“And you have flour everywhere, sweetheart,” he countered, his tone full of want.
Her hair spilled from its moorings and tumbled over her shoulders as she glanced down at her blouse. “So I see.” When she tipped her chin to meet his eyes, he brushed his thumb over her lips. He was ready to explode just from caressing her lush mouth.
“Even in your hair,” he added, curling her tips around his finger. Desire crept into his voice, despite his efforts to bank it.
Sexual energy jetted between them. His cock jerked in anticipation.
Her slender arms circled his neck. She glanced around, taking note of the cooks milling about, tending to their own business, and then, unexpectedly, she parted her plump lips and drew his finger into her mouth.
Holy shit!
A growl rose from the depths of his throat. His mind shut down. Her boldness shocked the hell out of him.
She drew him in deep and sucked long and hard. Her eyes clouded with emotions and Jay knew the situation was escalating beyond his power to stop it.
Everything in him reached out to her.
Momentarily forgetting where they were, he gathered her into his embrace. Their bodies melded as he dipped his head and skated his tongue over the seam of her lips. She shivered under his touch. He could feel her hard nipples press insistently against his chest. She parted her mouth in invitation. No longer able to smother his desires, Jay drew her in for a soul-searching kiss. A soft moan of surrender rumbled in his throat as he ran his fingers over the contours of her body.
He savored the satiny warmth of her mouth as his lips closed over hers. He insinuated his tongue in between her petaled softness, seeking his mate. The sweet invasion made his knees weak. The heat from her mouth boiled his blood to dangerous levels. Her erotic whimper urged him on. He deepened the kiss and growled as he gave in to his desires.
Jay ran his hands down to the small of her back and slipped his fingers under her blouse. He drew lazy circles on her flesh as he found solace in their embrace. She let out a broken gasp as they remained pressed up against each other for the longest moment.
“Hey, J-man,” Carlos called out.
Laura broke the kiss. Her eyes opened wide. She stepped back, freeing herself from the circle of his arms, breaking the spellbinding moment. He immediately missed her touch. In a knee-jerk reaction, he cupped her elbow and pulled her back.
“Laura…” he whispered.
“Get a room,” Carlos teased.
Reality crashed down on him like a storm at the sound of Carlos’s voice.
Well, fuck.
He let her arm go.
Nice move, dumb ass! he thought. Way to prove you’re not a playboy.
To her. And to himself.
Jay cursed himself for giving in to his impulses. Laura deserved to be treated better.
Troubled by his actions, he glanced at her apologetically. Emotions churned in the turbulent depths of her eyes, making him twice as determined to prove himself worthy of her.
Clenching his jaw, Jay took a step back, distancing himself. “Why don’t we grab a slice?” He nodded at the pizza coming out of the brick oven. “We’ll let Carlos finish up here and then pack the linguine to go.”
Chapter 9
Laura folded her hands on her lap and let her gaze pan across Jay’s strong profile as he negotiated his car through traffic. His masculine scent saturated the tight confines of the vehicle and curled around her. Inhaling, she studied his handsome face for a long, thoughtful moment.
“Hey, J-man,” she said softly.
He slanted his head and smirked. “Yeah?”
“Thank you for tonight.”
His smile warmed her heart.
“Thank you,” he said. “It was fun.”
“I really enjoyed meeting your family.”
“They enjoyed meeting you, too.”
She reached out and touched his hand. “I always have fun when I’m with you.”
He arched a brow and squeezed her fingers. “Oh yeah? Even when I bowled you over at the ball game?”
Laura chuckled. “Well, I guess there are a few exceptions.”
She tapped the brown paper bag that Isabella had generously filled with containers of fresh pasta and sauce. “Thanks for teaching me how to make pasta. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to eat it, though.” She rubbed her stomach. “I’m full from the pizza.” God, how she loved sitting there chatting with him. Their easy conversations always tugged at her insides.
Darkness blanketed the parking lot as he pulled his car into his assigned space. As she played over the events of the evening, her thoughts returned to Isabella.
She twisted sideways in her seat to face Jay. “Jay, what did Isabella mean when she said you weren’t just another ‘Cold-Hearted Cutler’?”
He got quiet for a moment, and then frowned in concentration. “My father and the rest of the men in the Cutler family had never had a lasting relationship. They were all playboys and were emotionally unavailable. After my father left us, my mother nicknamed them all ‘Cold-Hearted Cutlers.’” He glanced at her as though gauging her reaction.
She nodded, prodding him on. He drew a breath and continued. “And I was always told I wouldn’t amount to anything different.”
Her heart went out to him. She lowered her voice, appreciating his honesty. She wanted to be honest with him, too. She crinkled her nose and said in the nicest possible way, “Your track record hasn’t been great so far.”
Emotions passed over his eyes. A muscle in his jaw clenched. “I know.”
“It sounds like Isabella and Tony always had faith in you. Believed you’d be different.”
He rolled his shoulders. “They did, but when you hear something often enough, that you’d never turn out any different than your father, you begin to live up to those expectations.”
She nodded in understanding. “So what would it take for you to prove to yourself that you’re not just another ‘Cold-Hearted Cutler’?”
His head came
