A Taste of Temptation

by Cat Schield

  “It’s a buffet. Taste a little of each. Sample the wines. I chose a selection of African vintages for tonight. We’ll offer these as well as domestic and foreign.”

  “I love that your heritage is the backbone of Batouri. When you first told me the name, you explained that the restaurant is named after a town in Africa, but I can’t remember where it was located. ”

  “It’s in the East Province of Cameroon.”

  “Why did you choose it?”

  He didn’t think she’d like hearing the raw truth, but respected her enough to give her a doctored-up version. “I lived there for three years when I was a teenager.”

  “It was your home, then.”

  He poured her a glass of Pinotage. “Try the lamb. It’s marinated in yogurt, garlic, coriander seeds, ground cumin and onion.”

  “Delicious,” she murmured, her eyes half closing as she savored the bite.

  Ashton couldn’t tear his gaze from her face. Her open expression of pure sensual delight shot through him like a laser. Something came undone in his chest. He ached with the unraveling. The temptation to capture her lips with his, to share in her pleasure, swept through him. He reminded himself that a great deal of work had been involved in putting these dishes together. Work that would be for nothing if he acted on his impulse to make love to her right here and now.

  He cleared his throat. “I’m glad you like it.” His voice had a rough edge as if he’d been cheering on his team in a World Cup final.

  “Love would be a better word.” She sipped the wine and nodded. “This pairs very well with the lamb. What’s next?”

  Her eagerness made him smile. “Try the duck confit with the Chardonnay.”

  By the time she’d tasted the final dish, she wore a dreamy, satiated smile. He’d eaten little, preferring to watch her relish every bite. His gut took a hit every time she sighed in appreciation. It was foreplay unlike anything he’d ever known, and he was grateful for the experience.

  “Everything was fantastic,” she said. “Put it all on the menu. Batouri will be the most sought after reservation in Las Vegas.”

  He hoped she was right.

  “I only have one dessert,” he said, watching her take another bite of the scallop crudo with blood orange, watercress and fennel. “I hope you’ve left room.”

  “I’ll make room.”

  He left her to fetch the dessert, bringing out only one plate since he doubted she had room for more than a bite or two. “It’s a spiced chestnut cake with orange confit.”

  She accepted the dessert fork he handed her and dug in. “Oh, this is amazing. Are you tired of me telling you how wonderful you are?”

  “That could never happen.” In fact, he hadn’t enjoyed her praise half as much as he’d been happy that his food had moved her to smile and laugh and groan in delight.

  She shifted on the seat, turning her torso fully toward him. Taking his face between her hands, she compelled his gaze to hers. The candlelight picked out the amber flecks in her brown eyes, intensifying their compelling power. Slowly, deliberately, she leaned forward until their lips grazed in a dragonfly whisper of a kiss.

  “You have an incredible gift. Thank you for sharing it with me tonight.”

  There was only so much a man could take. Ashton tunneled his fingers into her hair and caught her mouth with a fervent moan of surrender. Greedy for the taste of her, he licked past her lips and was greeted by no resistance, no hesitation, only the delicious slide of her tongue against his.

  The layered fruitiness of Chenin Blanc and spiced chestnut danced across his taste buds as Harper tilted her head and gave him deeper access to her mouth. He hadn’t realized just how ravenous he was until her arms went around his neck, and she pressed her breasts hard against his chest. Their breath combined in great heaving gasps as one kiss followed another. Drinking his fill of her soft lips seemed impossible. Each second that ticked by he wanted her more.

  Dishes rattled on the table as they bumped against it. Distantly, Ashton considered the impracticality of their current location. He’d never be able to get her naked in such a confined space. And that’s how he intended she be when he made love to her. Not one inch of her slender frame was going to go unexplored by him. He’d lain awake too many nights imagining her flawless skin and how it would feel to slide his palms against its softness.

