Whetted Appetites

by Kelley, Anastacia

  This was the twenty-first century. She thought the hell with it. She had no problems laying one on him first.

  Dalton had no trouble going with the flow once she initiated the kiss. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and crushed his mouth more firmly to hers.

  Sweet Heaven, she was delectable. She was hot with passion and right there with him.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck as he grabbed her by her waist to fit her body to his.

  Victoria brazenly deepened the kiss, darting her tongue in and out of his mouth. It drove him crazy. He was crazy with wanting her. He nipped at her lips; ran the tip of his tongue on the outline of her sweet mouth.

  Dalton only meant to taste. He only meant to take a small sip. But she was far too intoxicating that he had to imbibe more of her honeyed desire. Once a man tasted that, he was pretty much lost in the haze of ecstasy.

  Victoria was more that just fiery. She was like molten lust. Palpable fervor. It threatened to burn every inch of him. He’d gladly go down in flames for more of her mouth.

  Victoria melted into Dalton. Everything and everyone except the two of them didn’t exist. They were in their own blazing rapture. Nothing else mattered but this kiss. This powerful union of man and woman.

  Victoria forgot herself. Forgot where she was. What was she doing? Only Dalton’s kiss mattered. If he could kiss with this much skill, she could only imagine how he would perform in bed. The mere thought of it made her panties wet with want. Friday seemed so far away.

  She reluctantly broke the kiss, breathing as fast as Dalton.

  “I didn’t expect that,” Dalton admitted, a little shocked and aroused beyond belief.

  Victoria licked her lips, tasting the remnants of Dalton there. “Expect a lot more to come.”

  “Just enough to whet my appetite, huh?” he whispered.

  “For now,” she promised.

  Chapter Six

  Dora smiled as she wrapped her arm around Jake’s chest. She sighed contently as she looked upon him, sleeping soundly.

  She would never have believed she could ever feel this way about another man again. She didn’t exactly think she would find that special love again, not after her husband, Jeff, was killed so tragically. So unexpectedly.

  She couldn’t help but think back to when she received that phone call from the local police department telling her that her husband had been in an accident. Though she begged and p leaded, they would not tell her anything more over the phone. She was enraged at the time for their reluctance to inform her thoroughly. Looking back, she understood why they didn’t.

  Sheriff Blakely knew her relationship with Jeff. He knew the loved they had shared. It positively glowed when they were together.

  Sheriff Blakely was certain that she would have fainted or gone into hysterics. Since she was alone in the house—her children were at the playground—she could have fallen and hit her head and injured herself.

  But the damage wouldn’t have been nearly as gut-wrenching as walking into the hospital, surrounded by disinfectant and despair, and having to identify your husband’s body.

  No. The damage to her head would have been nothing compared to the ruin in her heart.

  Oh and how hard the children took it. She grieved for her children as well as for the loss of Jeff. They were just as disquieted and depressed as she was. If not more.

  They all looked up to their father. Especially Dalton. He wanted to be just like his dad. Loving, hard working and honest.

  Her heart clenched proudly at the thought of him now.

  Dalton unquestionably did his father proud. Dora’s smile was bittersweet as a tear slipped onto her cheek.

  Dalton had worked so very arduously to be in the position he was in today. President of his own company.

  Despite the fact that she hated for Dalton to work jobs at a very young age, she believed it has made him into the self-respecting man he is today. If she had to go back and do it over again, she would have still let Dalton work. He was dead set on making it on his own. She was proud of his responsibility and determination she saw on his young, but saddened face. He reminded her of his father so much.

  She worked hard as well. Food stamps and help from the government just wasn’t enough. Dalton knew all of the jobs she’d held. All but one.

  Being a maid. It was one of the toughest jobs. Hurrying around to their every whim; their every need. She had to admit she was a great maid, but was still looked down upon. Not by the husband or even the child. But the wife?

