"Because of how famous you are?" Her eyes were like saucers. "People will know I'm that good at sex?"
His eyes shut briefly. "No, because you'll be sending out enough pheromones to knock out half the city."
"Is that your plan?" She whistled through her teeth.
"It's the reality. Now there's a lot of stuff I'd like to eat right now, but I need calories first. Finish what you were doing."
She stood there for a bit first to calm down her metabolism. A few minutes later they were seated at the oblong table in the kitchen, dining from hard plastic trays filled with thick shepherd's pie. Sitting down naked to eat was…very peculiar.
Janey sighed as she dug into the food.
"It's not that bad," she said fairly. "Though it is too salty and the sauce needs wine and more thyme."
He reached across the table and fingered her nipple. "For dinner tonight I'll order in something gourmet to please your finicky palate."
She almost choked. "Don't do that!"
"Why not? I thought you'd appreciate someone else cooking for you."
"I mean what you're doing with—with your hand."
"Aw, Janey, how can you sit there without a stitch on and tell me not to touch you." One more teasing pluck and he released her.
Her eyes shot flames at him. "Things could get stuck in my windpipe."
"Not this mushy stuff." He gestured with his fork. "Besides, I know from that day in the elevator that you can control yourself if you need to. You did a great job of looking casual while you were coming."
She crammed a huge bite into her mouth so she wouldn't have to answer.
His mood seemed to pick up as he ate. By the time he was done, he was looking at her expectantly. "If we make that cheesecake now, when will it be ready?"
"Not until after dinner. It takes a few hours to prepare and bake, and then hours to chill. If we're lucky it'll be ready to eat after dinner."
"When do—damn, that's my phone."
He went into the other room to take the call. Janey finished eating and got equipment and supplies out. The cream cheese had softened. The eggs were warming in a bowl of water. She sat down on a chair and twiddled her thumbs, waiting.
It occurred to her it wouldn't hurt to check in on her people, too. She called her full-time assistant.
"Leese? It's Janey. How did the Greenlieber wedding brunch go? Or is it still going?"
"We're cleaning up now," Leese said cheerfully. "We could have used you when there was a minor misunderstanding about the availability of the kitchen, but the bartender helped out so the beignets were still warm when we served." Janey translated that to what she probably would have said if she were alone, which was, The guy was hot for me and did anything I asked him to. "I called around ten," Leese continued, "but you didn't answer."
"I forgot to charge my phone last night and it's been off," Janey said.
"You never said where you were going this week." Leese didn't even bother to try to hide her curiosity. She wasn't the only one who'd been nagging Janey for details about her upcoming vacation, but she was the most shameless. So far Janey had avoided giving out particulars, just claiming she needed some time away.
"I'm staying at a—kind of resort," Janey blurted. "One that accepts last-minute bookings 'cause it's the off-season."
"Cool. Where?"
"Oh—it's local. Not too far from—from town. But private."
"You mean like a spa? Hot tub, stone massage, the whole shabang?"
"Well. Um. I guess they pamper you here, but—I don't think there's even a sauna. It's not all that fancy."
"Hi, sweetheart," Nyall's voice said in Janey's ear, loudly and clearly. She nearly jumped out of her skin, then glared at him when he added blandly, "Actually, the building does have a sauna."
"Ooh," Leese said. "Is that the hired help? He sounds hotlicious."
"No, he's kind of, uh, my host."
"Reeeally." Leese's juicy gossip sense was obviously tingling.
"I've got to go, Leese," Janey said. "I'm late for a lesson."
"Rightzies," Leese said and raised her voice so it resonated. "So long, mysterious stranger."
Nyall laughed and held out his hand, eyebrows arched. Janey shook her head emphatically and he grinned and reached for her nipple. The chair screeched as she shot back out of reach and flung the phone at him.
He caught it neatly. "Nyall Anderson," he said smoothly into the phone. "Nice to meet you—Leese, is it? You work with Janey?"
"She's my boss," Janey heard her assistant say before she hung her head, feeling helpless to stave off impending disaster.
