Glutton for Pleasure (12 page)

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Glutton for Pleasure

Well, of course Marcus hadn’t left her any messages. Had she really expected any differently? The man couldn’t even sleep with her. She’d woken in the middle of the night when he had slipped from their warm bed, presumably to go sleep on the couch again.

She’d never been a needy girlfriend. Or lover, that is. Tarek had once gone almost two weeks without contacting her, and they’d been actively dating at the time. This shouldn’t even faze her. Granted, that relationship had been riddled with problems, so it probably wasn’t the best comparison, but still.

She picked up the thin circular dough and placed it on the skillet. Small white bubbles immediately appeared on the surface of the
chapatti
. Ignoring the spatula, she used her fingers to flip it over. In another minute, with a practiced move, she removed the pan and dropped the bread directly onto the gas burner. Within ten seconds, the
chapatti
puffed full of air, and Devi picked it up, again with the tips of her fingers, and dropped it into the warmer on the counter. Leena hated her method of making the popular flatbread, claimed it was dangerous, both to Devi’s fingers and as a fire hazard. But pan-frying alone couldn’t give the soft tortillas that flame-cooked taste.

Besides, after years of making the side dish, the tips of Devi’s fingers were completely desensitized to the heat, and she was always careful. Her mind might wander, but she knew what she was about.

She pulled off another piece of dough. Devi had no right to demand Marcus sleep with her.

Talk about selfish. Jace had slept with her, and for a short-term affair, that was already going above and beyond. Actually, if they hadn’t been so exhausted yesterday after their sexual excess, maybe they would both have just left.

Maybe tonight, after they were finished with each other, they would leave. Or she would leave, if they decided to go to their place. Maybe they wouldn’t even meet tonight. After all, Jace had written he would call her later. Devi stared at the
chapatti
puffing up on the open grill.

Maybe he was going to call her to tell her the deal was off.

As if she had conjured him up, the cell phone in her apron pocket buzzed. With shameful haste, she grabbed for the phone, unmindful of the butter that smeared across the pink surface.

Jace.

Yup, there was his name, right across the display. Okay, good. Check off “not a liar” under his personal list of accomplishments. She took a deep breath and answered the call. “Hello?” To her everlasting gratefulness, she managed to keep her tone breezy and unconcerned.

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Alisa Rai

“Hey, sweetheart.” The warm velvet honey of his tone sent all her little nerve endings into a happy dance. Just like that, all of her breezy unconcern went out the window, and she found it difficult to say anything.

“Devi?”

Her voice returned. “Um, yes, hello.”

“How are you doing?”

Devi wedged the phone at her shoulder and wiped her greasy hands on the apron, which she probably should have attended to first. “Fine. I’m just—oh my God!”

“What?”

Devi let the phone drop to the floor and flipped the charred
chapatti
off the burner.

Something else she should have attended to first. She waved a towel at the small amount of smoke the potential fire hazard generated. Thank God she had noticed it or Leena would have more reason to bitch about her method of cooking.

Not to mention the tongue-lashing she would have gotten for talking on the phone while cooking. Normally she kept the phone in her purse in the office. Family businesses had rules too.

She’d just been hoping Jace would call…

Aw, crap. She sighed just as the phone buzzed loudly against the tile. He must consider her a massive ditz.

She crouched to pick up the phone. “Hey.”

“Did something happen?”

“No. Of course not.” She gave another halfhearted swipe at the residual smoke. “You know, just hanging out in the kitchen. What’s up?”

She thought he might call her on her more-than-obvious bluff, but he let it go. His voice became more intimate. “Just wanted to make sure you were doing okay.”

“I said I was fine.”

“Physically, I mean.”

She puffed her cheeks up with air and tried not to let her face heat. “What is up with everyone asking that today?”

“Who else would ask you that?”

“Never mind. Yes, I’m fine.”

“No soreness?”

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Glutton for Pleasure

Hell yes, soreness. However, she’d participated heartily in creating that soreness, so she couldn’t exactly complain about it now. “Nope.”

