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My heartbeat was so loud in my ears I could hardly think.

  When I hit the island, he turned and picked up the package of chicken breasts behind me. “Do you have a meat mallet I can use for these?”

  I looked at the chicken and smiled.

  Bastard.

  Reaching into the drawer, I pulled it out and handed it to him. “Pound away.”

  His eyes turned dark and his voice dropped to a whisper. “Is that an invitation, Gabi?”

  “To pound her meat? Yes. That was.”

  We both spun around to see Charity standing there with a shit-eating grin on her face.

  “Don’t you have a date you need to be getting ready for?” I asked as I shot her a dirty look.

  Nic laughed and stuck his hand out toward her. “Nic Drivas. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Charity Maxwell. Nice to meet you too, Nic.”

  When he turned around and started on the chicken, Charity looked at me. Eyes wide open with her mouth slightly ajar. She shook her head and mouthed, holy shit.

  I motioned for her to go away. She acted like she was grabbing him and began air humping. Shooting her a dirty look, I mouthed, stop it.

  “So, Nic, Gabi tells me you’re a cop.”

  Handing him a plastic bag for the chicken, he smiled at me. “Thanks. And yes, I am.”

  Charity reached into the refrigerator and took out a Diet Coke. “What made you want to be a cop?”

  I glared at my best friend. She needed to leave. Now. We were in the middle of some seriously hot flirting and she is throwing cold water on it.

  “When I was seventeen my best friend got caught up in the wrong crowd.”

  That was eerily familiar.

  “He ended up getting involved in drugs and some pretty bad stuff. One day this punk guy walked up to him, pulled a gun and shot him. I chased the guy down while my other friend called the police. From that moment on, I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”

  Charity was the first to talk. “I’m so sorry you had to witness such a horrible thing. I can’t imagine seeing someone killed right before my eyes.”

  My hands shook as I was instantly taken back six years in time. Blood was everywhere.

  On my hands.

  The walls.

  The loud bang caused me to scream and jump back.

  Warm hands touched my arms, calmly pulling me from the nightmare I had been sucked into.

  “Hey, are you okay? Gabi?”

  Nic’s voice pulled me out. My eyes found his and a warmth spread through my chest. “Yes. I’m fine. I’m so sorry about your friend.”

  Nic smiled then searched my face. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  Forcing a smile, I nodded. Nic still had a hold of my arms and a part of me wanted him to pull me in closer. It threw me for a loop how I felt safe with this man. I glanced down to where he had a hold of me and Nic quickly dropped his hands. I instantly missed his touch.

  “Loud bangs always scare her.” Charity took a drink and added, “She’s a basket case anytime fireworks go off.”

  Nic looked into my eyes again, almost as if he was searching for his own answers.

  I cleared my throat and headed to the refrigerator to get the cheese out. “Again, don’t you have a date you need to get ready for?”

  Charity laughed. “I do! Nic, it was a pleasure meeting you. Have fun with that meat.”

  Nic chuckled. “It was nice meeting you as well.”

  Pointing to me, Charity said, “Have fun, but don’t get wild. We both know how long it’s been.”

  My jaw dropped as I stared at her in disbelief.

  She disappeared and I wanted to crawl into a hole. Warm breath tickled my ear.

  “I like her. She’s fun.”

  Jumping, I turned and came face-to-face with Nic. My eyes drifted to his lips before I swung them back up. “She’s a pain in the ass.”

  Tossing his head back and laughing, Nic went back to work on the chicken while I sliced the mozzarella cheese for the top of the chicken breast.

  We quickly fell into an easy conversation about . . . of all things . . . food.

  “So you grew up cooking?” I asked while mixed the flour, pepper, salt, and parmesan cheese into the bread crumbs for the breading.

  “I did. Mostly all Greek cooking. My mother was big on my brothers and I learning to cook. What about you?”

  I tensed up. How much should I share? The last thing I wanted to do was have a cop snooping in my past. But the connection I felt with Nic was different than anything I’d ever felt before with anyone. I quickly decided, I wanted to share more than I normally would.

