by K Ayers
Cassidy found that particularly sexy.
“You look beautiful.” He leaned forward to press a kiss to her cheek as they entered the kitchen.
“Thank you. So do you.” Her eyes ran over his bare feet again.
Alex smiled. “I hope you don’t mind being my sous chef.”
“You are cooking dinner?” She hadn’t expected this. A flutter ran down from her heart to her stomach.
“Sí. I gave Marisol the night off. She has a boyfriend in San Miguel. A butcher. Like Sam on the Brady Bunch. Alice’s boyfriend. Did you ever watch?” At her nod he continued. “As a student of architecture, can you tell me why Mr. Brady would build a home with only three bedrooms and allow six children to share one bathroom?”
“You forgot Alice also had her own bedroom.” He watched the Brady Bunch? Cassidy’s heart flipped again.
“The Brady Bunch was one of my favorite shows. I made my mother take me to Hawaii once to look for a Tiki idol like Cousin Oliver.”
“Did you find one?” Thinking of this beautiful man as a curious young boy was oddly endearing. But she supposed all wealthy, handsome CEO’s started as boys.
“Sadly, no.” Alex pressed a brief, hard kiss on her mouth catching her by surprise. His hand trailed lightly down her body to the curve of her waist. Then he just as suddenly moved back towards the stove.
“I hope you weren’t expecting traditional Mexican food because I don’t know how to cook it,” he laughed. “I’m making pasta. A little spicy pasta. Shrimp Arrabbiata.”
Alejandro Vega was making her pasta. Barefoot. Even if Miriam fired Cassidy for becoming involved with a client, ruining the camera, and neglecting to get photos, it was worth it.
“I’ve never had a man cook me dinner before.” She hadn’t. Chad, her one true serious boyfriend, had never done anything so romantic.
“No? That is a terrible shame, Cassidy. Will you pour us some wine?” He pointed to a decanter on the counter. “You are in charge of the salad.”
If cooking her dinner was Alex’s plan to seduce her, it was working. Just based on the way the kitchen smelled, Cassidy thought she would sleep with him. She poured out two generous glasses of the wine.
“Go on, take a sip.”
He was being bossy again. Cassidy didn’t mind.
“It’s fantastic,” he continued. “Chilean. Tell me, what do you taste?”
Cassidy took another sip allowing the wine to linger a moment on her tongue. “Blackberries, cinnamon… tobacco?”
Alex nodded. “You have an excellent palate. Very good taste.”
“I do.” Cassidy surprised herself by saying.
A sensual half-smile crossed his lips at her flirtatious words.
“I thought we would have a simple salad,” he pointed to a small mound on the counter. “Just arugula, lemon juice, and a little olive oil. Some cheese.”
Cassidy picked up the arugula and lemon. “Anything else?”
Alex took the arugula from her hands, allowing his fingers to run over hers, before replacing the greens with a small block of blue cheese. Lowering his head towards hers, he whispered against the corner of her mouth, “Crumble that up for me, querida. Tiny bits.” The tip of his tongue darted out to run lightly along her bottom lip.
Cassidy closed her eyes hoping for more, but Alex moved away. He touched a remote and the soft strains of a guitar echoed through the kitchen. His hips swayed as he sautéed the garlic and shrimp.
Alejandro Vega is a tease. A sexy, pasta making tease.
Cassidy couldn't believe the man dancing around the kitchen while he cooked was the same man she’d read about on the internet. The man cooking dinner was beautifully seductive with a warmth that filled the kitchen and embraced her.
This is who he is really is.
Alejandro Vega was a complicated man.
Setting down her wine, she broke up a little cheese and tossed it with the arugula, olive oil and squeezed the lemon over the top. Without thinking, she opened several of the kitchen drawers looking for plastic wrap or something else to put the cheese in.
“Third drawer on your left.” Alex had turned to watch her, the blue eyes intense as they held hers. “Just toss it in the fridge.”
“Done.” Smiling, she placed the cheese inside, pausing to flatten down the plastic wrap and make sure it was sealed.
He watched her for a few more seconds. “Bueno.”
