The smoke detector starts blaring loudly. Victoria jumps off the counter and races over to where the chicken is burning on the stovetop while I fan the smoke away from the smoke detector.
She thinks I would hurt her. She’s right. I’ve made too many mistakes in the past when it comes to Victoria to be given a second chance. One big mistake comes to mind. When she finds out about it, she will never forgive me. But there would be nothing to forgive if she never found out.
We could start over. This could be our fresh start. It will be complicated with the whole Lily situation, but I’ve never wanted a woman more than I want Victoria.
“So, I lied. I can’t cook,” Victoria says, dumping the pan into the sink.
I grin before softly kissing her on the lips. “You are an amazing woman with plenty of skills, but no, cooking isn’t one of them. Good thing I can cook.”
She smiles, oblivious to my plan. She’s already mine, and she doesn’t even know it yet. I won’t ever hurt her again. I just have to find a way to prove it.
11
Victoria
I step out of the bathroom after a long night of sex with Carter. Sex in the kitchen. Sex in the living room. Sex in the bedroom. Followed by sleeping hard in his arms. It was a night I would love to repeat over and over again till the end of time.
I can’t though. Today, it has to stop.
I walk into the kitchen to make coffee and a piece of toast, but I quickly change my plans when I see Carter standing in the kitchen with a large grin on his face. I just need to get out of here as fast as possible and grab breakfast on the way.
I walk around the island to grab my briefcase before heading out, but Carter blocks my way.
“Really? This is your genius plan—block my path out of here so that I have to talk to you?”
He smirks and pulls out the barstool at the counter. “My plan is to feed you a real breakfast while I convince you that this can work.”
I glance over at the plate. The smells hit my nostrils all at once. Pancakes, bacon, and eggs. I’ve never eaten so much food for breakfast at one time. But he went all out.
I sigh as I take a seat and begin to dig into the food that Carter prepared for me.
“How is it?”
“Delicious,” I say, annoyed that he can cook so well. It’s just pancakes, I remind myself. But they are the best pancakes I’ve ever had.
“Good.”
I shovel another bite into my mouth. “So, your plan is to cook delicious food for me so that I’ll forget about everything else and do everything you want?”
He shrugs.
“It’s working,” I say with a sigh.
He grins as he takes his fork and tries to get a bite off my plate. I stab his hand with my fork.
“Ow.”
“This is mine.”
He laughs and leans back. “Fine. But you’re mine.”
I almost choke on the food in my mouth. I swallow quickly and take a drink of coffee to wash down the rest.
“I’m not your anything, Carter. I’m your coworker; that’s it.”
“A coworker who has had sex with me how many times now?” he says with his grin that makes me want to do anything for him.
“We can’t keep doing this.”