by Selena Kitt
"Oh Gabriel," she whispered, kissing her way along his jaw to his mouth. She pressed her forehead to his. "That was amazing."
"Mmmm. It was." He reached over and brushed a strand of wet hair from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear, as he smiled at her, satisfaction and relief evident in his eyes and handsome features.
A bout of giggles hit her, just as he began to pull his depleted dick from her. She removed her legs from his waist and he slowly set her back down onto her feet. Her knees were weak, so she was grateful for the support of the pool wall at her back.
"I'm not too sure giggling is the reaction I was hoping for after what we just did," he chided.
She placed a kiss on his broad chest and glanced up at him. "I was thinking that it is pretty cliché that you're technically diddling the maid."
"Diddling the maid," he echoed in disbelief, his expression stern, but it was evident that he was holding back a smile. Bending down he slipped an arm under her thighs and pulled her into his arms, then started to wade his way to the pool stairs, not paying any mind to their discarded bathing suits. "I hope you have lots of energy left baby, 'cause I'm not even close to finished diddling the maid tonight."
Beth's heart began to race with excitement as she considered what he may have in store for her when they got to wherever it was he was taking her.
Chapter 7
"Diddling the maid," Gabriel murmured to himself with an amused smile on his lips as he watched Beth sleep - snoring softly - beside him, her golden hair fanned out around her head. Not being able to hold himself back, he reached over and traced her delicate jaw with his index finger. She moaned softly and snuggled up to him. Kissing her temple, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight.
She'd wanted to sleep in her room, stating that she didn't want to confuse the relationship. As far as he was concerned they were long past confusing things and he wasn't entirely upset about it. Why couldn't they keep things professional? He'd admit that perhaps he'd gone about things the wrong way and this could be a potential time bomb waiting to happen, especially when she fully discovered what he was really into sexually.
He glanced over at the drawer she'd opened earlier that evening. That was only a small glimpse into his life and his collection. She'd seemed interested in what was inside and not put off, so perhaps there was some hope that she'd be able to share his lifestyle. He'd take it slow and easy with her if need be, though he supposed since tomorrow was Saturday and he didn't work on the weekends, unless it was absolutely necessary, they could discuss his sexual lifestyle then.
He had a good feeling about her. He'd been in relationships before, but none had him captivated like the little vixen next to him, with her girl-next-door innocence and beauty. He'd felt it from the first day he'd laid eyes on her, when she had served him that very first cup of coffee. He was a man who was very comfortable with taking chances and he saw Beth as a fairly low-risk gamble.
* * * *
Not yet fully awake, Beth felt the area of the bed next to her to discover Gabriel missing. Her eyes fluttered open to find herself alone in his massive bedroom. Glancing up at the brass clock mounted on the opposite wall she began to panic. Oh my God, it's almost noon!
Flinging the blankets off of her naked body she leapt from the bed. She swore to herself that she wasn't going to let whatever it was that was going on between her and Gabriel affect her work for him. The last thing she wanted to do was take advantage of the situation or worse yet start feeling like she was being paid for sex rather than what she was hired to do. But here she was the day after fucking her boss, not up to fulfill her duties and prepare breakfast for him.
Rushing down the hall to her own bedroom she hopped into the shower and took the quickest shower of her life. After the shower she grabbed a pair of Scooby-Doo boxer shorts and chocolate brown form-fitting t-shirt and rushed down the flight of stairs to the kitchen.
As she approached the kitchen a delicious aroma assaulted her nostrils and her stomach began to grumble. Oh God, that smells amazing! She froze in her place as she entered the kitchen and watched Gabriel as he masterfully prepared lunch, shirtless and barefoot, wearing only a pair of grey jogging pants that hung low on his hips. For at least the thousandth time since she'd met him she was taken away by how gorgeous he was.
His back was to her as he focused on the task at hand, giving her a moment to watch him. Sensing her behind him he waved to the small two-person table. "It's almost ready. I've a place set out for you already."
