“Mr. Morgan didn’t say for sure, but he left with racquetball equipment.” Mrs. King dried a mug and smiled kindly at Yvette.
“Oh, I see.” She hid her disappointment behind another sip of her tea and rested her elbows on the bar. “It’s just as well. I should probably think about catching up on work myself. It’ll be nice to have some peace and quiet.” Work had been low on her list of priorities in light of everything else happening in her life lately, and Saturday or not, catching up might not be the worst idea. “Thank you for the tea.”
She slid off the barstool and made her way back to the empty bedroom and into the en suite bathroom. She turned on the shower, and as the water warmed up, she brushed her teeth and considered herself in the ornate pewter-framed mirror. Her long dark hair was still mussed from both sleep and Richard.
She stepped into the shower and let the warm water wash over her, let her cares and concerns drift away for the moment. Spending the day catching up on work held little appeal when she let her mind drift to the new life she was enjoying here in Richard’s home. Wouldn’t it be nice to make it more hers? To put her own signature spin on it today? Great ideas always came to her in the shower, so a new plan for the day quickly took shape.
After drying off, pulling on jeans and a T-shirt, and applying a little makeup, Yvette made her way through the house to find Mrs. King. They had some shopping to do.
• • •
Richard let himself in the house and dropped his keys in their bowl on the table, and stopped. Festive salsa music drifted through the house, drawing him in towards the kitchen. Coming home to an empty, silent house like he used to seemed like a sad, distant memory now that Yvette was there, breathing life into the house and giving everything a spicy flavor. Getting out of his first marriage was such a relief—so important for his mental health—that he came to relish the silence. Now that it was gone, chased away by a Puerto Rican goddess, he never wanted to experience it again.
Rounding the corner, he caught a glimpse of Yvette as the music grew louder. She danced around the kitchen, singing softly to herself in Spanish as exotic aromas filled the air. Her hips swayed with the beat, hypnotic and enticing. His fingers twitched as he moved forward, itching to touch her. Her back was to him, and he took a moment to savor the uninterrupted moment, watching her in her element. She was a vision, the undulating curves, the sweet soft voice singing in a language he couldn’t understand, the heavenly aromas bubbling up around her. How had he ever thought he could resist her? Why had he even tried?
She pulled an oversized silver spoon off the spoon rest and sang into it, throwing her head back and belting out the tune as she twisted in time with the music. As she turned, she noticed him standing there, and a slow smile spread across her face as she sashayed across the kitchen to meet him, hips still swiveling to the beat.
Wrapping her arms around his waist, she pulled him close, encouraging him to move along to the music with her. The song enveloped them, and they swayed together, slower and slower than the beat, until they were completely off the rhythm. She burst into melodic laughter and tipped her head up to accept a kiss.
“Welcome home. Hope you’re hungry.” She spoke softly, her lips moving against his before she danced back to the stovetop to tend to the food.
Richard leaned over her and looked into the pots bubbling on the stove. “This smells wonderful. I didn’t know you cooked.”
“Oh yes, all the women in my family cook. My sister and I learned from my mother and her sister, who learned from their mother and her sister.”
“What is this?” A mixture of seasonings and chopped up bits simmered in the pot.
“That’s my mother’s sofrito. It’s a seasoning sauce she makes in huge batches, and she always saves a couple of jars for me. I know how to make my own, but I’ve been so busy with work that I haven’t cooked like I used to. I got the idea to make this dinner for you this morning, but then I realized that you don’t have a big enough pot, so I went home and got mine and grabbed my spoon and the sofrito while I was there. Mrs. King and I did the grocery shopping and then I sent her home early. So we’re alone.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, a playful smile on her face.
“You have a special spoon?” He wondered if the pregnancy hormones were making little things seem more important than usual.
“Of course I do. It’s practically a rite of passage in my family to get your own big pot and spoon.” She grinned and his heart skipped a beat.
“So what are we having?” He inhaled the aroma as she tossed chopped garlic, peppers, and pimientos into the mix.
“Ah, you’re going to enjoy this.” She waved the big spoon over the pot with sofrito. “I’m going to make arroz con Habichuelas, my special Puerto Rican rice and beans, tostones, crispy plaintains with salt and garlic, and pasteles, kind of like tamales. You’re going to love it. I’ve got tembleque in the fridge for dessert.” Her accent was coming out as she talked about the food, and his body was responding in all sorts of ways as he was drawn to the spicy, sultry sound.
“Tembleque? What’s that?”
“It’s a coconut custard dish, very sweet and refreshing. Delicious.” She held her fingertips to her lips and made a kissing sound.
“If you keep talking like that, we won’t make it to dessert.” He grinned down at her and skimmed a palm over the curve of her hip.
“You don’t want to miss it. Trust me.” She tapped him with the spoon. “Go get cleaned up and I’ll finish dinner.”
• • •
Thoroughly stuffed after gorging himself on the Puerto Rican dishes Yvette had prepared, Richard sat back in his chair and stretched. “That meal was absolute perfection. Mrs. King might have some competition.”
