Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) (49 page)

“Got it.  Wish us luck,” Jon said.  “Come on, men,” Jon joked.  “I’ll lead the way.”

“Have a good time,” Emily said with a smile.

Without caring who was watching, Mike leaned down and kissed her soundly on the mouth, tweaked her nose, then left with the rest of the guys.

Rene’s eyebrow was raised while she gave Emily a look.  “Well, well.  Looks like someone has some ’splaining to do.  I wondered when I saw you come to the training last Saturday but I didn’t get a chance to say anything.”

Emily giggled then cleared her throat.  “We’re seeing each other.”

“There’s a shocker. That was quite a kiss for two people who are just ‘seeing’ each other.”

“I don’t know what else to call it.”

“Are we talking boyfriend and girlfriend?  The L word?  What?”

“Yes and yes.  It’s moving pretty fast, actually.”  Emily frowned wondering if it was going too fast.

“Don’t get that look. Guys like the detective aren’t capable of moving slowly, not once they find what they want.  Enjoy it, honey.  You’ve got yourself a good one.  And so does he, I might add.”

Emily reached over and squeezed Rene’s hand.  “Thanks for that.”

“I mean every word.  Let’s go hang in my office and wait for the guys.  We can talk about boys and have some coffee,” she winked.

They did and waited to hear how the first day would go.

“This is incredible,” Mo said as he chewed the delectable bite of appetizer Janie had laid in front of him.

All of the men in the program were present in Jeremy and Ryann’s brownstone that evening, as were Ayanna, Janie, Tiffany and Emily.  Rene and her husband, a Port Authority Police Officer, were also able to make the impromptu gathering.

“Thanks!”  Janie was genuinely excited to hear everyone’s thoughts and sat down next to Mo.  “Yan and I are trying to perfect two or three recipes for the catering menu, so we’re looking for honest feedback.”

“Is this brie?” Mo asked.

“Yeah.”

“What’s the sauce?  It almost tastes like wine.”

“It is,” she smiled.  “Brie with roasted grapes on top and a wine and maple syrup reduction.  All on a bite size piece of French toast.”

“God, how do you even think this stuff up?”  He devoured the one that was in his hand.

Janie shrugged like it was no big deal.  “We’re chefs.  Food is what we think about, flavors, colors, textures.  Plus, we read blogs, see stuff online, TV, or just come up with flavors we like together.  Play around with it.”

Jeremy finished off his bite.  “This one is definitely a keeper.  Great combo of flavors.”

Ayanna walked in on the tail end of his comment and high fived Janie as she walked in.

“Alright, now this one has a twist too.  Let’s see what it reminds you of.”

Everyone looked at it, examined it then took their sample pieces.

Luke moaned a little.  “Thanksgiving stuffing.”

“Nice!  Two for two,” Janie said, clapping her hands in excitement.  Emily wondered if part of Janie’s excitement was the fact that Vanessa had been absent from the gathering.  “Whattaya taste, Luke?” Janie asked.

“A mixture of sausage, sage, caramelized onions and,” he thought while chewing, “apples?  And I can’t make out the cheese.”

“Good job,” Ayanna said.  “That’s turkey sausage with sage and rosemary, then sautéed apples.  A little bit of celery that was caramelized with the onion all in a mini croissant.  And the cheese?  Any guesses?”

“Is it Brie again?”

“Nope, but good guess.  Cream Havarti, another mild buttery cheese.  You like?” Ayanna asked.

Everyone ‘mmm-ed’ with pleasure, then Jon deadpanned, “Have I told you how much I love you today?”

“Not today, you haven’t, no.”  Ayanna walked over and planted a huge kiss on him in front of everyone.

“I’m gonna need to get my ass to the gym more if you keep feeding me like this,” Jonathan said after the kiss.

“You’re ass already looks pretty good to me,” Ayanna said, kissing him one more time.

“This one is perfect for the fall,” Luke said referring to the ‘Thanksgiving’ one, “and this other one I wanna eat for breakfast,” he said pointing to the French toast.  “The wine syrup combo is a killer.” 

