Page 35 of The Billionaire Player

“All right! Uncle,” I said after a few minutes.

He immediately stopped tickling me but he didn’t let me go, instead he kept his hands lightly around my waist as my breathing slowly went back to normal. I dropped my head down on his chest and inhaled his scent. There was a light hint of pine but the smell of onion, garlic, and other spices filled my nostrils and I knew it wasn’t only because of the space we were in.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“A little breathless, but that seems to happen when I’m around you,” I admitted.

JD let out a throaty laugh and kissed the top of my head. “I like knowing that I make you a little breathless,” he admitted.

“You’re probably the first man to, but you continue to surprise me with just about everything between us.”

“The feeling is mutual. I have to admit, I didn’t want to get involved with anyone. I’m still not sure if it’s a good idea. I have a lot going on with making my restaurant successful, and I don’t have the time to spend with a woman, at least not the way I should or want to,” he admitted.

“Yet, here you are with me,” I said.

I didn’t take his words as he was trying to push me away but that he was trying to make me understand where he was coming from.

“Yes, because I wanted to. I needed to. The thought of not getting to know you and spending more time with you was unimaginable. I don’t have the easiest of schedules and I don’t know how much time I’ll be able to give to you, to this, to us, but I want to try. I want to make time for us and I want to make sure you have time separate from that to work on your article with me. I don’t know how well I’ll do with it, and I’ll more than likely screw it up a few times. But I’m willing to try if you are?”

He looked at me expectantly as if he was waiting for me to say no. There was no way I was. I had never had a man kiss me the way he did, make me feel the things the way he did, make me want the things the way he did.

“Yes. We’ll work it out. If we keep talking like we are now. I’m willing to give it a shot if you are,” I said.

“I am,” he said and kissed me quickly on the mouth. “Now, let’s see about making you some dinner.”

Chapter 15

JD

“You’re actually a good cook,” Lexi said to me after her first bite of steak.

I had made steak with some asparagus and mushrooms. While it was cooking, we enjoyed a nice Bordeaux and talked some more. I had wanted the intimacy of the room, of her watching me cook, to look over at her while I cooked, and the chance to be close to her. We had pulled up some stools to sit at the counter to eat. There was a coziness to the moment that made it feel more special and different than any other meal I had with a woman.

“Thank you,” I intoned.

She laughed. “It was meant as a compliment. I just figured when you were running the restaurant, not being the chef, it was because you didn’t know how to cook.”

“I’ve loved cooking since I was a kid. Mac would be playing sports and hanging with his friends, Walker would be beating a computer game or running around with Bailey and her friends, and I would be cooking. I wasn’t a lonely kid and it wasn’t the only thing I did, but it was the thing I liked most.

“Mom saw how much I enjoyed it and enrolled me in some cooking classes. Mac gave me a bad time about it until he realized that the classes were full of girls and then he wanted to join me.”

“Is that where your playboy reputation started?” Lexi asked.

“Possibly. I always got along with women better than men, I just understood them more. I don’t know if it was because I took cooking classes when I was younger, or what, I just liked hanging out with women. When I got older, it was easy to transition from JD the friend, to JD the boyfriend. It just evolved and I didn’t question it.”

“And you kept cooking?”

“Whenever I could. I actually did most of the cooking for the family. It allowed me a great opportunity to learn and experiment. My parents indulged me and it helped take some of the burden off them as they both worked full time. Though, I pity my family for some of my failed experiments.”

“Care to share some of them?” she asked and took a sip of her wine.

“I tried to make breakfast pizza once, it was a disaster.”

“That is an odd combination.”

“I changed it to a casserole and it was incredible. We’re actually going to use it on our brunch menu eventually.”

“Do you help Chef Phil with the menu?”

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