Recipe for Desire (13 page)

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Authors: Cheris Hodges

BOOK: Recipe for Desire
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And despite the fact that he and Marie were getting closer, he wasn’t ready to share that with her. Not right now. “Too many people don’t stand up for what’s right,” he finally said. “They wait for someone else to do something and nothing gets accomplished.”
“That’s true,” Marie agreed. “But I think you deserve a medal for giving a damn and doing it from your heart.”
“Thanks,” he replied. “Maybe this fund-raiser will inspire other people to give a damn, as you so eloquently put it.”
Marie smiled and squeezed Devon’s hand. “I’ve always been told that I have a way with words,” she kidded.
“Marie Charles, are you wearing sneakers?” a tall ebony man with a blue-black bob and a tailored suit called out. “I’m guessing hell has frozen over.” He pushed his perfectly coiffed hair behind his ears, then clasped his hands together as he gave Devon the once-over. “Is this famed chef Devon Harris?
Il est une amélioration énorme au-dessus de votre dernier amoureux.
”
Marie shook her head and Devon smiled, then said, “I’m flattered.”
“You speak French?” the man asked, then he covered his mouth with his hand.
“Jorge, I need some flats,” Marie said through her laughter.
“Flats? Well, if you say so. But I ...”
“I sprained my ankle,” she said. “This is only a temporary change.”
Jorge clasped his hands together. “Thank God, because the new Louboutins are screaming your lovely name.”
Marie smiled as Jorge led her and Devon to a private room in the rear of the store. Devon was surprised to see that an area like this existed in the swanky store. There was a velvet sofa, a coffee table with live flowers on it, and mood music playing in the background.
“So, his real name is George, isn’t it?” Devon asked when Jorge walked out of the room.
“Leave him alone,” Marie said. “He’s a lifesaver. So, Jorge, George, or whatever, I love that man.”
“I’m starting to feel a little jealous,” he said.
“Of Jorge?”
“No, your love of shoes. Will anyone ever live up to that?” he asked with a laugh.
“Hmm,” she said, then slipped her finger underneath her chin as if she was thinking about it. Before she could reply, Jorge returned with four boxes of shoes.
“All right, Bella, here’s what I think you will like. I’ve never seen you in a pair of flats so this was hard.” Jorge turned to Devon. “Would you like something to drink? Water, chardonnay, whiskey?”
“I’ll take a water,” Devon said. Jorge then turned to Marie and smiled.
“Bella, your usual?” he asked, then mouthed, “Make sure you keep bringing him around.”
Marie narrowed her eyes at Jorge, then said, “I’ll have a water, too.”
As Jorge left the room, he glanced at Devon’s feet. “Size twelve?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“I have something in a brown leather loafer that I think you would love,” he said. “I’ll be back with the water and the shoes.”
“I told you,” she said once they were alone. “Jorge is the man.” Marie smiled as she thought about the old adage about men with big feet. She really hoped it was true in Devon’s case.
Chapter 13
When Devon and Marie left Nordstrom, all he could do was shake his head. Marie had four bags of shoes and he was carrying a pair of brown Ferragamo lace-up boots. He’d never paid three hundred dollars for a pair of shoes or understood what was so important about a pair of shoes, but Jorge and Marie had spent thirty minutes talking him into them. This, he decided, would not become a habit.
“You’re quiet over there,” she said. “Don’t tell me you’re having shoe buyer’s regret.”
“I’m still wrapping my mind around that shoe dissertation you and George gave me about a good pair of shoes,” Devon said, then laughed. “I really zoned out when he said a good-fitting pair of shoes is better than sex.”
“It’s the truth. But please tell me you won’t wear those in the kitchen.”
“Not at all,” he said as he shook his bag. “I’m wearing these when we go dancing.”
“Dancing? You dance?”
“I have moves that you will not be able to describe.”
Marie chewed her bottom lip and raised her eyebrow. “That could go either way.”
“You’re going to have to take me up on my offer and find out.”
She smiled, thinking that she wanted to see his moves and the dance floor wasn’t the proper setting, but she said, “OK. As soon as this ankle of mine is ready to slip into my favorite pair of Ferragamo T-straps.”
“That sounds kinky,” he joked. “I’m looking forward to it. So, tell me something, do you really believe a pair of shoes is better than sex?”
“If I say yes, will you prove me wrong?”
Devon winked at her. “It will be my duty to prove you wrong.” He looked down at his watch. “It’s getting late. Where’s your office?”
“Off Providence Road.”
“OK, I’ll drop you off, and what are you doing for dinner?”
“I don’t have plans,” she said.
“You do now. Why don’t you and your partner be my guests at Hometown Delights tonight?”
“All right,” she said. “And I’ll wear my new shoes.”
Devon laughed. “Which pair? You bought so many.”
“If you’re going to be hanging out with me, you’re going to have to develop an appreciation for shoes.”
“I have an appreciation for shoes,” he said, glancing down at her feet. “It’s the shopping for them that I can do without.”
She placed her hand on his shoulder, happy to be walking without her crutch just so she could touch him, then she kissed him on the cheek. “You’ll get used to it.”
“How about I introduce you to my friend Serena. You two have a lot in common already,” he said.
A twinge of jealousy attacked her. Why did he keep talking about Serena and was she simply just a friend?
This man is single, and if he hangs out with some other woman, how can I hold that against him? It’s not my concern.
“Marie,” he said. “You all right?”
“What?”
“I asked you a question,” he said. “Your ankle seems to be doing a little better.”
“Yes, and I don’t like lumbering around on those crutches.” Before she said another word, Devon scooped her into his arms. Marie squealed with shock and delight. “What are you doing?”
“The sooner your ankle heels, the sooner I wear these shoes on our date,” he quipped as he carried her and all of her shoes to the car.
 
