Page 11 of Passion and Deception

She looked at the stove and, sure enough, the oven temperature was still set to where she’d left it. When she’d taken the burnt homemade lasagna to her back stoop, she’d forgotten to turn off the oven. So when she’d put the frozen lasagna into the oven to defrost, the temperature had still been hot.

Thinking back, she tried to remember if the heat had hit her in the face when she’d shoved the frozen lasagna into the oven. But for the life of her, she couldn’t remember anything other than her nerves at seeing Ramit soon.

And now she had no dinner to serve him, nothing to impress him with, and her house smelled like burned food! Looking around, she realized that her house was neat and tidy, but the overwhelming description would most likely be “small and smoky”. Would he actually notice the small details that she’d worked so hard on? Or would he only notice the smell?

Maggie didn’t have a chance to contemplate her options because the doorbell rang. For a long moment, she stared at the closed door, knowing that Ramit was on the other side of it.

She must have stared too long at the door because the doorbell rang a second time. With a heavy sigh, she walked over to the door and pulled it open.

As soon as she saw him, tall and handsome, holding a bottle of wine and a bouquet of beautiful flowers, Maggie burst into tears.

Chapter 6

For a long moment, Ramit stared at the crying woman and wondered what he’d done wrong. Stepping into the small house, he pushed the front door closed and dumped the wine and flowers onto the nearby sofa. Then he pulled her into his arms, holding her as he tried to figure out what had upset her.

He didn’t speak for a long moment, not until her sniffles and sobs eased. When she sounded as if she were back in control, he pulled slightly away from her and looked into her tear stained features. “What happened?” he asked softly, ignoring the mascara now streaming down her cheeks. She still looked lovely and he could tell that she’d gone through a great deal of trouble to look nice for him.

He was charmed by her efforts, even though they were unnecessary. Ramit thought she’d looked beautiful the previous few times they’d met up.

“I just…I wanted to make you something special for dinner tonight,” she told him, wiping at her eyes. She pulled out of his arms and grabbed a tissue from the bookcase nearby. She wiped away the tears and the mascara stains, then sighed as she crumpled the tissue in her fist. “I wanted to impress you with my cooking skills.”

“What did you make for dinner?” he asked, trying to stop the smile as her tears erased the powder she’d used to cover up her freckles. She looked so adorable. Besides, he was impressed just by her effort. He didn’t care what they ate. Hell, he doubted he would taste anything as he gazed down at the pretty, pink sundress she’d donned. The straps were wide on her shoulders, but the neckline was lower than what she’d worn for their previous dates. It wasn’t revealing, but offered him a hint of the cleavage he would find underneath the pretty fabric. And the enticing shadow between her breasts was making his mouth water.

She sniffed as she looked down at the crumpled tissue. “I spent all morning making lasagna. It looked perfect until I put it in the oven.”

He was confused. “What happened to the lasagna?”

She shrugged, tearing at the tissue now. “The first one is out on the back stairs.”

He remembered his guard mentioning something being on the back porch. Taking her hand, he led her through the small house. It was simple enough to find the kitchen since there were only four rooms in the house; a kitchen, living area, and two bedrooms.

The backdoor was closed, but there was a window covered by a pretty, flowered curtain. As he peered out through the window, he saw a black rectangle that was in no way recognizable as food. “Is that the lasagna?” he asked gently, still holding her hand.

She sighed, looking deflated, but at least she’d wiped her teary mascara away with the tissue. “That’s the first one.”

Startled, he looked around. He loved Italian food, although lasagna wasn’t his favorite. It was generally too heavy on the pasta without enough sauce for his preference. But he wasn’t going to tell her that. “Where’s the second one?” he asked, looking around.

Maggie’s shoulder drooped as she sighed. Then slowly, she pointed at the garbage can. He walked over to it and pressed his foot against the bottom lever. The top popped open and he looked down at…another blackened rectangle. This one was in a paper-like container, and underneath, he noticed the box.

Turning his head, he looked at her. “You threw this one away?”

Maggie’s whole body sighed. “I didn’t realize that the oven was still on. So I didn’t notice that it was cooking while I finished getting ready.” She pointed towards the fridge, sudden hope on her features now. “There’s salad!”

He couldn’t help himself. He valiantly tried to hide his amusement, but it was hard when she looked so delightfully crestfallen. Pulling her into his arms, he kissed the top of her head. “I’m so sorry that the lasagna didn’t work out, but I would be more than happy to make a phone call and have dinner delivered.”

Maggie laughed and hiccupped at the same time. “You don’t have to do that.”

“It would be my honor.”

She shook her head, stopping his hand when he pulled his cell phone out, ready to dial a number.

“No! Goodness, don’t do that! It will be crazy expensive!”

Ramit lowered his phone to look at her, confused. “Maggie, I promise I can afford to have dinner delivered.”

She scoffed with a pretty snort. “Ramit, I’m sure that it’s every man’s claim that he’s drenched in money, but I don’t want you to waste your limited funds by having food delivered. The delivery fees are outrageous!” She sniffed, then walked over to the fridge. “I’ll make something else.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I promise I am a very good cook, all evidence to the contrary. I can just…!”

Ramit heard her words, stunned by what she was saying. Maggie thought he was poor! She thought he was so hard up on funds that he couldn’t afford to have a meal delivered. And yet, she still wanted to impress him! She still wanted to be with him even though she thought he was a pauper!

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