His to Taste (12 page)

Hauling myself back up onto the bed, I accidentally bumped an elbow into the deliciously warm, slumbering object of my nocturnal fiddling. He grunted, and sleepily tugged me back against his long frame. I let myself relax into his comforting strength, and stared into the darkness.

Grandma’s timely email also reminded me of why I was even here with Mr. Cochran in the first place. Despite his reassurances that our lessons would have repercussions on our professional relationship, how could I really be sure that he would keep his word? As spectacular as tonight had been, the focus for the remainder of my employment had to be on earning my paycheck to get us through until my next permanent position.

I would never forgive myself if I allowed my selfish desires to interfere with providing for Grandma. Tonight’s taste of bliss would have to sustain me until I was in the right frame of mind for a real relationship.

I indulged in a few more minutes of breathing in his masculine scent and luxuriating in his warmth, until I forced myself to slink out of his bed. Sighing wistfully, I quickly gathered up my clothes and tiptoed back to my room. Shivering under the cold blankets, I curled into myself and took a deep, fortifying breath.

Tomorrow required that I retreat back into my original role, and pretend that my mind hadn’t been blown by the most amazing sexual experience of my life to date. Tonight, however, I could fall asleep to the lovely images of Jake Cochran’s lessons, with my thighs still damp, and my smiling lips still swollen from his ardent kisses.

CHAPTER FIVE

The next morning, I jerked awake with the realization that I had slept through my alarm.
Shit.
Quickly freshening up, I threw on my usual staid uniform, and hustled down into the kitchen to see if I had a starving, angry boss waiting for me at the dinner table. There was an empty cereal bowl in the sink and a leftover pot of coffee, but there was no sign of Mr. Cochran.

I checked the rest of the house, tentatively poking my head into each room, but was met with silence. The nook in the library looked particularly inviting, and I couldn’t resist basking in the warm, sunny rays by the large windows. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some movement in the garden.

Lounging on the hammock and furiously tapping away on his laptop, Mr. Cochran looked like he was on the set of a commercial. Whatever the ad was selling, I knew I would have happily bought two of whatever this man was hawking. His brow was slightly furrowed as his fingers flew across the keyboard, and I silently cursed him for only wearing soft gray sweatpants and nothing else. His laptop was propped on top of his chiseled belly.

An image of those magical fingers suddenly flashed through my mind, and I felt an answering quiver in my own tummy. Why did I have to be employed by the only man who could inspire such lust within me? I wanted to run my fingers through all of that rich brown hair glinting in the sun, and I could so easily picture myself knocking over his laptop to straddle those lean hips.

“Lynn!”

His muffled call yanked me out of my lustful reverie when I realized that he had caught me staring at him, and was motioning for me to come outside. He flashed me a lazy grin, and I steeled myself against the seductive pull.
Boundaries
, I thought.
Mounting bills. Grandma’s disapproval. Boundaries, damn it!
I waved back at him, pasted on a polite smile, and nodded briskly.

Squaring my shoulders, I purposefully marched out to the backyard, and stood a few feet away from him. “Good morning, sir,” I said. “Is there anything that I may fetch for you?”

I watched him from beneath my lashes and waited nervously for his response. I saw a look of confusion flash across his features, but he quickly smoothed away his slight frown. He set his laptop aside, and stretched languidly. Swallowing audibly, I forced myself to stare at the foot of the hammock instead of the expanse of tanned male flesh.

“Thank you, but I’m fine,” he said. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?” He swept his gaze up my stiffly held body, watching my face carefully. “Are you alright?”

“I’m okay, sir,” I said, clasping my hands demurely in front of me. “But I think I should clarify a couple things.”

He leaned forward, offering his hand. “Of course, but why don’t you come sit down and relax? What’s making you look so terribly glum?”