  She looked at me as if I were trash, Dora mused morosely. All of that money and she still couldn’t buy a heart.

  Dora struggled to recall her former boss’s name.

  Brandon. Brinton. Brantley. Bradley.

  Dora shot up from the bed. Bradley! Yes. She was sure of it. Bradley.

  Dora furrowed her brows. Didn’t Dalton mention going to a bakery owned a Victoria Bradley?

  Yes. He most certainly did.

  She leaned back, glad she didn’t rouse Jake. How could she? He could sleep through a hurricane.

  Victoria…..yes. She remembered the sweet, shy little girl she had been a personal said to. She felt almost like a second mother to her. Her own mother was too busy ordering people around and spending money on her house or herself. Mostly on herself.

  The poor child had all the luxuries in the world but the one luxury she didn’t have was the one that couldn’t be bought or forced.

  A mother’s love.

  A child doesn’t care about the cost of her new doll. A child doesn’t want to buy the most expensive toy in the store. What a child wants and needs from her parents is their unconditional love and devotion. Giving the child attention doesn’t cost a penny; just some time every day.

  Love should be given freely. It doesn’t have a price tag. It could be given anywhere, any time. As well it should be.

  The one thing that cost nothing, yet Mrs. Bradley couldn’t seem to afford it.

  What a shame.

  When Jeff died, it had left Dora with practically nothing financially but she had all the love from her children that she felt richer than the wealthiest kings and queens.

  She wondered how Victoria was doing. Would she even remember her? Would she even care?

  Victoria was a sweet girl, but growing up around snobby, rich, self-absorbed people could have changed her. Money changed people. Sometimes, not for the better.

  Dora remembered her mother telling her a quote from the bible: “The love of money is the root of all evil”.

  Amen to that one.

  Dalton had money now and was financially secure but he wasn’t evil by any means. He didn’t have a contemptuous bone in his body. But Dalton wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He worked his way to the top. He didn’t throw around his name or his money to stay there either. He didn’t Lord his success over people or berate them to get his way. He was fair but was no push-over.

  After her vacation, she would go visit Dalton for a day or two and introduce him to Jake. If it was possible, she would like to see Victoria again.

  She hoped Victoria was the same charming girl she once had known. If not, Dalton deserved a hell of a lot better.

  She hated being skeptical but when she’s seen firsthand what money did to a person, who wouldn’t help wonder. Money weakened some people’s morals; made them do things they normally wouldn’t do. All for the sake of the almighty dollar.

  She sat back on her pillow and smiled. She was sure Victoria was a good person. After all, Dalton seemed taken with her.

  “I hope that smile means you’re happy to be with me,” said a sleep-roughened voice.

  Dora leaned to kiss Jake’s forehead. “It sure does.”

  Jake pulled her into an embrace. “Good. Because I’m happy with you, too.”

  Dalton cracked his eyes open to the sun shining brilliantly through the curtains in his bedroom.

  “Ah,” he said lazily as he stretched his arms over his head
and cracked a jaw-splitting yawn.

  Saturday. He loved Saturdays. No work on the weekends. He could relax all weekend if he was the type to like to lie around. But, he wasn’t.

  He looked at his alarm clock, which he never set for the weekends. It was only seven. Even on his day’s off; he still couldn’t help but get up early. His body was its own internal alarm clock.

  It would be nice to lay here and dream about Victoria but he knew where that would lead to. With his hand under the covers.

  Damn it! He wanted the real thing. Yeah, in a couple of weeks, he could have her but he was changing the freaking rules a bit. He didn’t need to have sex with her to get her off. He had a mouth and fingers for that. He would love to tease her for a couple of weeks until she couldn’t stop herself from jumping his bones. He ached to see how she looked when she came. Hell, he was tired of waiting. Today was the day for some kind of pleasure. Some kind of sexual gratification.

  He was going to up the ante so to speak. Tease her and make her wild with need. Until she begged for him to be inside her. He wasn’t going to give in no matter how hard it was or how hard he was. Two could play at this game. It was like she said. Waiting made it all the more better.

