Chapter Five #4
‘Tickle,’ she said, touching her throat, not quite meeting his eyes as she produced a very unrealistic cough behind her hand.
‘The butter, it’s just in there,’ she said as he turned to the fridge door. ‘That’s right, second shelf,’ she said, indicating the prettily decorated butter pats lined up. ‘The one on the right is black garlic and that one is beef, both gorgeous.’
She was happy thinking about food. Food had always been a way to express herself—the tastes, the textures, the combination of spices, the routines—it had been her salvation because it all made perfect sense to her.
She blinked and fought the strong urge to close her eyes as she watched him methodically select the items he wanted and place them on a scrubbed wooden board, which he dumped on the freshly scrubbed copper surface beside her.
‘What are you doing, Leo?’ she protested wearily as she fought off the impulse to close her eyes. ‘I’ve just cleaned this.’
‘I am feeding you because you are clearly too stupid to feed yourself.’
‘I’m not hungry.’ But actually, she realised, she was ravenous.
She blinked and opened her eyes wide at the sound of him slicing into the loaf. She pinched herself to stay awake, or maybe she actually wasn’t awake and this was all some bizarre nightmare as she watched him putting a generous slice on a plate and push it towards her. ‘Eat.’
Dry bread was his version of food? It was funny, but her depleted energy levels didn’t even allow for a smile, let alone a mocking laugh. ‘You…?’
‘I have eaten plenty.’
‘Why are you being nice?’ He had glanced at her but was busy dolloping some butter on the bread, along with a generous helping of the paté. ‘You didn’t bring me here to be nice.’
She took a bite, and felt her energy levels surge.
‘So why do you think I brought you here?’ He stepped back and watched her devour the food the way she had once devoured him.
‘To rub my nose in it by showing me the life that could have been mine.’ She wiped the crumbs from around her mouth.
‘A bit obvious, but probably part of it is also about…control? You have it and I don’t.
’ If this was what they called speaking truth to power she couldn’t understand why it wasn’t more popular. It felt great, also scarily addictive.
‘Or maybe you wanted to see me overcome with lust?’ Her eyes dropped, her scornful laugh sounding forced as she added quickly, ‘Anyway, this—’ her over-the-top gesture encompassed their surroundings ‘—is all a bit of an overkill. You didn’t have to bring me here to prove you are some sort of irresistible sex god; you could have done that in London. ’
One corner of his mouth lifted in a wicked smile and he watched the horrified panic spread across her face as she realised what she’d just said.
‘Now she tells me,’ he drawled, enjoying every moment of her discomfiture, not that she was telling him anything he didn’t already know.
Amy might have changed but she still couldn’t hide her physical response to him; he knew for a fact if he laid his hand against her breast he would be able to feel her heart trying to pound its way to freedom.
‘I was just thinking of all those wasted air miles,’ she bluffed. ‘For the record, it doesn’t matter what the location is, nothing is going to happen between us.’
‘Was that declaration for your benefit or mine?’
Her nostrils flared as she glared. ‘Your problem is—’ She stopped the flow of words to give her brain time to catch up with her tongue by the simple expedient of biting down hard.
‘Don’t stop now; this is fascinating.’
A fresh wave of angry colour flooded her face. ‘You know exactly what I meant,’ she countered crossly.
‘I think I do, yes.’
‘Not that,’ she snarled, longing to wipe the self-satisfied smirk off his face.
‘Your problem is you’ve had too many casual hook-ups telling you how perfect you are because they know they’ll never have to look at you with crumbs around your mouth.
’ Even as she spoke, her eyes zeroed in on the perfectly carved outline of his mouth, which was a mistake.
She cleared her throat. ‘Seriously, although I’d love to pander to your ego with some more foot-in-mouth moments, it’s been a long day and I’ve had enough,’ she added, sliding the plate away.
‘You’ve barely eaten anything, except me with your eyes.’
His silky taunt brought home the fact she was still staring at his mouth. ‘Probably why I have indigestion.’
Her spiky riposte drew a laugh from his throat and an appreciative gleam to his eyes.
‘Eat!’ He slid the plate back to her.
‘I’m sure that wasn’t in the contract,’ she grumbled, loading another slice of bread with butter and paté and taking a bite of a tomato before addressing the bread. ‘I can feel my arteries clogging.’
Curious, Leo sampled the paté from a knife, belatedly aware that she was staring at his mouth again.
Amy lowered her eyes, admitting in a grudging mumble, ‘I was hungry. I did need food, but it’s hard when you’re cooking to actually eat properly, especially when you finish late at night.’
He watched her lick some butter off her lips and angled his head, lowering his eyelids to hide the predatory gleam he couldn’t prevent. Then he wondered why he was even bothering to hide anything when there was nothing covert about the electricity in the air or the hunger clawing at his gut.
He laid the knife down. ‘It’s good.’
She tipped her head in acknowledgment of the compliment and looked at him through her lashes. ‘I went a bit heavy on the brandy.’
‘Ever the critic.’
‘I’m not into false modesty.’
‘So you usually fall into bed after service.’ Alone? he wondered, his eyes sliding of their own volition to the third—yes, he had been counting—button that had popped open at the neck of her blouse.
‘That would be nice,’ she admitted, directing her gaze away from the satiny gleam of the dark olive skin of his throat and at the rack of copper pans hanging on the stone wall instead.
‘But it’s hard to switch off after a busy service.
Not that tonight was particularly busy. I’ve never worked in a kitchen so overstaffed before. ’
‘So you like to keep busy?’
His words brought her eyes back to his face and, captured by his ink-black gaze, Amy couldn’t have looked away if her life depended on it.
Why try? asked the unhelpful voice in her head. He is extremely good to look at.
She gave a twisted smile. ‘When I’m not laundering money or entertaining my shady business partners, of course.’
He huffed out an impatient sigh. ‘Don’t be so damned prickly. But now we’re on the subject, you do know that he was using you, that the bastard would have let you take the fall for him.’
Tears stung her eyelids as she nodded.
‘Then why? Why the hell would you let him get away with it? Why let yourself be used that way?’
The muscles of Leo’s face were clenched, pulled taut against his perfect bones. His sensual lips were compressed flat, almost bloodless as his nostrils flared, making her think of a jungle cat about to rip its prey apart.
‘Can’t you see he preys on your weakness?’
‘I’m not weak. Caring about someone isn’t weakness.’ Her empty plate scraped along the gleaming copper surface as she pushed it away before pressing her hands, sweaty palms down, to lever herself off the surface and jump to the floor.