What's Cooking? by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

That lasted a whole day."
    54 54WHAT'S COOKING?
    She smiled despite her exasperation. "We'd just met. And practically the minute everyone else left your studio, we were on that cot in your back room," she countered.
    He shrugged. "Just proves how powerful the chemistry between us is."
    "Chemistry doesn't last," she said flatly.
    Rick studied her for what seemed like an eternity. "And that's the real problem, isn't it? You figure it'll burn itself out."
    "It will," she said with conviction.
    "Probably."
    "Then why bother?"
    "What's wrong with living in the moment?" he countered. "I'd rather be a thousand percent alive some of the time than bored to death all the time."
    "You don't think there's a middle ground?"
    "Haven't found it yet," he said. "Have you?"
    "No," she told him honestly. But that's what she wanted. She knew it existed because her parents had it. Melanie had found it with Mike. Maggie had already had enough of these whirlwind relationships to realize that she wanted more than this.
    "What's the bottom line here, Maggie? Do you want me to take off?"
    The sensible answer, of course, was yes. She couldn't seem to get the word out. As unrealistic as it might be, it seemed she wanted more with Rick, a man who obviously had no experience with making anything last longer than a few days or, at most, a few weeks.
    "I can't think on an empty stomach," she said instead, keeping her tone determinedly breezy. "That bear claw wore off a long time ago. I'll go fix something."
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    His gaze held hers. "And then?"
    "We'll discuss it some more."
    His lips twitched. "Till you talk it to death?"
    "Maybe," she said defensively. "A little talking will be good for a change. It's not as if we've ever done much of it."
    He laughed at that. "Okay, then, Miss Maggie, we will talk to your heart's content, as long as you don't mind if I do what I do best."
    "What's that?"
    'Try to convince you to shut up and come back to bed."
    To her sincere regret, she shivered with anticipation. "You can try."
    "Thank you," he said solemnly. "I promise you, I will give it my absolutely best shot."
    She frowned at him. "Arrogance is not appealing."
    "Then I'll be sure to let my actions speak for themselves," he said agreeably.
    Maggie sighed. That was exactly what she was afraid of. When his actions challenged her willpower, it was no contest.
    56
    1 o Rick's surprise after the intensity of the conversation they'd had upstairs, dinner was actually more fun than he'd ever had with a woman outside of bed. Maggie ran her kitchen like a drill sergeant, issuing commands and organizing ingredients with an impressive level of efficiency. He went along with it and found himself enjoying her bossiness, mainly because it was so much fun to tease her about it.
    "You ever think about joining the military?" he inquired when he'd lined up a row of requested spices precisely according to her specifications.
    She shot a daunting look at him. "Why on earth would you ask that?"
    "It boggles the mind to imagine how many potatoes you could have peeled while on kitchen duty."
    "Very funny."
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    He gestured toward the row of spices, apparently intended for spaghetti sauce. "Wouldn't it be easier just to buy the sauce in ajar?" he asked, knowing she would consider the question to be bordering on blasphemy.
    "If that's what your palate's used to, then prepare to be awed," she retorted. 'Trust me, there's no comparison."
    "If you say so," he said, hiding a grin at the indignation in her voice and the patches of red on her cheeks. He'd discovered a whole new way to stir Maggie up that was almost as enjoyable as sex.
    She frowned at him. "Why are you standing there? Aren't you supposed to be crushing those tomatoes?"
    "Am I?"
    "You said you wanted to help," she reminded him. "If you can't keep up with the instructions, maybe you should stand back and let me do this."
    "No way. I said I'd help and I will." He eyed the bowl of canned tomatoes with exaggerated wariness. "You