“I did.”
“I mean with your mother,” she clarified.
“I got a more interesting offer.”
“Titan,” she surmised. He nodded. “An offer you couldn’t refuse,” she added.
“An offer I didn’t want to refuse.”
“Are you happy with your decision?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Good. Then that’s all that matters, that you like what you do.” She paused a moment. “I like Andre. I can see how he and my brother are good friends. They have the same temperament.”
“You’d like the rest of my family, too.”
“You think so, huh?”
He came around the counter and approached her. “Mmm-hmm, I do. And you’d like Alaska, as well. It’s wild, untamed and unpredictable, but it’s also quiet, refined and very urbane.”
“Really,” she said, swallowing hard as he stood right in front of her. He leaned down and pressed his lips to her cheek then slowly drifted down to her neck. “Um, what are you doing?” she asked needlessly.
“Kissing you and telling you about Alaska,” he whispered innocently as he started unbuttoning the front of her chef’s jacket.
“The scenery is breathtaking and the open wilderness is stunning. At dawn the early-morning air is sweet and clean…” He reached in and began softly stroking the underside of her breasts as his thumbs tickled her nipples. “And at dusk it’s exactly the same way. And then there are the mountains, the glaciers, the trees, the skies and the oceans, each more spectacular than the next.”
“It sounds amazing.”
“It is. You should come visit me.”
She chuckled softly. “No thanks, I prefer warm weather.”
“It’s warm and it gets hot, too,” he said.
“But I thought Alaska was cold and rainy most of the time.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you warm,” he said, touching his tongue to her earlobe.
“For how long?” she asked on a shudder.
“For as long as you want me.”
“That could be a long time.”
He didn’t respond. He leaned back and smiled. “I’m hungry. I just need one small taste.”
The seductive glint in his eyes told her exactly what he was hungry for—her. He licked his lips and her stomach quivered like Jell-O sitting on a washing machine. Seconds later, he unsnapped her jeans. She closed her eyes, summoned all the inner strength she had and stilled his hands. “Chase, I have to go.”
He stopped. “Are you sure?” he asked. His voice was already husky with desire and need.
“Yes, I need to go,” she said. He nodded, stepped back and leaned against the counter beside her just as his cell phone vibrated on the counter. He saw the caller ID, but didn’t answer. “You probably should get that,” she said. “It might be important.”
“It’s not.”
She moved away and began gathering her things. The last thing she grabbed was her eReader. She immediately thought about what she had been reading, the book on the Buchanans. She looked up at Chase. He was watching her. She smiled then as a deep, intense longing washed over her. Wanting him was too easy. Having him was feeling too right and the possibility of loving him was getting to be too real. “Good night, Chase,” she said softly.
“Good night, Nikita,” he said, then waited until she got close to the mudroom to speak. “You know you were right, this is going to be trouble.”
She paused a moment then smiled and answered over her shoulder. “That’s okay, I’ve never been afraid of a little trouble.”
Chapter 12
The next six days flew by quickly. It was business as usual. Nikita focused on working at the café during the day, and then fulfilling her contract and preparing Chase’s meals in the evening. They were usually something simple since he typically entertained business associates. They ate, she cleaned up, they talked business and she left. Her life was back to normal, but in the back of her mind there was a nagging thought that stayed with her. Chase Buchanan was a temptation she couldn’t afford to satisfy again. One night with him had to be enough.
Nikita slept hard and long. She didn’t have to go to work in the morning, so she didn’t set her alarm and it felt good to just sleep in. She awoke around six-thirty, relaxed and energized. She opened her eyes and looked over at the morning’s bright sunshine beaming through the sheer curtains. She already knew it was going to be a great day. She didn’t have anything in particular planned. She relaxed back and closed her eyes again.
She didn’t remember her dreams as she usually did, but she had a feeling Chase was there. He was always there. She dreamed about him almost nightly. Shaking the stray thoughts away, she got up, showered, dressed and then headed downstairs to her kitchen. As soon as she turned on the lights her passions surged.
She pulled out the recipe she wanted to update and began gathering the ingredients. She mixed her first recipe, put it in the oven, then began fixing something for breakfast. As soon as she placed that in the convection oven the doorbell rang. She walked back through the living room and answered the door. Chase stood in the hallway not smiling. “Good morning,” she said.
“Good morning. Are you okay?” he asked, looking at her face carefully.
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. What are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry for the intrusion. I stopped by the café this morning. They told me you weren’t coming in today. I thought maybe you were sick or something.”
“And I suppose they gave you my Key West home address, too.”
“Actually, no, that information I got from my assistant.”
She half smiled at the lame excuse. “And where did he get it?” she asked, knowing he wouldn’t tell her.
She was right, he just smiled. “I’m fine. Today’s my day off.”
