Page 45 of Empowered
He stood out of the way, gesturing for her to enter.
The scent of dinner hit her right away. Again, she expected a certain level of quality. Lucas Blackbourne was a son of privilege and used to having things a certain way. Of course dinner would be to die for. What Sarah never once expected was the fact it didn’t come from takeout or food prepared by a chef while Lucas was out that day. Not if the burning stove and loads of ingredients across the marble countertops had anything to say about it.
“You… cook?” Sarah sat on one of the stools at the island counter in the middle of the open-concept kitchen.
“Surprised?” Lucas turned down one of the burners and removed the wok that was atop it. “I love cooking. My biggest wish is always having more people to cook for. You should have seen what I made your bosses for dinner last weekend.”
Sorry to have missed it.Not really. The Monroes had a professional chef who cooked their meals for them every day. The special diet Mrs. Monroe followed was enough to give Sarah a headache. “I have to admit, I’m not used to seeing these kitchens in these places actually used.”
“I was an anomaly growing up, to be sure.” Only then did Sarah realize that Lucas had changed his clothing as well. No more suit and tie. Jeans. Tight, perfectly-fitted jeans that showed off his hard ass. But Sarah was more aroused by the black turtleneck stretching across his flexing muscles whenever he moved this dish or turned this piece of food over. He must have known how hot he was. Even his five-o-clock shadow graced his face perfectly. Hell, the color was the same as the sweater! Everything matched! Damn him. “But I spent a lot of time in the kitchen as a kid since the family chef also doubled as my Swedish tutor. You pick things up.”
“Of course you know Swedish.”
“I’m Danish. You’re right. Of course I know Swedish. And some Icelandic, and some Norwegian.” Lucas presented her with a glass of red wine. “But no Finnish. Fuck that mess.”
Sarah didn’t mean to giggle. She never giggled, especially not in front of men. Giggling was a sign of comfort and lowered guards.
More food than she could possibly eat appeared before her. Stir-fry with the freshest vegetables and the crunchiest noodles. Salad as thick as the fog outside. Garlic bread that was more carbs and butter than crust. Sarah was going to be so bloated that Lucas would decide for sure if he found her hot.My round face is the first thing to go.
“To be fair,” Lucas said, “I didn’t buy the ingredients. That’s why we have assistants.”
Was that supposed to be a cute joke? “I occasionally buy groceries for my boss, yes.”
Lucas sat across from her, his nose already in his wineglass. “A toast?”
“To what?”
“Who cares?”
They toasted to absolutely nothing. The wine was the only thing to turn out exactly as Sarah expected: succulent and aromatic. It complemented the stir-fry and garlic bread almost perfectly. Lucas may not have been a professional sommelier, but he grew up in a family that surely appreciated the finer and more expensive luxuries. Wonderful wine and how to pair it with equally succulent food was up on that list.
“Hope you like it. It’s my own recipe. Might even say it’s my best one.”
“All this trouble for me, hm?”
“Trouble?” Lucas put his glass down before he choked on his sip of wine. “Trouble?I’ve spent the past two weeks trying to get you to have a date with me, and you’re calling this trouble?”
“I still don’t understand what you fancy so much about me, besides my body, I suppose.”
“Give yourself more credit.” Lucas looked away. “Although your body helps, of course.”
He said it so good-humoredly that Sarah couldn’t take offense.I rather hate how comfortable I am around him now.Why did Lucas Blackbourne have to be like this? Sarah knew how to handle men more like her boss – aloof and standoffish. No wonder Damon Monroe and Lucas were such close friends. Like the wine complemented the food, those two men’s personalities complemented each other as well.
“You know how this looks,” Sarah said. “If Mr. Monroe found out about this…”
Lucas held his hand up. “He won’t. I haven’t said a word about it. I told him I had a date tonight, but not with whom. I only told him that much so he would leave me the hell alone and not call me at nine withideas.Goodness. You’d think getting married would have given him a bigger life than he had before.”
“You really don’t know what it was like before, honestly.” Mr. Monroe called his assistants a lot less often now.
“You probably do have a better idea than I do now, this is true. I mostly knew him in college. Even back then he was still a workaholic who would blow off his drinking buddies to do more research or take one of our professors out for dinner. Not as a date, mind you, but to pick their brains. Can you believe it?”
“I can, actually.” Mr. Monroe had his wild streak like any other billionaire heir, and God knew he kept his dick perpetually wet whenever a convenient opportunity presented itself, but he also valued people’s time. If someone intelligent crossed his path, he’d pick that brain above fucking it away. “What about you? Are you the kind of heir who picks pussy over power?”
“Always.” He said it so promptly and with such a mischievous twinkle in his eye that Sarah knew he was more facetious than some of the young interns who walked into work.
“Figures. That’s why you conduct business in sex clubs.”
“You must know better than most women that ‘sex clubs’ are some of the most relaxing, mostprivateplaces to hold an after-business conference. Plus, my associates and I are European. We’re not fazed, unlike you uptight Americans.”