  He nipped lightly at her throat. Her body jerked reflexively, startling a laugh out of her. When he shifted his grip from her nape to her spine, his elbow banged the table hard. A wineglass tipped over.

  “Damn it,” he muttered.

  “It’s empty.” She leaned back and surveyed the damage they’d done. “This really isn’t the opportune place to get carried away like that.”

  “No.” Desire shrieked through him, fierce and unquenched. He set his spine against the back of the booth and raked his fingers through his hair. “Damn.”

  “Let’s clean all this up.”

  “There’ll be a cleaning crew coming by at midnight.” He didn’t want to leave the intimacy of the candlelit booth for the harsh fluorescent starkness of the stainless-steel kitchen.

  “Then they’ll have less to do.” Already she was shifting out of the booth and piling up the plates.

  He paused a second before moving, taking a moment to survey her high color, mussed hair and the extra bit of skin bared by their sensual tussling. Damn but she was glorious. Graceful and romantic, confident and feminine. If her employees could see her now, would they take her seriously as a businesswoman? They would if they noticed the determination in her stare.

  “Come on,” she said, her tone a stern nudge.

  “I suppose the faster we put everything away the sooner we can get back to the getting acquainted portion of tonight’s schedule.”

  She gave him a we’ll see smile and headed toward the kitchen. Ashton quickly bussed the table and followed her, unconcerned that Harper appeared to be in full retreat. He had a restaurant to open. That meant he wasn’t going anywhere for now. There would be plenty of time to get better acquainted.

  Once Harper had deemed the kitchen was organized enough to leave to the cleaners, they shut off the lights and exited the restaurant.

  “This has been a nice night,” he told her, lacing his fingers through hers. “I don’t want it to end.”

  “If you have in mind a nightcap in your room...” She let the sentence trail off and shook her head.

  He couldn’t resist a wicked grin. “So, sex is a no.” He tugged her close and slipped his fingers into her silky hair, captured her gaze with his and let suspense build. The way her breath hitched, she obviously expected him to push his agenda on her. “How about a walk instead?”

  Five

  The persistent rattle of her smartphone on the nightstand yanked Harper out of a delicious dream. She had been riding behind Ashton on a motorcycle that was speeding along a coastal highway. Each curve had offered different views of the treacherous terrain ahead, and the exhilarating danger had stolen her breath. Heart still pounding in reaction to the dream, Harper threw her arms wide and stretched, enjoying the slide of cool sheets against her bare skin. Glancing at the clock she saw it was almost nine. She should have been in the office an hour ago. No doubt Mary was frantically looking for her.

  With a sigh, Harper slid out of bed and headed straight for the shower. No time to work out this morning. Breaking her routine gave Harper a guilty thrill. So did the reason why she’d turned off the alarm before falling into bed the night before. The walk that Ashton had proposed had lasted two hours. They’d meandered all over the three Fontaine hotels, taking time to tour the gardens at Richesse and have a drink at Chic’s chandelier bar.

  At first Harper hadn’t said much. Mostly she’d asked for the stories that hadn’t made it onto the show. Apparently there were
hundreds of hours of footage that had gone unseen. Harper would have given a lot to view all of it. She imagined hilarious outtakes and unrehearsed moments of awkwardness. But there would also be bittersweet interviews and breathtaking scenery.

  After the walk, they’d ended up at a table in Fontaine Ciel’s coffee shop that overlooked the pool area. Ashton had turned the conversation away from him and gleaned a great deal of Harper’s history, including her parents’ difficult marriage and how she’d coped with finding out about her two half sisters. He’d known she was ambitious, but now he knew the life experiences that had molded her dreams and goals.

  It was the most time she’d ever spent with him and by far the least adversarial. Ashton had proven to be an accomplished interviewer and a charming companion. Funny, perceptive and insightful, he’d turned out to be more interesting than she’d expected. And that was saying a lot.