"You realize that is my job," she reminded him as she made her way across the kitchen to sit at the table. There was a seafood salad and warm biscuits already waiting for her there. "So what are you making?" she asked, straining her neck to see what he was doing. Her stomach grumbled as the delicious scents continued to drift over to her.
"Well as for it being your job. True. But I saw what you did with the bacon and toast yesterday so unless I want to eat scallops and risotto all weekend I think I'll handle the cooking."
"But, it's what you're paying me to do-"
He glanced over at her and smiled. "True again. But you have other duties besides the kitchen."
Her mind immediately went back to the previous night and the hours they spent enjoying the feel of each other's body. How many orgasms did she have? She lost count. He had been insatiable and just the thought of the previous night had a blush forming on her cheeks.
''And we already discussed the duties didn't necessarily include what happened last night," he reminded her, as if reading her mind.
Her blush deepened and she found it suddenly hard to look him in the eye.
Gabriel decided to pretend not to notice her uneasiness. "And to answer your second question I prepared some seafood chowder. It's a little heavy for the time of day, but I had a hankering." Scooping out two portions of the chowder, Gabriel made his way over to the table and set a steaming bowl of it in front of her and then sat down opposite of her with his serving.
"Smells amazing. My grandmother used to make the most delicious seafood chowder.'' Beth picked up her spoon and dipped it in. Bringing the steaming hot chowder to her mouth, she blew on it gently, aware that Gabriel's eyes were glued to her.
"I say shame on anyone living in New England who can't prepare a chowder."
Beth cringed as she lifted guilty eyes up at him.
"Present company excluded, of course." Gabriel chuckled, watching her for a reaction, but not touching his utensils. Apparently, he had no intention of eating until he had her opinion on the food.
Popping the spoonful of chowder in her mouth, she felt like moaning from the amazing flavours of the creamy soup and the perfectly cooked chunks of lobster and fish. "This is delicious." Gabriel's grin widened. "Almost as good as my Grams," she added with a wink. "So what's in it?" She scooped up another portion and popped it into her mouth.
Gabriel frowned. "Why don't you tell me? Let's test that little palate of yours."
Ahhh shit! she sighed. Okay, I can do this... "Lobster."
"That's an easy one. Go on."
"Clams."
He nodded.
Beth scooped up another helping and thrust it into her mouth, savouring the creamy mixture. "Scallops."
"Two more then I want to know the seasonings in the broth."
Beth's eyes widened. Was he fucking serious? She felt like reminding him once more that she was not a chef and had never had skills in the kitchen. How was she supposed to know?
"It's very important to be able to distinguish tastes in food and be able to pick out the flavourings. It will greatly improve your skills when you are able to identify and break down a recipe simply by tasting a dish."
Beth nodded. Okay, she got that. Here was the problem. She spent most of her life living off of frozen quickie foods, most of which bore only a slight resemblance to what he'd consider real food. But they were cheap which was why she bought them. Just realizing this reminded her that he was way out of her league. Bu
t he likes you, the voice at the back of her mind responded to her self-doubt.
Deciding to at least give it a shot she scooped up another bite. "Haddock."
He nodded. "Very good."
As much as she'd have liked to give credit to her palate for that answer it was more of a logical guess than anything else.
"All right, the final fish then we move on to the broth." He scooped up a spoonful and began to eat as he kept his eyes glued to her.
Damn, damn, damn. She had no clue, not even a guess. After a couple of minutes trying to decipher she shook her head, giving him a wry smile. "I don't know."
"All right. What vegetables?"
"Potatoes."
"All right, that was a given, but good."
He made her feel like she was in high school again, trying to ace an oral exam. She squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. "Onion." Another given answer.
He nodded.
She gave him an apologetic smile. "If there's any other vegetables in there I can't taste them."
He beamed at her with a reassuring nod. "Seasoning."