“Are you going to invite me in?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah, sure, come on in,” she said, holding the door open for him. He walked in past her. The spicy-sweet scent of his cologne was heavenly and sent her insides tingling. He paused in the living room, looking around the small space.
“This is nice—small and comfortable. I like it.”
She smiled. “It works for me. It’s all about location, location, location. I spend long hours at the café, so this is my place to crash close by.” She looked around. “It’s perfect,” she said proudly.
He walked over to the large plate-glass window. The top-floor condominium of the six-story building afforded her the perfect view of the quiet street coming to life below. “Wow, you have a great view from here.”
“Yes, it is. I really love it here, but unfortunately I rarely have the opportunity to enjoy it,” she said, walking over to stand beside him.
“May I?” he asked. She nodded. He unlocked the latch, opened the door and then stepped out onto the balcony. She followed. A warm breeze twisted and spun around them. “Yes, I like this a lot.”
“Would you like something to eat or drink? I was just about to…” Just then a timer in the kitchen sounded. “I’ll be right back,” she said, then hurried to the kitchen, grabbed a couple of oven gloves, reached in and pulled her breakfast out of the convection oven. She inhaled the sweet, delicious flavors of the casserole. It was perfectly done.
“So, this is what you do on your day off,” he said, following her into the kitchen and seeing that she had been baking.
“Yep, I cook,” she said matter-of-factly while peeking in and checking what she was baking in the oven.
“That doesn’t sound like a day off to me.”
“I enjoy cooking and creating new recipes.” She poured maple syrup into a glass dish over a double boiler, then added pecans.
Chase leaned down over the baked casserole. “I don’t
know what this is, but it smells like heaven.”
“Trust me, it tastes like heaven, too. It’s a baked French toast casserole. Are you hungry?” she asked.
“I’m starved,” he said, walking over to stand at the counter across from her.
She pulled two plates from the cabinet. She sliced and plated the casserole, adding a sprinkling of powdered sugar and the warm pecan syrup, and then placed them on the counter for breakfast with her unexpected guest.
After finishing his second helping and helping to clean up, Chase sat back down and watched Nikita move around the kitchen in easy elegance. “You’re an incredible woman.”
“Thank you.”
“So, on your day off you cook,” he began. “And that’s it?” he added. She knew he was getting at something.
“I was thinking, since you’re off, perhaps you’d like to join me today.”
“Join you doing what?”
“Seeing the sights,” he said.
“What sights?”
“Key West. Would you like to join me?”
She thought about it a few moments, then smiled and nodded. “Yeah, sure, okay, I’d love to.”
“Great, so where do we start?” he asked.
“How about the Key West Aquarium? I have a friend there.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go.”
She changed clothes, made a phone call and a few minutes later they were out the door headed to her car. In the next six hours they jammed in myriad island activities.
Their first stop was to the waterfront and the Key West Aquarium. They were met by Nikita’s good friend, Leon Everett, the aquarium’s consulting veterinarian. He gave them a private personal tour of the facility including up-close in the touch tank and shark tank. Afterward they took a glass-bottom boat tour along the living sponge and coral gardens. They enjoyed the spectacular underwater sights surrounding Key West in a motorized catamaran.
They took a skipjack around the uninhabited Mangrove Islands witnessing Key West’s unique ecological system. They continued through the backcountry marine sanctuaries.
“This is stunning,” Chase said. “Really, I thought we have incredible sights in Alaska, but these waters are unbelievable. You can see down through to the coral reef. It’s amazing.”
Nikita nodded. “It is. I love coming out here to snorkel and scuba dive.”
“You’re gonna have to show me one day.”
“Yeah, one day,” she said quietly.
Chase must have seen the pensiveness on her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said easily enough.
“You got sad for a moment,” he continued.
“It’s just that I’d hate for all this beauty to disappear.”
“Why would it?”
She looked at him. “When oil companies come into an area, things are bound to change.”
“Oil companies like Titan,” he confirmed. She nodded.
“Nikita, Titan isn’t the enemy here. We’re not going to come here and destroy all this.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Actually, I do.”
She shook her head. “I remembered hearing those exact same words before.”
“From…?” he questioned. She didn’t answer and just looked down into the crystal-clear emerald-and-aqua waters. A school of colorful tropical fish swam through the coral. Chase moved closer to her. “Tell me about him,” he spoke softly.
“Who?” she asked, looking back at him.
“Reed Blackwell.”
Her heart jumped at the mention of his name. She looked away again, wrapping her arms around her body. “What about him?”
“You broke up a few years ago. Do you still—”
“Correction, we didn’t break up. He walked out, left me at the altar and married someone else. There’s a big difference.”
At the sharpness in her voice, Chase gave her an assessing look. “Do you still have feelings for him, love him? Do you want him back?”
“No, no, and hell, no.”
He chuckled. “Good answers.”