Cassidy lifted her glass to him, drinking down the rest of the wine. She had the weirdest feeling she’d earned his approval. Maybe it was her salad making skills. “I’m not much of a cook, but apparently I can be an excellent sous chef.”
“My sous chef.”
Cassidy’s stomach twisted pleasantly at the possessive tone. That’s the moment she knew the evening would definitely end with her in the giant king-sized bed she’d seen in the master bedroom.
Alex reached around her to grab the decanter, brushing his chest against her shoulder, barely touching her.
A shiver of desire ran down Cassidy’s body.
“More wine?” It was amazing how Alex could make the simplest request sound as if he were asking her to take her clothes off.
“You are a tease,” she murmured holding out her glass.
“I have never been called a tease before, Cassidy.” His eyes lingered on her mouth. “Do you like to be teased?”
“I’ll let you know after I taste the pasta.”
Alex laughed out loud, a deep masculine sound that hummed through Cassidy’s already aroused body.
How am I ever going to get through dinner without ripping his clothes off?
She watched Alex season the shrimp and sipped her wine, admiring the graceful way he moved about the kitchen. He stirred the sauce and lifted the spoon to her mouth.
“What do you think?”
Cassidy sipped at the spoon while he held it to her lips. “Delicious.”
“You have a drop just there.” Alex lowered the spoon and leaned in to lick the corner of her mouth where a bit of sauce clung. “I think I’ve got it all,” he murmured.
The sexual tension in the kitchen went up another notch. Honestly, Cassidy wasn’t sure she would be able to concentrate on the food.
He moved away from her to toss the sauce and noodles together, then added the shrimp. Motioning to the island he said, “Do you mind eating in here? The dining room is a bit formal. He placed two steaming plates of pasta on the island along with the salad.
“I’d rather eat in here.” Cassidy was vastly relieved. The dining room was lovely but eating in the kitchen with him was much more intimate. “It’s like sitting at the chef’s table in a fancy restaurant.”
Alex pulled out a chair. One of his fingers leisurely moved up her arm as he helped her sit. If this kept up much longer, Cassidy would fall at his feet and beg him to take her to bed.
“Are you hungry?” The seductive murmur did not refer to the food.
“Starving.” But not for food.
He placed a cloth napkin on her lap, lightly touching her thighs as he did so. Lips brushed close to her ears. “Comfortable?”
“Yes.” Every nerve in her body was alive and tingling. This incredibly slow seduction might be making her crazy, but Alex didn’t seem to be in any hurry.
Alex raised a glass. “A toast to my brother Luis, without whom we would not be sitting here. You must remind me to thank him.”
She noted his reference to the future but tried not to read any more into it. “This is amazing. I wonder how many oil company CEO’s know how to do noodles al dente?” Cassidy raised a brow. “I’m impressed. Did you learn this at MIT?”
“You’ve been Googling me, I think.” His voice held a certain edge to it. “Did you find me interesting? My assistant tells me Wikipedia has devoted an entire page to the Vega family.” He sounded disappointed in her as if she’d gone sneaking behind his back.
“You even have your own section,” she said casually, taking another bite of the exc
ellent shrimp. Alex really was a good cook. “I was curious about the man who asked me to dinner out of the blue. Besides, for all I knew you could have been the pool guy playing a trick on me.” Cassidy twirled her pasta. “Don’t you watch Dateline?”
“No, but I must introduce you to Alberto my pool boy. He’s barely fifteen.” Alex visibly relaxed when Cassidy didn’t immediately grill him about all things Vega. She imagined some women did.
“You could Google me in return if you’re so inclined.” The fact that she’d looked him up on the internet obviously bothered him. From everything she read about Alejandro Vega, and there were only bits and pieces, he was notoriously private. “I’ll warn you, I’m not very interesting.” She took another bite of the shrimp. “I am just a girl from a small town outside of Houston who is in love with old houses and can tell the difference between a cupola and a cornice. The only memorable thing I’ve ever done is study at Oxford for a semester.”
