“Coffee, please.”
He released his hold, and I caught my breath, feeling the immediate loss of warmth. Baffled, I arched a brow then walked away followed by his low chuckle. I could feel his gaze on me, scorching with their intensity. Somewhat intimidated, I snagged Leah’s attention as I entered the kitchen. “Tess, table twenty needs a coffee and a slice of pie, please.”
She wiggled her brow, her smile mischievous having seen who sat there. “Too hot to handle?”
“More like too cocky.”
“That guy?” She hung out her tongue, mimicking a panting dog. “OMG, Rika, his voice alone would give a woman an orgasm.”
She wasn’t wrong on that account, but I wasn’t about to place myself into a situation I knew I’d struggle to get out of. The girls were constantly trying to involve me in the lurid details of their latest sexual conquests. “Whatever tickles your fancy, Tess.” I grinned. “He’s all yours,” I called over my shoulder as I entered the walk-in refrigerator to start dinner prep, hoping the cold would chill my flustered emotions.
Yet one thing was undeniable—whatever the man’s interest in me was, my body melted with just his stare alone, not to mention his touch. I felt him in my gut, on the little hairs standing at the back of my neck, on my sweat-slickened skin, and deep between my thighs. Shaking my head, I reached for a packet of peas and held it to my brow.
“Who the hell are you?” I asked the empty room. Either my non-existent sex life was seriously begging me for attention, or that man wrote the book on how to seduce a woman without touching.
I was so not ready for this.
So, not ready for a man like him.
As I began picking items off the shelves, my little inner voice warned me I’d never be.
Trent
AMUSED, I WATCHED RIKAwalk away. The stiff set of her shoulders told me I’d annoyed or unsettled her, either way, she’d failed to convince me I did not affect her. Under her plain black and white uniform that did little to hide her sensuality, her incredibly sexy body had yelled for me to kiss her or perhaps more. She’d displayed all the signs—flushed cheeks, evasive eye contact, frequent lip biting, a nervous shift from one foot to the other, her tight grip on the pen and notepad, and not forgetting the fidgeting with her necklace. Those actions conveyed a direct contrast to the feisty responses spilling from her lips—nowhere near to the woman I knew, but I was drawn to it and I wanted more. It had taken extreme effort to not pull her down and latch onto her perfectly plump lips.
Fuck.I shifted in my seat to avoid adjusting my crotch. Since discovering the woman I’d loved more than life itself might be alive, my dick had taken over my thought processes, leading me on a fucking unlikely pussy chase I hadn’t planned on. Then again plans tended to go astray when the heart was involved.
Despite not getting anywhere, I’d persisted and with each visit, I got to see more of Rika. Although she kept her distance, just watching her tempered the erratic beat of my heart. And as if my luck had turned, I was surprised when she approached to take my order. While I couldn’t get a smile out of her, I found her smirk—just a small pouting of pink lips, a narrowing of silver eyes, and a slight tilt of the head—so subtle yet sexy as fucking hell. If that wasn’t enough to bolster my curiosity, the sight of her pendant left me momentarily dumbfounded, confirming I was on the right track. Krisha’s parents had gifted her the pendant on her nineteenth birthday. Spurred by the coincidence, my plan to hire Rika took a back seat as my focus shifted to how my dead wife had returned from the grave without me knowing.
“Back again, Mr. Ballsy?”
I looked up to find Tia at my side, her brow raised above a no-nonsense grimace. “Hi.” I laughed at her choice of name since I hadn’t offered one. “The name’s Trent.”
“I like Mr. Ballsy,” she retorted. I grinned. Her gaze on me, she scraped back a chair and sat. “So. Are you going to tell me the real reason you’ve returned every day? I know the food is good but I doubt anyone would want to eat all three meals here every day for almost two weeks.”
Grinning, I sat back and stared at the pretty woman across the table. Something told me that her rash mouth more than made up for her petite frame. “I happened to be in the neighborhood.”