  Decision made, he got up and made his bed and walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth. A few minutes later, he went into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee.

  He wondered what Victoria was doing today. He knew from the sign on the bakery door that she would only be open from ten to five on weekends.

  After five, he would call her. She probably would be home a little after.

  Dalton decided to go for a run in the park, grab a bite to eat then go home and work on his expense report. That should give Victoria time to get her work done and make it home.

  At twenty after five, he grabbed his phone/address book and thumbed through until he came upon Victoria’s name.

  He dialed her number and got the machine after three rings.

  “Hello. You have reached Victoria. As you can tell, I can’t come to the phone right now. Please leave your name, number and a brief message and I will return your call. Thank you.” Beep.

  Dalton spoke into the receiver. “Hello, Victoria. This is Dalton Hughes. I was wondering------“

  “Hey, Dalton,” came Victoria’s breathless voice.

  Dalton smiled. “Hey yourself.”

  “You know, I got the strangest call yesterday. A Mr. Donegan assured me that my supplies would be at my bakery at four. Sharp. Mmmm. I wonder how in the world he accomplished that, given that it’s Saturday and Hughes’ Catering Supplies isn’t open for business on weekends.”

  “I have no earthly idea,” Dalton said in mock surprise.

  Victoria laughed. Dalton let it wash over him.

  “Thanks, Dalton. I really do appreciate this,” she said sincerely.

  “No problem. By the way, if you haven’t had dinner yet, why don’t you let me take you out?”

  “Ummm……”

  “What?”

  “Well, Melissa’s off this weekend. Now that my supplies have arrived, I can start making my sweets for the Bloomberg’s party. I’m still a day behind but if I get some of this done at home, I can catch up,” she clarified.

  “I see. You have a deep passion for cooking. I can hear it in your voice when you explain what you have to do. He grinned at the thought of Victoria being powdered head to toe with sugar. And how he’d like to lick it off. Slowly.

  Just like that, the light bulb went off in his mind.

  “Why don’t I come and assist you? I could be you sous chef. Before you say no, hear me out.”

  “Okay.”

  “If it wasn’t for my shipping crew, you wouldn’t have to be working in such haste. Furthermore, I would happy to help. It will cut down on your time and who knows, I might learn a few things about the confectionary arts.”

  “I’d love the help.”

  But Dalton continued on, talking too fast to hear her answer. “I won’t be in your way and---“

  “Dalton?”

  “Yes?”

  “I said yes. I would love for you to help me.” She snickered. “I would like teaching you a few things.” Her voice dropped to a sultry tone.

  “And I’m sure you could. How about I get there in thirty minutes?”

  “That’s fine. See you then,” she said in parting, leaving him with a hint of a promise of something more to come.

  With any luck, it would be her coming.

  “Well, well, well. What have we here?” Melissa asked over the phone.

  “What?” Victoria asked, trying to sound completely innocent.

  “Dalton’s coming by to help you?” Melissa stated impishly.

  “Yes. He feels responsible for his shipping crew being late with our order. He knows I’m on a deadline. He offered to help out.” Victoria said calmly even though her stomach started fluttering. “I know you and Eric have usually go out for dinner on Saturdays but if you want to come by later and----“

  “And what? Ruin the fun? No way! Come on. You and Dalton? Alone? Baking sinfully rich sweets? This could get interesting. You don’t need me as a hindrance. He might want to sample more than your cakes.”

  Victoria burst out laughing. “Melissa, you’re a handful.”

  “Well, when Dalton comes by, maybe you’ll have your hands full of his-----“

  “No. Stop. No need to get ahead of ourselves, you dirty-minded thing,” she said good-naturedly.

  “Well, somebody’s got to have one around here. And I know I do. And you know you do, too.” She tittered.

  Victoria made a sound of agreement but didn’t want to feed the fire. “I’ll talk to you on Monday. Okay?”