The blue of his eyes turned to flame. “I find you memorable, Cassidy Davidson.” He took a strand of her hair and twirled it around his finger, all the while holding her gaze. “Very memorable.”
◆◆◆
Alex barely touched his pasta. He was too busy watching the woman who sat next to him. All he’d thought about since she drove that beat up Jeep away from the hacienda yesterday was being with her again. Touching her. Kissing her. Cassidy had figured prominently in several of his fantasies last night.
“It’s rather arrogant of me,” he said, “but I never considered you might think I’m someone other than Alejandro Vega.” The thought had honestly never occurred to him, it was so absurd. He’d never had a woman be cautious about accepting his dinner invitation. But he tried to see it from her perspective. Sitting in a robe on the patio sipping wine with a man she didn’t know in a foreign country. A man who at the very least was a client. Of course, she’d Googled him. He couldn’t fault her for that.
Alejandro was private by nature. A hard thing to be if you were a Vega in Mexico or any country in Latin America. Cassidy probably thought the Vegas were involved in some nefarious activity. There were armed guards at the gate.
“I’m sorry if I gave you cause for concern. I should have taken you to dinner in town.”
Cassidy pressed two fingers against his lips. “No. I wouldn’t have missed watching you cook me pasta for anything in the world. I like it.” She winked at him and removed her fingers.
“I will cook for you anytime you like.” Something about Cassidy tugged at Alejandro. Maybe it was the way she wrapped up a piece of cheese to save it. No woman he’d dated in recent memory had ever done such a thing. They all assumed that Alex couldn’t care less about wasting cheese. Or that the Vega servants would tidy up later.
“I may take you up on that.” Cassidy picked a piece of cheese out of her salad and popped it in her mouth.
“My mother taught me.” Why had he said that? He rarely spoke of his mother. Her death, though it had been three years ago, continued to leave him raw, as if he were still a little boy, missing her when his father would take him to Mexico during the summer.
“Did she?” Cassidy gave him an encouraging look and sipped her wine.
“She was an amazing cook. Her specialty was Italian. Even though she employed a cook and staff, every Friday night she and I would make dinner together. We’d eat in the kitchen, and I would tell her about school.” He leaned over. “Girls.”
“Tell me about her.” Cassidy took his hand and squeezed gently. There was no artificial politeness in her words or her lovely hazel eyes.
“My mother and I were close. She taught me to appreciate art, to cook,” he smiled, “and what was important in life. For the longest time, it was just Mom and me against the world. She left my father when I was barely two and took me back to Houston and the bosom of her family. My father didn’t fight her on the divorce or her custody of me. He’d gotten another woman pregnant. As part of the divorce settlement with each of his other wives, my father insisted upon primary custody, and got it. He didn’t do that with Mom.”
Cassidy rubbed her thumb over his hand in a soothing motion. “Go on.”
“I thought maybe it was because my father was afraid of my mother. She was a force to be reckoned with.” It wasn’t fear Javier Vega felt for Anne Cooper. After his mother’s funeral, Alejandro had seen his father sobbing quietly in her bedroom. “I think he still loved her, but he knew he was a total shit.”
“It sounds like he did.” Cassidy kissed him on the side of the neck. “Go on, I’m listening.”
And he did, telling Cassidy what it was like to grow up as the son of both Anne Cooper and Javier Vega. The expectations of his mother that he be his own person while Javier Vega demanded so much from him. The culture shock of shuffling back and forth between Houston and Mexico. Watching his father marry over and over. When was the last time he’d talked about himself to a woman? Especially about his family?
Never.
“I’ve talked your ear off now, Cassidy Davidson. The pasta is cold, and you are out of wine.”
“Thank you for telling me.” Her hand stroked the side of his face and trailed through the side of his goatee. “I don’t think talking about yourself is an easy thing for you.”
“No.” Alex rarely spoke at all about the dysfunctional Vega clan. “You have freckles on your knees.” He drew a circle on one thigh. Alejandro wanted this woman with an intensity that frightened him. Cassidy was honest and open. Intelligent. Clumsy. Funny.
Mine.