“Good.  We wanted it to have a sophisticated breakfast feel.  I’ll go get the last bunch. I’m excited about these,” Janie said, wiggling her eyes at Luke.  “It’ll
only take about 10 minutes. And thanks for letting us borrow Manny, Jem,” she said before walking out, referring to Jeremy’s driver.  “It was easier than loading up the catering van.  Okay, talk amongst yourselves.  I’ll be back.”

Janie got up and both Luke and Mo watched her leave.

“I could’ve lent her Kenneth if she needed help,” Luke mumbled, mentioning his own driver.

Emily smiled and cleared her throat to cover up her chuckle.  She wasn’t the only one who noticed Luke’s comment or the looks both he and Mo sent Janie’s way.  Most of the crew of friends watched with interest.

They continued talking about the day until Janie came back in.  “I need Luke and Tiffany to try these first,” Janie said with anticipation and brought the serving dish over to them.

Tiffany gasped with delight and clapped excitedly.  “It’s the dates, Luke!”

Luke looked up at Janie with a brilliant smile.  “You remembered.”

Janie looked sheepishly at them both.  “Whenever your mom brought the tapas on holidays, I always loved them.  This one I obviously enjoyed during my pre-vegetarian days, but how can anything wrapped in bacon be wrong?” she giggled.

“Amen to that,” Luke said, and grabbed a chorizo filled date wrapped in bacon and popped it in his mouth.  He let out a deep groan of pleasure.  “It tastes like ‘home’.

“It does,” Tiffany said around a mouthful.  “It’s perfect, Janie.”

Janie blushed a little as she walked around with the plate.  “A couple of these are filled with Manchego cheese instead of chorizo.”

“That’s a nice touch,” Luke said thoughtfully.  “Let me try one of those too.”

“Your mom was very helpful when I called,” Janie said, all smiles.

“You called our mom?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, I wanted to make sure it was just like hers,” she said, taking the plate back to him and Tiffany so they could try the other tapa with Manchego.

“These are great Janie,” Luke began, then as if remembering Ayanna was involved as well, turned to her too, to acknowledge her talent.

As everyone ate, they all moaned in ecstasy.  It was actually pretty funny to see them all in various stages of orgasmic delight.

“Luke’s right.  These are out of this world, you guys.  I hope you brought business cards with you tonight, because I’ll personally be suggesting you to everyone I know.  What’s the name of your catering company again?” Rene asked Janie.

“
The Local Yokel
.  All or most of the food is organic and locally grown.  Well,” she hesitated with a self-effacing smile, “not the dates of course.  And yes we have business cards,” she smiled, a twinkle in her eye.  “And some of our current menus.  We’re always at the ready.”  She gave a handful to Maurice and Rene.

“Great.  With the holidays coming up, I’m sure you’ll be hoppin’.” 

“I actually want to talk to you about our annual holiday party,” Luke said to Janie.  “Let’s set up a time to discuss, okay?”

“You got it,” she said happily and sat down next to him.

Rene turned to the men in the group.  “So I was able to hear about how the classes went, but the only person I didn’t get the full story from was you, Mike.  How’d you think it went?  I know you talked to Kevin afterwards.  Anything happen there?”

“He waited until everyone left the class then asked me why I gave him my card the other night.”  Mike explained for those who didn’t know how they saw Kevin and Vincent the week before when they were out walking.  While they all sat in the living room munching on culinary delights, Mike described the scene from that night as well as the one after class that afternoon when the first mentoring class finished. 

“What did you say?” Tiffany asked, having already been filled in on what was going on with Kevin.  Drew had sat next to her when he’d arrived and they had been talking throughout the evening.

“I said sometimes we all need a little help from people who care and if he ever needed to get in touch with me, I wanted him to have my number. Then he said it wouldn’t do him any good even if he did need to contact me, because, are you ready for this?”  Mike waited until everyone was looking at him.  “He doesn’t have a phone.  Dear old stepdad won’t let him have one.”

