Sinful Chocolate

He gave her his best puppy dog expression while his smile turned sly. “Can I help flirting when this office is filled with such beautiful women?”

“Sign in right here,” Tammy instructed, her lyrical voice now flat.

Determined not to let the women see him sweat, Charlie scribbled his name and handed over his insurance card before Lexi led him to a room to wait for Dr. Weiner. A playboy at heart, Charlie couldn’t stop thinking about Tammy’s idea of playing nurse—especially if she wore a tight white dress, white fishnet thigh-highs and high-heeled shoes.

Thinking about the fantasy nurse uniform gave Charlie an instant hard-on just as he was sitting down on the doctor’s table, giving Lexi a good eyeful.

“Um.” She cleared her throat. “The doctor will be with you in a minute.”

Charlie nodded and pretended not to notice her distraction as she walked backward. When she bumped into the wall, he gave her a smile.

“Oops,” he said.

Lexi jumped and glared at him again before racing out of the room.

He chuckled. Women never failed to amuse him.

Twenty minutes later, when Charlie had just decided to take a quick nap, Dr. Weiner ambled into the room with his thick, black-rimmed glasses sitting on the edge of his nose.

“Ah, Dr. Weiner. Good to see you again,” Charlie greeted.

The hunch-shouldered doctor came in with a thin smile and lifted his rheumy eyes toward him. “Afternoon, Charlie.”

It was the tone that knotted Charlie’s stomach muscles or maybe it was the fact that the chilly room had suddenly grown stuffy. “What is it, Doc?”

Weiner drew in a deep breath and closed the chart in his hand as he pulled up a stool and sat down.

Charlie could literally hear the blood rushing through his veins. He didn’t like the look of this. He tried to brace himself the best he could, but he couldn’t stop being impatient for the news. “Whatever it is, just tell me. I can handle it,” he lied.

The doctor nodded gravely. “Your lab results came in…”

“And…?”

“And…It doesn’t look too good.” He leveled his serious gaze on Charlie. “You’re dying.”

Charlie stiffened. “Come again?”

“I know this is coming as a surprise, but the lab results—”

“B-but I feel fine.” The doctor’s words hit him like an iron fist. It simply wasn’t true. It wasn’t possible.

Dr. Weiner frowned. “Didn’t you tell me two weeks ago that you’ve been exhausted lately?”

“B-but that’s because of work. I’ve been putting in a lot of hours. I—” Charlie swallowed. “What’s wrong with me?”

“It looks like you have aplastic anemia.”

“A plastic what?”

“Aplastic anemia. It means you have a low count of all three blood cells. I still need to confirm with a bone marrow test—but with these numbers, I’m pretty sure.”

The room roared with silence before the doctor at long last said, “I’m sorry.”

Finally finding his courage, Charlie asked, “Okay, how do we treat it?”

The doctor hesitated. “Well, there’re a few things we can try—all extremely risky but….”

“How long?” Charlie asked.

“I—I can’t just give a date.”

“How long?” Charlie insisted.

Dr. Weiner glanced back down at the chart. “Given these numbers, I’d say five to six months, tops.”

Chapter 6

“I don’t feel right leaving you here like this,” Anna complained, setting her suitcase down by the door. “What if something happens while I’m gone?”

“I’m a big girl.” Gisella laughed. “I think I can take care of myself.”

Anna drew a deep breath. “Nicole and Jade’s phone numbers are on the refrigerator. Call them if you need help with anything. I’m leaving to go to my company’s headquarters in New York, but I’ll call you every day.”

“Yes, Mom,” Gisella sassed, bumping her hip against her sister’s before marching out of Anna’s bedroom. “Sasha and I will be fine.”

Her sister followed her to the kitchen and watched her slip on her Kiss the Chef apron and then pull out a variety of bowls and ingredients from every cabinet. “You really do love doing this stuff, don’t you?” she said, folding her arms and leaning against the kitchen’s door frame. “You’d live in a kitchen if you could.”

“Don’t think I haven’t thought about it,” Gisella joked, measuring out flour and vanilla extract. “I’m still trying to crack grandmère’s famous recipe for her Amour Chocolat.”

“Why don’t you just ask her for it?”

“Now that’s a novel idea.” Gisella smacked her palm against her head. “Why didn’t I think of it?”

“She won’t give it up, eh?”

“She claims the recipe is top-secret because its effects can be dangerous for those who don’t respect its power.”

“Dangerous?” Anna repeated skeptically. “We’re talking about chocolate, right?”

“Ah, but not just any kind of chocolate.” Gisella waved a finger at her sister. “There is what you might call a culinary urban legend about grandmère’s Amour Chocolat. It is said that just one bite of the decadent treat ignites passion.”

“What? Like an aphrodisiac? C’mon, people have been saying that about chocolate for years. It’s not true.”

“But ah! This recipe is the real deal. Trust me. I know.”

Anna lifted a single brow. “You’ve had it before?”

Casting her eyes down, Gisella bit her lower lip and tried her best not to look like a blushing fool.