She sat up and her gaze raked over six-foot-some-odd inches of solid muscle and tanned skin. Her stomach flipped. She tried to pass it off as hunger pangs.
“I bet you’re starving,” Kate said. “Will you let me cook you dinner now?”
“How about I do it?” He snatched his boxer-briefs and slipped into them. Then he disappeared into the hallway, leaving the vision of broad shoulders, a tapered back and the world’s greatest ass burned on her brain.
She’d just had sex with a god. The most beautiful man she’d ever seen. The most passionate, most erotically stimulating man she’d ever known.
No wonder she couldn’t fully catch her breath.
Kate forced herself from the bed and cleaned up. She wrapped a long, navy-colored silk robe around her naked body before leaving her room. Stepping out onto the back patio, she found Jake tending to the grill. The two potatoes were reheating and the steaks were sizzling.
“How do you like your ribeye?” he asked.
Kate stared at him for a few moments, that thought of him being a nice, sweet, romantic guy gnawing at her.
Or…enticing her?
Was she…smitten? Completely taken by the Adonis?
She didn’t even blink. Just continued to stare as the notion whirled in her mind.
Until Jake chuckled. He held the stainless steel tongs up and snapped them once in front of her face to draw her from her reverie.
She tried to clear her errant thoughts.
Focus, Kate!
Food.
Right.
We’re talking about food here.
She said, “Medium rare.” But she really could give a rip about the steaks. She was drowning in deep lust.
“Excellent choice.” He grinned.
“I’ll, uh, set the patio table.” Her brain was still somewhat stalled out.
Despite her attempt at whisking away the idea that Jake was obviously much more than an I got mine, now I’m out the door sort, Kate continued to reel over the fact that she liked his good-natured, compassionate—not to mention passionate—disposition. She liked having him in her house, his commanding presence filling the space, making it cozy and inviting. Not so cold and quiet.
In all honesty, Kate liked him.
Plain and simple.
Or, quite possibly, all bad and wrong…?
* * *
They ate dinner under the sparkling stars, the glittering moonlight and the flickering of flames from the votives on the table. They talked about San Diego and how they’d both gone to the same high school…only there were eleven years between them.
They talked about the changes the city had undergone, politics and current events. Kate wanted to find some sort of flaw in this sexy god, but he was well-educated, well-versed in all of the topics she broached. His biggest regret, he told her, was that he hadn’t had any time to travel, had only been out of the state on rare occasions.
Later, as they stood beside each other at the kitchen sink, Kate rinsing off the dishes as Jake loaded them into the dishwasher, he glanced at her and asked, “What’s your last name, Kate?”
“Hampton.” She didn’t even hesitate, she was that comfortable with him now. “What’s yours?” Because she truly wanted to know.
“Mosley.”