His Irresistible Darling - Sarah Randall Page 0,55
taking place between his board members miles across town in the boardroom back at his office. Grateful that he was able to sit in his study at home and ignore them on the speakerphone, his mind was on Pippa. Again. This time, he was running his mind back over that facial she had given him a week ago. He rolled his head around on his shoulders, still feeling the benefit of her blissful massage. He remembered secretly hoping that she would offer to give him another facial in the next couple of days and that this time, when those magic hands of hers graced his collarbone that they would drift lower, fingers exploring lower over his highly sensitive nipples, which none of his previous lovers had ever taken the time to discover or ask about…lower further until…
He ended his conference call at the alarming smell coming from somewhere in the apartment.
“What’s burning?” he asked, having tracked the smell to the kitchen where Pippa stood over a pan on the hob. He took up position directly behind her and risked a peek over her shoulder, into a pan of bubbling…stuff. A few days ago, having returned from her holiday, Maria, his housekeeper, had told him that she’d replaced the burnt pans that she had noticed had been thrown out in the bins outside. Now he understood.
“It’s not burning,” she replied, offended. “It’s er—simmering.”
“Hmm,” Jumal uttered, looking suspicious. “If you’re sure,” he added.
Pippa slammed the wooden spoon down on the counter and turned to face him, hands on hips. “What?” she exclaimed, tilting her head.
“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head, backing off a step and holding his palms up in defence.
She started to turn back to the pan. “But,” he began and she stopped mid-turn and eyed him over her shoulder. “Have you actually tasted it?” he enquired, risking life and limb.
She tried to stare him out. “Hand me a teaspoon, Aldabbagh,” she demanded, holding her palm out to him.
Jumal opened the drawer and placed the implement into her open palm like he was handing a knife to a surgeon and looked on as she turned away and dipped the spoon in the pan, blew on the steam and tasted it, smacking her lips together. It seemed to him that minutes passed…before she straightened, rolled her shoulders back, reached for the menus she’d pinned to the fridge and said, “Chinese or Thai takeaway.”
He smiled at her admission and raised a brow. “I’ve got a better idea,” he said, taking an apron from the back of the door and throwing it to her. “You’re my new commis chef.”
The next hour passed in a wonderful domestic whirl as they created their dinner; the kitchen filled with delicious smells as Pip took his direction perfectly: chopping spring onions, dicing and frying off chicken with garlic, adding chunks of chorizo, a sprinkling of paprika, Spanish rice, chicken stock and a generous glug of sherry. He clarified sherry was his mother’s tipple of choice at her quizzical look when he grabbed it from the cupboard. They were making paella.
They shared a glass of the sherry while waiting for the rice to cook, drinking it the traditional Spanish way, with huge amounts of ice and soda. Pippa regaled him with the goings-on and gossip from the office. He listened half-heartedly whilst she told him about Melina and how she was pining for that James chap. In truth, Jumal was distracted by the alien feelings of comfort and cosiness that came with their domestic scene. He was content—happy and trying to think of the best way to ask for another facial…
After twenty minutes or so he dipped the same small spoon Pip had used earlier in the pan and blew on it gently, before tasting it and then offering it to Pippa. Their eyes met as she opened her mouth and tasted. He stared dumfounded as her tongue quickly licked her lips. His gaze flashed to hers and caught a look in her eyes of pure human need, likely reflected in his eyes. The look that passed between them was a game changer.
He twisted around to turn off the heat under the pan and dropped the spoon on the island counter behind Pippa, taking a step closer to her body, giving her time to move away once she saw his raw intentions. She was pinned against the black marble counter top but remained statuesque save for the telltale rise and fall of her chest, containing her racing heart, which