Excited chatter continued around them as other passengers on the boat enjoyed the visual spendor of nature’s beauty both below and above the water. Chase and Nikita watched the school of fish dart and dance just beneath the water’s surface.
“So do you have one?” she asked cautiously.
“One what?”
“Relationship disaster. You know, the one who broke your heart or the one who got away. Any regrets?”
“No, I don’t have one, yet.”
She looked at him questioningly. “No? Come on. Everybody has some deep dark secret past hurt.”
“That’s everyone who opens their heart and lets others in. I don’t. I won’t.”
The answer was so definitive that it stopped her a moment. She knew she was steadily falling for him and he just admitted to feeling nothing for her. But this was how she started it. They knew it was just a casual physical thing between them. She was the one who changed the guidelines and started falling in love. “But how can you hope to find love if you don’t open your heart to the possibility?”
“You’re starting to sound like a romantic.”
She laughed. “No, that’s not me. But it doesn’t mean I don’t want others to live happily ever after.”
“What about you living happily ever after?”
“I am happy.”
“You know what I mean—family, children, the white picket fence.”
“I have family—my nephews—and in case you hadn’t noticed, I have a white picket fence at my cottage.”
“What about a man in your life, someone who will love and cherish you, someone to come home to on long cold nights, someone to rub your back, touch and taste you in the middle of the night?” he whispered for her ears only.
She could hear the soft need in his voice. Her heart raced and her insides quivered, meeting his need exactly. He was right, she did want all of that and more. The problem was she wanted all of that with him. She turned to him and smiled. “Chase Buchanan, are you offering yourself to me?” she asked.
“Let’s see how the rest of the evening goes.”
“Sounds good,” she said, smiling through her feelings. It was the perfect noncommittal answer.
Chase hugged her close then, and the rest of their conversation was mostly about the islands and the wildlife. When the boat docked, they walked along the beachfront and up along the boardwalk. As usual there were thousands of tourists mingling around the stores and oceanfront.
“There are so many people here,” Chase remarked.
“Actually, this is a pretty tame group. There’s probably only one small cruise ship here right now. Sometimes there are two big ones at port. Then it’s really crowded.”
“Wouldn’t it be great to go to an island where there’s no one around—completely deserted, total seclusion?”
She smiled. “I know just the place. Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“To a place with nobody around,” she said.
“Where’s that, the cottage?”
“Nope, we’re going to Cutter Island. My parents are away so I know there’s no one there right now.”
They headed to Mikhail’s private dock. Nikita climbed aboard a small motorboat and started it up. She navigated the narrow waters until they came to the Atlantic Ocean. She drove along the coast then headed out to sea. Twenty minutes later they came to a small island. She maneuvered through an interior basin then moored the boat as Chase jumped down onto the small dock and secured it. After tying the ropes off Nikita joined him on the dock.
Chapter 13
“Welcome to Cutter Island,” Nikita said. “It�
�s what you asked for—six and a half miles of total seclusion. There’s not another soul around.”
Chase looked around. The scenery was visually stunning. “It’s like paradise,” he said softly. “How far are we from Key West?” he asked, turning to the east and seeing no land mass on the horizon.
“You can’t see it from here. You can’t see any land mass from here. We’re closer to the Marquesas Keys. That’s a small circular chain of islands with a central lagoon. It’s also called Mooney Harbor. And we’re still about forty-five miles east of Fort Jefferson and Dry Tortugas National Park. Cutter is so small it doesn’t show up on a lot of maps, but you’ll see it on maritime GPS locators. That’s the only way I know to get here. Surprisingly, there are quite a few dots of land around here. Most are reserved and protected national parks, but some are privately owned like Cutter.”
She smiled. “Come on let’s go up to the house. I’ll show you around.” She started down the dock toward the narrow pathway up ahead.
Chase lagged behind, distracted by the sheer beauty of the lush tropical landscape around him. But by the time he got to the stone pathway he noticed she had taken her top off and he caught up quickly. Her skimpy halter bikini top drew his immediate attention. It was held in precarious place solely by a thin tie at the nape of her neck that could be very easily released.
“It’s kinda nice not having anyone around,” she said.
“Oh, I most definitely agree,” he said, licking his lips.
She smiled and bit her lower lip playfully, then turned to him. She began walking backward as she pulled his top from his shorts. Then she unsnapped and unzipped her shorts and let them drop. His breath halted instantly. She was wearing thonglike bikini bottoms secured by the same thin ties on either side of her hips.
“Cutter is remote but it’s still totally self-sufficient,” she began explaining, as if she weren’t standing there nearly naked and making him pant. “There’s a rainwater storage system that produces over a thousand gallons of water daily and it has two twenty-four-volt hydrogen battery strings charging photovoltaic solar panels with backup generators for continuous power.”
Just One Taste (Kimani Romance) Page 11