“Well, great. I was just sitting here, thinking of how rough we were on you.” His tone deepened. “And then I got hard, remembering how you took it. How you loved it. How you arched your back, pushing your breasts up for my mouth.”

Devi opened her mouth, but no words came to mind.

“Remembering the feel of your tight little cunt around me, like a hot little mouth sucking on my dick.”

Holy moly, these men were potent. “Are we having phone sex?” she blurted out.

Jace chuckled. “Not yet. I was just thinking out loud. Why, do you want to?”

Did she? “Sure. Yes. I’ve never done that before.”

“Okay. So, what are you wearing?”

Devi looked down at her regular clothes. “I’m supposed to say something sexy, like nothing but an apron, right? But then you’d know I was lying. And it wouldn’t be very sexy.”

“Yeah, I would, and you’re right, with anyone else it wouldn’t turn me on. But hell, Devi, now you’ve got me thinking of you wearing nothing but an apron. How am I supposed to get through my day?”

She laughed and leaned her hip against the stove. His day? She wanted to forget work and curl up on a couch while they bantered back and forth like this. Which was odd for her. She’d never been much of a telephone chatterer, even in the early days of her past relationships.

“Listen, I’m sorry we had to leave early. Marcus and I had to go home and change before we hit work.”

Devi traced her fingertip along the counter. “Don’t worry about it. I figured as much.”

“I would have set your alarm, but I didn’t know what time you went to work.”

“Ten thirty. That’s when we start prepping for lunch. I mean, for future reference.”

“Okay. Good to know.”

God, how little they knew about each other.

“I would have loved to wake up with you.”

Tendrils of warmth crept around her. She snuck a guilty look around the empty room before she responded. “Me too.”

“In that case, I’ll wake you up tomorrow. I love morning sex.”

“We had morning sex. That last time—”

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Alisa Rai

Jace snorted. “Only in the strictest definition. I want to wake you up with my head between your thighs tomorrow.”

“Sounds…promising.”

His voice dropped an octave. “Then when you’re nice and wet and panting, your tits jiggling, I’ll fold back your legs and slide my cock deep inside you. Touch all those nice spots inside that you just love for me to hit. Slow and easy.”

Whew. She didn’t know what to say about that. Except, okay. Slow and easy worked just as well as hard and fast. “Are you thinking out loud again?”

“Are you turned on?”

Her nipples were drawn up tight. She could see them through her bra and T-shirt. “Yes.”

“Then I think we’re starting some phone sex here.”

The door opening shot a jolt through her. She cleared her throat and turned her back as Asha pulled an apron off the hook. Instinctively, she crossed her arms over her all-too-obvious nipples.

“Well, that’s interesting, but I’m a bit busy right now. We can discuss this later tonight.”

“What’s there to discuss? You don’t want me to work my dick inside that tight, wet—”

“That’s not the issue right now. I just don’t have time at the moment.”

“I’m sorry. You can give me a blowjob first, if you like. You love that, when I fuck your face, don’t you?”

Her face felt like it was on fire. “I’m sorry, I’m working.”

He laughed. “Fine. Later?”

Yes please. Phone sex was all well and good as long as there weren’t any witnesses. Well, except for Marcus and Jace. “Sure. Fine.”

“Great. Oh, you guys close between two and five right?”

“Well, yes.”

“Can you come out for a bit with us?”

Devi frowned. “Sure. Where?”

“Great. Marcus and I will pick you up at two.”

“Um, okay. But where are we going?”

“See you then, baby.”

The phone clicked on the other end and she folded it closed slowly. Why hadn’t he answered her?

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The clearing of a throat jerked her from her musings, and she turned to see Asha standing behind her. “There are a few orders already?” the woman asked in her softly accented voice.

“Yes. Yes, there are.” The customers would be pissed, too, if they didn’t get them soon. She turned back to the board, but the words swam in front of her like a mishmash of nouns. She grabbed two off the stack at random and handed them to Asha. “Here, you can get started on these.”

