Page 23 of The Naughty Virgin

“Mmm, that smells good,” I moaned as Stone pulled a roast chicken out of the oven. The skin was crackling brown, juices pooling in the tray and as he set it on the counter, a heavenly aroma of savory spice enveloped me, my mouth watering.

“Get back to your washing,” he commanded with a quirk of a smile, “the chicken’s gotta cool before it can be served, so focus on the carrots.”

And I smiled back before turning to the veggies once more. Because I love a man who can cook and Stone had just pulled a rabbit out of a hat, I would never have guessed that he was a master chef.

But the big man wasn’t done with the surprises yet. With a special knife, he flicked off the tops of the carrots and then julienned them, throwing them into a glass pan before seasoning them with all sorts of spices.

“We need a little Himalayan sea salt, a little cracked pepper, and hmmm, maybe some thyme,” he murmured as his deft fingers sprinkled ingredients over the orange tips. And I watched, amazed as the everyday vegetables went from plain jane to amazing, something that complemented the roast chicken perfectly, providing balance, flavor and depth to the meal.

And after it was all ready, I dug in greedily. I was so hungry that I hardly noticed the steps Stone had taken, lighting candles, putting out fancy linens, real silverware and fine wine. It was so good that I moaned with my first bite of chicken, eyes closed while chewing, pure heaven in my mouth.

“Ohhh mmmm,” I hummed. “This is amazing.”

Stone just growled across the table from me.

“And baby, I want you to eat,” he commanded. “You’re too thin.

Too thin? I was a size twelve on a good day, my curves sassy and spreading with each month. If I wasn’t careful I’d be a fourteen or sixteen soon.

But Stone read my mind.

“Yeah you’re too thin,” he growled. “You’d look even better if you put on twenty pounds, put some real flesh on you.”

I gasped.

“Twenty pounds!” I giggled. “I’ll be sticking out to there if I do,” I said, holding my hand in front of my girls about another foot.

And Stone’s eyes just turned hungry.

“So what if you do?” he asked. “The more of you to love, to taste, to fuck.”

And I gasped.

“Dirty language at the table, Professor?” I cooed coyly.

“With you, baby girl, always,” he rumbled, eyes hungry, big body already rock solid.

But the meal didn’t devolve into innuendos. If anything, Stone and I had amazing conversation, we were a really great match with similar interests and ideas.

“Where’d you get this?” I asked, taking the wine bottle in hand, gazing at the label questioningly. It was something really fancy with a name I couldn’t pronounce, Chateau D’Yquem. How do you say that? DEE-keem? De-KEM? It was expensive for sure, the label in elegant script with an etching of a crown.

Stone paused a moment.

“France,” was all he said.

“Oh you were in France?” I asked. “I’m hoping to go sometime, maybe in the next couple years. It’ll be so fun, I love pastries and I hear every other shop in Le Marais is a bakery,” I licked my lips slightly.

Stone was silent for a moment, watching the flicker of my tongue, mesmerized before replying.

“You’ve never been?” he asked casually, leaning back in his chair, that big form relaxed, sated from the food.

“Nope, never,” I replied, patting my lips delicately. “It’s expensive. Plane tickets out to Europe are now six hundred minimum and I have to save for college and all that. But,” I said with a shy smile, “I’ve wanted to go to Paris so bad since I was a little girl, you know meet my Prince Charming on top of the Eiffel Tower.”

And the big man smiled at me tenderly, reaching forward to push a tendril of my hair behind my ear.

“You will,” he murmured throatily. “A girl as beautiful as you will absolutely meet her Prince Charming one day.”

And I was a little stung because it didn’t sound right. Wasn’t Stone supposed to proclaim, “Oh, I’m your Prince Charming, I’m going to carry you off into the sunset, come with me on my white horse?” Instead, it sounded like he was saying, “You’re a sweet little girl and Prince Charming is coming, but it’s not me.”

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