“I think so. And I thank you for the compliment. I promise not to take it personally.”
“Thank you. For not making this more embarrassing. If you don’t care, I’m just going to dunk my head and try to forget we ever spoke. Have a good afternoon,” she said and pushed herself off the side and into the pool. The crystal blue water swallowed her whole. He watched the blur of her golden hair, the dark form of her swimsuit as she pushed off the bottom and kicked across the pool, her pale legs scissoring through the shimmering water. She had dismissed him as perfunctorily as if she’d been a headmistress and he a recalcitrant schoolboy. For someone who seemed baffled in his presence, she certainly didn’t lack confidence. In fact, she was rather formidable, sending him on his way like that. It electrified him and did nothing to assuage the interest he’d felt a spark with her.
Chapter 5
Her first week on the job was a whirlwind. She emailed Greta her W2 and insurance forms and got started. After the encounter by the pool, Bella didn’t see her boss again. She was busy learning the standards and schedule of the house and then she got her first paycheck and was blown away by the fact that the money she cleared each week was on top of full health and dental coverage and her room and board with the pool. The chef, the actual chef, served the staff meals, and there had been a fabulous dessert every night. Mrs. Marks told her that Fabrice had studied at Le Cordon Bleu and had even apprenticed at Stohrer, the famous patisserie in Paris. Bella had certainly never been to Paris, but if they made little cakes like that in France, she would weigh three hundred pounds in no time if she ever visited there.
The first night there had been a delicate layered wedge of sponge cake filled with raspberry cream. Then came an orange dessert with light whipped cream and flower blossoms on top as a garnish. But last, oh last on Friday night was a lemon cake that ruined Bella for every other dessert in her life. She used to think that ice cream sundaes were good. This cake, sweet and tangy and impossibly light, made ice cream seem like sawdust in comparison.
She woke up in the night fantasizing about the slightly sour bite of the creamy glaze. It was past one in the morning when she threw off her covers and crept in her flip-flops across the property and into the kitchen to see if there was a slice left from supper. She opened the door cautiously, careful not to make a noise. She slipped to the refrigerator and eased the door open. As the light spilled across the room, she gasped. There at the table was Harvey, eating a sandwich.
“You can’t sleep either?” he said with amusement in his voice.
Her heart seemed caught in her throat. “I was—looking for cake. I didn’t know anyone would be in here. I’m sorry to bother you. I’ll just be on my way.”
“No, you’re welcome to come in here for a snack. Please, join me. Which cake is it that you’re looking for?” Harvey asked.
“The lemon cake. Don’t tell me you don’t remember it!”
“I was out this evening. I rarely eat sweets, though. I’m glad you liked it. Fabrice loves making desserts, and I’m afraid I’m a dismal audience for his talents. I have no enthusiasm for sugar.”
“I do! This cake, oh you have to try it. I mean, you may think you don’t like cake, but that’s just because you haven’t tried this one,” she said, reaching into the refrigerator for the last slice. A wedge of soft white cake layered with icy pale yellow lemon filling and a light creamy glaze. Her mouth actually watered just looking at it.
Bella placed it on the table and pressed her fork into the yielding softness of the cake, watching the rest of the slice spring back as she tugged the first bite away from the wedge. She held the fork out to Harvey, “Here, you get the first bite,” she offered.
“I’m fine. You enjoy it.”
“You’ll be better than fine when I’m done with you. I mean, the cake. It’s good. You’ll like it,” she said, cursing herself for babbling around him every single time.
Harvey leaned forward and ate off the fork she held, letting her feed him. She watched his perfect mouth in the dim light, watched him capture the melting morsel of cake, and her legs felt week. She wanted to sink down into a chair or onto a bed with Harvey on top of her. Her cheeks flamed at the realization that feeding him that bite of cake had been the most erotic thing she’d ever seen.
“Mmm. That is good,” he said, “Thank you.”
Flustered, Bella cut a huge bite and stuffed it in her mouth, unthinking. She needed something to do with her mouth besides kiss him or bite him or whatever her stupid brain had just come up with.
She finished the bite of cake and crossed to the sink for a drink of water, and to put some distance between them. The confusion of it, of this attraction was too much for Bella. She couldn’t imagine that he felt anything for her. He just caused this reaction in women indiscriminately, she was sure. Bella, being young and inexperienced, was probably more susceptible to his allure than more sophisticated women.
“How was your first week at the compound?” he asked conversationally.
“It was good. Busy,” she said, “And obviously I got to meet the true love of my life. This cake!”
She giggled, and he gave her a half-smile.
“Fabrice will be thrilled to hear it. He’s quite vain.”
“He has a reason to be. This is a bigger accomplishment than any symphony. To make something like this—wel
l, for this, I’d totally do the supply chain logistics just to make sure the guy has enough flour to make an endless supply of these cakes.”
“He doesn’t sell them commercially. They’re only available through me,” he said.
“Is that how you seduce girlfriends? Let them taste this cake and then say the only way to access it is through you?” she said, “Because I bet it would work.”
“Strangely, I’ve never had to bribe anyone with cake to get them into bed.”
“I can see why, but if your charm ever fails, use the cake to close the deal,” she advised.
“I’ll be sure to keep a ready supply just in case.”