“It’s canned ham. What’s wrong with that?”
“So many, many, things.”
“Fine,” Blaine groaned. “How about toast and bacon?”
“That I can do. Do you want a glass of juice?”
“I can do that.” He went to get up, but she waved him down.
“Sit. This is part of my job.”
She brought him a glass of pog, but he didn’t even look up from the screen. As she prepared his breakfast, she could hear him tapping on the keys and muttering under his breath.
“How are things in Detroit?” she asked, placing the food he requested in front of him.
“Shitty.”
“Aren’t you glad you’re all the way over here?” She took his empty yogurt bowl and refilled his coffee.
“Thanks,” he said absently.
She brought her own yogurt bowl and sat at the table with him. “Mikelina left your helicopter ride on the schedule for today. Since you requested the open-door ride, they book up fast and she wasn’t sure she could rebook you.”
“What time is the flight?” Blaine asked, digging into the omelet without looking up from his screen.
“Three-thirty. It’s ninety minutes.”
“Are you going with me?”
“You’re solo on this one, sorry.” She smiled and drank her coffee.
“Are you afraid of heights?”
“I like my helicopters with doors on them.”
“We could switch it,” he said.
She wondered if he was even tasting the omelet. He ate it fast, glaring at the computer screen.
“No, this is your vacation. It’s going to be amazing. Make sure you take your phone. You’ll be able to get some great pictures. Just don’t drop it.” She shuddered.
“I always wanted to fly a helicopter. Do you think they’ll let me take the stick?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Shucks,” he said, winking at her.
“I’m really proud of you for agreeing to switch the sunrise meditation for the sunset. It’s gorgeous on the beach and very peaceful.”
“Are you at least going with me to that?”
“I’ll fall asleep.” She laughed. “I was with Mikelina the last time I went, and she had to elbow me because I started snoring.”
“Dinner then?”
“Absolutely. How does steak frites sound?”
“Perfect as long as frites is a fancy way to say potato.”
“It is. And for lunch, you get the poke I made us for dinner last night.”
“I bet your poke is okay,” he said rhyming the words.
When she just rolled her eyes at him, he poked her. “You could have pokayed me last night.”
“I don’t think you would have felt it if I had.”
“Can I poke you now?” He closed the laptop and held out his hand.
“You don’t have anything scheduled to this afternoon.” Selena stood up and took his hand.
“That’s what you think. I’ve got plenty of plans and they all revolve around you naked.”
“What a coincidence,” she said, draping her chef’s jacket over her chair. “My plans for this morning have you naked, as well.”
“Outstanding.” He dropped the towel. But instead of pulling her upstairs, he brought her out on the large balcony.
“I thought you’d have had enough of the great outdoors from yesterday.”
He dragged a large air mattress out from the side of the balcony and flopped it down by the hot tub.
“Mikelina is keeping secrets from me,” Selena said.
Blaine took a folded cotton bedspread from one of the lounge chairs and spread it on the mattress. “Still got those condoms in your purse?” He lay down on the air mattress and started to stroke himself.
Selena couldn’t look away. His eyes were staring at her with such lust while he rubbed his cock, it was clear that he was thinking of her.
“Like what you see?”
She couldn’t speak, so she just nodded.
“Take off your clothes and come join me.” He patted the spot next to him.
“I’ll just go get the condoms.” She backed up and stumbled into the door.
“Careful.”
After pressing her hands to her hot cheeks, Selena grabbed a condom from her backpack and hurried back. Blaine was still lazily stroking himself. “I want to see those gorgeous tits of yours.”
She pulled off her shirt and unhooked her bikini top. Tossing it on the chair, she walked slowly to him peeling off her shorts and panties. Kicking them clear, she went to lie next to him.
“Not yet,” he said. “Come here. I want to taste you.” He moved so she was straddling his face.
“Oh,” she said, lolling her head back as he fitted his mouth between her thighs. She couldn’t help rocking on him as his tongue penetrated her. Blaine gripped her hips and encouraged her to move as he licked her fast. She felt wicked and decadent, so she reached around and took his cock in her hand. It was clumsy, but she was too busy gasping and sighing as his talented mouth brought her to the edge.
Blaine lifted her off him. “Get the condom.”
She scrambled for it, desperate to have him continue licking her to orgasm. As soon as her fingers grabbed it, he pulled her back. “Put it on me.”
And then he went back to tonguing her. She managed to slip it all the way on him on the third try. The scrape of his beard against her sensitive parts was her undoing and she shook as she came. Before she could take a breath, he had moved her down and encouraged her to sit on his cock instead of his face.
Selena took all of him in, greedily.
Blaine groaned and she savored the sound as she bounced on him. His hands were all over her body, pinching her nipples, gripping her ass, massaging her breasts. Selena loved the thickness of him as the friction built another wave of pleasure that threatened to crash over her as if they were in the middle of Pe’ahi instead of down country.
“Selena,” he cried out, fingers digging into her hips as he thrust up into her.