"Salt and pepper."
Gabriel rolled his eyes, as if to say she was stating the obvious, but nodded.
She had no idea from there. Didn't her Grams always put thyme in hers? She eyed Gabriel closely as though if she looked at him long enough the answer would appear on his forehead for her to see. She sighed, "Thyme?"
He laughed, "Your grandmother's recipe?”
She opened her mouth to protest, but instead she nodded guiltily. "Yeah."
"Well, finish up eating. Try some of the salad and biscuits," he ordered, grabbing a biscuit himself, slicing it in half and buttering it up.
"Well, did I get it right?" She sincerely wanted to know. His enthusiasm for cooking and her sudden need to please him made it impossible for her not to want to know.
He clucked his tongue off of the roof of his mouth and then gave her a wink. "Can't tell ya. But I'll let you know when you're ready." He pointed to her near empty bowl. "Now finish up, I have a big day planned for us."
She groaned inwardly, itching to toss one of the biscuits at him, but they looked too scrumptious to waste in a food fight. As she finished eating she couldn't help but wonder what he had in store for them.
* * * *
"What I would like to know, is in what world this constitutes work?" Beth raised a cynical brow at Gabriel as he took aim and once again missed capturing the neck of the glass bottle with the red ring.
Gabriel straightened up and smiled over at Beth, who was reclining against the counter of the ring toss booth at the annual Portland fair, watching him in amusement. "Well, considering you've been forced to stay here twenty minutes and counting while I fail repeatedly to do this, I would constitute that as work." Pulling out his wallet he dug out another bill and handed it to the middle-aged, toothless male carnie manning the game and was rewarded with another pail of rings.
Beth pointed to the bear hanging from the game station ceiling. "You realize you could have easily paid for one for well less than it has cost you so far to attempt to win."
Gabriel huffed. "Yeah, I know," he grumbled, tossing a ring and growling as with a faint ting sound it went flying off of the bottle top and onto the floor with the rest of his failures. But it was now a matter of principle more than anything. The large pink teddy bear hanging from the ceiling of the booth taunted him. He'd be damned if he was going to walk away without Beth having that bear. He ignored the fact that she seemed more interested in teasing him than the prize.
He tossed several more rings, each one making an annoying ting before adding to his pile of failures. This was getting ridiculous and he knew it.
Beth pushed off of the counter and wrapped her arms around him from behind, kissing the back of his neck. "I think we found the one and only thing that Mr Reynolds can't do," she whispered in his ear.
The feel of her lips on his neck made him want to forget the fair, take her home and introduce her to more intense activities, but he pushed down the urge. He wanted to spend more time with her, in a carefree and fun environment, because admittedly he was having some confusion over what he wanted from her.
Beth was sweet, sexy and as he was finding out today an extremely fun woman to be around. She was the type of woman who he could seriously see himself being with, for the long run. The sex had been phenomenal the previous night and hopefully she would be open to a little more diversified play tonight.
But for the moment he needed only one thing... To win that damned bear...
Noticing her amused grin he stepped back from the counter and motioned towards the bucket, which had a few rings remaining. "By all means, let's see what you have."
She looked at the bucket, up at him and then back to the bucket. Taking her bottom lip between her teeth she took a moment before nodding. "You promise this won't bruise your male ego if I land this?" she asked, pulling a ring from the bucket.
Crossing his arms over his chest he shook his head. "Not in the least baby. Show me how it's done," he teased, not really expecting to see her pull it off.
He watched in amusement as she lined up her toss, taking careful aim and with a flick of the wrist the ring went flying through the air and effortlessly landed around the neck of one of the bottles towards the middle.
Gabriel's mouth dropped open, but quickly turned into a grin as the carnie announced that they had a winner and pulled the large pink bear from the hook and handed it to Beth. She hugged it tight to her as she turned her back to the booth to smile up at Gabriel.
