Taste It Read online

  ‘From behind,’ she whispered. ‘Take me from behind.’

  Cole growled. Growled. And she felt all the invisible baby hairs along her spine wave and tingle. Then he was stroking the tip of his sheathed cock up and down her damp slit.

  She tried to bear back, tried to make him go faster, but he backed off and shook his head and said, ‘Wait.’

  More of that maddening, gentle, teasing pressure, and then his huge hands were on her hips, gripping the flare of them. Holding her where she was the lushest. And he was riding her, sliding in and out of her. Their sex having taken a turn to gritty and rough and just plain animalistic.

  It was enough to get her off again.

  ‘You’ll sleep tonight, Chef,’ he teased.

  Jill could do nothing but nod into the mattress.

  ‘One more for me,’ he said. ‘Touch yourself for me, Chef.’

  She could hear him smiling. But she could also hear the tension in his voice that said he was barely hanging on to his own orgasm. The reins were slipping from his hands and when she slid wet slippery trembling fingers along her clit, she started to grow tighter around him.

  He groaned and Jill used more pressure on her clitoris than normal. She rubbed the tiny nub of flesh with a bit more force because she’d already come and needed the extra sensation.

  He leaned over and gave her a firm bite below a rib. The touch of his teeth to her flesh was enough to make her mindless. She liked the slightly raw way he fucked. How he seemed to take what he wanted but with an innate sense of decorum. He was barely controlled urgency, a talking breathing oxymoron.

  It was hard to describe, but Cole seemed to have his own distinct way of taking a woman. And she loved it.

  ‘I’m coming,’ he rasped, his mouth still pressed to her.

  And she came with him, because just the fact that he was losing his hold on himself was enough to make her lose hers.

  Chapter Four

  THEY DOZED FOR A bit. Lying there in the messy, slightly lumpy suite bed. The room itself consisted of a sitting room and bedroom combo with a tiny kitchen and a nice bathroom. All three of the remaining contestants’ suites were identical. So when Jill woke up she initially thought she was in her room. Until she realised the thunderous sound she heard was Cole’s heartbeat in her ear because she was sleeping with her head on his chest.

  She sat up and found a water glass and padded to the kitchenette. A cold glass of water and she started to scrounge for her borrowed clothes. She’d just pulled the white tee on when he cracked a gorgeous blue eye at her and said, ‘Where ya going, Chef?’

  ‘To my room,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t want to disturb you.’

  He opened both eyes. ‘You’re not disturbing me.’

  ‘It’s only eleven. I thought I’d have a nice glass of wine and answer some emails and just … be nervous on my own.’

  She twisted her hair tight, looped it around itself in a loose knot and pulled the end through. It sank into a messy bun at the back of her skull.

  ‘Neat trick,’ he said. And then he reached for her.

  Something in her stomach dipped and her breath shuddered in her lungs. She moved toward him but didn’t touch him. She really should go. Mostly because she wanted to stay more than she could even comprehend.

  ‘Thanks. I need a cut. Desperately. It’s best to just keep it up and out of my way.’

  She went to pull on the sweatpants and he sat up. He had a reach, that was for sure, because without hardly rising off the bed, he grabbed her arm and reeled her in. The sheet settled low on his hips, giving her just a hint of that hair on his belly that lead to the treasure. Her heart gave a floppy little palpitation and she let him tug her into his lap.

  ‘I can’t offer you an email check, I’m not even booted up. I can’t offer you a drink because I don’t drink any more. But I can offer you … a nightcap.’

  She wiggled on his lap, feeling the rock-hard ridge of his cock below her bottom. Cole groaned and she sighed and finally Jill simply gave into her needs.

  It had been weeks of stress and competition and go-go-go. She was ready to just be-be-be. To get lost in something physical and wonderful and fun. And that was him. The worry and anxiety and rush of it all would be waiting for them come the morning light.

  ‘A nightcap?’

  He nodded, kissing her shoulder and grazing his white teeth – he had just the slightest hint of an overbite that drove her mad with lust – over her collar bone so her nipples jutted out begging for attention.

