having fun.'

His brows rose.

'I know! It's crazy, isn't it? And the naughtiness kind of turns me on. I know that submitting to a man's sexual