Jill wondered what Blake and Rick were talking about outside the car, but mostly she just wanted them to get in already. She had plans for the evening, and they didn’t entail sitting around in a parking lot. When they finally got in, she got straight to the point. “Okay, Rick. Take me somewhere I can buy chocolate.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Blake wasn’t so compliant. “Chocolate? You do realize that you just ate some and that you have a whole bag of samples in your purse?”
“Yes, but I need comparison chocolate. We have work to do tonight.”
Rick found a small-town grocery store. Jill strode into the store, intent on her mission. Blake and Camden followed but kept out of her way. She grabbed a shopping cart and headed off to find the candy aisle.
“How much chocolate do you need?” Camden asked.
“As much as I can find. That is, as many different kinds as we can find. Let’s hope this store has a good candy section.”
Blake disappeared while Camden helped her search out candy comparable to the samples she had in her purse. From the cheapest chocolate to the premium stuff made with more cocoa than sugar, they tossed it into the cart. After fifteen minutes, she had a good selection, including a few bags of chocolate chips. She was headed to checkout when she realized she didn’t know where Blake was. But then she saw him, waiting near the exit with two bags in his hand, staring down at his phone.
“Very helpful,” she said after paying and walking over to him.
“No problem. I do what I can.”
“I was being sarcastic.”
“No way,” Blake said, a teasing light in his eyes. “But you were right. I was being helpful. I got a supply of drinks and salty snacks to help us survive the evening. I have this crazy feeling you’re going to make us eat all that chocolate you just bought.”
“I’m just going to make you taste it. That’s not too bad, right?”
“No. I’ve faced worse in my life. But I just can’t eat too much sugar without something savory to balance it out.”
Back at the hotel, they checked in, and Camden grabbed a candy bar. “You have two of these, so do you mind if I have one?”
“Not at all.”
“Thanks. I’ll say goodnight. I have some phone calls to make.”
Jill smiled, knowing he meant his fiancé. He was lucky his relationship had worked out so easily. Why couldn’t her life be like that?
After dropping her bag off in her room, Jill headed across the hall to Blake’s room with the chocolate. Rick opened the door for her, stepping to the side to let her pass in the narrow space. Blake had his back to her, checking out the view through the dark glass.
“There can’t be much to see out there,” Jill told him. She dumped the candy out on the large coffee table in front of the couch and began organizing it.
“There’s a gas station with a dubious name and strip mall with half the signs burned out.”
“Well, it’s time to get to work. Stop slacking off.”
Blake sat across from her, looking at the spread of chocolate with apprehension. “Why don’t you tell me exactly what it is we’re doing here.”
Jill picked up a chocolate turtle from Gourmand’s Fine Candy and one from a national chain. “We are going to see if there is an obvious difference in quality. Because when we ate Elysian’s ice cream, there was an obvious difference between their product and the national brands. Taste, texture, weight. I’m not sure there is here.”
Peeling open both packages, she broke both pieces of chocolate in half and handed one of each to Blake. He took them, and together they took bites.
After a moment, they looked at each other, and Jill tried to gauge Blake’s reaction. “About the same, isn’t it?”
“Maybe not even as good.”
Jill sighed. “Let’s do some more comparisons.” She reached for more chocolate. Twenty minutes later, she looked up from the pile of chocolate wrappers and partially eaten chocolates, leaned back on the couch, and groaned. “I’m done. Everything is starting to taste the same.”
Blake sat beside her with an open bag of potato chips. “Here. This will help, I promise.”
Jill reached into the bag and grabbed out a few chips. “Thanks.” She munched them for a minute then said, “Nate raved about this chocolate to me. He said his grandpa always gave it to his grandma as a special treat, and it was such a luxury that she would only eat a little at a time. That’s why he bought the company when it was going under. He couldn’t stand to see quality product and a family recipe go under just because they needed backing. But this just tastes like your average supermarket chocolate.”
