Once Touched, Never Forgotten - By Natasha Tate Page 0,15
her from sinking to the floor in a boneless heap.
Stephen had always kissed her this way, hauling her close enough to sample her flesh with his lips and tongue, tasting her as if she were a banquet and he a starving man. It made it difficult to remember that being with him was a risk she couldn’t afford to take.
“I think you should go now,” he whispered, leaning close to her ear. “You don’t want to be late.”
CHAPTER FOUR
STEPHEN waited for several long, torturous moments after she’d left the conference room, struggling to control his breathing and the flare of arousal that had caught him so completely off guard.
What the hell was he doing?
Just as he had the first time he’d seen her, he’d reacted without thought to the consequences, rushing into the firestorm that was Colette without regard for the fact that he’d get burned.
He’d done the same thing when they’d met, when he’d dared to enter her kitchen just as she was taking a trio of soufflés out of the oven. He’d startled her, making her jump, and the soufflés had fallen before they could be served.
The new American pastry chef he’d hired sight unseen from Cordon Bleu’s new crop of graduates hadn’t known that he was her boss, and she’d laid into him for being a clod-footed klutz. When he’d had the audacity to apologize for his clumsiness, she’d ranted at him as if he’d skinned her favorite cat.
Amused and surprised by her outburst, he’d simply waited while she lashed him with her sharp tongue. He hadn’t been able to remember the last time a woman had scolded him, and certainly not one as fierce as the hazel-eyed Colette Huntington. Her candor and her lack of fear had enthralled him, and he’d been enchanted. Intoxicated. He’d asked her out the minute she stopped to draw breath.
He still didn’t understand why he’d done it. His tastes usually ran to petite females who were sweet, dulcet, and brunette. But for some reason Miss Huntington’s long, lanky limbs and fierce, freckled lioness mien had piqued an interest that had lain dormant for years.
Whether his response to her was rational or not hadn’t mattered. He’d liked that she wasn’t one of those obsequious employees who kowtowed to his every whim and was too afraid of him to speak their mind. She’d intrigued him.
Colette had refused his request for an evening out, of course, even after he’d told her who he was.
“Why not?” he’d asked, flashing the trademark grin that always softened women into compliance. “Rumor has it I’m a pretty decent date, I can converse with the best of them, and I kiss like the very devil himself.”
Her stern mouth had twitched with the barest hint of a smile. “So I’ve heard.”
“Because you were asking about me?” he’d teased, feigning shock. “Oh, sweet, you could have come directly to the source. I’d have answered all your questions firsthand.”
Her smile had bloomed, transforming her face and taking his breath away. “Not a chance,” she’d answered. “I’ve been warned about you.”
“Me?”
“You’re a player,” she’d said without hesitation. “And I’m to avoid you at all costs.”
“You don’t strike me as the type who avoids anything simply because of its reputed risk.”
She’d gestured toward her deflated desserts. “Those soufflés are like the women foolish enough to succumb to your charm. They ride high on the thrill for a while, but they always end up falling. I suspect, with you, the fall comes sooner than later. So, no, thank you. I’m flattered, but no.” And with that she’d turned back to her work as if he hadn’t even been there.
It had taken him another three weeks to catch her in a moment’s weakness and change her mind. After their first dinner together it had taken another month of wooing before he’d been allowed his first glimpse behind the walls she’d built between herself and the world. But he’d persevered.
After what had felt like decades of concerted effort, he’d finally slipped beneath her bristly resolve and unearthed her buried layers of humor and softness. He’d coaxed her into relaxing, into loosening all that lovely blond hair and laying down that arsenal of emotional weapons she’d spent a lifetime collecting.
Imagining her long, sleek body wrapped around his had fueled his patience for months. And when she’d finally, finally surrendered her virginity to him, it had been as if all his wildest fantasies had come to fruition.
The final two months of their affair had been an explosive coming together