ignore the desire bubbling up inside her, but it was like trying to keep a wave from crashing over the shore.
He leaned impossibly closer and whispered, “They must be good. You’re blushing.”
With a frustrated groan, she spun on her heel and stalked toward the kitchen. It was going to be a very long night.
Chapter Four
ZEV WAS MEZMERIZED. The last forty minutes had been bittersweet, watching the girl he’d loved as the professional woman she’d become. Carly moved confidently around the kitchen of the chocolate shop looking hot as sin in denim shorts and a red T-shirt that had SURRENDER TO DIVINE INTERVENTION printed across the chest in brown swirly letters. If he were a man of faith, he might take that shirt as a sign, or at least try to convince Carly of it. But this was her domain, and as much as he wanted to explore the fantasies he’d seen simmering in her eyes earlier, he was enjoying seeing this side of her. She talked as much about the history of chocolatiering as she did about the recipe for the white-chocolate almond-butter cups they were making. She handled the class with humor, grace, and a certain level of authority, making her even more impressive. Everyone was having a good time, although Carly was giving the others one-on-one attention and pointedly not getting too close to Zev. But that didn’t stop him from catching every one of her stolen glances.
He didn’t blame Carly for keeping her distance. Despite the indifference she was trying to portray, there was no escaping their intense connection.
“Zev, you’re going to burn the chocolate,” Miranda, the flirtatious blonde working beside him at the stove, whispered. She had been trying to get his attention since the class began. “You’re supposed to take it off the double boiler and scoop half of the white chocolate into a bowl so you can mix in the matcha.”
“Right. Thanks.” Zev tore his eyes away from Carly, who was praising a couple’s efforts, and picked up the pot of white chocolate. “Excuse me, Teach?” he called out.
Carly turned his way, and in her beautiful blue eyes he saw the walls she’d been erecting since the class started. The walls he was determined to take down.
“I think I need a little hands-on attention over here,” he said coyly.
“I’ll help you!” Miranda exclaimed.
That wasn’t the attention he was looking for, but as Miranda showed him how to sprinkle in the matcha, there was no hiding the jealousy wafting off Carly like a breeze. This would probably earn him a solid place in hell, but he decided to use it to his advantage, turning all of his attention to Miranda.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” he said. “You’re very good with your hands.”
“You have no idea how good. Have you taken her classes before?” Miranda whispered. “I don’t think she likes you very much.”
“No? I thought she really dug me.”
Miranda shook her head. “It sounds like you need a few lessons in the ways of women.” Her eyes drifted down his chest, and she said, “I can help you with that, too.”
“I bet you can.” He snuck a glance at Carly, who practically had fumes coming out her ears as she strode to the front of the room.
“You’re all doing great.” Her eyes found Zev’s, the jealousy of moments ago morphing to a look as icy as winter wind. “I’m sure you don’t want to be here all night, so let’s keep moving along.” She shifted her gaze away and said, “Put a teaspoon of white chocolate into each mini muffin cup and then we’ll get them into the fridge to chill and start to tidy up our workspaces before we add the almond butter and the final layer of white chocolate.”
Miranda spent the rest of class brushing against Zev every chance she got and whispering double entendres, while Carly avoided him completely. Zev kept his eyes on Carly and his ears open as she talked about chocolate being her life and long hours spent in the shop. He took it all in, trying to unravel his thoughts and figure out hers. Aside from trying to avoid what was so clearly still between them, she was impressively comfortable and in control in that kitchen. He was having trouble reconciling the girl who had dreamed of being a world-traveling archaeologist and had hated the confinement of working retail when they were in high school with the woman who appeared to be living a life that was primarily indoors.
By the time