Page 73 of Under Daddy's Spell

To the right was the patio he’d mentioned. She crossed to the door that opened onto it and looked out at the table with the gold-and-black striped umbrella. It would be the perfect spot for their mimosas at sunrise.

“The house is amazing.”

She felt it when he came up behind her. “You can’t see the dock in the dark, but it’s there, along with 250 feet of lake frontage. The house sits on two acres and has six bedrooms and eight baths.”

He had double the bedrooms and four times the bathrooms she did; keeping up with it while working full-time would be a lot. “Hopefully, you have help keeping it clean.”

“I have a service, yes.”

“It’s a lot for one person, isn’t it?”

“I grew up in a big family and hoped to have one of my own someday.”

He’d mentioned four sisters. “Big, as in five kids?”

“I’d settle for three or four.”

As an only child, Tessa had always longed for a sister to confide in. She had never really thought about a brother unless one of the kids at school picked on her. Then she longed for someone older, bigger, and stronger, who would stick up for her and kick bully ass, if needed.

She imagined suppertime, the table crowded with Mom and Dad and the kids, all laughing and talking at once, which was a departure from her own childhood. Her mother was soft-spoken, unless her dad brought what he was reading to the supper table.

Jordan slid his arms around her waist from behind. Angling his head to the side, he dotted gentle kisses along her jaw, down the side of her neck, and below her ear.

“I have orange juice, strawberries, and champagne chilling. Sunrise is at 6:01 in the morning if you’re still game?”

“For me, that’s sleeping in. Besides, I’ve been thinking about watching the sun come up over the water ever since you told me you lived on the lake.”

“Then, I need to feed you so we can get to bed at a reasonable hour. Last night, we didn’t eat while it was hot. There was justification, but it was nearly midnight before we did. Speaking of which...” He released her, caught her hand in his, and drew her inside. “I should check on our supper.”

“It smells like heaven in here. What is it?”

“Gumbo.”

In the kitchen, he had already set out place settings in front of two of the six bar stools lining one side of the ginormous island. She leaned a hip against it as she watched him lift the lid on a slow cooker and stir the bubbly fragrant stew inside.

Seeing a domesticated side of Jordan was as surprising as it was endearing—and incredibly hot.

“When did you do all of this?” she asked, smiling when he used a spoon rest instead of making a mess on the counter, which she usually did. Being tidy ratcheted up his hotness factor from blazing to five-alarm.

“I came home for lunch. It took no time to throw everything into a pot.” He pushed some buttons on the digital display on his stove then went to the fridge and pulled out a foil-covered pan. “I also prepped the corn muffins. They need to bake for twenty-five minutes then we’ll be ready to eat.”

“Where did you learn to cook?”

“I’m a bachelor in my thirties,” he explained as he slid the pan into the oven. “My choice was finding my way around the kitchen or eating out all the time.”

“The latter wouldn’t be good for The Body Shop’s image,” she concluded.

“Or improve my odds of living into my nineties like Grams and Pops Cooper.”

Hearing his cute nicknames for his grandparents, she couldn’t keep from grinning. “That’s sweet.”

He glanced up after setting the timer. “I do sweet really well, among other things.” He crooked a finger in her direction. “Since we have twenty-five minutes to kill, allow me to demonstrate.”

Happy to obey, she moved towards him. With sweet on the table, she’d be crazy not to.

As soon as she was within reach, he hooked a hand behind her neck and hurried her along. Then, since he seemed to revel in her curly hair, his fingers sank into it as his mouth touched hers. She’d have to clarify his definition of sweet later because the kiss he gave her was hungry, urgent, used lips and teeth and tongue, was smoldering in intensity, but nowhere near sweet. Not that she minded, especially when he palmed a cheek in each hand and planted her ass on the island.

Pushing her knees apart, he stepped between them. To get closer, he also moved her to the counter’s edge. His kiss never wavered when he tugged the hem of her dress out from under her, and only broke for the two seconds it took him to whisk it over her head. But when he peeled down her strapless bandeau bra, as soon as her breasts popped free, he leaned back, brushed her hair behind her shoulders, and took in the pale mounds and hard tips with his hungry gaze.

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