  ‘Yes, a nightcap.’ Cole dropped back on the bed, spreading out his massive bulk and pulling her astride him.

  The sheet still kept them from actual contact and Jill found that it added to the breathtaking sexiness of the whole scenario. She rocked from side to side, watching his face, feeling the friction from his cock beneath her.

  ‘You’re even prettier with bedhead,’ he said.

  ‘I thought I was beautiful,’ she teased.

  She stopped teasing when his face went serious and his eyes darkened down to a storm-at-sea grey behind his nerd glasses. ‘My God, but you are.’

  He threaded his fingers through hers and she saw their conflicting band aids. She marked his scars and burns with her scars and burn and using his up-turned hands to brace herself, she bent to kiss him. His pretty pink lips, his stubbled jaw, his forehead and his hair. He hissed like she’d burned him but instinct told her it was a good sound – from the kissing and the pressure of her heated sex on the sheet that rested atop his.

  ‘Before I drop dead of a heart attack from wanting you, do you think you could grab a rubber and get that thing on me. Before I burst.’

  ‘Wouldn’t want to waste that after-nap erection, would we?’ she teased.

  ‘No. Wood is a terrible thing to waste. Especially with a gorgeous talented chef around to heat things up.’

  ‘Oh, cooking joke,’ she said. When she bent to rummage in his horribly messy nightstand he ran his hands up under the billowy tee. His hands found her breasts and stroked until she felt her pussy take up a steady needy beat of desire. Her entire body felt like one big fat pulse.

  ‘Have I mentioned that you can keep this shirt? Because you just look that good in the damn thing. I will never forget looking at your dark berry coloured nipples through my faded out busted up T-shirt. Such a sight.’ He actually sighed and her heart twisted a little.

  Jill inhaled deeply and shook her head. He made her blush. She hadn’t felt this way for a very long time. But now was not the time to feel anything. This was just a good healthy sexual distraction from all the ball-busting and working and mania of the last few weeks.

  ‘Yeah. You in this shirt and nothing else. Quite a vision.’

  She worked quickly with shaking hands to get him covered. The condom barely fit and she bit her lip to keep from making a satisfied sound. The man was large. Everywhere.

  And then their hands were joined again. Fingers intertwined. Him pushing up as she pushed down and slowly, carefully settled herself on him. Sliding low on his dick, working it in fully. He never stopped watching her.

  She went to take the tee off and he stilled her. ‘Just over your head. Don’t take it off all the way.’

  ‘You are dirty.’

  ‘I try.’

  Jill pulled the tee up and over her head but not off. It settled behind her neck and her arms were still swimming in his long sleeves. He traced one nipple and then the other so her belly muscles fluttered and her cunt gripped up around him. ‘Put your hands back up,’ she said.

  He obliged and again their opposing forces worked in tandem for her to rock down on him until her clit was grinding the base of his cock with the perfect pressure. She swirled her hips and then rocked from side to side as Cole thrust up to fill her all the way. The force of him driving into her had her shaking gently even as she increased her speed.

  ‘God, you are so … hard.’ She snorted at her own loss of words.

  He winked at her
. ‘Again, I try.’

  He looked so adorably intense as he thrust up even harder, even faster and Jill ground herself against him until the friction was too much and the strength of him was too much and she came. Her head tossed back, her messy bun untangled and his soft well worn tee brushing her arms and her shoulders with the soft kiss only over-washed cotton has.

  ‘Good?’ he asked.

  Jill didn’t answer. She pulled him free of her and stripped him of the condom. ‘Hey now, Chef –’ Cole started.

  ‘Shh,’ she cut him off, licking a shiny wet line from his throat to his pubis. When she heard his breath become choppy and shallow she grinned. The wicked feeling inside of her was wonderful. She hadn’t felt so untamed and sexy in quite a while. ‘I want to taste it.’

  And taste it she did. Jill licked the flared silken tip of his cock, gathering the gem of precome that rested there just for her. With great care – and a maddening laziness, she hoped – she sucked the head of him into her mouth, swirling her lips around his flesh the way she would a lollipop.