  Now a decidedly infatuated woman stared back at Harper when she cleared the steam from the bathroom mirror. Her reflection told her all she needed to know about how much trouble she was in. The last thing she should do was fall for Ashton Croft. Given his track record, he was almost guaranteed to disappoint her in the very near future.

  Putting the celebrity chef out of her mind, Harper dressed and picked up her phone. She winced as she read through her emails and texts. A lot of issues needed her attention before noon when she was meeting her sisters. Because Violet hadn’t returned home until late yesterday, they’d decided their weekly breakfast should change to lunch this one time.

  Harper had taken advantage of this change in her schedule to spend more time with Ashton the night before. One cup of coffee had become two and then three. By the time she tumbled into bed at four in the morning, she’d been far too wired to sleep despite the fact that she’d been drinking decaf the whole time.

  But the reduced amount of sleep she’d gotten didn’t seem to be affecting her energy level, just her mental capacity. Harper was having a hard time concentrating on all the details competing for her attention.

  Lost in daydreams featuring the lush scenery of Indonesia where Ashton had most recently been, she exited her hotel suite and headed to the executive floor. What incredible adventures he’d had. And she hadn’t needed to wait another three months to learn about them on his show.

  “Harper, are you okay?”

  “Hmmm?” She blinked and noticed her assistant was frowning at her. Harper was standing by Mary’s desk, but her mind was thousands of miles away. “Sorry. I was thinking about...” Stumped for an excuse, Harper trailed off. She couldn’t admit she’d been fantasizing about Ashton Croft and the romantic beaches of Bali. “You were saying?”

  “It can wait until this afternoon. Are you planning on coming back here after lunch with your sisters?”

  “I think so. Unless something comes up.” Rarely was she this indecisive. “I’ll call you and let you know.”

  The walk to Scarlett’s office at Fontaine Richesse through the connecting skyways took longer than her usual ten minutes of brisk walking. To maximize the all-inclusive feel of the three hotels, a variety of high-end stores lined the second floor route. The only reason Harper normally paid attention to the boutiques was to eyeball the number of customers and gauge what worked and what didn’t. Today, she found herself window-shopping.

  A particularly sexy black dress in a front display caught her eye, causing Harper to stop. She didn’t need to glance at her watch to know she was running behind schedule, but the need to try on the dress drew her into the store. It wasn’t her usual style, but Harper imagined Ashton’s eyes lighting up on Batouri’s opening night and knew she had to have it. She directed the sales clerk to send it to her office at Fontaine Ciel and made arrangements for payment. She’d need a sexy pair of black stilettos to complete the look, but those would have to wait until later. She was really late for lunch.

  Her sisters wore matching expressions of concern as Harper entered Scarlett’s organized, roomy office.

  “Sorry I’m late.”

  “It’s fine,” Violet said. “I love your hair down. You should wear it that way more often.”

  Harper self-consciously brushed the fine strands away from her face. “I was in a hurry this morning.” That wasn’t exactly true. She’d been reliving the pleasure of Ashton’s fingers playing in her hair. Her skin had tingled as the ends had swept her shoulder and caressed her cheek.

  “So it has nothing to do with your canoodling with Ashton last night?” Scarlett queried, her expression knowing and smug.

  Violet’s eyes went wide. “Canoodling?”

  “Hardly,” Harper said. “We simply went for a walk.”

  “Sweetie, after my night manager mentioned he’d caught sight of you with a man last night, I watched video of that walk,” Scarlett teased. “You might not have been touching, but that was big-time canoodling for you.”

  The delight fluttering in Harper’s stomach was messing with her head. She tried to shoot her sister a repressive glare, but felt the corner of her mouth tilted upward. “We talked until almost four this morning.”

  “Talked?”

  Harper stared Scarlett down. “Talked.”

  “You mean to tell me Ashton Croft didn’t put the moves on you?”

  “He tried.” Harper was both relieved and disappointed that he hadn’t put more effort into persuading her to have that drink in his suite. “I’m not going to hop into bed with him that fast.”