  “I remember being little and watching my grandmother cooking. She didn’t speak a word of English, only Italian. I couldn’t have been maybe five at the time. I’d pull up a stool and stand there watching her throw this and that into a pot. She never measured a thing when she cooked. I asked her once if she would write down her favorite recipes for me. She asked me why I wanted her to write them down.”

  Nic was totally enthralled with my story, which made my chest flutter. “What did you say?” he asked.

  I laughed and looked away. “I told her I needed to learn how to cook for my husband. She made me promise I’d marry a good Italian boy.”

  Turning back to Nic, I watched as he raised his brows. “Did you promise her that?”

  I shook my head. “No. At the time, I was madly in love with Jerry Knox. My first unofficial boyfriend from kindergarten.”

  Nic chuckled. “Knox doesn’t sound Italian.”

  “No, he was not Italian. My grandmother simply laughed.” I looked down at my hands. “She passed away six months later. When I graduated high school, my father gave me a box filled with recipes. She had done what I asked and written down her favorite recipes. I’ve treasured that box ever since.”

  Nic placed his finger on my chin and lifted it. “You were lucky to have known her and even luckier she shared her love of cooking with you.”

  I fought the tears in my eyes. I never spoke of home, or memories. It was too painful. The way Nic was gazing into my eyes scared me and thrilled me all at once.

  “I want to kiss you, Gabi. I’ve wanted to since the moment you smiled at me.”

  My breath caught. I realized I desperately wanted the same thing he wanted. The spark I felt in my chest was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Suddenly, everything else faded into the background and all that mattered was this man standing before me.

  He leaned in closer. We were inches away from each other. My heart picked up its rhythm in my chest. I was sure it would burst out any second.

  “May I kiss you?”

  My mouth parted, giving him the silent invite he was looking for. He stopped just short of my mouth. Waiting for me to give him permission.

  I was frozen and completely unable to speak. The air around us was charged liked I’d never experienced before. I said the only thing I could manage to say. His name off my lips sounded like a whisper on a breeze.

  “Nic.”

  The moment his lips touched mine, I felt the spark. Beautiful, intense, magical. It was the only way I could describe the feeling of Nic kissing me.

  Softly and gently he moved. When his tongue asked for permission, I granted it to him without hesitation. The kiss deepened and Nic pulled my body against his.

  An explosive fire ripped through my body. All I could do was moan. Nic’s hand moved around my waist, pulling me to him so I could feel how much the kiss was affecting him as well.

  Then it happened.

  Music came blaring from Charity’s room.

  She. Did. Not.

  Nic pulled back and looked at me with his brows pinched together. “What in the hell is she playing?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Olivia Newton-John. The song’s called “Magic”.”

  The corners of Nic’s mouth rose into a beautiful smile that had my knees shaking.

  “I’d say she hit that spot on.”

/>   Matching his smile, I giggled. “I’d say.”

  Nic took a step back as his eyes gazed into mine. His smile slowly faded. The confusion in his eyes was hard to miss. I was pretty positive I had the same look in mine.

  WHAT IN THE hell was that?

  Staring into those beautiful blue eyes, I couldn’t figure out what was happening. My heart was on the damn floor the moment she moaned into my mouth. Then she opened up to me and I was overcome with a euphoria I’d never experienced before.

  “Your world will feel like it’s been turned inside out.”

  Fuck that. There is no way. I needed to break this weird connection we were sharing. I was in uncharted territory and not sure how I felt about it.

  I turned back to the food. “Are we frying or baking the chicken?”

  Gabi stood there for a second, her forehead creased in confusion. We’d just shared the most incredible kiss of my life and I totally blew it off.

  “Um, I bake mine. Healthier and all.”

  “That sounds perfect.”

  She moved to open a cabinet where she pulled out a baking sheet. “Just put them on here after you coat them in the breading.”

