“A private cooking class with me at a local winery owned by a buddy.”
Jasmine raised a brow. “I never saw that on the original entry form.”
“Nor did you see my name as a judge.”
She gave him a little smile. “How did you happen to be there?”
“My brother called in another favor. I guess he’s paying me back for stealing all his favorite toys when we were kids. At first, I was pissed at him for getting me into it, until you walked up on stage.”
She hitched in a breath as he pulled her closer to him and she felt her nipples tighten against the bodice of her dress.
“It’s a good thing I didn’t know you were a judge. I never would have entered.”
“Why not? You deserved that award.”
“Because of who you are. I would have been very intimidated had I known.”
“The better for both of us that you didn’t then.”
Caw-caw! Caw-caw!
They both looked up at the same time as a seagull swooped down a little too close to their heads. She gasped and Micah clutched her body to his. He waved one hand in the air to frighten the bird away.
When it was gone, he didn’t let go, and she didn’t want him to. She was finally where she wanted to be, ever since he’d set foot in her grandmother’s restaurant.
She laid her cheek on his chest and inhaled. If he wore cologne, it was very lightly applied, which was fine with her. She preferred the scent of clean skin, as opposed to scents splashed from a bottle.
“That was scary,” she whispered, looping her arms around his waist. “But this feels nice.”
Enclosed between his strong arms and with her head nestled against his muscular chest, she did not feel confined. She felt empowered, free to say what she felt in her heart.
Micah placed his palms on her cheeks and stared into her eyes. He closed his eyes and brought his lips to hers.
“I’ll bet this will feel even better.”
His kiss was sweet and tender, and she felt her body melt against his.
He lifted his mouth briefly and sighed, his breath warm against her lips. She held back a gasp at how deliciously hard he felt against her belly. She pressed closer as his fingers caressed her cheeks.
“Hmm...that was a good start,” she murmured.
He leaned against the railing. “I take it you want some more, Miss Kennedy?”
She gazed up at him, with half-lidded eyes and a seductive smile. “What do you think?”
He tightened his grip on her waist, and turned her around, so his back was to the other people on the pier.
“Just a little?”
His voice was low and thick, and sent a tingle down her spine.
“Maybe a lot,” she admitted. A pang of desire hit her so strongly that it nearly took her breath away.
“Happy to oblige.”
He caught her lips quickly in his, as if he didn’t want to take the chance of refusal. The soft, roaming pressure of his mouth on hers had a kind of urgency that could overtake her senses, if she let it.
And she did. Gladly welcoming his lips, tasting his tongue with hers as their kisses widened and morphed, consuming them both.
Micah broke the kiss suddenly and looked back over his shoulder quickly. It occurred to her that he was double-checking that no one was around them. Though he wanted her, and she wanted him, she appreciated his concern for their privacy.
Then his lips took hers again, as if he’d never paused, creating a heat uniquely their own. As his kiss deepened, he brought his hand slowly down her bodice and cupped her right breast. Her own kisses became insistent, driven by his fingers, roaming and gently kneading her imprisoned flesh.
Micah grunted low and rested his elbow on the wooden railing, angling her slightly, allowing his fingers to explore in a more comfortable position. She sucked on his bottom lip and moaned softly while he massaged and tweaked her nipple with his thumb until it was painfully stiff under her clothes.
She broke away, panting as the pressure of his maleness, hidden and hard against her dress, made her want to hitch up her dress and mount him right there. It took all of her will not to rub her abdomen against his penis, as her hands clutched at the nape of his neck, as his tongue licked at her earlobe.
It was sweet and sexy, a little bit naughty, kissing a man she barely knew, but one that she wanted so badly. His hips began to move, every so slowly against her, fluid and sensual, so that only she could detect it. The lust he was feeling at the moment, he was feeling only for her.
And at that moment, she didn’t care if she ever got his heart, all she wanted was him.
He caught her lips back in his and the wind stole her moan and whipped through her legs. Her skirt billowed out and she wished he would duck his head underneath, and put his mouth and fingers on her sex.
Then his kisses became lighter, though he was breathing hard. She threw her hands around his neck and drew him closer, not wanting to take a chance that he’d leave her again. She wasn’t done with him yet. She wanted more.
To her surprise, he suddenly pulled away, leaving her loins pulsing painfully with disappointment. She glanced over at the waves crashing on the sand and bit her lower lip to stem the dizziness in her head and to remember how he tasted, before that, too, disappeared.
“You call that a little?” she challenged.
Micah tipped her chin up, and gave her a peck on the nose. “No. I call that just an appetizer.”
Jasmine pulled away, still aroused and ran her hands down her bodice, smoothing it over her taut nipples.
She wanted him, not his teasing. Couldn’t he see that?
His eyes roamed over her body, watching her. With a smile on his lips, he made some adjustments of his own, and her eyes dropped to his waist. The bulge she saw in his pants was going to keep her up at night.
He leaned his elbows back on the railing, his stance casual, as if what had just happened between them hadn’t occurred at all.
