The cork left the bottle with a loud pop, and Eden jumped in surprise. She had been so lost in her thoughts that the noise shattered the illusion occupying her mind.
Jack poured a glass of wine and handed it to her. She started to reach out to take it, and then pulled back. She wasn’t sure she wanted to accept anything Jack had to offer. Not when he had that sultry look on his face and she was having impure thoughts of her own.
“Go on,” he coaxed. “Or are you too young for this stuff? How old are you anyway?”
She didn’t like to be belittled like that. Maybe she was only twenty-one years of age, but in Peru it was like being forty. If only he knew she’d been drinking chica, a Peruvian beer, since she was a child. Not to mention trago, the cane liquor her mother served. These were everyday drinks back home.
Eden took the glass anyway and studied it in her hand. The musty aroma of fermented grapes filled her senses, bringing back memories of the vineyards of home. She longed for the fresh air of the mountains and the open, vast spaces and blue skies with endless fluffy clouds. Everything was so different here. Here, she felt so closed in. It was unnatural.
“Sit,” Jack commanded. He held out a chair for her to join him at the table. Already feeling a little lightheaded from not eating, she decided that sitting would be a good idea. It wasn’t that she wanted to join him – or so she tried to convince herself.
Jack took a seat across from her and lifted his glass in a toast. “To life!” he said. “To finding out about ourselves and finding out about each other.” He clinked his glass against hers, and took a sip, closing his eyes for a second as he savored the taste. Giving a small groan of approval, Eden noticed the look of satisfaction on his face. As his tongue shot out to lick his lips, her eyes drifted closed and she felt a rush of heat encompass her.
Then he cleared his throat and her eyes popped open to meet his. Their gazes locked for a brief second before she noticed him motioning with his eyes toward her glass. He wanted her to join him.
“Drink,” he told her.
If for no other reason than to have somewhere else to look, she obeyed and raised the glass to her lips. It tasted good, fruity and full-bodied. She’d taken a sip and was about to put the goblet down when Jack picked up the bottle and gave her another splash before refilling his own glass.
“So, I see you picked up a new dress today when you went shopping.” He put a piece of food in his mouth, and his eyes settled on her chest. “Nice. You could have chosen something a little younger looking – but still, I’m enjoying the view.”
Eden’s gaze fell to where his was settled. To her horror, she realized her dress was wet from the baby’s tears and he could see right through it. She quickly crossed her arms over her chest and lowered her head. Why was this happening to her? Part of her almost liked that Jack was noticing her. But with the way he was staring at her, she might as well be naked.
“Don’t hide,” said Jack, plucking the hat from her head and throwing it on the bed behind her. Now, she really felt naked! Eden wanted to jump up and retrieve her hat. But to do that, she’d have to lower her arms and expose her chest to Jack’s roving eyes. “Why don’t you eat before the food gets cold?” he suggested.
Grabbing a fork in one hand, Eden’s other arm remained covering her chest. Jack made her nervous. When he was around, she couldn’t think straight. Maybe if she ate something, she could rid herself of the feeling that he was trying to seduce her.
They ate in silence, Jack refilling her wine glass every time she took a sip. She wasn’t sure how much she’d drunk, but it was relaxing her immensely. Eventually, she lowered her arm from in front of her. When they were finished, Jack pulled a cigarette from the pack in his shirt pocket and stuck it in his mouth. He then patted his chest, looking around the room for a lighter or a match. Not finding one, he stood up, shoving his hand into the tight front pocket of his jeans.
Eden’s eyes followed his hand as he searched for a matchbook. His groin was eye level and she found herself staring.
“Where’d I put those matches?” Jack spoke to himself.
There was a book of matches lying on the bedside table and Eden caught herself almost telling him so. She stopped with her mouth open.
“What is it?” asked Jack. He took a step closer, his groin now directly in front of her face. “What are you looking at?”