“I think her job’s probably safe for now. I can’t eat like that every day, much less spend that much time cooking. I’d never be able to do much else.”
He patted his stomach. “Yeah, I guess I’ll need an extra hour at the gym to make up for that. It’s was more than worth it, though. If nothing else, I wouldn’t mind watching you cook again.” After watching her sway to the music, he could think of a few ways to burn calories.
She raised her eyebrows and teased. “Oh? You prefer your women in the kitchen?”
“Only when they look like you.” She continued to surprise him, to show her many different sides. Each time he learned something new about her was a revelation, yet another reason he was falling for her.
Her eyes danced playfully in the dining room’s dim light. “My father used to tease my mother like that. She spent most of my childhood in the kitchen. It seemed like as soon as breakfast was over, she was getting lunch ready, and then dinner after that. Meals like this take so much time, between the planning and the shopping, not to mention the hours you spend actually cooking. She stopped making such huge meals every day when I got sick, since we spent so much time in treatment and I didn’t have the appetite for it anyway.”
“I’m sure that was tough on the whole family.”
“You have no idea.” She smiled sadly and pushed her chair back. “I’ll go get the tembleque.”
He watched her walk away, indulging himself in a long, lingering look at her hips as they rocked with each step. From behind, he could forget that she was pregnant and pretend that theirs was a typical courtship, not that he had any complaints about the view from the front. She complained about her weight gain, but as far as he was concerned, impending motherhood was agreeing with her. Her curves became more lush, everything about her glowed, as though she were in full bloom. With every moment they spent together, he grew more attracted to her. Already their home life was more normal and satisfying than he would have anticipated. After being certain that proposing to his pregnant rival would lead to at the very least an awkward transition, the easy banter they shared each day was a welcome surprise. They moved throughout their days in harmony, and their nights together were satisfying needs he didn’t know he had.
Her
hips swayed tantalizingly as she made her way back to the dining room holding the plates. “Come sit with me,” he said as he patted his thigh.
She paused for the briefest moment before joining him. He pushed his chair back to make room as she set the dishes on the table and sat on his lap. Her legs were bare beneath the skirt of her wrap dress, and he couldn’t resist sliding a hand up her thigh. She treated him to a throaty laugh, and he shifted beneath her as he hardened in response. That laugh was the one that pushed him over the edge their first night together, the one that turned his brain off and his body on.
She scooped a bite of the tembleque with a spoon and watched him through lowered lashes as she fed him. The cool coconut custard dessert melted in his mouth, and his eyes closed as he groaned in appreciation. “I’m never letting you go.”
“I would have thought it would take more than good cooking to get a man like you.” She teased, obviously pleased with his compliment.
“First, it’s not just good, it’s great cooking, and second, you’re the complete package.”
“You think so?” She took a bite of her dessert, her lips drawing his attention.
“Oh yeah. You’re beautiful, smart, driven, and you cook like this?” He ticked off each quality with his fingers. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
With a soft kiss, she murmured as she fed him another bite. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Richard pulled her closer and pressed his lips to hers, lost in the warmth of her silky skin, her fragrance surrounding him. He plunged his fingers into her hair and coaxed her lips open with his own, tasting the sweet cool dessert in her mouth. A tiny sound bubbled up in her throat and he hardened in response. Their tongues tangled, and he tasted cool coconut mixed with a desire that matched his own. Her spoon clattered to the floor as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her. Everything fell away in the haze of wanting, needing, and for a moment there was nothing but Yvette. Her breath, her warmth, her curves.
With a deft hand, he pulled the belt of her wrap dress loose and smiled against her lips as she gasped. With his hands on her hips, he eased her around to face the table and settled her firmly on his lap. His fingers found the welcoming warmth at the apex of her thighs, and to his satisfaction, her legs parted at his touch. His free hand skimmed the silken skin of her hips, now rounder and softer, until he cupped her breast. She sucked in a sharp breath and shifted until her mouth could reach his for a searching, seeking kiss. Her hips rocked gently against him until his urge to press her against the table was too strong to ignore. Scooping her into his arms, he stood and answered her kiss with his own before taking her to the bedroom.
• • •
Hours after sating his hunger for Yvette, Richard sat at his desk catching up on work, when she appeared in the doorway. She wore a satin robe, demurely tied at the waist, and his mind drifted to their evening together. In the soft light of his desk lamp, she was like something out of a dream, tousled and wild, but sweet and welcoming.
“Hey, beautiful. Did I wake you?” He set his pen down and gave her his attention.
“No, I was just thinking about something and wanted to talk. I guess I need to talk to you.” Her tone was light, but something alarmed him. That phrase was rarely followed by a simple matter.
Richard shifted in his chair. “Okay, what is it?”
“Things have been so nice between us that I hesitate to bring it up at all, but I want to get it out in the open. How are we going to handle our work problem?”
He sucked in a breath. It had to come up sooner or later, but he wasn’t sure how to tell her that there would be no more negotiations now that they were engaged. True to his word, his father had given Richard control of the confections division after his engagement to Yvette. He’d let himself get caught up in the magic of the pregnancy and their developing feelings for one another, but it could all fall apart if she found out what he’d done. Taking a sip of water, he paused to consider how to answer.
