Eric turned to her, smiling until he saw her expression. Then his changed, softened, filled with a look of such hope Em wanted to turn away, but she couldn’t.
At the look, Liza suddenly broke into a smile, as if Eric was her everything.
Eric returned it.
Pru moved away, and Eric gently touched Liza’s face, kissing her softly before going back to his station.
Liza brought her hand up to her lips, sighed, then went back to her station, as well.
And Em swallowed the inexplicable urge to cry.
“You trying to lose a finger?”
When she nearly jerked out of her skin, two arms reached around her, hands settling over hers. “Easy,” Jacob murmured.
Easy? Was he kidding? She could feel his warm, hard chest against her back, his heat, his strength. And she could smell him, some complicated mix of soap and man that was so intoxicating she felt dizzy. “What are we making?”
“Spicy Szechuan noodles with grilled Indonesian tiger prawns for the first course, snapper with tamarind- coconut sauce and bamboo rice for the main course. Then tempura bananas with caramel sauce for dessert.”
She didn’t even know what half of that was. “Sounds interesting.”
“Liar.”
Craning her neck, she looked up into his eyes. Despite the tension in his body, his eyes were smiling.
“Do you ever just make burgers?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“Burgers tonight would be good,” she said. “I could forgo chopping all these veggies.”
“Would you rather pick cilantro leaves for garnish?” he asked. “It’s easier. Or you could prep spinach leaves for salads.”
She’d had no idea how much work went into being a chef, the long hours, mostly on your feet, lifting heavy pots and pans, working near dangerous appliances at high temperatures. “I can handle this.”
“I bet you can.” His arms were still alongside hers, his hands guiding her fingers into the right position on the knife. “This way, Em, so you’ll keep all your fingers, see? Nothing wrong with your way, other than I don’t like blood in my kitchen.” He spoke casually, showing her exactly how he meant for it all to be done, making it look easy. And having him surround her like that was, well…nirvana. It brought it all back, what it had felt like to be skin-to-skin with him, face-to-face, sharing their bodies, and more. Wanting to see him, to gauge if he was feeling any of the overwhelming emotions she was, she tipped her head up to look at him.
His eyes were on the knife and the carrot but they swiveled to meet hers. “You going to watch what you’re doing? Or me?”
“You.”
His eyes swirled with heat. “Em.”
“The things you said to me this morning.” She took a quick peek at the others. No one was paying them the slightest bit of attention. “I don’t think you meant them.”
“I never say anything I don’t mean.”
“Jacob.” She pushed the carrots away and turned to face him directly. “We made love. We fell asleep together. And it was out of this world. I might not be all that experienced, but I know that much.” He didn’t say anything, and the first bits of doubt crept in. “Or I thought I knew that much,” she muttered.
Beneath his breath, he swore. “You did know that much.” She just looked at him, and he swore again. “It was insane how perfect it was,” he said tightly. “How’s that?”
She felt the smile split her face.
With a groan at the sight, he grabbed the knife and started slicing without her, his hands and fingers moving so quickly and efficiently they were a blur. “It doesn’t matter, Em. It’s not going anywhere, you know that. You’re heading back to L.A., and I’m…”
“You’re what?”
“I’m not sure. I’m never sure.”
“Because you like to be free to walk when it suits you.”
“That’s right.” He finished the huge stack of carrots and started in on the celery.
“Because contracts, even short-term television contracts for huge amounts of money, don’t interest you any more than planning for the future interests you.”
He set down the knife. “Thank you for your help.”
She’d been dismissed. Well, didn’t that suit her. She turned away from him, and suddenly realized they were all alone. “Hey, where did everyone go?”
Equally bewildered, Jacob looked around. “You’re stressing out my kitchen.”
Em put her hands on her hips.
“When did I give you heart failure?”
She shook her head and bit her lip so the rest couldn’t come out.
He merely hauled her up on her toes and put them nose-to-nose. “Tell me.”
“Every time you made me come,” she whispered.
Still holding her, he stared at her. Annoyance faded, replaced by emotions that made her swallow hard.
“Is that right?” he asked in that silky voice that last night had driven her over the edge too many times to count.
“Yes.”
He set her down. His hands left her. “Flour,” he said.
“What?”
He gestured behind her, to what looked like a pantry door. “I need flour.”
She narrowed her eyes. Was this yet another test? Or his way of changing the subject?
He just waited.
Fine. She’d get him the damn flour. And then they’d talk. She opened the double doors. Inside were shelves stocked with cans and dry goods.
And Eric and Liza. Eric’s hair was wild from Liza’s fingers, his shirt gaping, his belt open. He had Liza backed to a shelf, one hand up her shirt, the other down her pants.
As Em’s mouth fell open, they jerked apart.
“Sorry,” Eric said.
Liza smiled apologetically. “Make-up sex…well, you know.”
No, Em didn’t know. But suddenly she wished she did.
Jacob shut the door.
“Oh, my,” she finally said.
Jacob looked into her hot face, then without a word, took her hand and pulled her back through the kitchen, down an employee hallway and through yet another door.
It was a beautiful room, quite obviously his office, with a black lacquer desk and matching shelving unit, and a large window looking out to the busy city.
A black cat sat on the desk, the cat from the elevator on her first day here. At the sight of them, she gave a soft “meow,” rubbed around each of their ankles, and began to purr.
Jacob scooped her up, scratched behind her ears, and then set her down outside the office door.
“Yours?” she asked.
“Eartha Kitty belongs to Piper, the owner of the hotel. Sort of a mascot.”
She tried a smile. “You have a nice view here.”
“I guess. I look at you and I can’t see anything else.”
The words stunned her. Thrilled her.
“Em, I want to finish what we started in the kitchen.”
“The fight?”
“We were discussing, not fighting. I believe you were telling me how it felt when I made you come-”
More heat flooded her body. “I don’t feel like talking about that anymore.”
“Really? Why’s that?”
