Laughing, Cedric shook his head. “When I’m done, you’re going to want me to cook for you forever.” He went still, as if realizing what he’d said. Their gazes held for a long moment. “I’ll call you when dinner’s ready,” he said softly. Before leaving, he turned on some music. “Is this okay?”
The smooth R&B sounds flowed through hidden speakers. “Perfect.” Randi waited for him to disappear into the kitchen before collapsing in one of the loungers. She blew out a long breath. She could feel her emotions creeping into the mix and she had to find a way to keep them out. Her heart and her sanity depended on it.
* * *
Cedric braced his hands on the counter and muttered a curse. What am I doing talking about forever? That word had never been part of his vocabulary when it came to relationships. Hell, he didn’t even do long-term commitments. His liaisons never went beyond two or three months. After that, women began to think he wanted something more than what he was offering—mutually satisfying physical pleasure. The end. As it stood, he had already broken his rule about bringing a woman to his home. He’d done it only once, not long after he moved in. Halfway through the evening, the woman had started making insinuations about the relationship, and he clearly stated they were not up for discussion. After that, the only women who’d visited were family. As for preparing a meal, he’d never done more than throwing a steak on the grill or picking up takeout when it came to cooking for a woman. He didn’t need to be sending out any other crazy signals that might be interpreted as permanency.
He checked the bread in the top oven and the shrimp in the bottom. They would be done in another five minutes, so he started on the basil cream sauce. He’d done some prepping earlier and had chopped the onion and garlic and made the pesto and roux. While the sauce reduced, he sautéed the asparagus. A minute later, he removed the bread and shrimp from the oven and placed them on the stove. Once everything finished cooking, Cedric fixed their plates. Instead of just dumping the rice on the plate, he used a small bowl to mold it, arranged the shrimp around the mound and drizzled the sauce on top. He added the asparagus and surveyed his work, satisfied that the presentation looked good.
Cedric didn’t know why he was going through all this trouble for a dinner. As he carried their plates out to the sunroom, he began to think he should finish the meal and skip dessert. He was getting in too deep. “Dinner’s ready.” He placed their filled plates on the table.
Randi came over. “Oh, my goodness. Look at you with all this nice presentation. I feel bad now that all I served you was a salad. Next time, I’ll have to go all out.”
He smiled. “I hope it tastes as good as it looks.” He didn’t stop to analyze why her praise made a funny feeling swirl in his chest. “I’ll be back with utensils, bread and butter, and the wine.”
“I’ll help you so you don’t have to make two trips.” She followed him inside.
They gathered everything and went back out. He waited for her to take the first taste of the shrimp with the rice and sauce. She moaned and the sound sent a jolt of desire straight to his groin. Cedric took a huge gulp of his wine.
“This is really, really good, Cedric. This sauce is to die for.” She moaned again.
“If you want to finish your dinner, I’m going to need you to keep the vocal responses to a minimum. Keep it up and I’ll be the only one eating tonight.” Her stunned expression made him smile.
“Well, since you went to all this trouble and I don’t want all your hard work to go to waste, I’ll just—” Randi mimicked zipping her lips and smiled. She took another bite, leaned back in the chair and pretended to swoon.
He was enjoying her playful nature and it drew him even more. He picked up his fork and dug in. Halfway through the meal, Randi’s phone buzzed.
Randi went over to the small table to retrieve it. “Sorry.” She answered and listened for a minute or so. “Thanks for letting me know. I was hoping to find something more.”
Cedric tried not to eavesdrop, but it proved to be impossible with her standing only a couple of feet away. When she ended the call, he wanted to ask her whether it had to do with the fire at his site, but held back.
She reclaimed her chair and continued to eat. “Is there any more of the sauce?”
He sensed some tension rising. “Yeah. I’ll get it.” He pushed away from the table and went inside. He filled a small bowl, brought it back and handed it to her.
“Thanks.” She added more to her food and set the bowl on the table. “I know you’re wondering about the call. I wish we had a solid lead, but we don’t.”
He studied her. He could see she was conflicted about saying anything. Technically, she hadn’t, and he didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on her. He grasped her hand. “I appreciate you telling me. Yes, I was curious, and I won’t lie, there are times I want to ask a million questions. Like I told you before, I respect you and your job and I’d never do anything to jeopardize it.” He didn’t want their evening to be ruined.
Relief flooded her face. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Now, as you mentioned earlier, I did go through a lot of trouble to prepare this meal, so no messing it up with this conversation. We need to go back to before the call.”
A smile blossomed on her face. “Deal.” Randi slid her finger through the sauce, sucked it off and moaned. She tossed him a bold wink. “You said to go back to how it was before the call.”
Cedric couldn’t stop the laughter that burst out of him. “You’re a lot less serious than you seem on the job. Are you always like this?”
“Not always.”
“What’s different?”
“Must be the company I’m keeping.” She shrugged. “You’re fun to be with.”
“I enjoy being with you, too.” Neither looked away and the temperature rose between them. So much for skipping dessert. They finished the rest of the meal in companionable silence while the music played in the background. He clasped his hands together on the table. “Can I get you anything else?”
