“Cock sauce. Also known as Sriracha—a Thai chili sauce. I never travel anywhere without it.”
Bertha brought over an oval plate piled high with scrambled eggs, home fries, sausage links, bacon, Canadian ham and corned beef hash. She placed it in front of Chance before handing me the small plate of toast.
He wasted no time squirting lines of the red sauce across the top of his food. He dug in, watching me as I looked at him.
Staring him down, I crunched my toast in an exaggerated bite, determined to keep myself from wanting any of it. Admittedly, I was famished.
To prevent myself from looking at the plate, I pried my eyes upward, focusing on his baseball cap. He’d bought it at the hotel gift shop and was wearing it backwards. It was a good look, really worked for him with his hair sticking out of the sides. A ray of sun streamed through the window of our booth, accentuating number thirteen blue again.
Damn.
His voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “You know you want it, Aubrey.”
Huh? Did he catch me checking him out, or was he talking about the food?
He cut a sausage link in half and attempted to feed me with his fork as he flashed a sexy smirk. “Come on. Just one piece.”
It smelled spicy…and delicious. Unable to resist, I opened my mouth and let him feed it to me. “Mmm,” I said as I chewed the juicy link slowly, closing my eyes and savoring every bite. When I opened my lids, Chance’s gaze was fixated on my lips.
“You want more?” he whispered huskily.
Saliva gathered in my mouth. “Yes.”
This time, he lifted a piece of bacon and fed it to me from his hand. I hated to admit it, but he was right about that sauce. It was so good on everything.
“More?”
I licked my lips. “Yeah.”
Chance fed me three more bites. When I let out a moan, he dropped his fork, and it made a loud clanking sound. “Jesus Christ. The food is good. But it’s not that good.”
My mouth was disgustingly full. “What do you mean?”
“When was the last time you were really good and rooted?”
“Rooted? What?”
“Fucked, Princess. When was the last time you were properly fucked?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“There is no way you could possibly have that kind of reaction to food unless you were completely hard up.” He wiggled his brows. “Prince Harry didn’t quite do it for you, did he?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Your face is turning redder than this sauce.” Chance leaned in and whispered, “Aubrey…when was the last time you had an orgasm during sex?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
His tone became more insistent. “How…long… has it been?”
“College,” I practically coughed out. What the hell did I just admit? “I can’t believe I just told you that. Now, I’m embarrassed.”
He let out a deep breath. “Don’t be. But I’m not gonna lie. I’m truly shocked. A woman like you should be with a man that knows what he’s doing.”
“Why do you care? You keep saying that, a ‘woman like me.’ I didn’t even think you liked me very much.”
Chance leaned back into the booth and glanced out the window before looking me in the eyes. “As much as you’re a pain in my ass…I do like you, Aubrey. You’re funny. Not funny ha ha…but funny. You’re conscientious. You’re quick-witted. You’re smart. You’re damn cute…” He looked down almost to stop himself from going any further. “What happened anyway?”
“With what?”
“Why are you running from that tool Harrison?” When I hesitated, he flagged down Bertha. “Can we have more coffee, please, gorgeous?”
I didn’t know what came over me. Maybe it was the hot sauce. A part of me just wanted to let it all out. After Bertha poured two fresh mugs, I started to open up to him.
“Harrison was a partner at the law firm I worked at back in Chicago. I was an associate. Patent and trademark law. He and I were a couple for a little over a year. We’d moved in together. About two months ago, I found out he was cheating on me with one of his interns. So, yeah…”
“So, you moved out?”
“Yeah. I also left my job. Harrison has spent every day of the past several weeks trying to convince me that I’m making a mistake, that I’m throwing away my career because he would have made me partner sooner than I could do it on my own. I left everything behind, took the first position I got, which happened to be at a small startup firm in Temecula. I’m scared. I don’t know anyone out West, and I don’t know if I’m making the right decision. I’m not even sure if being a lawyer is what I even want anymore. I feel very lost.” Admitting that last part made me start to tear up a little.