  Scarlett made a disgusted noise. “That fast? You two have been flirting for nine months.”

  “Flirting? No. We’ve been politely fighting.”

  “For you that’s flirting.”

  Harper threw up her hand to block any more of her sister’s crazy notions. “Is there a particular reason there’s a bottle of champagne chilling over there?”

  “We have a lot to celebrate, starting with Violet,” Scarlett explained. She poured the sparkling liquid into three flutes and motioned her sisters over.

  “You were able to help JT get his company back, weren’t you,” Harper guessed, delighted.

  The smirk on Violet’s face was priceless. “And Preston has been arrested. He was dragged out of Cobalt in handcuffs.”

  “I would have loved to see the look on his face as he was escorted out of his hotel by the FBI,” said Harper.

  Violet nodded. “It was pretty satisfying.”

  “And things between you and JT?” Scarlett prompted.

  “Perfect.”

  Harper’s heart lifted at the joy on her sister’s face. “You’re not separating then.”

  “Not a chance.” Fierce and romantic, Violet beamed. “He loves me.”

  “I’m happy for you,” Harper said, but already she was worrying about how this would change things between the three of them. “Have you figured out what’s going to happen when JT takes over Stone Properties?”

  “He’s not. Once his father was out of the way I thought for sure that JT would step in as CEO.” The sole reason Violet had married JT was to help him take over his family’s company. “Instead, he sold his shares to his cousin in order to buy Titanium.” Titanium was the Stone Properties hotel and casino JT ran in Las Vegas. It was the largest and most profitable of all the company’s properties, thanks to JT’s excellent management.

  Harper couldn’t see the sense in his decision. “I’m surprised he would do that when he could have all of Stone Properties to run.”

  “He wanted to stay in Las Vegas.” Violet looked as blissful as a woman in love should. “He knew my heart was here.”

  “What about Grandfather’s contest?” Harper asked. The corporate offices for Fontaine Hotels and Resorts were in New York City.

  “Last week I told Grandfather I wasn’t interested in being CEO.” Violet looked at Scarlett.

  Before Har
per grasped what Violet’s decision meant for the future, Scarlett held her glass high and proclaimed, “All hail the future CEO of Fontaine Hotels and Resorts.”

  Harper’s heart twisted in her chest. Had Grandfather made his decision? Was Scarlett his choice for a successor?

  “Congratulations,” Harper said to Scarlett, proud that her voice was so bright when her heart was lost in shadow. She’d wanted Grandfather to pick her, had spent her entire life working toward that goal. More than that, she needed his acceptance. To think that she wasn’t good enough was a blow she hadn’t prepared herself for.

  Scarlett rolled her eyes. “Not me, silly. You.”

  “Me?” Harper looked from Scarlett to Violet. “I don’t understand. Grandfather hasn’t said anything about the contest being over.”

  Scarlett piped up. “I called Grandfather this morning and told him that the network executives loved the pilot for my new series and picked up the show.” Her starlet smile flashed bold and brilliant. “That means you are going to be Fontaine’s next CEO.”

  The news should have thrilled Harper. It was why she’d worked hard and sacrificed a social life in high school to ensure she got into Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. After graduating with top honors she’d gone to work at a Fontaine property in Chicago, starting at the bottom to learn every aspect of the business. All her energy had gone into proving to her grandfather that she was not her father’s daughter. She would give Fontaine Hotels and Resorts her complete attention.

  But to get the job because her competition had dropped out. That wasn’t her idea of winning.

  “Grandfather still has the final word,” she reminded her sisters, not ready to celebrate. “He might just decide that I wasn’t going to be his first choice.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Scarlett scoffed, clinking her crystal flute with Harper’s. “You are and always have been the front-runner.” She glanced at Violet. “No offense, Violet. I think if you’d hung in there you might have given Harper a run for her money.”