His eyes took in her purple jacket and then moved up to the colorful hair she had pulled up and under her black cap. “Now that, I truly believe.”
“Well, we’re winding down for the night. The last orders have gone out, and I wanted to teach you something. Up for a lesson?”
His eyes narrowed on her. “What kind of lesson? Is it one I’ll regret later?”
Rachel shook her head. “Nope, it’s more a lesson of survival—for you anyway.”
She loved the confusion that came over his face because it had never happened before. She spun around and reached for a stainless steel pot from one of the shelves under the table.
Pulling it out, she walked to the back stove and placed it on one of the front gas burners. She noticed Cole had followed her over to the stove, and he seemed to be waiting patiently. That was, until he opened his mouth.
“A lesson in survival? I hardly think I will have a gas-burning stove if I am stuck somewhere needing to survive.”
Rachel rolled her eyes at his logic and sighed. “Oh, don’t be so damn literal,” she stated as she moved around him to the walk-in pantry.
She picked up all the ingredients she needed, and when she came back, she placed them beside the stove in front of him. She could see he was about to ask her another question when she asked, “Do you like apples?”
Cole paused halfway through a word that was about to come out of his mouth, and instead, he laughed. “Yes, why?”
“You’ll see,” she said in a singsong voice. She moved away from him again, but this time, she went into the fridge and returned with two Granny Smith apples. Placing them down near all the other items, Rachel winked up at him. “Okay, we need a cup and a half of sugar. Over there.” With her chin, she indicated to the large silver cylinder.
Cole picked up the cup she’d placed in front of him, and he measured the cup and a half she needed to perfection. She took the cup and dropped the contents into the pot. She turned back to him and pointed to the corn syrup. “I need a tablespoon of that.”
Silently, he poured it out, and she stood aside to let him put it into the pot.
“Okay, now, cut the lemon in half and squeeze it in.”
With a small paring knife, Cole did as she had asked and moved closer to her to squeeze the lemon juice into the pot. After that, she added in the little bit of water she needed and turned on the heat.
“What are we making?” he asked as he moved back out of her way.
Rachel began swirling the ingredients together with a flick of her wrist. “I told you, I’m teaching you how to survive…in the horrifying event that you don’t have any of your little caramel squares around.”
With her eyes on the mixture that was starting to bubble up, she felt him step closer.
“That’s going to turn into caramel?” he asked, his voice full of excitement but tinged with skepticism.
Turning her head, Rachel grinned at him. She was pleased he was so excited. “Yep, all it needs now is cream.”
Cole’s eyes moved from the amber-colored concoction back to hers.
“Cream?”
He might as well have said, Sex? Because all Rachel wanted to scream was, Yes, please! Now! Instead, she nodded and gathered her brain cells, at least what little she had left.
“Yes, I need the cream. It’s right over there.”
He turned away to pick up the container, and then he handed it to her. As she took it from him, their fingers brushed, and she was close to saying, Forget the damn caramel. The only things that stopped her were the other staff members and the knowledge that when they did get home, she could enjoy him as loudly as she wanted to with no one listening.
“Step back,” she instructed. “When I add it, it’s going to bubble up and spit.” Turning off the heat, Rachel added in the cream, and just as she had said, the mixture bubbled up to the top of the pot. Reaching over to the sticks of butter, she picked them up and put them in, all the while whisking the sweet syrup.
“Is it wrong that this is totally turning me on?” Cole’s voice hummed through the air.
Rachel removed the pot from the burner and continued stirring as she waggled her brows at him with mischief in her eyes. “Not at all. Makes perfect sense, considering the last time you had caramel sauce was—”
“When I spread it all over your naked breasts?”
“Yes.” Rachel sighed as she picked up the first apple.
“Are we nearly done here? I’m almost certain that the four hours are up.”
Raising her eyes to the clock on the wall, Rachel regretfully informed him, “Actually, you still have another five minutes.” She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out two little sticks.
“Caramel apples?” Cole questioned.
She jabbed the sticks into the top of the Granny Smiths. “Yes, do you like caramel apples?”
“Rachel, you could put caramel on broccoli, and I would eat it. I will say that I haven’t had a caramel apple since I was a little boy. My mother used to make them.”
As Rachel dipped the first apple into the sauce, she gave him a warm smile. She was happy to be the one to give him back such an obviously fond memory.
“My dad used to make them with me. He loved to cook.”
She pulled the first apple free and placed it on a plate, and then when she reached for the second, she felt Cole’s palm cup the back of her neck.
Looking up at him, she felt their connection deeper than ever before. It was a connection that had been forged almost overnight, and it was unlike any she could have hoped for.
“Thank you,” he told her as he squeezed her neck gently.
“For?”
“Being exactly who you are. For being impulsive, strong, and mine. “
As he dropped his hand, Rachel took a deep breath and dipped the second apple into the mix. When she pulled it free, she placed it on the plate next to the other one. As Cole picked up the first one, she asked, “Can you please take me home now? The five minutes are up, and the foreplay is over.”
She thought he’d never looked sexier as he lifted the apple to his lips. Licking the warm dripping caramel, Cole’s eyes met hers right before his white teeth sank through the sweet layer to the crisp tart apple beneath, effectively turning her little game of seduction around on her.
Rachel watched him chew slowly on that piece of apple. Her insides flipped, and just breathing had her almost jumping out of her skin. Her panties brushed the piercing, which was currently sitting above her throbbing clit.
He swallowed, and in a voice she wanted by her ear, above her mouth, and sliding inside her, he told her, “I thought you’d never ask.”
27
I hate moving.
The following afternoon, Rachel stared at the boxes surrounding her in her small apartment. Luckily for her, Sarah had wanted some extra hours at Exquisite, and when Rachel had given them to her, Mason hadn’t been around to say no.
She wanted to take the night off. She wanted to sit in her apartment by herself and really think over everything that had and was about to happen. The only problem was that every time she thought about what had happened, she thought of Cole, and that led her to thinking about last night and how his mouth had—
“Open up! We know you’re in there!”
Rachel’s head snapped up, and her eyes latched on to her front door where the shouting and pounding were coming from.
“Don’t try and act like you’re not!”
Oh jeez, save me now. Shelly Monroe was standing outside her door, making a ridiculous amount of noise.
Rachel quickly stood, stepped over the box holding all her DVDs, and jogged to the door.