Page 30 of Sweet Temptation

Yeah, okay, he wanted more with her. He wanted it all with Meg, but would he ever be good enough for someone as special as her? Damned if he didn’t want to try, to be the guy to give her everything she needed.

What are you going to do about this, dude?

“Hey,” Theo said as he crossed the room to stand before John, his back poker straight. “What’s going on?”

He rubbed his hands over his face. While he wanted to talk to his friend, tell him the truth, this was not the time and place for a scene. “What’s going on is I’m starving.”

Theo’s gaze slowly left John’s to take in the trays, and then lifted again, a mixture of concern and skepticism on his face. “John, listen—”

“Handsome and strong.” Jada—was that her name?—materialized at his side, cutting off Theo as she reached out and cupped John’s biceps, her touch awfully familiar considering they’d just met. Theo’s mouth snapped shut, his teeth clicking with an audible snap. While John felt a whip crack of irritation at the younger woman’s forwardness, he was grateful for the interruption.

“You saved us the trouble of lifting all these bad boys tomorrow.” A corner of her red-painted lips curled upward. Seriously, who wore red lipstick to work in a kitchen? “I think that deserves some sort of reward...don’t you?”

“No reward needed.” John forced a laugh past his lips. Christ, where had Meg found this girl? “Happy to help.”

Beside him, Theo visibly relaxed, his suspicion simmering down from a full boil as Jada leaned forward over the island, propping herself up on her elbows. This, of course, gave John a full view of her cleavage, barely encased in a black lace bra.

Just a week ago, he might have taken a moment to appreciate the view, since it was freely offered. Now? All he could think of was the ripe weight of Meg’s glorious tits in his hands as he thrust into her from behind.

Even though he’d just had her, the memory had his cock taking notice.

Down, boy. Though if he grew a boner right now, Theo would probably assume it was because of the woman desperate to snag his attention.

At least her laser-focused attention seemed to ease any lingering doubts Theo held about why John had disappeared with Meg for... How long had they been back there? It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes. It was strange, being part of a group of people who noticed when others weren’t around.

If Jada had any idea that he’d just fucked her boss in the storage bay, she didn’t seem to care. She sank her teeth into her lower lip as she looked at John, and when she opened her mouth to speak, he winced at the thought of what might come out of it this time.

When had sexually aggressive women started to make him nervous? Not so long ago, they’d been his catnip, even if this one was a little on the young side. What wasn’t to like about a woman who knew what she wanted and went after it?

But right now, he only cared about what one particular woman wanted.

“Excuse me, please.” Meg stepped back into the kitchen, her hair now smoothed back into a neat ponytail. She cast a pointed look at the three of them leaning on the island. “Theo and John, get away from my oven. Jada, you were off forty-five minutes ago. What are you still doing here?”

Jada opened her mouth to reply, but the look Meg shot her left no room for argument. John barely hid his laugh as the younger woman, clearly afraid of her boss, scurried away. Theo wandered off to rejoin Jo, but John stayed, watching as Meg bent to open the oven.

When she turned around, a pan holding something with the yeasty scent of homemade bread in her hands, she stopped short when she caught him ogling her.

“Your apron is crooked,” he whispered, making her cheeks flush. Flustered, she set the pan down on the island, then tried to straighten it with oven mitts still on her hands.

Casting a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure no one was paying attention, he slid a hand into his pocket to run his fingers over the panties contained within. Meg tracked the movement with her eyes, her flush deepening from rose to crimson when she realized what he was doing.

“Stop it!” She reached for a sharp knife, arching an eyebrow at him pointedly.

He was a smart man. He wasn’t going to argue with a woman armed with a knife. To distract himself from the fact that he and he alone knew she was naked beneath the hem of that flirty little dress, he watched as she cut the loaf of bread into uniform slices.

Curious, he wandered over to the massive pot that simmered on the stove. It was full of a creamy liquid, and when he inhaled the steam, he identified it as clam chowder.

Comfort food. The kind a family shared when they gathered. The kind he’d never had as a kid.

His mouth watered, and it wasn’t just hunger for the food.

The Marchandes were the closest he’d ever come to being part of a family. He’d never, not once in his adult life, admitted to wanting the responsibility that came with belonging to other people, but right now, as he looked from Meg to her family, he felt another shocking truth force itself to the surface.

He would want Meg no matter what, whether she had this big family or was all alone in the world like him.

But...he didn’t hate the fact that the family was there. And Jesus, had he hit his head?

No. He hadn’t. He’d changed—and he’d changed because of Meg.

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