  Somehow I needed to get things back on track and easy like a few minutes ago. We were talking as if we’d known each other for years then I fucked it up with kissing her. Damn if I didn’t need to feel those lips. Taste her.

  “Have you always wanted to own a bakery?”

  Her face lit up. There we go. My dick-move forgotten.

  “Yes. For as long as I can remember.”

  “What do your parents do?”

  She tensed. That was twice now she reacted that way when I asked about her past.

  “Um, they passed away when I was in high school.”

  I frowned. “You said your dad gave you your grandmother’s recipes at your graduation.”

  A panicked expression moved over her face.

  “They passed away in a car accident a few days after I graduated.”

  “I’m so sorry, Gabi.”

  She shrugged. “Thank you.”

  “Did they own a bakery?”

  She shook her head. “No, they owned a restaurant in Italy that my uncle owns now.”

  I lifted my brow. “Really? Wow. Were you born in Italy?”

  Gabi chewed on her lip. Talking about her family seemed to be a sore subject. “No,” she said with a chuckle. “My parents moved to America after they got married. They had the restaurant before they moved.”

  I couldn’t help but notice she failed to mention where she grew up. Although the cop in me could tell she was hiding something, I let it go.

  “I’ve always wanted to go to Italy.”

  Again, her face beamed with happiness. “It’s beautiful there.”

  “How many times have you been?”

  “Dozens!” she said with a light laugh. “We have a lot of distant family still in Italy. I haven’t been in about seven years though. I was actually planning a trip to go in a few months. If everything works out.”

  I lifted my brows. What did that mean? “Really? Sounds like fun.”

  Her smile slowly drifted away. “Yeah. I hope so.”

  “I’m off!” Charity called out as she walked by the kitchen. “You two kids have fun and just as an FYI, I won’t be home tonight.”

  “What?” Gabi gasped. “You’re staying the night with him?”

  Charity tilted her head and smirked. “Awe, that’s kind of cute that you’re concerned. Yes. I haven’t had sex in weeks and plan on getting a lot of it tonight.”

  Spinning on her high heel, Charity was out the door before Gabi could respond.

  She turned to me. “I swear, she’s not a slut. She’s been dating this guy for a few weeks now.”

  I laughed and held up my hands. “None of my business. If things don’t work out for her and this guy, you should introduce her to Cole.”

  Gabi chuckled. “Cole tried once with Charity. She shut him down so hard I actually felt sorry for him. He wouldn’t stand a chance with her.”

  “You don’t know Cole.”

  Her smile grew. “You don’t know Charity. Besides, she likes Cole.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “I think it scares her how much she was attracted to him, but you can tell Cole’s a player.”

  “What about Charity?”

  Gabi laughed. “No. Scott’s the first guy she has dated in a few years. She’s not one to sleep around.”

  “She seems like a pistol. And Olivia Newton-John? Wasn’t she in Grease?

  Gabi shuddered. “Yes. I know every one of her songs by heart after four years of living with Charity. I’ve seen Xanadu I don’t know how many times.”

  My brow lifted in question.

  “It’s a movie she did. After Grease.”

  “I’ve never watched Grease.”

  Gabi dropped the spoon and turned to me with a look of horror on her face. “Don’t ever tell Charity that. You’ll be watching it within five minutes of the words leaving your mouth. And no potty breaks.”

  Damn this girl was adorable. “No potty breaks, huh?”

  She shook her head. “It was pure hell. I had drank a lot of water that day too.” She shuddered as if the memory had hit her again.

  I had the urge to pull her into my arms again, but I fought it.

  “How are you at chopping veggies for a salad?” she asked with a wink.

  “Bring it on. I’m the master at chopping shit.”

  Gabi soon had everything you could possibly think of that would go in a salad in front of me.

  “I bet next time you won’t show up early,” she said with a chuckle.

  The fact that she was already planning a next time had my chest feeling light.

  She must have realized what she said. “I mean, that’s if you enjoy my cooking and want to come back.”

  I chopped the cucumbers and put them into the large salad bowl. “Don’t you mean our cooking? Since I’m helping and all.”