I quickly lurched a step back before I was tempted to launch myself at him. “If it’s all the same to you, sir, I’d rather not,” I said hastily. “I want to thank you for…um…last night, but I think it’s best if we resumed our professional relationship again. This job is so important to me, and I just can’t get caught up in anything that would interfere with fulfilling my duties.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but I threw up my hand to silence him. “Also,” I said, hesitantly. “I suppose that since you’re my first sexual partner, I need to ask you if you…um…have had any tests for…um…anything. You should know that I’m on birth control pills to regulate my cycle, but other than that, I’ve never…um…I don’t…”

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he made no move toward me, and I was grateful for that. “I understand,” he said. “I just had my annual check up and I’ve been given a clean bill of health. I suppose we should have had that talk before our lessons last night, and I’m glad that you brought it up. Just know that you have my word that your job will never be threatened by anything that we do together. However, if you change your mind, you know I’d be happy to oblige.” His lips curved into a wolfish grin, but he sent me a teasing wink.

I couldn’t help returning his smile, and I felt my spine unstiffen a tiny bit. “Thank you, Mr. Cochran,” I said. “I’ll be sure to let you know in my own way if I ever want another lesson.”

He gathered up his laptop, and gracefully swung out of the hammock. “Let’s start over again.” I tensed back up when he approached me, but relaxed when he gently took my hand, giving me a firm handshake.

“Why don’t you send me your final proposal for the dinner plan, and you can take the next two days off? We’ll have a fresh start when you return. I’ll be on my best behavior, scout’s honor.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me, and I giggled.

“Yes, sir,” I grinned. “Thank you, sir!”

He held the door open for me, and followed me back into the house. “Go eat your breakfast, and then let me know when you’ve finalized the plans. Scoot!”

Laughing, I gave him a saucy salute, and strolled into the kitchen as he headed to his office. I grabbed myself a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal to take upstairs into my room. The faster I finalized my menu proposal, the faster I could escape to regroup. I sent Julia a quick text to see if she could meet me for dinner since I was desperate for some face time. For once in my life, I could finally chat with my best friend about my torrid sexual exploits…or rather, my single exploit.

After a few bites of granola, I settled cross-legged on my bed, and turned on my laptop. I opened the document from my desktop, and pulled up my notes to consider each of my ideas again. Based on Mr. Cochran’s feedback about his guests, I had pulled up healthy options, like caprese salad, lemon pepper shrimp over pasta, and shortcake with fresh fruit. Although he had brushed off this dinner party as something casual, it was still important to represent him well as his employee. His guest list included his publisher, his publisher’s wife, a potential producer, and an actress slated to star in his upcoming movie. I knew I wasn’t just going to slap some sloppy joes on a platter to offer his colleagues, but my lack of professional training was still worrisome. With the menu being primarily vegetarian-based, I was hoping that it would be palatable for all of the guests. It would be easy enough to omit the shrimp if anyone objected.

After a few editing tweaks, I finalized the menu and made a mental note to email the attachment to Mr. Cochran later. Since I was just going to email it to him directly, I didn’t bother with creating a separate folder, and only saved it on my desktop under “Ideas.” As a courtesy, I always tried to refrain from bothering him while he was writing. It would be easy enough to move it later into the proper folder when I wasn’t rushing to head out for a break.

Beep
.

I checked my phone, and grinned when I saw Julia’s text. She suggested that I meet her for happy hour at our favorite Mexican restaurant for our usual shared plate of nachos and pitchers of sangria. Excellent! If I pulled out one of my frozen lasagnas to thaw, and prepped a big bowl of salad, then Mr. Cochran should be fine. I would have plenty of time to check in on Grandma before hitting happy hour with Julia.

With visions of gooey, cheesy nachos and sweet sangria on my mind, I had an extra bounce to my step when I hurried down the kitchen to prep. Once I finished, I wrote out a list of basic directions for him to follow to heat up his food for the rest of the day. I was probably overthinking everything, but it didn’t hurt to make things easier for him, especially if he wasn’t in the mood for picking up takeout, or dealing with pizza delivery boys.