“Not right now. I’m stuffed. What’s for dessert?”
“Make-your-own sundae.”
“Ooh, that sounds good. Give me about twenty minutes to digest this food and I’ll be ready.”
He stood and extended his hand. “We can relax out here, unless you want to go inside and watch TV or something.” He helped her up.
“No. Out here is good.”
He sat in one of the loungers and pulled her down onto his lap. As she made herself comfortable, her bottom moved suggestively over his groin. Cedric’s body reacted with lightning speed and he sucked in a sharp breath. His plan had been to just hold her, but before he could stop himself, his hands began a sensual tour over her curves as he rained kisses across her jaw and the exposed column of her neck.
Randi moaned softly. “I thought we were going to have dessert.”
“Later,” he murmured. “Right now there’s something else I’d like to have.” He stood with her in his arms, then carried her upstairs to his bedroom and placed her on his bed. He slowly, erotically removed her clothes and whispered all the ways he planned to make love to her.
“Cedric,” she called on a strangled moan.
“What, baby? Don’t you remember our phone call?” He slid down her body. “I told you I would start at your ankles.” He placed a lingering kiss on each one, then alternately kissed and licked his way up one leg, then the other to her knees. “I’m beginning to think this is a far better dessert, sweetheart.” He continued his quest upward and nudged her thighs farther apart. She was already wet and his desire climbed higher. Cedric slid two fingers inside her and she cried out, arching her body to his touch. She writhed beneath him, her gasps filling the room. His kisses found their way to her belly and farther to her breasts. He kept up the twin assaults until she came with a loud cry. He stood, removed his clothes and donned a condom. “R
eady for more?”
“Oh, yeah.” She sat up as he joined her on the bed. “As I recall, there were a few things I promised to do to you, too.” She kissed him until he lay flat on his back and proceeded to kiss and lick her way down his body.
The feeling of her hot tongue making its way over his belly had him harder than he could ever remember being. By the time she got to his thighs, he couldn’t take it anymore. He flipped her on her back and drove into her with one hard thrust. Her inner muscles clamped down on him. She was so tight, so wet. His eyes slid closed and his body trembled. Cedric gripped her hips and set a hard, pounding rhythm that shook the bed. Randi wrapped her legs around his waist and met his every stroke. Her nails dug into his back and her thighs gripped him tighter. He lifted her legs higher and plunged deeper and deeper, bringing her to a hard, shuddering climax that made her scream his name. She was still catching her breath when he shifted positions, turned her over and entered her from behind. He held her closer and thrust deeply. Groaning with pleasure, he moved faster and faster until his orgasm roared through him with such force, it shook his entire body and tore a hoarse shout from his throat. Before he could recover, he came again in a rush of pleasure that made bright lights flash behind his eyes. His head hung limply and his breaths came in short gasps.
As their trembling tapered off, Cedric withdrew, rolled to his back and gathered her in his arms. She gazed up at him with a smile, and emotions unlike anything he’d ever felt surged through him. What in the entire hell...? He tried to dismiss the feeling but it wouldn’t go away. His heart started pounding in fear. Now what was he going to do?
Chapter 9
Randi spent the first part of the week with Detective Warner, re-interviewing some of the witnesses from the last two fires in hopes that one or more of them had remembered something. However, they came up empty. Now, on Thursday morning, the two of them hit the road again, this time to track down information on the paint used at Cedric’s site. “How is it that not one person saw anything, especially at Hunter Construction? That fire was set in broad daylight,” Randi said.
“I wonder. It’s getting harder and harder to conduct investigations these days with no one wanting to get involved unless there’s reward money dangling in front of them. Whatever happened to doing the right thing?” Brian asked. “Where’s the first paint store located?”
She glanced down at the printout and recited the address. The lab had narrowed down the paint ingredients to two companies in the area. Randi had thought they’d caught a break when fingerprints at the latest site came back as belonging to someone who had been fired three weeks ago. But the man had no connection to the other construction companies. He had also relocated out of state and had an airtight alibi. That had been the phone call she’d gotten at Cedric’s house on Saturday night.
A soft pulsing between her thighs began as the memories rushed through her mind. After making love that first time, they’d gone into his bathroom to shower. She had teasingly told him the stall looked big enough for a party. She would never forget Cedric’s response: I’ve never had a party in my shower before, but there’s no time like the present. They used every inch of the enclosure—the walls, the bench, the floor—and found that yes, it was absolutely big enough. After a short nap, he took her on another sensual ride before they fell asleep in each other’s arms. They never did get dessert, but as he had pointed out, they’d shared a much better sweet treat. By the time it had ended, she knew she was falling for him. Randi didn’t know what to do with the feelings because she was certain he didn’t feel the same. He’d made the rules clear and she had agreed. This is exactly why I should’ve walked away after the first night. She was so deep in thought she didn’t realize they had made it to the store until the car stopped.
Brian parked in front of the small paint store located in West Sacramento and they went inside. He introduced himself and Randi to the young woman behind the register. “Is the owner available?”