  “All right. G’bye, Victoria. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  Victoria shook her head and laughed. That crazy Melissa. No wonder they were friends. They got along great. True, their backgrounds were wholly diverse, but she couldn’t have picked a better friend.

  Dalton parked his car outside Victoria’s home twenty-five minutes later. He got out and went to the door. He poised his hand to knock, but saw Victoria smiled as she sashayed over and opened the door.

  “Hey. Ready to get to it?” She stepped aside to let him through the door.

  Dalton swallowed and found his mouth had gone dry. Oh, he was more than ready to get to it. Unfortunately, he knew she meant baking.

  “Sure.”

  That little gleam in her eyes had him faltering. He wondered if she really meant baking or something else entirely. She seemed to be enjoying herself. Speaking in double meanings while managing to look totally innocent was a game he was getting to like very much. Playing too much was going to make him forget to hold back taking her on the floor of her living room if she kept giving him those sex-me stares.

  He got a hold of himself and followed her to the kitchen where she handed him an apron and a hat to cover his hair.

  He donned on the clothing, feeling a bit weird at first. Victoria’s compliment about it looking good on him made the uneasiness vanishes.

  “All right. What do you want me to do?” He looked at the assortment of cocoas, sugars, flours and utensils along with what looked like about five dozen eggs.

  Victoria handed him a recipe. “First, I want you to measure the flour in this recipe and sift it with the baking powder and salt.” She reached up and got down the industrial sized sifter, measuring cups and a flat bladed knife.

  “Here’s how you measure flour. You fill the cup to overflowing. You then cut into it and scrape off the excess with the back edge of the knife so that it’s even.” She demonstrated it once.

  Dalton did as instructed, finding it easier than he would’ve thought.

  After he measured a colossal amount of flour, he asked her, “What’s next?”

  “Now you measure the baking powder and salt the same way. Pour it on the flour and whisk it around. Then put it through the sifter.” Victoria handed him the cocoa powder.
“Measure this the same way and run it through the sifter with the flour. It’ll make the brownies melt in your mouth.”

  As they worked side by side, Dalton realized what an intelligent and skilled teacher she was. He was getting the hang of it fairly quickly. He had to give himself a mental pat on the back. He had never done this sort of thing before and he found it rather enjoyable and almost therapeutic. No wonder Victoria loved it so much.

  Victoria dumped the sugar and butter into the mixer and turned it on. After it turned fluffy she added the beaten eggs.

  Dalton noticed that Victoria would find reasons to brush up against Dalton while she looked for an ingredient, a pan or utensil. She knew she was driving him mad. But, oh how he loved it.

  Dalton observed her as she worked. Her svelte body moved fluently as she added his cocoa and flour mixture to her egg mixture.

  Next, she poured in the vanilla extract, walnuts and big chocolate chunks. He noticed that she didn’t really measure some of it. She seemed to know by heart what and how much went into her baking.

  Amazing, he thought in awe.

  After she poured the sweet smelling mix onto greased baking pans, she put them in the preheated over and set the timer for thirty-five minutes.

  She turned around and caught Dalton staring at her. She raised her eyebrows in question.

  “It seems you’ve found your forté. You’re very adept in your profession.” He wanted to say more but the look on her face stopped him short. Fire. Her eyes burned with hunger. She stuck her finger into the bowl where some of the leftover brownie batter stuck to the sides. She brought it to her mouth. She stuck her tongue out and licked a bit off her finger. She stuck her entire finger in her mouth and sucked any remaining batter left. She licked the chocolate batter from her fingers and his body tightened instantly.

  Dalton walked over to her and crushed his mouth to hers. She responded urgently. He tasted the remnants of the sweet batter from her lips.

  He captured her body against his and moved her toward the living room. She started to speak but he put a finger to her lips. “There are other ways to make you come,” he whispered roughly. “I’m just whetting your appetite.”