That made her blush. She could feel the heat rise in her face. He must know she was looking at him in the same way he’d been looking at her a few minutes ago.
He removed the cigarette from his mouth and threw it on the table. “What do I have to do to get you to talk, Eden?” He seemed as if he were losing his patience with her.
Slowly, she turned her head and looked out the window, not able to bring herself to talk now, even if she wanted to.
“I’m not used to people ignoring me when I’m talking to them.” Jack started to pace back and forth.
If only he knew she wasn’t ignoring him, but desperately trying to ignore the feelings she’d been having since he had entered the room.
“Do you hear me?” he asked, dragging her from her thoughts.
She couldn’t look at him or he’d see her blushing. Then he’d know she was having thoughts about what lay beneath those tight, black jeans.
“Look at me, Eden,” came his low and seductive command.
When she didn’t respond, he pulled her up out of the chair. Immediately, she cursed him out in his own language.
“Stop it,” she spat. “Get your hands off of me! I’m not some sort of –” she stopped in mid-sentence, realizing what she was doing, and slapped her hand over her mouth.
“Some sort of what?” asked Jack, looking at her knowingly. “You’ve been playing me for a fool, Eden, and I don’t like it. Why didn’t you tell me you knew English the first day I met you?”
“I played you for a fool?” she asked. “You were the one treating me poorly with the way you spoke to me. Not to mention, telling me I looked frumpy and smelled like llama did nothing to make me want to thank you. You were in such a hurry to tell everyone I didn’t know English, that you somehow forgot to ask me if it was true!”
“Eden, you can stop now.”
“I’ll stop when I’m good and ready to stop. You called my father a swindling souse and me a child. Who’s treating whom like a fool?”
“Eden.”
If she would have slowed down, she would have realized Jack was no longer angry, but smiling.
“Then you insisted I get new clothes,” she rattled on. “Plus, you are irritating the heck out of me every time you pluck my hat from –”
Her words were cut short when Jack pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Eden was speechless as his lips caressed hers, sending a tingle through her body. Slowly, he brought his head up from the kiss.
“That’s more like it,” he said softly. “Nice and quiet.”
“Quiet?” she asked and looked up into his gentle eyes. “I thought you wanted me to talk.”
“So did I,” he answered, looking at her mouth again. “So did I.”
Eden’s gaze dropped to his lips and she felt herself wanting to taste him again. She liked the way it felt to be in his arms. It was safe, caring, and exciting. She also liked the way it felt to kiss him. Daringly, she brought her lips to his this time and closed her eyes as his smoldering kiss made her head spin. It was either the kiss or the wine making here feel so heady, but it didn’t matter because she liked it. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she let the kiss deepen. This time, Jack’s tongue traced her lips, and she opened her mouth for him the way a flower unfolds its petals to the sun. Never could she have imagined her first kiss would be so exciting. Neither did she ever think it would be with an American man.
As she melded into his arms, she boldly reached out and let her hands trail down his bare chest. His body felt tantalizing beneath her fingers. His hard muscle and sinew was sculpted beneath his smooth, warm skin. He ran his hands down
her back and up and around under her arms. Little by little he was getting awfully close to her breasts. Wickedly enough, she wanted him to feel her the way she’d just felt him.
Instead of doing so, he stepped back and cleared his throat, causing Eden to feel confused and disappointed. Nervously, he pulled another cigarette from the pack on the table and, once again, started searching his pockets. Eden grinned when she noticed he could no longer fit his hand in his front pocket, knowing exactly why he had turned away.
“Over by the bed,” she told him.
“What?” He looked up at her in surprise, and she knew how it sounded.
“On the table,” she said. “Your matches are on the bedside table.”
“Oh. Yeah. Thanks.” He let his gaze linger on her for a moment, and she thought he was going to come back to her for another kiss. She wanted him to. Instead, he lit the cigarette and plopped down on the bed. His shirt was totally open now as he leaned against the headboard and stretched out his legs in front of him.