“Um, sure. Wait right here and I’ll get him.”
A moment later, she returned with a middle-aged man of average height with sparse blond hair and a belly that looked to have seen one too many beers.
“I’m John Atwell. How can I help you folks?”
“Paint that may have come from your store was found at a fire scene a couple of weeks ago,” Brian said. “We’d like to know if you have any recent purchases on file.” He provided the color and dates.
“Let me check.” The store owner went to a computer and searched the records. “Sorry, but I haven’t sold that particular shade of gray in over three months.”
“Can you give us the name anyway?” Randi asked. The person could have purchased the paint earlier and not used it until the night of the fire.
The man wrote down the name and address on a piece of paper and handed it to the detective.
“Thanks for your time.”
“You’re welcome.”
Randi and Brian exited and drove twenty miles in the opposite direction to the second store. The paint color hadn’t been sold in two years, so they thanked the owner and left.
In the car, Brian asked, “Do you have to rush back to the office? I want to check out Mr.—” He glanced down at the paper. “Mr. Upshaw.”
“No.”
“Good. Then we can grab some lunch before heading back.”
With any luck, Mr. Upshaw would turn out to be their arsonist. But her hopes were dashed the moment the man opened his door. With his walker and portable oxygen tank, he couldn’t make it twenty feet, let alone set a fire and get away quickly. He told them he had purchased the paint for his granddaughter’s high school space project. Randi and Brian thanked him for his time and got back on the road.
They ended up at Chevys Fresh Mex out on Garden Highway, which didn’t hurt Randi’s feelings at all. Of course, the food couldn’t hold a candle to Iyana’s, but it would do in a pinch. Because it was almost two, the lunch crowd had come and gone and they didn’t have to wait for a table. She chose the lunch mix with tortilla soup and a chicken quesadilla, and Brian opted for steak fajitas.
Over the meal, she and Brian discussed their next steps. “I was really hoping this lead would pan out,” he said. “The mayor is all over the chief, and the chief is breathing down my neck for some information to give him.”
“I understand their frustration, because I feel the same. But we can’t just wave a magic wand and make a suspect appear.” Randi dipped a chip into the salsa and popped it into her mouth.
He chuckled. “That would be nice. Maybe I can borrow my daughter’s Harry Potter wand that we bought when we took our vacation to Universal Studios. She swears the thing is real.”
Randi shrugged. “Hey, I’m for anything that’ll help.” They shared a smile. “Anything else come back on the fingerprints?”
“Nothing from Hunter Construction. I’m still waiting on a couple more from the Premium Dynamics fire.” Silence rose between them for a few minutes. “I saw you talking with Special Agent Marks a couple of weeks ago after the meeting. Does he have any leads?”
“No. He said he’s taking a backseat, unless we need him. Why?”
Brian focused his gaze on her. “Just wondering. You know as well as I do that sometimes the Feds tend to take over, whether it’s justified or not. And with the mayor being involved, I wanted to be sure the rest of us aren’t being left out of the loop.”
Randi didn’t know whether to laugh or be angry. She’d worked with Brian several times and this was the first time she could remember him questioning her loyalty. “I’m trying to decide if I’m offended or not.”
“Sorry, Randi. I don’t mean to offend you. You’re one of the few people I trust. It’s just that I noticed the way he hustled you out of the building and into the parking lot to talk, and I guess I jumped to conclusions. I’m trying to put the pieces together and I feel like I’m missing so
mething. I apologize.”
“Apology accepted.” She debated telling him the real reason she and Jason had been talking, and decided to keep it to herself for now. She didn’t want anyone to get wind of her seeking employment with the ATF. She finished her food and wiped her hands. “I need to get back to the office. There are a few more lab reports to review so I can get the fire report out on Premium Dynamics. The insurance company isn’t very patient.”
“Yeah, I know. Same with the police report.” When Randi made a move to pay, Brian said, “I got it.”
He made the drive back to her downtown office in ten minutes. She got out and told him, “I’ll let you know if anything turns up.”
“Thanks. And Randi?”
“Yes.”
“I’m really sorry. I like working with you and I don’t want it to be uncomfortable.”
She smiled. “We’re good, Brian.”
He nodded. “See you later.”
Randi couldn’t be mad at him. He was one of the good guys and had always treated her with respect. She’d give him a pass this time. Inside, she went over the lab results on some of the samples and didn’t see anything that would put them anywhere closer to finding the arsonist. She tapped her finger on the desk. “There has to be something,” she mumbled. This guy couldn’t be that good, or were they looking at a professional, someone possibly hired to carry out the job? Somehow, she didn’t see that. Everything in her felt it was personal. But why? Automatically, her thoughts shifted to Cedric. She had forgotten to text him about dinner. She picked up her cell and called him. “Hey, Cedric,” she said when he picked up.
“Hey.”
“Just checking to see if we’re still on for tonight.”
There was a pause on the line. “Actually, I’m going to have to cancel. We’re pretty behind at the site and I’ll be working overtime for a while to get back on track.”
Spark of Desire ; All for You Page 10