I had just wiped down the counters when my phone rang. I quickly answered when I saw it was Grandma. “Hi, Grandma,” I said, hastily drying off my hands. “Is everything okay? Are you alright?”

“Hello, dear!” She sounded like her usual self, and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “I’m just fine, but I was worried about you.”

“Me,” I asked. “I’m okay, Grandma. Why do you ask?”

“Well,” she said. “Mrs. Rowland and I didn’t hear back from you when she sent you that e-mail, and I was concerned. You usually respond right away, dear.” The recrimination in her voice was slight, but I definitely picked up on it as I always did.

“I’m sorry,” I sighed. “I was distracted by work and I had completely forgotten to write you back. It didn’t seem like there was anything urgent in the e-mail.”

“Just the same, though, dear, I was worried. Are you sure that you’re not getting overworked? Maybe I should come out there and visit you. You already gave me the address for emergencies, and it would be easy enough for Mrs. Rowland to take me there, you know.”

Oh, shit.

“No, no,” I quickly interjected. “Everything is fine! Honest. In fact, I’m just about to head out—he gave me two days off.” I bit back a frustrated groan, and quickly grabbed my purse as I headed out the front door. “I’ll be home in about twenty minutes! See you then! I love you!”

I was already settling into my car when I realized that I hadn’t said goodbye to Mr. Cochran yet. Since he was still probably working, it was less intrusive for me to just shoot him a text. As I started texting, it suddenly occurred to me that I had left my laptop in my bedroom, but more importantly, I had completely forgotten to send him my menu proposal. I was about to race back into the house, but I was nervous that Grandma would get impatient if I didn’t show up in exactly twenty minutes. The thought of her meeting Mr. Cochran was enough to twist my stomach into knots.
Ugh
. I definitely wasn’t ready for my two worlds to collide yet…if ever.

Hi, Mr. Cochran. I don’t want to interrupt, but I just wanted to let you know that I’m heading out now. I forgot to email you my thoughts. Please feel free to look it up on my laptop in my bedroom. I saved it on the desktop so it should be easy to find. I think you’ll be pleased with my suggestions. Thanks again!

Satisfied that it was the best I could do under the circumstances, I headed west on the 101, and sped back home to intercept any of Grandma’s potential attempts to meddle. When I pulled up, I was grateful to see Mrs. Rowland’s car in the driveway. I could always count on her to distract Grandma during her rants, and it was already a foregone conclusion that she had probably prevented Grandma from knocking on Mr. Cochran’s front door that morning.

They were sharing some tea and cake at the kitchen table, and I gave them both a quick hug before settling down with my own mug and plate.

“What a treat to finally see you, dear,” said Grandma, around a bite of lemon cake.

“I’m happy to see you both, too,” I said. “But Grandma, please don’t feel as if you have to check up on me there. I’d rather keep my professional life separate from my personal life.” I sent her an imploring look over my mug.

“Why, Lynn Strickland, are you telling me that you’re ashamed of me?” She pursed her thin lips in a way that I had always dreaded as a kid.

Mrs. Rowland and I both started talking over each other to soothe her feathers, and I appreciated her help. I let her finish talking, and kept my face neutral to keep from riling up Grandma any further.

“Now, Betty,” said Mrs. Rowland. “Lynn loves you! You know that, don’t you? But this is her job, and we can’t just go poking around there whenever we feel like it. Let her do her work.” She winked at me encouragingly, and I flashed her a grateful smile.

“Grandma,” I said. “We all know very well that you’d charm the pants off of my boss.” A vision of a naked Mr. Cochran flashed through my mind, and I caught myself before I stuttered.

“Um…but like Mrs. Rowland said, it makes things more complicated if I don’t keep up my professional boundaries. It’s a unique situation because my workplace is literally in my boss’ home; it’s not like I have an office space for you to swing by for lunch.”

She seemed mollified by my explanation, and I gave her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze. I busied myself with re-filling all of our mugs, waiting anxiously for her response.