The woman was pure torture. Torture to his cock, his mind and…his nostrils. It had started with girly smelling stuff, whatever the hell that was and it had managed to turn into food. She’d usually cooked basic things for Dee when she was home from pre-school. Grilled cheese sandwiches and macaroni and cheese, which Dee enjoyed. But not today. Today, she’d decided to go all out and make cheeseburgers with french fries, something Dee insisted was her favorite. Couldn’t she have gotten fast food and thrown the boxes away? The smell of grilled meat wafting through the air was causing his stomach to growl.
He was being tortured by the smells of Red-can-cook and she wasn’t an ordinary chef. She’d pulled the hamburger buns apart and made sure they were toasted lightly on the insides. She’d mixed up the ground beef with ingredients he hadn’t been able to see over the kitchen island – and to hell if he was going in that kitchen to find out. Her curly hair was pulled up in a ponytail, she was wearing some frilly green apron which, from the front, made her look as if she wasn’t wearing anything underneath. Only until she turned and he could enjoy – or attempt to ignore – the white shorts showcasing her porcelain legs and the back of her matching top that did nothing to hide most of her backside.
If he went in to that kitchen, they’d be skipping straight to dessert.
His kind of dessert.
Down boy. He adjusted himself as the security alarm beeped, signaling Drake’s arrival. The man was here for lunch and for a few other things he’d been quite vague about. Too vague for Blaze’s liking. Later, once Little Red Riding Hood went to sleep, he’d log on to her computer and see exactly what Mr. Kingston was up to today. He could guess what he might be doing but it was still unusual for him to be home at any time, let alone when they weren’t that far away from unveiling Global Electronics’ newest product.
“Good afternoon, everyone.” He walked into the kitchen, setting his bundle of papers on the counter and kneeling down for his daughter, “Dakota, come to Daddy.”
“Hi Daddy, did you come home to play?”
“Not today, Sweetie. I’m going to eat lunch with you instead. Daddy has a lot of work to do but I will play with you tonight. Maybe we can play something fun downstairs with everyone.”
Dee placed a kiss on his cheek, “Okay, Daddy. Let’s eat!”
Crash! “Oh my gosh, ouch!”
Blaze climbed out of his chair and rushed to Brandi, “What is it? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just need some ice. I burnt my wrist on the grill.” She was already in action, grabbing a bowl by the sink and filling it up with ice from the freezer.
“Here, let me do that.”
With Drake’s help, he found a bag and transferred the ice, “Here, let me see.”
He gently grabbed her arm and turned her wrist.
“Thankfully the burgers are done, right?”
“What happened?”
She glanced at the stack of papers Drake had brought in and back at Blaze, “I just wasn’t paying attention is all. It doesn’t look so bad, right?”
“First degree, it’s not too bad.”
Drake stepped into their semi-circle, “Dakota and I have our plates. Why don’t you have Blaze take care of you? Here’s a first-aid kit. We’ll eat and clean up our mess.”
The fire in Brandi’s blue-green eyes didn’t go unnoticed by Blaze as she listened to Drake.
“Thanks,” she muttered.
He took the kit and led Brandi down the hall into the bathroom. The lights flickered on as they crossed over the threshold. He shut the door and turned toward her.
“Whoa, this bathroom is small with two people in it.”
She hadn’t taken off her apron and he couldn’t help wishing that were all she were wearing. He was a sucker. Nadia used to tease him about that all the time. Their one and only Christmas together, she’d suckered him in to giving her her present early by convincing him she had to have it to wear to church on Christmas Eve.
“You didn’t have to shut the door.”
“I wanted privacy.”
“From what?”
“From Drake. What’s going on? It was the stack of papers and books, wasn’t it? I saw you look at them. What bothered you so much about them?”
She sighed and neglected to answer. Should he push? His mission was simple, but Red was not part of his plan and the more he was with her, the more he wanted to trust her. The more it felt like he was trusting her unconditionally. Again, Nadia’s smiling face clouded his mind and he was reminded of his failure as her protector.
“Here. Take this off. Turn around.”
He nudged her slightly, turning her toward the mirror. The trust in her eyes meant for him was more than he deserved as he watched her gaze at him through the bathroom mirror. Especially if she knew he was wishing her naked, burnt wrist and all. He didn’t dare look away as he reached behind her and untied the apron straps knotted around her back. He purposefully grazed his fingertips along her exposed flesh, sending a visible shiver up and down her spine. So soft and smooth. He fought the urge to place his mouth on the tender flesh and instead unknotted the straps around her neck, once again making sure his fingertips brushed her neck.
“Stop that.”
“I don’t want to.”
The confined space didn’t give them much room to move. He glanced in the mirror at her chest, trying to size up whether or not she was wearing a bra. How could she be with no visible strap in the back? Surely the bra makers hadn’t figured out how to make a bra with no back, crushing every man’s hope to see their woman without a bra in such circumstances. Her chest peaked slightly with her exhale of breath and the lighting danced upon the slight crease of fabric showcasing her nipple.
Damn, this woman drove him senseless. She had him hard in an instant and the only thing she was doing was watching him with those wicked eyes. Her burn momentarily forgotten, he pressed into her backside and with both hands he cupped her breasts through the thin silky fabric. Finally. Her silky hair brushed his cheek as he nibbled on her ear, her neck – anywhere as long as he got to touch what had been invading his fantasies since he’d gotten a taste of her the other day. He pinched her nipples and they hardened even more underneath his touch.
“Drake and Dakota are just in the kitchen.”
Her head fell back into his shoulder, her mouth parted and he took advantage of the wide expanse of her throat, tasting, licking and sucking her flesh as if he owned her.
“So what? Can’t you be quiet while we finish what we started?”
“No.”
“No, you can’t be quiet?”
“Yes. Um, no. I mean, no, I can’t be quiet and no, we can’t do this in here.”
He reluctantly withdrew his hands from her chest and dropped them to his sides.
“Let me rub this ointment over your burn.”
“Ouch, I should’ve been paying attention. It was that stupid book he had. I’ve suddenly been noticing it everywhere. It just caught me by surprise is all.”
He’d noticed it too and yet it hadn’t come as much of a surprise to him, as he’d expected it would show up somewhere sooner or later. He just wasn’t sure where.
“Where else have you seen it?”
“Mrs. Kingston is reading it for book club.”
His hands stilled, “Is that so?”
“Apparently. She brought it back into the library one day when I was in there taking a break.” She shook her head, “anyway, thank you for helping me with the burn. I must pay better attention next time and not allow trivial shit to surprise me.”
Blaze backed away from her then, allowing her enough space for her to grab her apron and the first-aid kit with one hand and open the door with the other. With it half-way open, she turned back to him, “I could be quiet if I really focused on it.”
He couldn’t help but laugh.