 
By the time Marie met Adriana, her mind was gone. All she could think about was her afternoon with Devon. The skillful way he licked and kissed the most precious part of her body, his concern for her injury, and moreover, his indulgence of her shoe shopping. She smiled like a satisfied kid on Christmas afternoon.
“Hello!” Adriana snapped. “Am I talking to myself here? You know, you’ve been loopy since Mr. Harris dropped you off, and don’t think I missed those looks you two were exchanging when he invited me to dinner.”
“A dinner you’re not going to be able to make,” Marie chimed in.
Adriana waved her hand. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. You slept with that man.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Marie, two things in the world make you act like this: brand-new Louboutins and good sex.”
“Add good food to the list, because Devon and I had lunch and looked at Louboutins today. So, yes, in the life of Marie Charles, today was a good day. Oh, remember I said there was something I wanted to talk to you about?”
“I assumed that’s what we were doing,” Adriana said. Marie pouted and threw her hand up at her friend.
“This is serious. How is our budget looking these days?”
“Well, we’ve lost a couple of clients, but we’re still in the black,” she replied. “Why?”
“I want us to bring one of the women from the shelter on.”
“To do what?”
“A publicity assistant on a part-time basis, and if business picks up and she does as well as I think she will, then full time,” Marie said.
“Are you doing this to impress Devon?” she questioned.
“No,” Marie exclaimed. “Shay is actually qualified and I want to help her.”
“And that’s all this is?”
Marie folded her arms across her chest and glared at her friend, tempted to tell her that if she wanted to hire five new people, she could, since she had a controlling interest in their company. “You know what, why don’t I bring Shay over and you can meet her and judge for yourself?”
“When you say it like that, I guess you are doing it for all the right reasons,” Adriana said. “But, I have to say that I’m impressed that you want to do this.”
Marie could understand her friend’s attitude. Her previous charitable acts had been all about getting headlines and making a donation. But she’d also never met anyone like Shay and the other women at My Sister’s Keeper. “I think once my community service is over, we should do some more work over there.”
“We?”
“Our company. That place is filled with women who could make a difference if given a chance.”
Adriana leaned back in her plush leather seat. “Forgive me if I sound harsh or misinformed, but when I hear ‘homeless’ I think about the man at the gas station begging for a dollar.”
“Until a few days ago, I would’ve been right there with you,” Marie said. “But with this economy, the mortgage crisis, and all the job losses, who’s homeless has changed.”
“I hadn’t even thought about that,” she said.
“I’ll admit that I wouldn’t be thinking about it if it weren’t for Devon,” Marie revealed. “But you’d have to be pretty heartless not to start caring about these women.”
“I knew he had a role in this,” Adriana replied with a smile. “And I hate to change the subject, but William has been seeking you. He came by here three times today.”
“He has a damned nerve.”
Adriana shrugged. “Word on the street is that Greta put him out.”
“I’m not surprised. Once she figured out that I wasn’t torn up about the relationship ending and my life didn’t end with my arrest, I imagine the luster of winning that bastard back wore off.”
“That sounds right,” she replied. “And the client she took from us, Destiny Food, has been calling for you as well.”
Marie couldn’t help but smile, and while she wanted to call her contact with the company and tell them what part of her body they could attach their lips to, she decided that if they wanted M&A to handle their press, Shay would take the lead.
“I guess I could give them a call,” she said. “Go up on the price and let Shay handle the campaign.”
“Good idea. But I hope she can handle it,” Adriana said. “And, I spoke to the new management at Mez, since one of our new clients will only have their product launch party there.”
“Let me guess, they said yes as long as I don’t show up.”
Adriana nodded and gave Marie the thumbs-up sign. “I figured they wouldn’t have a problem with the money Unique Brands is spending on this party.”
“Money talks in Charlotte,” Marie said.
“Well, at least you’re seeing someone who doesn’t need your money, now.”
Marie smiled. She wouldn’t say that she and Devon were seeing each other, but she knew something was developing between them, something real. Or was she expecting too much again?
 