"Is everything okay? No problems? Good. Janey's staying with me all this week, so if you can't reach her phone because she's forgotten to charge it, any of you should feel free to call me on mine. Here's my cell." While Janey listened in utter shock, he rattled off the number.
Chapter 7
"Leese is a gossip," was all she could say, over and over, after Nyall handed her back her phone. "Gossip. As in, blast it all over social media gossip. And you gave her your mobile number?"
"This one goes directly to voice mail. Resort, Janey?"
"It doesn't matter. She'll keep it always. She'll probably sell it to the highest bidder. And if she doesn't, she knows my friend Morris, who works in a yoga studio. Do you know about the yoga community, Nyall? It'll be all over Oregon and southern California by Christmas."
"You overestimate my newsworthiness," he said dryly. "I'm one small island in a vast sea of tech. If I'm hounded, I have an assistant for that."
"Mary?"
"Mary. But let's not let ourselves get off track here. Off-season bookings? Really?"
"I lied," she said. "I couldn't think what to tell people."
"Well let's see." He pulled her up out of the chair and smoothed his hand over her bottom. "I'm staying at a friend's place for a week. No, too implausible. Too scandalous."
"I didn't think of that," she admitted.
"I can't keep my hands off you," he said, spreading his palm up her back and around to smother a breast. "Whose brilliant idea was this?"
"I could put on a bra." The thought of wearing a bra and no panties was somehow worse than being naked, though.
"But I'd know they're there, sticking out like little sugar cones. No, this is good for me, to have you prancing around my home in the buff. People are always telling me things fall into my lap too easily."
"I fell into your lap pretty easily," she pointed out.
"Yes, but you jumped right back out again."
"They fixed the elevator."
"And you ran away like the hounds of hell were chasing you." He kissed her clavicle.
"Cheesecake," she said, panicking because he was moving south and she had the awful feeling he was going to…
He did. His tongue sipped her nipple up, right into his mouth.
"You are," he said caressingly when he lifted his head a few minutes later. "You totally are. Sweet and delicious."
"I can't bear it when you do that," she said. "I ache between my legs. It's like something's pinching me."
"Good." He stood back suddenly. "What do I do first?"
Janey gasped at being abruptly let go. She stared vaguely around. "Ah. I guess…I need an apron. It's in my suitcase in the bedroom."
"Go fetch it, then come back here. I want to be the one to put it on you."
Janey had been looking forward to the idea that she could wear something to preserve her modesty while teaching Nyall how to cook. It turned out that bib aprons, even unisex white professional ones, were not designed to serve any function remotely related to modesty.
"I wondered," Nyall said with satisfaction as he rotated her body around in front of him. "I hope we don't have to boil water. It would be a shame to risk these getting scalded." He pinched both nipples sticking out to either side of the stark white rectangle.
"I thought the bodice would cover them," Janey said, squirming.
"Alas, no. I like the rear view, too."
"Stop," she said. "I can't concentrate when you do that."
He tilted his head. "We have a problem, Janey."
"What?"
"You agreed to do everything I said regarding sex, and I agreed to do everything you said regarding cooking."
"Yes, so?"
"So, what happens when I tell you to stand still and let me fondle your nipples to my heart's content and you tell me to stop fondling them and crack some eggs?"
"I win is what happens," she said sternly.
He smiled broadly, with real amusement. "How about we both obey? And see where it takes us."
"That doesn't sound safe. This is cooking, after all."
"Are cheesecakes that hazardous?" He seemed impressed.
"Um…hand mixers could be, maybe possibly. And ovens really are."
"I think," he said, "We'll use a safe word."
"Safe word?"
"Today let's make it…avocado. You're allowed to question, nay, even deny my sexual orders if you say 'avocado.'"
"Avocado."
"But you can't abuse it. I want to be able to tease you, Janey," he said seriously. "I want to turn you on. By the time that cheesecake is done, I want you moaning and begging me to allow you underwear because your pussy is dripping onto my nice clean floor."