Jack blew a puff of smoke into the air, the wispy ringlets floating slowly to the ceiling. She’d heard about things like this. A man would take his woman and then have a smoke to try to calm down. Is this what he was doing right now? Trying to calm down? Or was he, in his own way, claiming her as his woman?
“I’m sorry, I guess I should have mentioned I knew English from the start,” she apologized, walking over and gently sitting down on the bed next to him.
That caused him to jump up and pace the floor again. “Well, I guess that would have helped.”
She remained silent, not knowing what to say.
“Why didn’t you?” he asked, stopping and cocking his head in question.
“I – I’m not sure. Maybe for the same reason you didn’t tell me you’d found out.”
“I was just trying to get to know you, Eden. To figure you out. I needed to see if you were trying to swindle me like your old man did.”
“He didn’t swindle you!” Eden jumped to her feet.
“Like hell he didn’t! He convinced me to invest my money in something I knew nothing about. I trusted him, and he let me down. What was I supposed to think when you showed up?”
“That I was someone who needed your help?”
“That’s the problem, Eden. Help is what everyone wants from me, and they know I’ll give it because I believe in people.”
“You could have fooled me,” she said with a sniff, crossing her arms over her chest.
“It’s true. I have a habit of wanting to help everyone, and that only gets me in trouble every time.”
“Then why do you do it?”
“I supposed it’s because I think of myself when I was younger and – oh, never mind. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I never get anything in return.”
He smashed out his cigarette in an ashtray and walked over to the glass wall of windows that overlooked the back yard. When he cranked open one of them, Eden felt the cool breeze hit her in the face. The smell of damp earth filled the air.
“So, are you saying you’re not going to buy me a ticket back home?” Eden slid her hat off the bed and placed it on her head.
“Why should I?” Jack’s arms were crossed over his chest as he stared out the window. “What’s in it for me?”
Eden wasn’t sure how to answer. She didn’t have anything to offer, and was a lost soul in a world of strangers. However, she’d manage to adapt to the city ways since she had spent time with her father in Lima on occasion. Her father had even made sure she’d gotten proper schooling and that she’d seen the city and other towns as well.
“I know how you feel.” Walking over to the dresser, she removed the burlap bag her father had given her, suddenly feeling that her meager gift would mean nothing to him. When she looked down to the lonely Bible in the drawer, a rush of emotions coursed through her body. Memories of the special times she had spent reading the book with her father flooded her mind. It was the link that had brought them together every summer. It was also one of the most precious and valuable things she owned. This was all she had left to remember her father by now. This, and his photo in the locket hanging around her neck.
She gingerly picked up the Bible and held it to her heart. Then she made her way to the window where Jack stood.
“I don’t have anything to offer you in return,” she said softly. “Only this.”
He turned around and raised an eyebrow as she held out her humble offering of a bag of seeds and a Bible.
“What is that, Eden? A Bible? I think it’s a bit late to help me in that area,” he told her. “I’ve been pegged to go to Hell since the day I – for a long time now.”
She pulled back the Bible, almost feeling relieved that he didn’t want it.
“Then how about these?” She handed him the sack of seeds. “My father told me on his deathbed, this was to repay his debt.”
He took the burlap bag from her hand and shook some of the contents into his palm. He then handed her the bag and stared at the beans and seeds he held.
“These again,” he mumbled. “What is this? Some kind of bad joke?” He took the seeds and threw them out the open window. “This isn’t some kind of fairy tale where I can sprout a beanstalk and find a goose that lays golden eggs. I wish it were that simple, Eden, but it’s not. I’m going broke! If I don’t find a way to get money soon, I’m going to lose the restaurant.” He stormed across the room and headed for the door.
