Read Online Beneath the Silk by Wendy Rosnau - Free Book Online Page A

brushed her fingers over her swollen lower lip, squared her shoulders, then assessed the situation in the kitchen. She was half expecting to see flames shooting out of the toaster—it would certainly top off the morning. But there were no flames, and the heavenly aroma of crispy bacon and onions made her stomach growl. Mr. NOPD actually cooked.
    He’d removed his jacket and rolled up his shirtsleeves. Sunni stared at his hairy forearms, then at his skilled wrist action as he beat a bowl of eggs. He turned to search the counter for something, and that’s when she caught sight of her dishcloth jammed into the back pocket of his jeans—the left pocket. The right pocket was missing.
    He had a nice butt, she decided—nice definition. Not too flat. Not too round. No doubt solid and hard like the chest she’d been crushed against in the hall.
    He must have sensed her presence. He said, “Three minutes and we can eat.”
    Their eyes locked briefly before Sunni glanced at the already set table. When she spied the tall glasses of orange juice, she rounded the counter and reached for one of them. Her back to him, she took two unladylike gulps of the sweet juice.
    “I hope scrambled is okay. Like onions?”
    “Scrambled is good, onions … they’re okay.” She took another healthy gulp. “Did you learn to cook at Caponelli’s?”
    “No. My ma worked a lot. If I wanted to eat something besides peanut butter on bread, I had to learn to cook. It was mostly by trial and error.”
    She turned around ready to say something rude, but when she spied the fluffy scrambled eggs, she forgot what she was going to say—they were so light and airy they looked like yellow cotton candy.
    “Margo calls me a hungry woman’s fantasy.”
    The comment sent an unexpected shiver up Sunni’s spine. Yes, she knew all about a hungry woman s fantasy. But her late-night dreams never seemed to be about food. The thought sparked the memory of pearly white teeth sinking into her lip, then how hard Ace’s granite body had felt.
    He held up the eggs. “What do you think?”
    Sunni blinked out of her fog, blamed her reckless thoughts on her lack of food and asked, “Who’s Margo?”
    “She’s my ex-partner’s wife. She cooks, but not happily. When Ry invites me over, I usually do the cooking. Sit down. I’ll bring the eggs.” Gladly, Sunni thought, and took a chair. He placed the platter of eggs and bacon in the middle of the table, then a stack of toast. Seconds later he covered the chair across from her, his masculine scent greeting her once more.
    She eyed the crispy strips, the too-fluffy eggs. She never ate bacon on Monday, but right now she would eat the leg off the chair she was sitting on if she thought it would chase away the dizziness that had suddenly sent her head spinning
    The tingling sensation in her lips clinched it, and Sunni touched her swollen lower lip, knowing that she’d just been given another warning that she needed food as quickly as possible.
    “Still hurt?”
    “What?” She glanced at him, then snatched up a piece of bacon and munched it down in two bits. “No. Yes … I mean, yes, a little.”
    “You pulled away.”
    “You vampired my lip.”
    He was in the process of shoving scrambled eggs onto his plate when his hand stilled and he cocked his bead and grinned at her. “Vampired? Is that a word?”
    “I don’t care if it is or not. It’s what you did.” Sunni took two more strips of bacon and then inhaled a piece of toast. She would have refilled her empty juice glass, but she didn’t think she could reach the fridge without falling on her face—her knees felt suddenly weak.
    When she focused on him again, he smiled. A sexy smile that showed off his pretty teeth—polished pearls in a sea of dark whiskers. Yes, he had great teeth. Amazing, since he was also a smoker. She knew this because he’d had a cigarette between his lips practically every time she’d seen him over the past four days—except for