“Hmm. Well, I think that leaving work at the office is the best way for us to handle it. My thoughts on your company buying out mine are not going to change, ever, but I don’t want that to come between us anymore.”
“It’s kind of a big deal, though, don’t you think? I mean, your company is everything to you, and it has been my job for months to try to take it. Do you really think we can just ignore it when we’re at home?” He should have known that they couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room.
“We could try. Would you rather talk about it?” This was dangerous territory. His father had suspended consideration of the acquisition, but apparently Yvette didn’t know that. They’d come so far since she moved in, and things had changed so much between them. Revealing the deal he made would surely be the end of their relationship. His feelings for her went so far beyond the deal with his father that he couldn’t risk telling her. She could never discover what he had done.
“It just seems like a black cloud hanging over us, you know? I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately and wonder if it wouldn’t be better for us, and for the baby, if I asked to be reassigned.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean for your job?”
She looked away. “It most likely means I’d be taken out of the running for the promotion I’ve been up for. Saffron is already investigating alternatives to our plans to buy your company, so I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before they pull me off the account anyway.”
A weight landed in his gut. She was willing to set aside her ambition for his sake? For their sake? Her failure to secure the buyout could set her back immeasurably, yet she wasn’t going to ask for his help in making it happen. It was a huge professional sacrifice, and he was going to let her make it. There was no other way, not if he didn’t want to lose her. And he didn’t. He was dangerously close to falling in love with Yvette, and he couldn’t bear her finding out what he’d done. “I truly don’t deserve you.”
Her eyes danced in the room’s dim light. “Well, I don’t know about that. I know it would be better for us as a family, but I’m not sure I can give it up. I may not have much of a choice, though, since my progress with your father has stalled anyway.”
If he had taken another sip of his water, he would have choked. “Oh?”
“Yeah, I’ve had to pull back lately. He hasn’t returned my calls or responded to any communication recently. We’ve been reevaluating our strategy since I can’t continue to badger him. I shouldn’t be talking to you about this, though, so that’s all I’ll say about that. If he wants to officially decline our offer, that’s one thing, but the lack of communication makes me think that there’s still a chance.”
So she wasn’t going to drop it. “I haven’t changed my mind.”
“That’s fine,” she sat up straighter. “But it’s still not up to you.”
It was in fact, up to him, but he couldn’t tell her that. “True.”
“So, until your father officially declines, our efforts stand. I think it would be better for us personally if I moved off the account, but it definitely wouldn’t be better for my career. And honestly, it wouldn’t be best for Morgan Confectioners, either.”
He scoffed. “How’s that?”
“Saffron doesn’t want to buy out your confections division to hurt you or your company. We want to take what you’ve developed, put our marketing, branding, and research dollars behind it, and make it better than ever before. Morgan hasn’t concentrated on confections in years, and it shows. You gained a little traction with the champagne lollipops, but I can’t see how that’s going to carry you much further. It just makes good business sense to take the momentum and build on it before it fizzles out.”
“I’ll take that under advisement. Thanks.” His abrupt tone sounded confident to his ears, but it hid the growing disgust he felt for not only making the deal but keeping it from her.
God, he was a miserable excuse for a human being. It would’ve been easier if sh
e’d continued to fight for the buyout rather than suggest the possibility of sacrificing her professional progress for the sake of their relationship. At least then he could be vindicated, could feel like he was simply fighting for his legacy. Her selfless act magnified what an underhanded liar he really was. He’d devote himself to becoming the husband and father she deserved, to give her the best life he could. It wouldn’t make up for stalling her career growth, but it was the best he could do.
Chapter Eight
Yvette stepped into the enormous dressing room that Richard had emptied out for her, enjoying the feeling of her bare feet sinking into the plush carpet. She had lived with him for more than three weeks now, but the sheer elegance of his home continued to impress her. The dressing room was the size of an apartment bedroom and dwarfed even her own closets, large by anyone’s standard. It was like the dressing rooms seen in movies, the kind most girls covet. A delicate crystal chandelier illuminated the room, beautiful ivory carpet covered the floor, an oversized full-length mirror dominated the room, and a chaise big enough to nap on sat beside a counter in the middle of the room. She could put her foldable items in the drawers contained within the counter and use the countertop for jewelry, accessories, and perfumes.
Tonight they were attending their first major event together since announcing their engagement. Pulling the dress she had chosen out of its garment bag, Yvette hung it on an empty rack, feeling fortunate that she had been able to find an elegant gown that covered her growing midsection modestly. She wasn’t far enough along in the pregnancy for it to be obvious and feared that she simply looked chubby, despite Richard’s steady enthusiasm and regular compliments for her changing body. As her body changed with the pregnancy, his demeanor changed. He’d surprised her with his excitement about the baby, his enthusiasm for the possibility of marriage, and how gentle he could be, how caring and doting. It was a far cry from the distant and argumentative man she’d met in Vegas.
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