“So...how about it? Think you’re ready for a private lesson with me?”
Jasmine stared at him, ignoring the thrill that the sound of his voice gave her, and folded her arms at her chest.
“Can you promise me we’ll only be cooking?”
He folded his arms and gave her a wicked grin. “Can you promise me we won’t?”
Micah Langston had teased her to distraction for the very last time. She huffed out a deep breath, took a step towards him and slipped out of her flip-flops. She stuck one under her arm and threw the other one at him, and then calmly walked down the pier and onto the beach.
Chapter 4
Micah propped his feet up on the iron railing outside his room and stared into the distance. Early morning clouds stretched like white rubber bands across the sky, blocking the sun. The waves beckoned him to come down to the beach and play, but he had work to do, and decisions to make.
He picked up the silver flip-flop that Jasmine had thrown at him and laid it across his knee. He traced the crystal bling on top with his fingers, and his movements reminded him of touching her curvy, shapely body. He started to get hard and stopped, slapping the shoe against the side of his leg to distract himself.
She was a barefooted princess, and he was a flatfooted prince. The passion behind her kisses had surprised him, and he wanted more of them. He didn’t know what to say or do next. It had been over a week since they’d met at the pier, and he hadn’t called her or visited.
Back to business. That was always his excuse when he started to care about a woman. Working hard was easier than working on a relationship. The problem was, since he met Jasmine, he knew his priorities were all wrong, but he wasn’t willing to change. No matter how sexy she was or how much he wanted her. He didn’t even know where to start, so why start at all?
“I’m still weighing all my op
tions,” he told his business partners, Gary and Todd, who were based in New York. “If you push me for an answer now, it won’t be the one that you want.”
Including not opening a restaurant at all.
Micah heard Gary sigh loud and clear through the speakerphone.
“We’re running out of time, Micah.”
“We’ve got to start the design phase soon,” Todd exclaimed. “Or else we won’t stay on track.”
“We’re all doing well financially,” Gary said. “But you’re the one on television, not us.”
Todd added, “Opening up your restaurant in your hometown, a little-known celebrity haven that is back on the upswing. It’s a slam dunk!”
“I know guys, but there’s still some things I need to work out,” Micah said. “There’s an architect in town I’d like us to meet who comes highly recommended. It’s really important to my brother that we hire locally as much as possible. We can add her pitch to the others who’ve already submitted, and then review all of them together before coming to a final decision.”
After a few more minutes of haggling, Micah told his partners that he’d contact them in a couple of days.
He ended the call, let out a deep breath and slung his arms behind his head. Sometimes he got tired of being asked his opinion. He just wanted everything good to happen with his business, as if by magic, rather than consensus. But everything hinged on his ability to move quickly and decisively. With his business and his love life.
He wanted to take his time with Jasmine, get to know her, uncover little things about her personality that maybe she wasn’t even aware of, then make love to her nice and slow.
But he wasn’t sure if he should take the risk. If she found out he was building a restaurant that could have a negative impact on Lucy’s business, she would hate him. Lucy would hate him. The entire population of Bay Point might hate him.
His survival of the fittest mentality had always cast aside the future survival of a relationship with any women. He had to take the same attitude with Jasmine. He was in Bay Point to make money. End of story.
But that red dress! He groaned and threw his head back against his lounge chair, remembering how Jasmine looked in it, how she felt in it and how much he wanted to tear it off her. He saw her beautiful face, imagined the soft curves of her cheeks. Ever since that day, his body felt agitated and jumpy with unfulfilled desire.
He wasn’t used to his advances being rejected, and there was no way he was going to stand for it, especially when it was clear that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
“Trouble in paradise?”
“I think he’s asleep.”
Micah sat up with a growl and brushed the ice cubes off his bare chest, as his feet thudded on the concrete.
He glared at his two brothers, both smiling like Christmas elves. “What is this? An ambush?”
“It’s certainly not an intervention,” Gregory said, toeing the ice cubes under the railing and off the second floor porch.
“At least, not yet,” Marlon grinned, handing him a dark pink drink in a champagne flute. “Try it. It’s my version of a pomegranate mimosa.”
Micah took a sip and gagged. “What’s in this? Cough syrup?”
“Just a little brandy, infused with chili peppers. The first sip will give you a kick, but the next one will send you flying.”
Micah made a face, and handed it back to him. “I love you bro, but no.”
Marlon shrugged. “Back to the drawing board. I’ll see you guys for breakfast.”
“You sly fox!” Gregory picked up the flip-flop, and bounced it in his hands. “How did you get a lady friend past Mom?”
“I didn’t,” he said, snatching it back. “And she’s not a friend. Yet.”
“Whatever, or whoever, she is, don’t let her distract you from your main reason for being in town.”
Good thing his brother didn’t know that Jasmine already had, Micah thought.
“I’ll tell you what I just told my partners. I haven’t made a final decision yet.”
Gregory rubbed his hands together. “Good, that still gives me plenty of time to try and convince you.”