“Are you frickin’ kidding me?” Rene burst out.   

“I asked him what would happen if he was ever in an emergency and needed help, and he just shrugged and said Vincent didn’t think he needed to have a phone.  It was obvious he wanted to say more, but was a little nervous I was asking questions.”

Emily had heard most of this when she and Mike talked briefly after the class.  She’d waited at the school for him while he ran to the store for Kevin.  Mike was now explaining that part of the story.

“So I told him to stay at school for a half an hour and I ran and got him a throw away phone.  You should’ve seen his face when I gave it to him.”  Mike looked at the people scattered around the living room.  “I’m probably overstepping my bounds, and I realize now that it probably looks a little creepy for a grown man to give a kid his business card then a phone, especially when we’re not sure what’s going on in his house,” Mike said in a wry tone.

They all chuckled uncomfortably, understanding Mike’s point.

“Well, first of all, you’re a cop.  Second of all, you’re part of this mentoring program.  And thirdly, we’re pretty sure that something
is
going on.  Did he hint at all about anything after I left?” asked Jon.

Mike shrugged a little.  “He thanked me for the phone and said he had to get home to his
mom before his stepdad got there.  Whatever that means.”

“I checked before I left the hospital.  Strover was on until 7 tonight,” Drew said.

Emily glanced down at her watch.  It was approaching 7:30.

There was a collective sigh in the room, each person thinking about the possibilities of abuse behind those closed doors.  Conversation moved to comfortable chatter in various areas of the room.  Mike was on the floor next to Emily’s crossed legs where she played with his hair.  He looked up at her then leaned over to kiss her knee.

“Guess what I’m thinkin’ about right now,” Mike whispered against her knee cap.

She felt a zing go through her while his breath tickled the sensitive area just inside her thigh.  “What you’re always thinking about,” she said.

He looked at her.  “Which is?”

“Thinking of ways to get into my pants.”

He leaned forward and nibbled at her knee.  Arousal slammed into her.

“How right you are, Counselor.  I don’t mind getting into your shirt either, though.  Or that mouth of yours,” he murmured.  “How long is an appropriate amount of time to stay, do you think?”

She played with his hair, wanting to leave right then.  “Probably a little longer.”

He sighed and nuzzled her leg.  He looked over at his sister then turned up to Emily.  “Mo’s hittin’ on my sister,” Mike said quietly but with unrestrained glee. 

They directed their attention over to the two of them sitting on the sofa.  It was quite an amusing picture, Janie sitting between Mo and Luke on the sofa, but her body turned toward the strapping and good looking resource officer from the Academy, completely ignoring Luke who was turned away from her talking to Ryann. 

Luke was trying to act like it didn’t bother him, but to those who knew him, the tightness around his eyes and jaw gave him away, as well as the obvious way he was trying to appear nonchalant and unperturbed.

“You seem pretty happy about that, Detective.”

“Mo is a
hundred
times better for her than Fernandez.  And she might as well have some fun while Luke tries to figure out what the hell he’s doing.”  He looked at his sister and said dryly, “And she does look like she’s having fun.”

“Yup.  The flirt-o-meter is turned way up.”

Janie let out a charming laugh at something Mo said and Luke grabbed his beer, downed it then got up and went back toward the kitchen.  Janie glanced back to see him leave and within a couple of seconds, excused herself.

“Mm, hm.  It’s gonna be interesting,” Mike murmured then kissed Em’s knee again.

“You can say that again.”

“It’s gonna be interesting,” he said again, chuckling.

Emily grabbed a tuft of his hair and tugged playfully.

Tiffany and Drew were only a few feet away on the loveseat talking and even though Emily wanted to know what was going on, she didn’t dare interrupt them.  Tiffany was actually talking
normally to him, looking a little flustered, yes, but they were having what appeared to be a real conversation.

Ryann and Jeremy were talking with Rene and her husband, with Mo now discussing something with Jon and Ayanna.