She brushed her lips against his. A soft butterfly of a kiss that made his pulse skip. One slender hand lay on his thigh, dangerously close to the erection he’d had since she walked through the door.
“I’ve never cooked for a woman before.”
It seemed very important that Cassidy know that. He didn’t bother to mention that she was the only woman he would ever cook for. The need to keep Cassidy close was overpowering. It was almost primal in its intensity.
The hazel eyes widened. The comment merited another brush of her lips against his.
“How is my seduction going so far?” Alejandro could smell her. Feminine warmth mixed with a light floral scent.
A wide smile crossed her lips. “Besides the pasta, which was delicious, you have excellent taste in wine. I made the salad, so you don’t get credit for that. I was on the fence about being seduced until I saw your feet.” She looked down, and a sigh escaped her. “Your beautiful bare feet.”
“My feet?”
“Mmmm. Very sexy.” Her hand brushed against his inner thigh, tracing the line of his cock.
Alejandro sucked in his breath. Jesus. Just when he thought he couldn’t get any harder or desire her more.
Cassidy pressed a kiss to the base of his throat. “I insist you seduce me. Right now.”
SEVEN
Cassidy was a little ashamed of her behavior. She didn’t go around stroking men through their pants or insist that she be seduced on a first date. The wild desire she felt for Alex was making her do and especially feel, crazy things.
A small groan escaped his lips at the touch of her hand. When she kissed the base of his throat Alex made another sound. His eyes closed for a moment before he covered her hand with his own.
“I want you,” he whispered. “Come.” Alex stood, pulling Cassidy to her feet.
He led her down the tiled hallway towards the master bedroom, stopping every few steps to kiss her.
Each kiss became more urgent. Halfway to the bedroom door Alex turned and pushed her up against the wall, pressing himself between her thighs. This time his mouth on hers was blatantly carnal with none of the gentle seduction Cassidy had been subjected to since her arrival.
Cassidy’s hands slid up underneath his shirt to wind around his waist. She arched and lifted one leg up to wrap halfway around him as he cupped her ass.
“No.” His breathing was heavy. “I want you in my bed the first time.”
Alex too
k her hand again and flung open the bedroom door.
Cassidy barely glimpsed the oversized bed before Alex’s mouth descended on hers, his hands running over the lines of her body.
She grabbed his shirt in her fists, feeling as if she were drowning. His mouth and hands touched her everywhere, kissing and stroking every bit of her exposed skin.
Alex broke away from her lips to nibble his way along her jawline and trail his mouth down the line of her neck. He held her firmly by the waist as he moved sinuously down her body, stopping to run his teeth over her shoulder. Nibble at her breast. Press a kiss to her stomach.
All shame gone, Cassidy pressed herself against him. Alex and she weren’t even naked yet.
“So impatient, my Cassidy.”
The possessiveness in his tone aroused her even more. How wonderful it was to belong to this beautiful man. If only for tonight.
Kneeling, Alex allowed his head to slide between her thighs, while his hands moved up her legs to pause at the hollow behind her knees.
“Sit,” he whispered into the folds of her dress, as he gently pressed her down.
She sat on the bed.
Alex sat back on his heels and removed her shoes. He ran a finger along the bottom of her foot.
“That tickles,” she laughed nervously.
Alex pressed a kiss to her ankle, then her calf before pushing apart her legs. His fingers traced the pattern of freckles on her knee. “Your skin is very soft.”
Cassidy shivered at the light touch.
The goatee chafed pleasurably as Alex’s mouth moved against the sensitive skin of her thighs. His hands slid underneath her dress to clasp her cheeks in both hands, pulling her body to the edge of the bed.
“Lift up your dress, mi amor.”
Hands shaking, Cassidy obeyed.
His hands squeezed her cheeks one more time before he ran a finger back and forth over the front of her underwear in a teasing motion.
“Black cotton panties?”
“I—” she choked on the words as his fingers continued to explore, “brought nothing sexy with me. This was supposed to just be a business trip. Rental agreement. Museums. I only threw in this dress at the last minute.” A delicious trickle of sensation pooled low in her belly and a soft moan escaped her.