  Her nose scrunched up in the cutest way and my heart stopped. Like, honest to God, it felt as if it froze.

  She winked. “It’s my recipe though.”

  “Touché. But, I did pound the meat.”

  Her tongue ran over her lips and the dark blue specs in her eyes lit up like sparklers on the Fourth of July. “I guess we’ll have to see how it tastes for me to decide if you’re good at that or not.”

  Fuck this. If she was going to flirt then so was I. “I know another way you can find out.”

  Her mouth formed the perfect O while her breathing picked up. I’m going to guess Charity was spot on when she said it had been a while for Gabi.

  “Sounds promising,” she shot back.

  The alarm went off on her phone. Without taking her eyes from mine, she spoke. “Would you put the cheese on the chicken and stick them back into the oven? I’ll put the pasta in and then run and change.”

  Lifting my hand, I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You go get changed. I’ll take care of the rest and get the salad put together.”

  “Are you sure? The pasta needs to be put in the water.”

  There was something about Gabi that was so different from any other woman I’d ever been with. I wasn’t sure if it was her smile, the way her eyes lit up when I said something funny . . . or sexual . . . or the way she made my heart feel like it was floating hopelessly in my chest. Whatever it was, I wanted more of it. A whole hell of a lot more.

  “I’m positive. Even though I think you look great now.”

  “I’m not wearing sweats while you look all dashing and handsome.”

  “You thinking I’m handsome, huh?”

  A hint of pink moved across her cheeks. “Give me ten minutes.”

  I nodded as I watched her walk away. Fucking hell she had a nice ass. I wanted my hands slapping it pink while I took her from behind. The bedroom door shutting brought me back to reality.

  Turning, I got to work on t
aking the chicken out, placing the slices of cheese Gabi had ready on top and then putting them back in the oven. The pasta went into the boiling water and the last of the vegetables were added to the salad. The smell of Gabi’s perfume still lingered in the air. Inhaling, I shook my head and chuckled. I never would have imagined I’d enjoy being in a kitchen and cooking with a woman.

  One quick survey of Gabi’s kitchen, and I walked over to where I thought she’d keep her dishes. I couldn’t help the smile that spread over my face when I opened it and saw the plates. Grabbing two dinner plates and two bowls for salad, I set about getting the table ready.

  The timer went off for the chicken. Taking it out of the oven, I set it off to the side while I drained the pasta and mixed it with Gabi’s homemade marinara sauce. The smell of garlic and Italian spices filled my senses and made my stomach growl.

  One quick taste and I was letting out a satisfying moan. The moment I tasted the pasta, it exploded on my tongue. “Holy shit, that’s good.” I could totally get used to this woman’s cooking.

  I set off looking for one more thing.

  “Gabi? Do you have any candles?” I called out.

  “The drawer to the left of the sink. There are some candles and the holders are in the cabinet underneath.”

  Finding what I was looking for, I added the candles to the table and finished it off with the flowers I brought.

  “Sorry that took longer than I said. Wow, I’d say you’ve done this a time or two.”

  I spun around and nearly dropped to the damn floor.

  “My God,” I whispered while my eyes roamed over the beautiful sight before me.

  “Too much?” Gabi asked with a shy smile. All I could do was shake my head.

  She wore a black dress that hugged her body in all the right ways. It showed a hint of her breasts, enough to leave me imagining what else was under the dress. And her legs. Holy hell. Those long toned legs were perfect. The red fuck-me shoes finished the whole outfit. Gabi had pulled her hair up and into a sloppy, yet sexy as hell bun.

  My chest squeezed, and I found it hard to breathe. If I thought I wanted Gabi before, now I was fighting a goddamn hard-on as well as trying to figure out how to breathe.

  “Looks like you’ve got everything ready. You sit and I’ll get the food to the table.”

  I watched her walk by and all I could think about were those legs wrapped around my body with me buried deep inside her. Nothing but the red shoes on while I pounded into her over and over again.