Blake shrugged. “I only bought it from Nate because it sold the overall deal with Nate. Honestly, I have no attachment to it like Nate did. I hate to close businesses, but with their profits down and their underwhelming product, I don’t know what else to do. I can’t float it forever.”
Jill turned her head and looked up at him. “I understand. Nate has better judgement than this though. There’s something I’m missing.”
Blake put the bag of chips down on the pile of candy wrappers and picked up a white chocolate truffle. “I’m ready to fire Trevor now.”
“No, you can’t do that.”
“I certainly can. Or, maybe I’ll just dispose of the whole thing and let it be someone else’s headache.”
“The brand would be ruined if you did that.” A note of panic crept into her voice. “I have more time. Wait just a week and half longer before you do anything.”
“Okay, I’ll wait. Unless there’s a compelling reason why I shouldn’t.” Blake reached for a wrapped truffle.
“I can’t believe you’re eating more chocolate.”
He turned on the couch so that he was facing her. “I have to find that balance. A little sweet. A little savory. It’s tricky.”
Jill reached out and shuffled through the wrappers for a minute. Finding the package she was looking for, she opened a bag of dark chocolate with sea salt. “This is what you need.”
She opened one and took a nibble off the corner. “Mmmm. Yes, that’s perfect.”
But when she looked up from her chocolate, Blake was watching her with an intensity that caught her off-guard. “What?”
“I don’t know. I just like looking at you.”
Jill laughed. “That sounded kind of creepy.”
Blake unleashed one of his rare grins. “Sorry.”
“Isn’t it funny how differently you feel about things like this depending on who the person is? Like if Trevor was watching me like you are, like you wanted to eat me or something, I would be so out of here.”
“So, what makes it different with me?”
Realizing where this was leading, Jill looked over Blake’s shoulder, trying to see where Rick was. He hadn’t moved from his seat on the end of Blake’s bed where he was watching television. Blake turned and saw the direction of her look.
“Hey Rick,” Blake said.
“Yeah, boss?”
“Go take a walk.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know. Check the perimeter or something, but go.”
Rick’s eyes switched back and forth between the two of them, then understanding dawned in his eyes, and his lips twisted into a smirk. He clicked off the television and left, only pausing to nod to Jill on his way out. But this was all too much for Jill. Maybe if Rick had never been here—if she’d never had a chance to think about it, she might have given into her impulses. But as she shifted to get up, Blake wrapped his hand around her shoulder.
“Jill. Don’t freak out on me.”
“What? I’m not freaking out.”
“Yes, you are. You’re tense and your eyes are big and you’re biting your bottom lip.”
“I just…this isn’t a good idea.”
“I think it’s a great idea, and if you’d relax, you might decide you want to kiss me, too.”
Hearing him say those words made her heart pound harder than before. “It’s not that I…don’t want to. I’m just afraid of what comes next.”
Blake’s expression was somber again, his eyes focused on her lips. “If we like it, we do it again.”
“That’s not what I meant.” But her words were sluggish and her thoughts scrambled as he bent towards her. There were reasons this was a bad idea, but she couldn’t remember what they were. Giving up, she tilted her head and met him half way, fitting her lips to his. The contact set off a reaction through her body— a jolting, radiant explosion. Blake moved his lips slightly, tasting more of her, then pulled back. Jill opened her eyes, trying to see if his reaction had been at all comparable to hers. The blaze in his eyes left her in no doubt.
“We definitely need to do that again.” Blake’s voice was deep and rough, but tender.
His arms came around her, his fingers sliding around her side, pressing into her back. She relaxed and let him pull her against his chest, sinking into his embrace. Slowly, as if they had forever to test this new world, they kissed again. Jill’s lips parted as she sought for more, and Blake deepened the kiss with an urgency that stole her breath. His fingers threaded through her hair and his warm breath fanned across her cheek. His scent and heat enveloped her. She felt like she was melting, warming into a fluid, silken being. This was dangerous. It was impossible to pull away from the magic of his kiss. She’d wanted this so badly, this taste of paradise, and now that she’d tasted it, how would she ever give it up?
