“I know how to cook.”
Addison clapped her hand to her chest.
“Be still, my heart.”
“Just tell me what you want for breakfast, or lunch, or whatever in heck this meal is, and I’ll go down to the kitchen and put it together.”
“Hmm. How about pancakes?”
“How about Jake Wilde’s famous scrambled eggs and onions? Or Jake Wilde’s dee-licious fried cheese sandwiches? See, the real confession is that I can cook, but only those two things.”
She laughed.
“Okay, your turn. You have to confess something to me.”
You’re wonderful, she thought, but she didn’t have the courage. Besides, she knew it had to be something that would make him laugh.
“My name isn’t Addison.”
Jake touched the tip of her nose with his finger.
“No?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Huh. What is it, then? And how come you changed it?”
“If I were to tell you what it is, you’d understand why I changed it.”
“What’s this ‘if’ stuff, McDowell? You’re supposed to be telling me something here, not just telling me your name isn’t Addison.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“They are, huh?” His smile turned masculine and sexy; he pushed her back on the bed and kissed her mouth. “Well,” he said softly, “I guess I’ll just have to find a way to unseal them.”
She let him do just that. Then she smiled and linked her hands behind his neck.
“Okay. You’ve worked your magic. Bend down so I can whisper my secret.”
Jake complied. He put his ear against her lips … and, suddenly, what she was about to tell him didn’t seem so funny anymore.
Nobody knew her real name. Why would she admit it to him?
“You don’t have to tell me,” he said.
“No?”
“No. Because I figured it out. Your real name is Rumpelstiltskin.”
That did it. She laughed. And said, “My name is Adoré.”
Jake didn’t laugh.
“Adoré,” he said softly. “Adoré,” he said again, as he gathered her to him. “It’s a beautiful name, sweetheart. Almost as beautiful as you.”
She blushed.
“You think?” she said with girlish delight, and he tumbled her back against the pillows.