Read Online Chocolate Goodies by Jacquelin Thomas - Free Book Online

cooking in the kitchen. I’m great when it comes to mixing chocolate, but for stuff like this I have to follow a cookbook.”
    “That’s because this is not your passion,” Ransom said. “I love to cook. It’s a passion of mine, just like music.”
    Marry me, please. Marry me and do all the cooking.
    Ransom grinned as if he could hear her thoughts.
    Coco felt a warm glow go through her, prompting her to take several sips of her iced tea. She couldn’t keep from peering at him throughout dinner. She reveled in his nearness, her body aching for him in a way that she’d never felt for any other man.
    Maybe it’s time to pull out the dice and the chocolate body frosting.
     
    Ransom was dealing with a battle of his own.
    He felt heat radiating from his loins, and shifted in his seat, struggling to keep his desire for Coco under control. It had been much easier to maintain his vow of celibacy when he wasn’t seeing anyone, but with a woman as beautiful, as fine as Coco, and the way her big brown eyes drew him in, it was a struggle.
    Have mercy.
    That’s what his grandmother used to say. He’d never really understood why until now.
    Ransom breathed a huge sigh of relief when Coco said, “I’m curious. Why do you care so much about these boys?” It forced his thoughts in another direction than the way they were going.
    “I guess because I can relate,” Ransom told her. “I didn’t grow up with my father, and my mother worked all the time because she wanted to give me a good life.
    I was drawn to gangs because they gave me the family I was missing.”
    “You were part of a gang?” Coco asked.
    “Not really,” Ransom said. “I was drawn to them, but my mother and my grandmother weren’t having it. My mom moved us in with Granny so that I wasn’t home alone. My grandmother had no problem setting me straight whenever I needed a reminder.”
    Coco smiled. “Where was your father?”
    “Around,” Ransom said. “He wasn’t with us—never was.” He paused a moment before adding, “Coco, my father was married and had other children. He was separated when my mom met him, but he ended up going back to his wife.”
    “So you didn’t get to spend any time with him?”
    Ransom shook his head. “My father never knew about me.”
    “Would you like to meet him?”
    “Yeah, it would’ve been nice, but I’ll never have that chance, sweetheart. He died a long time ago.”
    “What about your siblings?” Coco questioned. “Do they know anything?”
    “They don’t know that I exist,” Ransom stated.
    Coco met his gaze. “I hope I’m not bringing up any bad memories by having you talk about all this. I don’t want to upset you.”
    “You’re not,” he replied. “I’m fine.”
    “Have you considered finding them?”
    Ransom nodded. “I know where they are. It’s just that my father’s gone and I guess there’s no point in upsetting them with this.”
    “I disagree. They are your family. Who knows, they may be very accepting of you, Ransom.”
    “And then again, they may not. I’m not willing to take that chance.” Ransom swallowed his pain.
    Coco wasn’t buying his act, however. “I can tell that this is bothering you. I think you should contact your siblings.”
    “And tell them what? That their father had a relationship with my mother while he was still married to their mother?” Ransom shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
    They settled down in the den after dinner.
    “I’ve been meaning to ask you, just how many photo albums do you have?” Ransom pointed to the stack on the shelf beneath her coffee table.
    “Lots,” Coco responded with a chuckle. “I’m big on capturing memories. I carry a camera with me everywhere. The pictures on the wall—I took all those.”
    “Really? You’re a very good photographer.”
    “I wanted my own studio at one time, but I’m a Stanley,” she said. “Chocolate is what I do.”
    “Sweetheart, you do know that you can do both.”
    “You