Delectable Desire by Farrah Rochon Read Free Book Online

to ask, despite the tightness in his throat.
    “Probably both.”
    “How so?”
    In a slightly lower, slightly awe-filled whisper, she said, “You make me want to do things I’d never before considered doing on a first date.”
    There was no mistaking the look in her eyes. He’d seen it in the eyes of countless other women, but Lorraine looked even hungrier than most. Carter felt light-headed. “Are you ready for the check?”
    “Yes,” Lorraine quickly answered.
    The extremely attentive waitstaff at Les Nomades had their plates cleared in no time, and five minutes later, Carter had taken care of the check. He rounded the table and pulled out her seat, then settled his hand at the small of her back as he guided Lorraine out of the restaurant.
    Les Nomades was within walking distance of the bakery, so he’d left his car parked in his usual spot. But Lorraine had driven here. As they waited underneath the awning for the valet to bring her car around, Carter told himself to slow down.
    But he couldn’t. He had to taste her.
    He leaned forward, his heart pounding in anticipation of the way Lorraine’s lips would feel against his.
    Just then, a flash of lightning streaked across her face. Wait. That wasn’t lightning. It was a camera flash.
    “Oh, goodness. No.” Lorraine held her purse in front of her face.
    “Hey, what the hell?” Carter tried to stiff-arm the guy with the camera, but he got in one more shot before taking off.
    Lorraine looked up at him with wild, frightened eyes.
    “It’s okay,” Carter said, capturing her forearms and giving them a squeeze.
    “No. No, it’s not.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
    The valet picked that moment to pull up with her car. Before Carter could fully comprehend what was happening, she handed the valet a twenty-dollar bill, slipped behind the wheel and was gone.

Chapter 4
    L orraine pulled into her designated parking spot and grimaced when she spotted her brother’s car. She loved him, but she had no desire to listen to Stuart and her father lament over inventory or diamond cuts or any other business-speak tonight. She grabbed her clutch from the passenger seat before getting out of the car, then shut the door and leaned against it. Lorraine closed her eyes, sucking in a deep, cleansing breath.
    What had she almost done?
    She would have slept with Carter Drayson tonight. There was no doubt in her mind. If she’d allowed him to get in the car with her, she would have fallen into bed with a man she’d met a little over twenty-four hours ago. She wasn’t so sure they would even have made it to a bed. Lorraine feared she would have demanded he pull over into a dark alley so they could go at it right in the car.
    “What’s gotten into you?” she said aloud as she pushed away from the car.
    She was not this type of person anymore—some stupid, impulsive girl who disregarded all common sense because a good-looking man showed her a bit of attention.
    She needed to take a step back, away from the spell Carter Drayson had woven around her. Even though everything inside her was telling her that Carter was being true, she just didn’t know enough about him to make a sound judgment call. Hadn’t she learned anything from her past mistakes?
    Another man with a charming smile flashed in front of her eyes, and Lorraine’s stomach roiled. She’d tried to eradicate Broderick Collins from her psyche, but, apparently, five years was not long enough to purge such ugliness. She’d been down that road before; she wasn’t about to make a return trip.
    She boarded the elevator that took her up to her family’s penthouse. Lorraine heard the muted, but distinctive voices of her father and her brother as soon as she entered the apartment. She attempted to be as quiet as possible as she slipped past the sitting room where the two of them were having a drink.
    “Lorraine, I need to see you,” her father said.
    Her chin dropped to her chest. She was not