Remembrance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 4) (19 page)

She pursed her lips.  “It seems like you said a lot more than ‘exquisite’.”  She blushed, pleased and slightly embarrassed.  “I bet you talk this way to all the girls, Luke Daniels, with your bilingual skills.  Always keeping them off balance, wondering about what the hell you’re saying.  They probably fall all over you,” she said with a smile and a flirty eyelash flutter, her voice breathy.

“Nope,” he said as he continued wiping her face.  “Only fiery redheads with sharp tongues.  And flour on their faces.”  He leaned down and kissed her nose. 

Again.  This was the second time he’d done it.  She couldn’t help herself and licked her lips. 

“Only the fiery redheads fall all over you?”

“No, I only
talk
this way to the fiery redheads.  With sharp tongues.  And flour on their faces,” he repeated.  “I think you need comfort food,” he determined.  “Why don’t I take you home and cook you something,” he said with a playful grin, anticipating her reaction.

She snorted and pulled out of the daydream where she’d been basking in his words.  “There is no way you’re cooking me anything, Luke.  Not if you want me still alive tomorrow.”

“I grew up in Spain with a mother and a sister who are both phenomenal cooks.  I can cook,” he said, mildly exasperated and with an adorable pout.

“Luke, there’s no shame in admitting that you take after your father in the cooking department,” she chuckled.

“I burned steaks once and you’ve never let me live it down.  Just because I like my animals
dead
before I eat them –”

“
Once?
  You’re so full of shit,” she laughed.  “How about at least three times that I can recall.  Not to mention when I was a teenager and you tried to help me make chocolate chip cookies, and if I hadn’t stopped you that one time, you would’ve started scooping the dough onto the cookie sheets when you’d forgotten to add the eggs.”  She put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.

“I love your chocolate chip cookies.  I was just trying to help.”  He shrugged with a smirk.

“I do make awesome chocolate chip cookies.  And the best help you can give me in that venture is to eat them,” she smiled and wiped her hands.  “Not help make them.”

“I will gladly eat your cookie anytime,” he said wickedly, his voiced laced with innuendo as he stared at her innocently.  “I’m really good at eating cookies.”

She looked at him in surprise and her face flushed, both of them knowing full well the euphemism he’d just used with her.  She tried to maintain control to prove she
could
play with the big boys.

“That’s two sexy comments in the last five minutes, Luke.  It looks like I really
have
cured you of seeing me as a ‘baby girl’,” she said smacking her lips.

“Nah, you’ll always be my ‘baby girl’.  But now when I call you that, it just won’t mean the same thing it used to mean.”

She stopped at his words and looked up at him waiting for him to explain.  She had just been putting the mini speakers in her bag and rolling up her apron, revealing her green fitted long sleeve V-neck t-shirt and jeans. He finally spoke.

“‘Baby’ is a term of endearment, and ‘girl’– well, you’re definitely a girl.”  His eyes glittered with an emotion she couldn’t quite figure out.  He was so good at making himself expressionless.

She had no idea how to take that comment.  It sounded promising, nonetheless, so she smiled.  “So, since you’re not going to cook, how about we grab some takeout from
Miss Peaches
?  It’s a great homestyle place that does Southern down home cooking.  I have them on speed dial.  Yan mentioned mac and cheese before, so now I’m totally jonesin’ for it.”

“Sounds good.  Is that the place around the block from you?  I think I’ve seen it.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go,” he said, leaning forward and taking her bag.

“I can carry it,” she said.

“I got it.”  He took it from her effortlessly and she
smiled.  He led her to the door while she grabbed her jacket along the way. 

The light snow outside was beautiful, making everything in the City shimmer with romance.  It made one want to cuddle up with
a loved one. 

When they got to the car, she and Kenneth exchanged hellos then she and Luke got in.  Janie immediately pulled up the
Miss Peaches
website on her phone and told Kenneth to head toward her place while she and Luke looked at the menu and decided on their food. 

“I’m so gettin
g their mac and cheese.  And fried okra,” Janie said with excitement.

“Mmm.  I’m getting the fried chicken and mashed potatoes, with green beans,” he said after studying the menu.

“Oh, the mashed potatoes are incredible,” she moaned.  “I might need to try a bite first to make sure you’ll like them, though,” she deadpanned.

He watched her silently as she made her orgasmic sounds while describing the food then said, “If trying a bite will cause you to make those sounds again, then okay,” he said cocking a sexy eyebrow at her.

Janie took a calming breath after the arousal hit her and pressed the button to call Kenneth since the privacy screen was up.  “Kenneth, do you want anything for dinner?”

“Oh, no thanks, Miss Callahan.”

“It’s no problem, Kenneth,” Luke assured him.

“Um,” Kenneth said, obviously unsure of what to do.

“I’ll get you the same thing I’m getting,” Luke said as he dialed the restaurant.

“That sounds great, sir.  Thank you.”

Luke smiled at his discomfiture and ordered the food as they made their way through the snowy streets of lower Manhattan.  When the order had been placed, he looked over at Janie who was watching him.

“What are you thinking about?  You’ve got that sly smile on your lips,” Luke observed.

She stretched her arms up.  “This is just nice.  I’m so relaxed,” she said, snuggling back into the seat.  “I can’t wait to eat.”

He smiled indulgently.  “We’re almost there.”

“I don’t even care what the calories are.  I’m eating it all.”

He frowned.  “Do you worry about that kind of thing a lot?”

She shrugged.  “I wouldn’t say ‘worry’, but I’m always conscious of it.  I still keep a food journal.  I know me.  If I don’t stay on top of my food intake, I get lazy.  If I write it down then the reality is right there for me to see and I can adjust when necessary.”

