to get up and moving. To get dressed and face the morning, and whatever it might bring.
While the coffee finished brewing, Jack searched the refrigerator for something to make for breakfast. First they'd eat, then they'd talk. They had a whole lot to discuss, and he figured it was better to do it on a full stomach, rather than an empty one.
After last night, telling Kayla how he felt about her seemed as natural as breathing. He hoped it would be just as easy for her to believe. He might not have told her verbally that he was in love with her, but there had been an undeniable emotional connection between them that should have left no doubt in her mind that he cared deeply about her.
He found eggs, bread to make some toast, and a half of a cantaloupe. Perfect. He set the items on the kitchen counter and pushed aside one of those gold boxes of candies that Kayla was always feeding him, along with a file folder that was in his way. A few of the papers slid out, and he automatically tucked them back inside the folder. The words written on the file tab caught his eye, and his attention: Aphrodisiac Candies.
Undeniably intrigued, he opened the folder. The lined papers were filled with handwritten recipes, all of which he recognized as the candies Kayla had been feeding him over the course of the past few weeks:
Heavenly Kisses, Love Bites, Chocolate Orgasms, and Caramel Caresses.
Frowning in confusion, he withdrew a package of a white powdery substance and read the information on the label, which included a statement that made him go very still inside: Aphrodisiac for lovers.
He shook his head in stunned disbelief, certain he'd misread the fine print. Unfortunately, a second glance did nothing to change the meaning of the words on the package, and everything it implied.
He swore beneath his breath, more than a little upset at what he'd just discovered. Yes, Kayla had told him right up front that she wanted his opinion on the new line of candies she was considering for Pure Indulgence, and he'd actually enjoyed sampling her more erotic creations. But she obviously hadn't divulged her hidden agenda. He'd been nothing more than an experiment for her.
The evidence against her was glaring, and he held the proof of her deceit in his hands. While he hated thinking that everything they'd shared had all been part of some elaborate plan he couldn't help but hope there was some kind of logical explanation.
'Good morning.'
Kayla's soft morning voice pulled him out of his turbulent thoughts, and he turned around to face her. She stood just inside the kitchen doorway, her hair slightly tousled, her skin flushed from a night of great sex, and she was wearing a silky robe that made her look extremely sensual and damn appealing. If he hadn't discovered this incriminating evidence, which definitely required an immediate explanation, he would have stripped off that flimsy garment and made love to her again this morning, right here in the damn kitchen.
But he wasn't about to allow anything to distract him from finding out the truth about those candies she'd been feeding him.
'Morning,' he replied evenly. Forgetting about his breakfast plans, he indicated the open folder on the counter that revealed her secret recipes. 'What's this?'
She sucked in a startled breath, her eyes widening with a glimmer of panic.
'I…' She shifted on her feet, swallowed hard, and tried again. 'Umm, those are the recipes for the new line of candies I'm considering for Pure Indulgence.'
'I gathered as much,' he said, unable to keep the wry tone out of his voice, which was a helluva lot tamer than the anger welling inside him. 'I've been lucky enough to have sampled each one of these candies. But it's not the candies I'm questioning, but rather what you've been putting in them. According to these recipes, it appears you've come up with some very interesting concoctions. And I'm assuming you fed them to me as some sort of experiment?' The thought made his stomach cramp.
She winced, obviously knowing exactly what he was referring to. But to her credit, she didn't lie or try to play dumb like most of the women he'd known would have attempted to do.
'Yes,' she whispered, looking mortified. 'I wanted to know if that aphrodisiac I bought really worked, so I asked you to eat the candies so I could gauge your reaction to the sexual stimulant.'
He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Couldn't comprehend the possibility that she believed in such ridiculous nonsense. 'And what kind of conclusion did you come to with these candies and my reaction to them, Kayla?' he asked, curious to know what she thought she'd accomplished.
She glanced away from his intense stare, her fingers toying anxiously with the hem of her robe. 'You were definitely seduced by the candies and what was in them.'
He crossed his arms over his chest, not caring for where the direction of this conversation was heading, or what she was insinuating. 'No, I was seduced by you,' he replied succinctly.
'You might think that's true,' she said softly, an aching vulnerability lacing her voice, 'but, in all honesty, it was most likely the aphrodisiac that, well, prompted your response to me.'
'Look at me,' he ordered. Even from across the room he wanted her to look in his eyes and see the truth for herself. Once her gaze tentatively met his again, he said in a steady tone, 'I was not at all influenced by your candies.'
'I know it might be hard for you to believe, but it's true.' Her chin lifted a mutinous notch. 'Those candies are responsible for every time we've been together sexually.'
Frustration rode him hard. Good God, she wasn't serious, was she? But one look at her adamant expression and he knew that she truly believed her candies were the reason he'd made love to her those times. 'Give me enough credit to know the difference between real passion and fabricated lust, and I resent the fact that you think I need some kind of sexual stimulant to want you.'
She didn't back down from her claim. 'The first time we kissed was right after you'd eaten a few Heavenly Kisses,' she said, ticking off with her fingers. 'Then you ate the Love Bites the night you cooked dinner for me here and we ended up having sex at the kitchen table. But the most telling proof I have of those candies and the power they have to induce lust and desire is the time I sent you the Chocolate Orgasms at your restaurant. Do you remember what happened?'
'Jesus, Kayla, how could I forget?' He shoved his fingers through his hair impatiently, wondering if there was any way to convince her that his desire for her was real, and always had been, and had absolutely nothing to do with her enhanced desserts. 'After eating those Chocolate Orgasms I wanted you in the worst way, but not because of some kind of stimulant. I wanted you because while I was eating those candies I was thinking of you and what we'd done together the night before, and it turned me on.
'Then how do you explain all the times when we could have had sex and didn't, and each one of those times you didn't eat any of my aphrodisiac candies?'
He wanted to howl in frustration. He wanted to shake some sense into her. 'It was nothing more than a coincidence.'
She shook her head sadly, as if she wished that were true. 'No, it wasn't. I've felt the reaction of those candies.'
'Have you really?' he drawled incredulously. 'And what, exactly, have you felt?'
'Warm. Tingly. Amorous.' She shrugged her shoulders, causing that silky material to shift and slide over her full, generous breasts. 'It happens every time I eat those candies.'
He still wasn't buying it. He just couldn't suspend his disbelief that way… until it dawned on him why she was clinging so steadfastly to her claim that those candies were responsible for him wanting her. Because she couldn't bring herself to believe that he was sexually attracted to her on his own.
Her past with her mother and Doug had instilled her with the impression that without a slim, svelte body no man would give her a second glance. And those deeply rooted insecurities had prompted her to create her candies, and to believe in their power of persuasion when it came to his desire for her.
Those candies also protected her emotions, he realized. In her mind, when their affair ended, instead of facing the kind of rejection her mother and Doug had put her through, she could cling to the excuse that the aphrodisiac