  ‘You’re killing me,’ he sighed. Cole’s fingers twisted in her hair and he tugged just enough to quicken her blood. ‘But I don’t mind dying if this is how I go.’

  ‘Hush up, Chef,’ she said so the words vibrated up the length of him and he twisted beneath her – restless.

  ‘You have an amazing mouth,’ he gasped when she took him fully in and tried to touch her lips to the base of him.

  ‘So do you,’ she said as she pulled him free of her mouth. Then she swept parted lips up and down his shaft until he was thrusting up against her waiting lips.

  ‘I’m going to come in about ten seconds,’ he admitted, his tan hands fisting in the white sheets.

  Jill rolled to her side and he moved with her. She pushed her hand between his legs and cupped his ass to hold him close. She was nearly able to stop moving because by then he was thrusting so mindlessly he was literally fucking her face and all she had to do was receive him. The feral-crazy sexiness of the moment wasn’t lost on her. It brought goose bumps out on her skin.

  Receive him, she did. With a great amount of glee. He was going to come. Because of her. And that made her stomach tingle with excitement.

  ‘Jesus,’ he said. He let out a great growl and came hard. The saltwater taste of him filled her mouth and Jill did her best to get him all, licking him even when he had finished and was starting to soften. Every stroke of her tongue made him jump like he’d been shocked.

  When she sat up and looked at him, Cole touched her hair and said, ‘Am I dead?’

  ‘No.’ She worked her way up to him and went to kiss him. This time, she moved slowly in case he didn’t want to. Some men were … funny about it. But he gripped the back of her head and pulled her with the best amount of force. It made her body tingle all over again.

  ‘This time you taste it,’ she said and parted her lips to receive the full brunt of his tongue against hers.

  She realised as he took her mouth in a deep kiss that she hadn’t obsessed about her odds of winning in hours.

  He was magic.

  Jill suppressed a yawn and it was true they were contagious because a second later Cole did the same.

  He stroked her hair and she realised why cats always looked so smug and satisfied. It felt good.

  ‘Who are you proving yourself to?’ he asked lazily.

  The sheet was the only thing on them and the heat of his body was keeping her warm and toasty. The hotel stayed fairly warm but the outside temperature in D.C. was roughly 30 degrees.

  ‘The general public,’ she admitted. Then she confessed the whole messy sous chef thing and the scandal and the way it had felt to have people questioning her restaurant and the integrity of her staff. ‘One person ruined my reputation and I want it back.’

  He nodded showing he understood and moved on to stroke her back. Even through his tee it felt good to have his hands on her. It pleased her more than she’d ever admit that he remembered her from the cooking demo they’d both attended. Jill had thought she was the only one who recalled their former meeting – no matter how brief. She’d thought him very handsome and way too interesting even then.

  ‘How about you?’ she asked, tickling her fingertips along the ladder marks of his flat stomach. The man worked out, that was for sure. Jill wasn’t so used to the chefs she worked with being so … ripped.

  He blew out a long sigh and said, ‘Myself.’

  ‘That’s it? Yourself?’ she said, grinning. She gazed up into those amazing blue eyes and when she saw the look on his face her grin faded.

  ‘I used to be a drunk.’

  All the words left her and she simply watched him talk. Her heartbeat had sped up and a tiny bit of anxiety worked its way beneath her skin.

  ‘I had a marriage that failed and too much stress from a restaurant that also failed – thanks to the marriage failing – and I stared drinking. Heavily. About a bottle of vodka a day.’

  Wow.

  ‘And I ruined a lot of stuff and hurt a lot of people and then … I got my shit together.’ He shrugged again and continued to stroke her long hair with a gentle touch.

  ‘So now …’ she waited.

  ‘So now I am proving to myself that I have fixed my problems and am back to myself – better, actually – and deserve all the good things that are happening to me.’

  ‘So when you said you don’t drink any more …’

  ‘That was why.’ He touched her nose. ‘And if you want to you can totally sta –’

  Jill sat up, fear blazing a yellow trail through her gut. ‘I do have to go. I won’t sleep here. I won’t sleep because it’s a strange room and because,’ she nodded down at his fine bare form, ‘you’re all naked and hot and stuff.’