Steadying herself on his chest, she dangled her breasts in his face until he sucked on her nipples. She leaned over so far, he almost slipped out. But then he surged up and she was flat on her back. Wrapping her arms around his head, she reached up to kiss him. He made love to her fast and hard. She could barely tell when one orgasm started and the other finished. All she knew was she could kiss him forever. Breathing was overrated. Boneless, she sighed and hooked her legs around his waist. Each thrust of his powerful body sent her into overdrive, quivering and crying out his name.
When his entire body stiffened, she held him tight as the last strokes of his orgasm shook through them both. They lay there panting and kissing, not ready to let go of each other just yet.
After their breathing came back to normal, Blaine said, “Let’s take this upstairs until lunch. Otherwise I’m going to have to meditate through an uncomfortable sunburn.”
* * *
Selena reluctantly rolled out of bed when both their stomachs grumbled.
“I guess that’s my cue.”
“Stay,” he said, with a sleepy half smile.
She hopped into the shower and then padded naked downstairs while Blaine lay on the rumpled bed with his arm over his eyes. She retrieved her change of clothes from her backpack and after wiggling back into her tennis shoes, she went into the kitchen to see how her ahi poke survived the night.
It looked good and she set it on the counter to take the chill of the refrigerator off. She dumped the old coffee and made a fresh pot. After bringing the plates to the table, she smiled as she saw Blaine coming down the stairs, again freshly showered and wearing a towel around his waist.
“Déjà vu,” she said.
“This is the best Groundhog Day ever,” he
said, sweeping her in his arms for a kiss.
“What do you think?” Selena gestured to the pretty plated ahi and vegetable dish.
“Looks great. Is this the dish you’re going to serve to Chef Dickhead?”
Selena didn’t know why she was nervous about having him try it. He sat down on the chair and smiled up at her. “Can you turn on the hot spot?”
Really? That was his first thought? She sighed. Of course it was. Grabbing her phone, she turned it on as he was reaching for his laptop. It really was rude to be on the computer or a phone while they were eating, but she had already set the precedent and it didn’t seem like an argument she was going to win anyway.
“I made you a light lunch because you’re going to have a heavy dinner.”
“Can’t wait for the steak frites.” He rubbed his hands together and accepted the cup of coffee she offered him.
She also set a pitcher of iced tea on the table and poured them each a glass while he booted up his computer.
“So what’s in this anyway?” Blaine said, poking around with his fork. “Or do I really not want to know?”
Forcing down a thread of annoyance, Selena pointed with her fork at each of the ingredients. “Ahi tuna, edamame, onion, seaweed—”
“Wait, what? Like that stuff that floats around out there.” He pointed toward the window.
“Yes and no. I tossed it with sesame seeds, lemon juice and rice vinegar.”
He poked at it suspiciously.
“Avocado,” she continued on.
“That’s a lot of green.”
She frowned at the bowl. “Do you think?” Presentation was everything. She bit her lip. The edamame, seaweed, and avocado did tend to overshadow the red tuna.
“I’m sure it’s good.” He speared a piece of tuna and chewed.
“Well?”
“Hands above the gas station.”
Selena touched the twitching muscle under her eye.
“I’m kidding. Relax. It’s fresh and tasty. I’m not a regular eater of this stuff, but it’s a nice simple dish.”
Simple. She leaned back in her chair. He was right. There wasn’t any skill in this dish, just the blend of flavors that any chef familiar with the cuisine could do. She held a hand to her throat. She needed to make this better.
Blaine didn’t seem to notice as he ate it with one hand and scanned his laptop with another. If she couldn’t distract him with her dish, she didn’t have a chance in hell of impressing Anton.
She tasted her food. Blaine had hit it on the head. Too much green to be visibly appealing, but still fresh and simple.
She wanted to bang her head against the table. It was a good thing she had tried this out on him first. After taking out her journal, she skimmed some of the new menu item ideas she had jotted down for her restaurant. Were they too simplistic too?
You have little talent for originality.
Flinching as if she had felt the snap of the dish towel that had accompanied that zinger, Selena’s fingers gripped her pencil so hard she almost snapped it.
* * *
“How was the helicopter ride?” Selena asked him. She had stayed in the penthouse because she could pace and think better up here. Not to mention his kitchen made a better test kitchen, especially after she and Mikelina had a glass of iced tea on the balcony and planned a few menus to wow Anton with tomorrow.
“Radical,” he said, giving her the shaka. The wraparound mirrored sunglasses and shark necklace that Mikelina had gotten for him made him look like a surfer dude.
“How does dinner at seven sound?”
“Awesome!” He said in a cosmic breathy voice as he shot her double shakas.
“I will bop you on the head with a wooden spoon if you don’t knock that crap out.”
“Kinky,” he said in his normal voice and tossed the sunglasses on the table. “Can you set me up on the internet?”
That was their deal. Selena thought that by giving Blaine access to the internet, it would be like it was in the cybercafe—they’d sit down next to each other, flirt a little bit, he’d play around for a little while and then he’d go back to rest and relaxation. But it was entirely different. It was like he became a different person when he plugged in. She turned on the hot spot while she went to cook, like she usually did.