Micah reached over and clapped his brother on his shoulder. “You do that, but no more food contests, okay? I’m a chef, not a pig, and those baked goods almost killed me!”
“Yeah, you said I owed you, what about it?” Gregory laughed.
“Forget it. Somebody else took care of your marker.”
Jasmine had him under her spell, and didn’t even know it. And now, Micah was the one who owed her.
He had to see her again, had to convince her to let him take her to his friend’s winery. Then he could decide what to do about her, could test his ability to resist her innate seductiveness. And when he succeeded he could breathe easy again, without fearing that he might not be able to live without her.
* * *
Jasmine shoved her phone in the back pocket of her jeans. She was furious with herself for checking to see if Micah had called. She guessed he didn’t like being rejected once, let alone twice.
Lucy joined her behind the bar. “I’m so glad Donnie removed that section of the counter. It’s so nice not having to lift it up and down again every time we come back here.”
Jasmine didn’t reply and slapped a dry dishtowel over her shoulder so hard a couple of the patrons at the bar looked up. Well, she didn’t take kindly to men who kissed her senseless and disappeared like the air in a worn out tire.
“He was the one who stopped kissing me first,” she muttered under her breath, as she poured a beer. After Jasmine gave the drink to a customer, she stuffed his two-dollar tip in the jar.
“What did you say, honey?” Lucy asked, handing her some sliced limes and lemons. “Nothing, Lucy. I’m just wondering when I’m going to stop being a fool for men.”
Her grandmother, who never married, laughed. “Women have been asking themselves that same question for years, probably beginning with Eve.”
“And nobody has an answer yet?” Jasmine asked, shaking her head.
“Not for lack of trying,” Lucy said, patting her on the shoulder.
“Tell me about it,” she replied, rolling her eyes.
She handed a tray of dirty glasses to Donnie, and then began adding clean ones to another tray underneath the bar.
“I just can’t figure out why a man shows interest in a woman one minute and dashes away the next.”
“Who is the man who has you so rankled this morning?”
Jasmine bit her lip, wondering if she should tell her, and then decided that it couldn’t hurt. She trusted her grandmother implicitly, and it would feel good to get some of her frustrations out.
She bent close to Lucy’s ear, not wanting to take the chance that someone might hear.
“Micah Langston, and by the way, you were completely right about him.”
Jasmine had decided that he was a bona fide flirt, and it was too bad she would never find out if he could be anything more to her. She didn’t even know if he was still in town, but he was stuck in her fantasies, and she was stuck right along with him.
Lucy raised a brow and laughed. “Ah! The Langston men strike again. Micah, our hometown celebrity chef, is cooking up some trouble for you, eh?”
Jasmine frowned. “No, he isn’t. That’s the problem.”
“Give him time, honey, and he’ll come around.”
“He doesn’t even live here, Lucy,” Jasmine urged with a low voice. “He was only visiting.”
“And so he’ll be back. This is the town in which he was born. No one who truly loves Bay Point can ever leave for good. This place can get stuck in your heart, like sand in your shoes, if you let it.”
Jasmine scrunched up her nose. She hated getting sand anywhere, but especially in her shoes, which is why she wore flip-
flops. One of which was now in Micah’s possession, and it looked like she wasn’t ever going to get it back. She didn’t want it, but she did still want him.
Her heart clenched in her chest, and she couldn’t deny she was hurt. All the more reason why she should concentrate on the one person she loved most in the world.
She wrapped her arms around her grandmother and gave her a big hug. “Thank you for listening, Lucy. I’m sorry if I seemed down for the past few days.”
Lucy kissed her on the cheek. “I’m always here for you.”
They parted and Jasmine glanced about the room, nearly empty of lunchtime customers. The day after she’d won the bake-off, they’d had a huge crowd. Everyone asked for her award-winning Triple Berry Crumb Crust pie, having gotten the impression that it was currently available at the restaurant. They were very disappointed to learn that it was not, and some had not come back.
Lucy was open to adding it to the menu, but Jasmine wasn’t so sure. Deep down, she feared her win at the bake-off was merely a fluke, or a stroke of good luck. She wanted to have at least one more dessert, in case that one flopped.
Jasmine took care of the final customer and handed her a copy of the receipt. When she was gone, she locked the door and hopped on a barstool.
“Another lunchtime rush is over. It’s time for me to listen to you, Gram. You’ve wanted to discuss something ever since I won the bake-off, but every time I try to find out what it is, you won’t tell me. I’m not prepping for dinner until you do.”
“You drive a hard bargain.” Lucy smiled, poured two glasses of sweet tea and handed her one. “How do you like living in Bay Point?”
She took a sip, and closed her eyes briefly, enjoying the drink’s refreshing taste. “I’m getting used to it. The pace is different, but I really like being with you, and learning about everything you do.”
“Running a restaurant isn’t at all like those glossy brochures and fancy videos you worked on in New Orleans, is it?”
“Not at all, it’s better.” Jasmine couldn’t believe she was saying that, but it was true. “I love the fact that we help people connect with each other, and with the community.
Winning Her Heart Page 6