“I hope you’re not unhealthy about it.  Being healthy, that’s the most important thing.  Not what you weigh or what size you are.”  He looked sincerely concerned and her heart melted a little.  “You’re curvy and beautiful.  You don’t want to be a stick.”

“I’ll never be a stick, don’t worry about that.  I promise I don’t do anything that would be considered unhealthy.  I’ve found my comfortable weight and now I just want to maintain; be the best and healthiest me I can be.”

He nodded.   “Okay.  But still enjoy life.  You only live once.”

She chuckled.  “Yes, which is why I’ll be enjoying life tonight by eating that entire plate of mac and cheese with fried okra.”

“Good,” he smiled.  “You deserve it.  If you trusted me enough to make you cookies, I would make them for you so you could eat those too.  But since you won’t let me do it by myself,” he sighed, “we’ll just have to find a time to make cookies together,” he said, punctuating those last few words with a heated look in her direction.

She let out a shaky sigh before she caught herself, then was looking at him incredulously.  “First, you’re going to ‘eat my cookie’, then you’re going to ‘make cookies’ with me?”  She gave him a steamy look.  “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were flirting with me, Daniels.”

“Just making sure you can handle the dirty talk and still hang with the big boys.  Consider this research,” he said, circling his tongue along his top lip.

“Mmm, I like this kind of research.  Maybe tonight you can finally tell me how you make a woman scream,” she said, dazzling him with a smile.

He gave her a heavy lidded look.  “
Què boca
,” he said shaking his head. 

“You started it,” she teased.  She knew he was commenting on her mouth again and her smile got bigger while she blew him a kiss. Then she reclined back on the seat and closed her eyes, really letting her body relax for the first time in hours.  “Thanks for picking me up.  I was gonna take the subway but this is so much nicer.”  She stretched her leg out and rolled her ankle,
showing off the rubber soled shoes she usually wore while standing and cooking for a long period of time.

“Your feet hurt?”

“They’re a little achy, but nothing that a nice long shower won’t cure.”

“I’ll rub the
m for you after dinner,” Luke murmured.

She opened her eyes at that and felt heat slam into her girly parts. 
Play it cool, Janie
.  “You’re being very accommodating tonight, Mr. Daniels.”

He put his hand to his heart as if offended.  “Am I usually
un
accommodating?”

“You’re usually a pain in the ass,” she murmured with humor.

“Takes one to know one, baby.”

“So mature,” she said, feeling giddy at their banter.  She closed her eyes again, trying to calm her racing heart.  “I don’t know if I should let you near my feet.  I imagine a foot rub by you wouldn’t be very relaxing.”

“O contraire.  It would be
very
relaxing.  I’ve had many years to perfect my craft.  Ever since a certain eight year old introduced me to her feet, I’ve developed an art for foot massages.  And after all, it’s the least I can do considering they’re achy because of my party,” he said chivalrously. 

She continued to flirt.  “I don’t know.  It could be torturous with you trying to tickle me the whole time.  Nope.  Not relaxing at all,” she said opening her eyes and murmuring sexily at him.

“Oh, well,” he said dramatically.  “I was just going to show you how I make a woman scream.  But if you’re not interested –”

She reached her foot up and pushed his leg with it.  “Shut up,” she laughed.

“What?” he laughed back then he shifted against the seat to really look at her.  “You don’t think I can make you scream with pleasure from a foot massage?”  His eyes were locked on hers in challenge.

Oh, dear sweet Lord.  Yes, please.

The car slowed as they pulled up outside
Miss Peaches
.  He shrugged with a smirk.  “I’ll be right back.”  He opened the door and climbed out of the car to run into the restaurant to get their food.

Holy shit.  I mean
really
holy shit.

She took a cleansing breath, realizing her heart was pounding double time.  If he touched just one foot, she was sure she’d have an orgasm within seconds.  That’s how tightly she was wound at the moment.  Not to mention she knew she had sensitive feet.  If he really knew what he was doing…

Maybe she could win this challenge if she concentrated really hard.  She’d let him rub her feet then she’d do everything within her power to not scream with pleasure and prove to him that she
could
play with the big boys.

His words from the week before floated into her consciousness:
Next time you challenge me and want to play, Janie, you better remember something…when I play for real, I always win.

She sank back into the seat.  Nope.  She was definitely a goner.

Ten minutes later, they were sitting on her sofa, eating their food and enjoying some wine.  Neither of them spoke much on the way to her place, but now that their coats and shoes were off, they were comfortably settled and Janie’s mind was going a hundred miles an hour.

All she could think of was that foot massage.

“How’s the mac and cheese?” Luke asked while he tore into his second piece of fried chicken.

“Awesome,” she groaned around a mouthful, her plate almost empty.  He laughed at her moaning noises in between bites.  “Have you tried the potatoes yet?”

“No. Went straight for the chicken, which is really good by the way.  I know as a vegetarian you won’t try it.  But it’s good, trust me.  And I haven’t had the potatoes because I thought you were supposed to try them first to make sure that I’d like them,” he said with a glint in his eye.

“If you insist,” she said dramatically.  She took her spoon and scooped out a bite of the buttery whipped creaminess, put it in her mouth then made an enormous show of how good they were, holding her stomach and moaning.

He rolled his eyes.  “Can I have some now, drama queen?”

She nodded and smiled while licking the remnants of potato off of her spoon. 

“Help me.  My hands are full,” he said, both hands wrapped around the fried chicken. 

She looked at him stupidly.

“Come on.  Gimme a spoonful,” he said, holding up his hands as if proving to her that he couldn’t just put the chicken down to get his own bite.  “After that reaction, I have to try them,” he said, finishing his statement by parting his lips slightly, waiting for her to shovel some into his waiting mouth with her spoon.