  ‘You think I’m hot?’

  She smiled wide and when he echoed it with his own smile her heart knocked hard in her chest. ‘I think you left cute behind about eight bus stops ago,’ she said, parroting his kindness from earlier.

  ‘It was six bus stops,’ he said, touching her bottom lip in a way that made her think sinful things.

  ‘Mine is eight,’ she said, rising up fast to kiss him.

  He cupped her face and made her slow down. He made her kiss more leisurely and lazier and God, so much more intensely. Then she ran like the devil was on her heels. She was terrified. Terrified!

  Cole Roberts made her almost wish for him that he’d win Best Chef. She almost didn’t care if she saved face. And what … the hell … did that mean?

  Chapter Five

  ‘GOOD MORNING, CHEFS,’ KAT Stephens said. She was in a red and black polka dotted dress that made Jill think of Minnie Mouse. All she needed were yellow heels and white gloves.

  And big giant ears … and a tail ...

  For some reason that struck her as hysterical and she had to stifle a laugh. She was giddy. Lack of sleep, stunning sex and late night confessions had all banded together to create a slightly loopy but much calmer version of herself.

  ‘Today we are down to three. By the end of the day we’ll be down to the final two. Are you ready for your mystery ingredient?’

  Jill and Ginger and Cole all nodded in near unison and Kat smiled for the camera more than at them. ‘You may open your grocery sacks.’

  Going by the guest judge who was standing there in overalls and a sleeveless top and a feed cap, Jill was going to have to guess the ingredient was rustic. Something farm-friendly.

  She was right. Inside was …

  ‘The mystery ingredient is corn!’ Kat crowed and Jill had to stifle another laugh at the woman’s apparent glee over the yellow vegetable.

  ‘You have 45 minutes to make this corn sing! And our guest judge, one of the country’s leading corn farmers from Bennett Farms, will help us get to the final two. Your time starts … now!’

  Jill spared one glance at her tall handsome bedmate from the night before and felt a rush of blush in her cheeks. He grinned and her entire body undulat
ed with dirty, dirty memories.

  Focus, woman! Focus!

  He gave her a subtle thumbs up that she knew meant good luck and she smiled at him and nodded wishing him the same. Poor Ginger looked like she might swallow her own tongue or pass out.

  Jill tried to wrangle her galloping mind and focus. Every other time people had done really well or won challenges it was due to evoking a memory in one or more judge. She stood at her station, closed her eyes – cameras be damned – and tried to call up childhood memories of corn.

  Corn … corn … corn … Corn fritters with bacon and maple syrup.

  Jill grinned and when she saw Cole at his station furiously chopping onions and sweet peppers and yes, milking the corn cob for all its sweet opaque juice, her heart gave a little tug.

  That was more than a bit unsettling, but no time for that now …

  She raced to the pantry, dodging her least favourite camera man, Don, who always seemed to be in the way. Grabbing flour and bacon and sugar and all that stuff she turned and raced back.

  Again her eyes shot to Cole and he glanced up just in time to give her a half grin with that lush mouth of his. She remembered kissing it, and how it felt on her skin … her hair … her pussy.

  That tug of lust yanked hard in her pelvis and tummy and she shook her head. But oddly, instead of distracting her from her mission, it seemed to fuel her.

  Go figure.

  ‘Forty minutes left, Chefs,’ Kat said and Jill kicked it into high gear. Setting the corn she’d shaved from the cob down in a pan with sizzling bacon. She too did her best to milk as much of the sugary white liquid from the ear of corn as she could manage.

  While that was all happy in the pan and the corn started to caramelise, she whipped up her batter using some club soda to make it extra fluffy.

  And then it was a blur. Putting sweet sugary corn and excellent, crispy smoked bacon in batter and frying up corn fritters. Locating and plating the individual servings of good Vermont maple syrup. Arranging her fluffy corn fritters on a plate.

  But she’d never sampled and as she raced to the pantry looking for confectioner’s sugar to give the slightest dusting on the red plate, she banged into Cole.