She looked so sweet and delighted with herself that he couldn't have felt envious if he wanted to. But that didn't mean he couldn't tease her a little bit. "Okay, so spill. How did you manage to win that?"
Her grin widened, telling she wasn't entirely innocent. She shrugged. "Lucky I guess."
Slipping an arm around her waist he pulled her close to him and they began walking from the booth. "You're lying. You know something I don't know." The guilty giggle solidified the theory for him; now he had to know. "Spill it and I'll buy you a corn dog."
Laughing freely, she slipped her free arm around him, and gave him a partial hug. "Boy, do you ever know a way to a girls' heart, Gabe."
Gabe? He normally cringed at the nickname that his pal Pete used, but the way she said it, it didn't sound so bad and having her arms wrapped around him as they walked didn't feel too bad either. Perhaps there was something to be said about having a normal relationship. He had yet to figure out what in the fuck this was; he pushed that problem to the back of his mind. Why was he forced to define something straight away anyhow?
"So what do you say? Fill me in." He steered her through the midway to the concession stands. The day was slowly giving way to the night, turning the fairgrounds into an array of colourful lights and blaring music.
"Well, since you're offering a corndog. My older brother worked as a carnie for a couple of years. He told me all the tricks to the games and whenever the fair was in town he'd take me after hours to play the games, showing me how to beat them."
"Okay, so how do you win the ring toss?"
"It's all in the wrist, baby."
Gabriel frowned. "Be more specific."
She crinkled her nose up at him. "Nah. Once you tell me the secret behind the chowder then maybe I'll tell you the secret behind the ring toss."
Chapter 8
"Gabriel Reynolds eating a corndog, now that's a sight," Beth teased, taking a bite into hers. It was delicious.
Gabriel laughed. "Well sometimes we just have to break down and rough it." He dipped the tip of his in a tiny bowl of ketchup. "I was once told that if you have to cover your food in condiments then it's not really food."
"Hey, I never said it was quality. Just that it was fucking good." Beth gave a little chuckle, shifting her gaze back to her corndog.
"Okay, you win." He took another bite from the dog. "It is a pretty tasty change,” he finally admitted with a little smi
rk on his face. He pointed to her half-eaten dog as he pulled the remaining piece of his corndog from the stick and popped it into his mouth. "Eat up. We have the double Ferris wheel to ride in a moment."
Beth looked over at the two rotating wheels of the double Ferris wheel and a shimmer of excitement rushed through her. She loved the rides. They'd been on everything at the park and were saving that for last. She was really surprised at how much fun Gabriel really was. And the looks of appreciation that he received from many of the women at the fair didn't go unnoticed by her either. It made her blood boil to see other women looking at him.
He wasn't hers and he never claimed to be. By his own admission the kiss had been "no big deal." Did yesterday change anything? If it did he didn't let on. Again, she reminded herself not to get emotionally attached. He was her employer. An amazing fuck. And now a good friend. Until she knew otherwise, she needed to keep those things in mind.
Taking the last bite of her dog, she tossed the stick and ketchup in the overflowing garbage can and they made their way hand in hand across the fairgrounds towards the wheel.
"So how did you learn how to cook?"
"Well, I've always loved cooking and had no interest in business, though my parents insisted I get involved with the running of the company at an early age. However, instead of going to one of the Ivy League schools and taking business like my parents - my father especially - wanted, I went to culinary school."
Well, that would explain his ease around the kitchen. "So why are you running a company instead of your own restaurant?"
They got in line for the Ferris wheel and patiently waited as people were slowly loaded into each car. When it came their turn Gabriel passed something other than tickets to the attendant, who pocketed it. He then leaned in to whisper something to the teenage ride operator.
Beth seated her four-foot-tall teddy in the seat next to her as Gabriel slid in beside her. Once they were secured, the ride jerked upward with a squeal. If Beth hadn't grown up around old cranky rides she may have been concerned about the maintenance of this particular one.
