I shook my head, her amusement soothing some of my fury at Jude. But, I kept her close as we followed him through the studio and glared at every set of eyes that lingered too long on my woman.
We entered a very large, state-of-the-art kitchen with multiple cooking stations and shelves upon shelves of pretty much any ingredient you could ever want. The whole set up was almost enough to give me a chef’s boner. A giggle from Sienna broke through my reverent adoration of the space. She was looking up at me, laughing.
“You should see your expression right now, Owen,” she chortled gleefully. “You look so blissed out; it’s almost like you’re about to have an orgasm.” She adopted an exaggerated, hurt bunny look and I chuckled. So fucking adorable. “I thought I was the only one who could put that expression on your face, but now I see I have competition”—she raised a single eyebrow—“from a kitchen.”
I grinned at her and leaned down so my lips were at her ear, my words for her only. “Baby, nothing gets me off like you do, but I won’t pretend that the idea of fucking you in this kitchen doesn’t have me hard as a fucking rock.”
“Owen.” Fucking Jude interrupted our moment, and I glared at him. He stepped back at the sight of my fierce expression, but the moment lost some of its edge when Sienna snorted and patted my ass.
“Um—I wanted to introduce you to the—um, the crew and other judges,” Jude stuttered. We met the director and staff before heading to another room, the one set up for judging. There, we met the rest of the panel and unsurprisingly, Sienna charmed every single person we met.
Damn, I loved her. It hit me in that moment, that I’d never told her. I decided to do it when I officially proposed. I was confident she felt the same, and hopefully the romance of it all would make up for the hasty “engagement” before we left Atlanta.
After several hours of meet and greets, going over contracts and other paperwork, and tours; we were finally done for the night. Sienna looked dead on her feet, and I chastised myself for letting her come with me in the first place.
By the time we reached the hotel, she was out like a light. It was ten thirty east coast time, and I felt the strain of the long day, too. I carried her to the bedroom and undressed her before tucking her into bed. Then I stripped and climbed in, pulling her gently into my arms and wrapping myself around her.
I thought about her bout of sickness that morning and how tired she had been lately. The last week had been exhausting, but she’d seemed even more drained than I’d expected. I’d also noticed that she tasted different than she had the first few days after we first slept together. I hadn’t really thought much about it at the time, but now…
Hugging her a little tighter, I placed my hand flat on her smooth belly and smirked. If I was right about the timing, I knocked my woman up the first time I fucked her. The image of Sienna, round with my baby and her naked body pressed to mine, put me in a painful state. But, I started running through recipes in my mind to calm my raging libido down and eventually, I succumbed to sleep.
10
Sienna
I’d greatly enjoyed the past few days. It wasn’t just because I was getting an insider’s view of how a reality television show works. It was also seeing Owen in his element. Not that he wasn’t when we were at Saphyre, but it was different seeing how other incredibly successful chefs interacted with him. The two other judges were experts in their own rights—an award-winning pastry chef and an Italian chef who was a household name—but they seemed to defer to Owen. The same was true with the producer, director, and the contestants.
It was because of that deference that it took me a couple of days to notice the way one particular contestant treated Owen. Liz Fields looked and acted like she was at a beauty pageant instead of a competitive cooking reality television show. I figured it was just her “branding,” the way she was hoping to stand out against all the competition. It wasn’t my thing, but I didn’t judge her for it—until I saw how she always kept her focus on Owen. How she smiled at him. The way her eyes drifted along his body and filled with feminine appreciation. The simpering voice she used when she talked to him. The snide looks she gave me when nobody else was looking.
Owen didn’t pay any special attention to her. He treated her the same he did any other contestant. I knew he wasn’t interested in her, and I shouldn’t feel threatened by the crap she was pulling. But I’d been more emotional than usual. I couldn’t seem to catch up on the sleep I’d lost the week before, and it had left me feeling overly sensitive. Or at least that was what I was telling myself because I didn’t want to admit that I was just a possessive bitch when it came to my man.