Eden felt her heart drop. The precious gift from her dying father hadn’t made Jack happy at all. Instead, he’d treated it as meaningless and thrown some of the seeds out the window. He’d even scoffed at the idea of reading the Bible. She didn’t know how her father intended this gift to help Jack, but her father would never lie to her. Somehow, the seeds were the answer to Jack’s prayers.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, lowering her head, trying to hide under the brim of her hat.
Jack stopped in his tracks, his hand on the doorknob. He looked to the ground but didn’t turn around. “No, Eden. I’m the one who’s sorry.” With that, he left the room.
Chapter 8
Jack spent most of the rest of the day trying to avoid Eden. He didn’t want to see her after the kiss they’d shared. He didn’t want to feel anything for her. After all, she was the professor’s daughter, he reminded himself. That is, a daughter to the man who had taken his money and ruined his life.
He wished he could pay his employees what they deserved. But now, the competition from The Ruby across the street would only make matters worse. He had to figure out a way to make money, to build back up the image of The Golden Talon before his father returned.
The door to the restaurant swung open and his competitor, Martin Noble, entered with a sleazy-looking woman at his side.
“What do you want?” snapped Jack as they made their way to the podium.
“Now is that any way to talk to one of your paying customers, Jack?” Martin Noble smiled at the woman on his arm, and she batted her eyelashes at Jack.
“Don’t tell me you’ve come here to eat?”
“Well, a man gets hungry watching the progression of his own restaurant. Now, are you going to give us a table or not?”
Jack was about to tell Noble where to go when Eden came down the steps, having overheard every word.
“We have a nice table for two over by the window,” she said, and snatched up two menus as she walked up to them.
Jack could have crawled under the table in embarrassment. Eden had donned her native clothes again and was wearing that ugly hat. It wasn’t bad enough that Jack was being humiliated by a man who would no doubt put him out of business, but now he would be the laughingstock of the neighborhood as well.
“What’s this, Jack? Hiring more minorities and taking in more misfits off the street again?” Noble said with a chuckle.
“What’s it to you?” growled Jack.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” answered Noble. “I just thought
you’d want to know that the talk on the street is that you’ve slandered your father’s good name by taking in minorities, misfits, and probably illegal aliens as well.” He looked at Eden when he said the latter.
Jack was about to start an all-out brawl with the man when Eden stepped in and took Noble’s arm.
“Sí, Señor Noble, I’m not a citizen of your homeland. I’m from the mountains of Peru.”
“Peru?” asked the girl on Noble’s arm. “Where’s that?”
“It’s far from here,” Eden answered. “I’m here as Jack’s guest and will be leaving soon. But while I’m here, I’m helping out at the restaurant, so please follow me while I seat you.”
Jack watched in awe at the way Eden handled the situation. She hadn’t seemed upset at all with Noble, though Jack knew she was probably steaming inside at the way the man belittled foreigners. He walked to the busser’s stand and poured himself a cup of coffee, wondering what had just happened. A man he despised just walked into his restaurant and insulted him and his employees, and now he was being permitted to stay and eat. Jack took a sip of coffee and watched as Eden made her way back to the hostess stand to seat another couple. He had to admit she was good with people. She even had Martin Noble laughing and smiling – something Jack would never do.
Still, he couldn’t allow Eden to embarrass him like this again wearing her colorful rags that she called clothes, or that damned tall hat that looked like it should be on Abe Lincoln or something. He’d stop this nonsense once and for all. If he had to, he’d lock her in the apartment upstairs just to keep her there. Whatever happened, he’d make sure she was never allowed in the dining room again during business hours.
Ruthie walked up to Jack with a busboy on her heels. “Hey, Jack. You gave Eden a job. How clever of you,” she said with a smile. “You’re going to make her work to earn her ticket home. What a great idea. She seems to be good with the customers. After all, we had two tables walk in since she’s come down and here comes a group of businessmen. Good tippers!” She winked at Jack and turned to instruct the busboy.
Bistro Bachelor: Working Man Series - Book 2 Page 6
