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“Shall we…?” She gestured towards the door to the freezer, suddenly aware again of where they were standing and just how cold it was.
“Give me a minute, okay? I’ll meet you out there?” Emile’s eyes glanced down and Kate’s gaze followed, blushing when she realized what he meant. Had kissing her causedthat?
“Um… of course,” she stuttered. “I’ll go and put the coffee on.”
Emile stepped sideways to let her out and their gazes snagged as Kate shimmied round him to leave the freezer, grateful for the warmth and the fresh air of the kitchen as she stepped out to brew the coffee.
Note to self. Avoid small spaces.
CHAPTER9
KATE
With the memory of the kiss still fresh in her mind, Kate decided that she would try to avoid Emile as much as possible. It was the safest way for them to establish a good working relationship, without making things complicated with their obvious attraction to each other. They couldn’t stay out of each other’s way at work, but the cafe was so busy that the days passed quickly and there was barely any time for them to talk, let alone for anything else to happen.
The problem was, of course, that at the end of the day, they were going home to the same apartment and there were less distractions there. She’d hoped that maybe Emile would have some horrible habits that would make him less irresistible to her — maybe cutting his toenails in the kitchen, or always leaving the toilet seat up — but so far there wasn’t anything about him that was giving her the ick.
Even his inability to cook, clean or seemingly function as an adult wasn’t enough to put her off; he was charming with it, and so clearly keen to improve that it actually made him somehow more attractive. How did that happen? She’d have sworn just a few weeks before that a man who couldn’t take care of himself was the opposite of what she wanted, but that was before she met Emile. If anything, his presence in her apartment only made the situation worse. The man shouldn’t be allowed to go topless under any circumstance. It was too dangerous.
So, she found herself making excuses and escaping out every evening. Tonight, she’d been at book club with a few of her friends. They called it book club, but that was a thinly veiled excuse to drink a few too many margaritas and gossip about their lives. They did read books — mostly steamy romances — but their discussion of them took up five percent of the evening at most, so Kate didn’t think they’d be welcome in most literary circles.
Of course, tonight she’d mostly been fielding questions about Emile. The word had gotten out now about her new employee and naturally, the women in her book club were fascinated by the sexy new stranger in town. They’d quizzed her on whether anything was going on between them, and Kate had denied it; she didn’t need rumors about her doing the rounds on top of everything else. Of course, that had only led them all to ask whether Kate could set them up if he was available, and Kate had struggled to contain her jealousy at the thought.
All in all, it had been an exhausting evening, and her head was swimming a little from the margaritas as she climbed the stairs to the apartment. She didn’t let loose very often, and she’d only had a few drinks, but they’d helped relax her when she was under fire from her friends’ questions. As she opened the door, however, she wondered if she’d somehow drunk more than she thought because she couldn’t believe her eyes.
Emile.
Naked.
In her kitchen.
He was staring at something on the kitchen table, but he was very much stark naked.
He must have heard her gasp at the sight of his — admittedly very peachy — backside because he whipped around. Kate covered her eyes with her hand.
“It’s not what you think!” she heard him cry.
“I don’t know what you think I’m thinking!” she said, her eyes still covered. The temptation to look was great, but she didn’t think it would help her predicament if she saw him fully nude.
“Well, whatever it is, it’s not that. I’m not trying to seduce you or anything.”
He sounded flustered, and she felt bad for the laugh that escaped her.
“I didn’t think that, don’t worry.”
“If I was, this wouldn’t be my method, believe me. I’m usually much more subtle.”
“Subtle like kissing in a freezer?” The words were out before Kate could stop them. She cringed at revealing she’d been thinking about that kiss… but how could she not have been? It was probably the greatest kiss of her life. Although, looking like that, kissing her probably didn’t even register in his top ten.
“Even better than that. When I want to seduce you, you’ll know about it.”
Kate peeked out from behind her fingers, keeping her eyes upwards onto his face
He’d said when. Not if. When. Was she reading too much into that? She tried to shake the thought. Which was difficult, given that the object of her lust was currently naked in front of her.
“So, if you’re not trying to seduce me, what are you doing naked in my kitchen?”
“You’re going to laugh at me.”