The other cook gave her an odd look but hurried to the far end of the kitchen to prepare.

Devi tried to refocus back on the food, thankful the orders were easy and mindless.

Perhaps Jace just wanted to get together for an afternoon quickie. Could a two p.m. quickie qualify as a nooner? She’d always wanted to try a nooner. She’d have to ask the men when they picked. Her. Up.

Shit.

Devi sighed. They’d need to rearrange their plans. No way could she let Rana catch a glimpse of her calmly getting into a car with the two men. In fact, she’d need to talk to them about staying away from the restaurant in general for the next couple of weeks. She couldn’t just call and tell Jace that, though. Instinctually, she knew it would bother him. She’d have to tell them in person.

The orders came in steadily, and it was another hour before she could slip away to the restroom. She pulled out her phone and dialed Jace’s number, only to be greeted by his recorded voice. Dammit. “He must have his phone off,” she muttered. She checked, but he hadn’t thought to input his office number.

Devi hesitated and then thumbed through her contacts until she came to Marcus’s name.

Both of his numbers had been programmed. She hated to call him at his office number. He could be busy. Then again, she hated to call his cell. He could be, well, busy.

Though she’d been just as physically intimate with him, she wasn’t an idiot. Clearly, Marcus didn’t want to be too involved.

She could text him. Devi perked up. Texts were suitably distant. She clicked on his name, and with the ease of a natural-born texter, tapped out a message.
Jace said u would pick me up at
2. Meet u 2 at library down street instead.
She hesitated and then continued, feeling bad for the subterfuge.
Have to return some books. Can u get a hold of him?

There. If he didn’t respond by one, then she would try actually calling him. She walked out the door as her phone buzzed. She pulled it out, unwilling to admit her anticipation.

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Alisa Rai

Fine.

The anticipation fizzled. Devi’s lips twisted into a wry smile.

Well, fine.

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Devi tapped her fingers against the railing of the stairs to the public library and squinted against the warm sunshine. She’d tried calling Jace again—about six times—but had just kept reaching his voice mail. Hopefully, Marcus had managed to head him off. Rana and Leena had both been hanging around when she’d left to make the brisk walk up one block.

A black pickup truck pulled into the driveway and cruised around until it parked in a spot right in front of her. Sunlight glared off the windshield, so she was unable to see the features of the big man until he stepped out of the cab, keys jingling in his hand. Devi blinked in surprise and spoke without thinking. “Are you sure you’re an accountant?”

Marcus cocked his head. “Why?”

The huge pickup gleamed with chrome and metal. She sighed. “Never mind.” Devi stopped looking at his sweet ride—did these men just trip over nice cars?—and studied the sedate black suit and subtle pinstriped tie he wore. She could recognize Jace’s hand in the excellent cut and quality of the fabric. Marcus wouldn’t care about such matters.

She realized they had fallen into an uneasy silence. She found it difficult to meet his eyes.

For some reason, this was even worse than their first morning after. Would they have to go through this every morning?

“How are you doing?”

“Good.” She felt like she should give him a hug, at the very least. She’d jump on Jace. With Marcus, though, she just wasn’t sure of his reaction. She didn’t want to presume.

He crossed his legs at his ankles and leaned against the hood of his car. The fine twill of his slacks molded against the muscles of his thighs. Did he work with a lot of women? A flash of jealousy shot through her system. He probably had to beat them off with a stick.

“You’d be doing a lot better if you were a little closer to me instead of way over there.”

Devi raised a surprised gaze to meet his. His expression was enigmatic, but she glimpsed a wealth of watchfulness in his eyes.

Alisa Rai

Why, he’s as unsure as I am.
The knowledge gave her the courage to relax her tense shoulders and smile. “I could say the same for you. Why don’t you mosey on over here?
”

He crossed his arms over his impressive chest. “I asked first.”

She snorted and mirrored his action. “You didn’t ask. You made a statement.”

“Babe, that’s how I ask.”

“Weird,
babe.
I ask with a raised intonation and a question mark at the end of the sentence.

You should try it sometime.”