“My day was productive.” Not that you asked, she added silently.
“Oh yeah?” he said, as he fired up his computer.
“I spent the day figuring out what I was going to make for Anton.”
“I thought you were going with the poke?”
“No, you’re right. It’s too green and simple.”
That got his attention. “I didn’t say that.” He stared at her, concerned. “I’m not a sushi guy, but it tasted great to me. What does Titus say?”
“He’s vegan. No fish, no dairy, no cheese.”
“That’s nuts.”
“He can eat those, but he won’t eat honey.”
Blaine shook his head. “To each, their own, I guess. What did you decide to make?”
“I’m going back and forth on whether just to doctor up the ahi bowls or try something new.”
“I’m sure whatever you make will be delicious and he’ll be lucky to have it.”
“I was going to do an octopus poke.”
“I’m not eating that.” Blaine said.
She looked at him smugly. “Your palate isn’t ready for that yet.”
He muttered something that sounded strangely like a prayer. She left him to the computer and went to make him his steak-and-potatoes dish that he’d been craving all week. A good meal didn’t have to be fancy, she thought as she seasoned the steak and set it on the grill. It was the little touches that elevated it. Like the fresh chives she snipped into the sour cream or the light rub she put on the steak. Or in the case of her poke, the soy sauce, sesame oil and onion. Anton always did hate her sauces. Maybe she would fiddle with that and add some heat. A spicy Japanese toban-djan sauce might do the trick.
That didn’t solve her too-green problem, though. She liked the edamame for the crunch and the avocado for the creaminess. Although, the red and green could be plated like a wreath. She could keep all her ingredients, just make it more Christmas-like. That would completely work. She went out to tell Blaine, but he was muttering into his computer again.
An hour later when she came out with the steak and oven-baked potato fries, he didn’t even look up. He just grabbed his fork and knife and started shoveling food in.
“Blaine?”
“Yeah,” he said, not looking up from his computer.
“Do you want to have dinner together?”
“Yeah.”
But he didn’t look up from the computer and his plate was in his lap.
Selena got a glimpse of the man he was at home, and it wasn’t the exciting vacationing Blaine that she had been attracted to. This was what Detroit Blaine looked like. She preferred Maui Blaine, even with the dumb sunglasses and shark necklace. This was definitely not healthy.
“I’m going to shut down the hot spot.”
His head went up. “No. Not yet.”
“Blaine, the goal of this was not for you to cram eight hours of work into the one hour that you got the internet.”
“They’re changing my camera program around, and they’re getting it all wrong.”
“And what do you think they’re going to do when they find out that you’re reviewing their code instead of decompressing?”
“See, that’s the brilliance of my plan,” he said. “I’m directing one of the interns to pass along all my comments as if they come from him.”
“Is that even ethical?” she asked.
“Probably not. He’s a smart kid. Ethics Schmethics. The way I figure it is I’m showing him what the errors are, and he’s ju
st passing along information. He gets to take the credit and get extra training in how to spot errors.”
“That’s between you and human resources. Time’s up.” She reached for her phone.
“Five more minutes?”
She sighed. “It’s like I’m babysitting my nephews.”
He grinned up at her. “Touché. But I really do need five minutes just to send this one email.”
Giving up, she waved her hand but went into the kitchen to start the timer. She debated eating standing up in the kitchen, but decided that was passive-aggressive. This was partly her fault anyway.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
BLAINE THOUGHT THAT ukulele lessons were probably the lamest thing he’s ever heard of, and this was after he almost broke his nose falling face-first into the sand after meditation last night. He wasn’t looking forward to two hours of playing a miniature guitar, but a deal was a deal. Selena gave him the internet time. He’d give her the relaxation time. He wouldn’t have minded making a fool of himself if she was sitting next to him. He’d gladly strum her a corny love song.
Selena wasn’t going to be around much today because she wanted everything to be perfect for that jackass she used to work for. She had set him up with breakfast and lunch and said that she’d see him for dinner. Then with a quick kiss goodbye, she was out the door. He knew the resentment he was feeling was ridiculous. If they were going to try a long-distance relationship, he’d have to get used to the idea of never seeing her.
Of course, if he hadn’t spent so much time working out the coding errors in the new camera program, they could have enjoyed some more time together. He did feel guilty about that. But they needed that camera to be perfect for the expo in France in February. His company was counting on the preorders from that show to stay in business. Blaine really thought that they had nailed it this time. Merry Christmas to Stephens-Miller!
So he sat down on a beach blanket cross-legged with a bunch of the other guests. Their ages ran from eight to eighty. Although there were a couple of cute women in bikinis, the only woman he was interested in was Selena. She looked sexier in her chef’s jacket than these girls did in their colorful flowered bikinis. The group was under a shaded pavilion. This one, however, was open on all four sides. Blaine could hear the ocean and smell the coconut suntan lotion that reminded him of Selena. He considered flagging down a waiter for a piña colada, but it just wasn’t the same without the rum.
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