Read Online Recipe for Desire by Cheris Hodges - Free Book Online Page B

she seemed to realize that she didn’t recognize her. “Ma’am,” she questioned as she gave Marie a cool once-over. “Are you lost?”
    “No,” Marie said. “I’m here to do some consulting with Devon Harris, but he seems to be running late.”
    The woman looked down at her watch. “He is a few minutes late. Would you like to come inside and wait? All you had to do was ring the doorbell and they would’ve let you in.”
    “So, you work here?” Marie asked.
    “No. I live here,” she replied as she punched a code in the front door and opened it.
    “But you look so ...”
    “Honey, what did you think we were going to look like here?”
    Marie honestly couldn’t answer that question because all she had been focused on was seeing Devon again. She glanced at the woman again. She didn’t look like what Marie thought homeless women would look like: tattered clothes, dirty and matted hair, and holey shoes. This woman looked like someone she’d pass on the street, neatly dressed, hair pulled back in a ponytail, and she was smiling. Marie didn’t expect to see smiling faces in the shelter, that was for sure. The woman at the front desk motioned for Marie to sign the visitors’ registry.
    “I’m here to work with Devon Harris,” she said.
    “Oh, you’re the lady who’s on probation? I’m Lydia Thompson; I run the front desk. Mr. Harris called and said he’s sorry that he’s running late.” Lydia opened the desk drawer and handed Marie a folder. “This is for your time sheets so that you won’t lose them.”
    “When is he getting here?” Marie asked. “I don’t have all day to wait for him.”
    “The wait is over; I’m right here,” Devon said from behind her. His baritone voice made her shiver. Whirling around, she drank in his wickedly sexy image clad in a white T-shirt showing off his sculpted arms and his blue jeans that hugged his thighs. Boxers or briefs? she wondered as her eyes roamed his body.
    “Well, you’re late,” she said, her voice taking on a breathless tone.
    “Yes, and I apologize, but we have a busy day. Our lesson is going to be short today because I’m taking the ladies to a taping of my show. I’m going to need you to help with transportation.”
    “Excuse me?”
    Devon motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen area. “First Baptist West is going to provide a van and driver. You can come along and observe and make sure we get to the restaurant and return here without losing anyone.”
    Marie folded her arms. “So, how long am I going to be here today? I do have work to do, work that I get paid for.”
    “Miss Charles, you’re scheduled to be here for five hours today. You’ve been here all of twenty minutes and you’re trying to leave?”
    “You don’t know how long I’ve been here, since you’ve just arrived.”
    Devon placed his hand on Marie’s shoulder and she felt her skin sizzle. “Can we not make this difficult?”
    Before she could reply, a group of women entered the kitchen. “Good morning, Devon,” one of the younger women said as the other ladies sized Marie up.
    “Who is this?” another woman asked with a nod toward Marie. Devon looked up at the women and smiled.
    “Ladies, I want to introduce you to Marie Charles,” he said. “She’s going to be helping us for a few months. I think it would be nice for us to introduce ourselves.”
    “I’m Shay,” said a woman with her hair pulled back in a ponytail.
    A younger girl with a skeptical look on her face nodded at Marie. “I’m Bria.”
    The other six women introduced themselves as Andrea, Rita, Yolanda, Deidra, Skylar, and Thelma. Marie smiled and waved at the ladies. She had to admit, they were nothing like what she’d expected.
    “So,” Skylar asked. “You’re a chef or a business woman like Serena?”
    “I’m in ...”
    “She’s here to do whatever we need,” Devon interjected. “And since we’re going to the restaurant for the taping of my show, we’d better get