Page 95 of Recipe for Temptation

Incredulous, Reese stared at him. “There was a possibility you weren’t Sterling’s son?”

Michael nodded. “Mom had slept with her boyfriend two nights before he was killed. So, yeah, there was a question about my paternity.”

“That seems impossible. You’re the spitting image of Sterling. Anyone can see that you’re his son.”

His mouth curved in a half smile. “And a paternity test proved that I was.”

“So you’re the reason your parents got married.”

He nodded. “And Marcus is the reason they stayed together for as long as they did. As I learned, their marriage was doomed long before Grant entered the picture.”

“Because she was still in love with her high school sweetheart,” Reese surmised.

“That, and they both felt trapped by their circumstances, forced into a marriage of convenience.” Michael paused, bitterness edging his voice as he added, “Though Mom would never admit it to me or Marcus, we both know she resented Dad being a cop. We were poor, and Grant was able to give her the life Dad never could.”

“Your father doesn’t seem at all resentful,” Reese said quietly. “To look at him and your mother, you’d never suspect that she betrayed him.”

“Dad has a very big, forgiving heart,” Michael said, unmistakable pride in his voice. “As much as he was hurting, he never spoke ill of Mom. He made excuses for her whenever she missed a birthday or an important event in our lives, and he spent years playing peacemaker. In the end I decided that if he could forgive her, so could I.”

Reese gazed tenderly at him. “I’m glad you did. I don’t think anyone should ever underestimate the power of forgiveness.”

Michael nodded. His arm had been resting across her waist. Now his thumb traced an idle pattern on her hip.

Reese hesitated, biting her lower lip. “Can I tell you about a crazy suspicion I’ve had since meeting your parents?”

His thumb stilled. A new guardedness entered his expression. “What?”

“I think it’s possible that, uh, your mother might still have feelings for your father. And I think that’s why she perceives Asha as a threat.”

Michael stared at Reese in a way that made her wish she’d kept her theory to herself. “You’re wrong,” he said with implacable calm.

“What if I’m not?”

“You are. Mom gave up everything to be with Grant. She’s not going to decide, almost thirty years later, that she made a mistake and wants Dad back.”

Reese didn’t know whether he was trying to convince her or himself. Either way, God help Celeste Rutherford if Reese’s suspicions about her were true.

“Anyway,” Michael drawled, his teeth sinking delicately into Reese’s shoulder, “this is supposed to be a romantic moonlight picnic. Enough about my parents.”

Reese cuddled closer, smiling when she felt his cock hardening against her belly. As he began sliding down the length of her body, she purred, “I want another piece of that cake. What’d you call it again?”

“Sweetheart,” Michael murmured, sucking her toe into his mouth, “I got your chocolate orgasm right here.”

Chapter Thirty

The next nine days marked nine of the most blissful days of Reese’s life.

From the moment she and Michael woke up in the morning until they collapsed into each other’s arms at night, they were inseparable. They shopped, planned meals and cooked together. She thoroughly enjoyed working alongside him every day, both on the set of his show and at the restaurant, where he’d taken her under his wing as an unofficial cook. Under his tutelage, Reese was learning a lot about culinary arts and testing out her newfound skills on his willing customers, who got a kick out of being served by Michael’s sassy apprentice.

After a full day of taping and working at the restaurant, they often snuggled in bed together and read heartfelt emails from viewers who couldn’t get enough of their scorching onscreen chemistry. Reese also heard from many of her patients and colleagues, who were excited about her newfound fame and bragged about her to everyone they knew.

But their sizzling performances didn’t stop when the cameras weren’t rolling. They’d christened nearly every corner of Michael’s penthouse and the restaurant, and had even made love on the set after hours—an erotic, mind-blowing interlude that had them both grinning throughout the next day’s taping. They couldn’t get enough of each other.

One evening they babysat for Marcus and Samara. The sight of Michael laughing and roughhousing with his nephews filled Reese with such acute longing that she had to leave the room to compose herself.

A week ago, her family came to town to attend a taping of the show. Having them in the audience had been a special treat for Reese, but she couldn’t help feeling nervous afterward when Michael treated them all to dinner. Her father had liked Victor, had approved of her relationship with him mainly because he was a fellow doctor. He’d been disappointed when they broke up, and she’d worried that he wouldn’t accept the new man in her life.

Over dinner that night, Michael had charmed the pants off her mother and sister. Not by putting on an act, but simply by being himself. Reese had enjoyed his warm and easy camaraderie with Warrick, had enjoyed learning more about his past life as an engineer.

---