 
Devon walked into the kitchen of Hometown Delights with a smile on his face. It startled his sous-chef as she told him about some serious problems they’d been having in the kitchen with the oven and a couple of burners on the stove.
“It’s all right,” he said to the frazzled chef. “I’ll take a look at the burners on the stove and you call the repairman and tell him that he will be fixing the oven for free today.” Then Devon patted her on her shoulder in a comforting manner. “It’s going to be all right. I’ll even do a no-bake dessert to make things easier.”
“What’s going on with you?” she asked.
Devon glanced down at his watch; three hours until dinner. “Nothing,” he replied, “I just don’t feel the need to get upset about things that we can fix.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Chef Harris?” she asked with her eyebrow raised.
“Who’s in the office?” he asked.
“Jade, I think,” she replied. Devon nodded and headed out of the kitchen, leaving his sous-chef totally confused.
When Devon arrived at the office, he knocked on the open door when he saw Jade and her husband, James, embracing passionately. “Excuse me,” he said.
The couple turned and looked at him. James nodded hello, then kissed his wife’s hand. “We’ll finish this later—at home.”
“We sure will,” she replied with a sly smile. Devon smirked as James shook his hand and headed out the door.
“Still acting like newlyweds, huh?”
Jade shrugged and leaned against the desk. “Who wants a boring marriage? What’s going on with you?”
“The bigger question is: What’s going on with the oven and the stove in the kitchen? Two burners are out and the oven’s dead.”
“Oh my goodness,” Jade said. “I wish your staff felt comfortable talking to me and the other ladies. Lunch was a mess, food came out late and we had no idea why.” She tilted her head to the side. “Where were you? At the shelter?”
Devon’s smile said more than he wanted it to, and Jade picked up on it immediately. “So, what’s her name?” she asked.
“You know what they say about assuming, right?” Devon said, trying to keep a poker face.
“Boy, how long have I known you? Now, what’s her name?”
“It’s a long story, and I don’t have time to tell it. I need you to get me some kitchen equipment that works,” Devon said, smirking as he spoke. “The oven has to go.”
Jade nodded as she made a note of what Devon had been saying about the oven. Then she looked up at her friend. “It’s Marie Charles, isn’t it? I can’t believe you.”
“What?” he asked. “She’s nothing like what you read about in the papers, and she’s going to be my guest for dinner tonight. Marie and her business partner.”
Jade dropped her pen and shook her head. “But aren’t you like her supervisor for community service? That has to be wrong and against the rules or something.”
“It isn’t, and I do hope you’re going to hurry home and finish what you and your husband were about to start in here.”
Jade offered him a knowing smile. “James and Jaden can have dinner and bath time without me tonight. Especially since Serena and Alicia are coming through for dinner and drinks.”
“Don’t scare the woman off,” Devon warned, knowing that telling them to leave her alone would be akin to beating his head against a brick wall and expecting it to come tumbling down.
“Are you sure this is the kind of woman you don’t want to send off running?” Jade asked. “I mean ...”
“It wasn’t too long ago that someone was asking those same questions about you,” he said.
“Touché,” Jade replied, recalling the rocky relationship that she and her brother-in-law, Maurice, had during the early days of her relationship with James. “I’ll be nice, but I can’t vouch for the others.”
“I’m telling you, you guys are a street gang in stilettos.” Devon shook his head and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Marie and I are just getting to know each other, and I don’t need you guys putting your two cents in.”
“All right, all right,” Jade said. “But we only want what’s best for you. I’m not convinced that it’s Marie Charles, but if you like it, I love it.”
Devon bowed like a Broadway actor. Oh, he liked it, and maybe he liked it a little too much. Was Marie the woman he’d spent the day with or really the wild child that showed up in the newspapers and ended up doing community service?
“Devon,” Jade said, breaking into his thoughts. “Did you hear me?”
“No, what?”
“Will replacing the oven cause us to have to shut down?”

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