If Blake’s phone hadn’t rung just then, she might never have found the strength to stop. Blake didn’t seem to notice though, so Jill pulled back. “Your phone.”
“I couldn’t care less.”
Jill smiled, touched that he was so focused on her. But when the phone rang again, she leaned forward to look at his screen. Blake made a sound in his throat that she recognized as a protest just before he shifted to press kisses along her jaw and down to her neck.
“Blake, it’s Hayden.”
His lips stilled against her skin, then he took a deep breath, kissed her one more time, and reached for the phone.
Jill felt awkward, stirred up by powerful emotions, unsure where this was going, and uncomfortable listening to Blake’s conversation with his sister. After touching the coarse stubble on his jaw with her fingertips and feeling his firm, masculine lips against hers, watching him was a new sort of pleasure. There was a throbbing ache in her chest at how much she wanted him to be hers. Kissing had been more dangerous than she’d ever thought possible because now it was too late to protect her heart—to deny the feelings taking root inside her.
Blake turned his head toward her and covered the speaker on his phone. “If you keep looking at me like that, I won’t be responsible for what happens.”
While Jill bit her lip in embarrassment, she hoped that he would follow through with his threat. But his conversation took an abrupt change.
“What do you mean Mrs. Joseph quit? No, you can’t go stay at your boyfriend’s house. Are you crazy?”
Pressing her lips together to keep from laughing at Blake’s big brother tone of voice, Jill started cleaning up the chocolate mess. She brought over the little trash can from under the desk and started tossing all the wrappers and half-eaten chocolate, carefully sorting out what was still unopened. As she worked, Blake got up and paced as he argued with his sister. Jill was impressed that he never raised his voice even though it was obvious that his sister was pushing his limits. Finally, he ended the conversation abruptly by saying, “Hayden, I’m going to have security on high alert, and if you think you can sneak out, or sneak your boyfriend in, you’re mightily mistaken.”
His accent had gotten stronger the more agitated he got, which Jill found alluringly attractive. She wished he’d speak that way all the time. But now wasn’t the time to focus on that. Blake tossed his phone on the bed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Wouldn’t you know she’d wait until I’m hundreds of miles away to start acting like this.”
“Maybe that’s why she’s doing it. She probably wants you to come back.” Jill carried the trashcan back to where she’d found it. “Her and Ivey both.”
Blake crossed his arms over his chest. He licked his lips and captured her with his magnetic eyes. “I know the perfect way to stop you from teasing me.”
Jill squared her shoulders, fighting back a smile. “Oh yeah? Go for it.”
But before Blake could take more than two steps in her direction, Rick came in. “Sorry, but, well, I didn’t know how long you wanted me to be gone for.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jill told him. “I need to go to bed anyway. Hope I’m not hungover from all the chocolate in the morning.”
Blake walked toward her and she realized that he was going to take her to her room. As he passed Rick, he said, “Call your team and have them on high alert in case my sister tries to leave the house.”
“We can’t stop her from leaving,” Rick said.
“No, but you can let me know if she does. And you can follow her.” Then he held the door open for Jill, placing his hand in the small of her back as she passed through, and walked across the hall with her.
“Are we about to have a goodnight scene?” Jill asked, baiting him.
Blake shook his head and tipped up her chin. “Why do I like you so much when you drive me crazy?”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to answer that yourself.”
Jill took her room key out of her pocket, but before she could use it, Blake cupped her face with his hands and pressed one, slow, lingering kiss on her lips, tugging at her bottom lip as he drew back. “Promise me something.”
“What?”
“That you’ll just let this be what it is for now, and not freak out.”
“You know me too well.”
Stepping back towards his own door, Blake pointed a finger at her. “But not as well as I intend to.”