Taste of Desire

“I’ve never had pancakes this tasty before. And these are fluffy and light … amazing.”

Salina beamed. “And I didn’t even get to make them the way I normally do—with all the ingredients I typically use.”

“They taste better than this?” he asked, his tone saying that was hard to believe.

“Oh, yeah.” Salina walked toward him. “When I have all the right ingredients, they’re even better.”

“Then I might just ask that you make these again tomorrow morning,” Jake told her.

Salina noticed that he was looking at her directly in the eye, not avoiding her gaze as he had been earlier.

“Anything you’d like to eat for breakfast, I can make it for you. I make a really great western omelet with turkey instead of ham. Home fries, the whole bit.”

“You’re a budding chef, are you?”

Salina guessed that Jake was just making an offhanded comment, but she said, “Actually, I am.”

“You are?” Jake asked between swallows.

Salina took the liberty of sitting at the table beside him. “Yes. I guess my sister didn’t tell you. But that’s how I came to be in New York. I thought I would pursue my passion for cooking. Right now I’m trying to save money for culinary school.”

“Ahhh. No, Emma didn’t tell me. How long have you been cooking?”

Salina shrugged. “As long as I can remember. It’s always been a passion of mine. I hope you don’t mind if I change some of Riquet’s lunch dishes—with her permission, of course.”

“Sure. If she doesn’t mind, I’m sure she might even enjoy a change of pace.”

Salina heard the sound just as Jake looked beyond her. She turned, following the direction of where he was looking. Riquet, holding a stuffed horse, had just walked into the adjacent living room.

Salina rose from her chair and went to greet the little girl. “Good morning, Riquet.”

Riquet beamed at her. “Good morning.” Then she went to her father and threw her little arms around his chest. “Morning, Daddy.”

“Morning, sweetheart,” Jake said. “You’ve got to get ready for preschool now. You be a good girl for Salina, okay?”

“I will.”

Salina took Riquet’s hand and then walked with her to her bedroom, ready to start her official duties as nanny.

The day with Riquet passed without incident. After Riquet went to her preschool, Salina had Ed, the driver, take her to a market where she could pick up a number of fresh vegetables and fruit. She’d noticed that Jake’s place didn’t have much fruit, perhaps because Maria hadn’t been around to do the shopping.

Salina stuck with the macaroni and cheese for lunch, simply because she didn’t have time to prepare anything more elaborate by the time she’d run around doing the shopping. She had added extra cheese shavings to the top and baked the macaroni for five minutes so it would melt, and Riquet really enjoyed it that way.

Salina picked up beef, mushrooms and noodles and prepared a beef noodle dish for dinner. Quick, easy and tasty. She prepared a plate for Jake and kept it in the microwave, but when seven-twenty rolled around and he hadn’t shown up yet, Salina put the dinner in the fridge.

She went back to Riquet, who was coloring in the living room, and sat beside her, watching her work on her latest masterpieces.

She’d had a good first day with the little girl. They had shared a lot of laughs as Ed had driven them from one activity to the other, Riquet regaling Salina with stories about some of the kids in her preschool. For such a young girl, she was quite perceptive.

Riquet had a bubbly and vivacious personality. She truly was a darling, and a joy to work with.

Having worked with some kids who had been spoiled and selfish, this was a welcome change. While Salina loved children in general, she hadn’t liked the way some at the day care where she’d worked had had an appetite for all the latest gadgets at such a young age. Hand-held gaming devices were her biggest pet peeve. Riquet seemed to relish the joy of being a normal little girl. That meant that she enjoyed coloring, drawing, singing, watching television and using her hands and her imagination to entertain herself.

There was no Wii in the apartment, no Xbox 360 and the girl didn’t even have a Nintendo DS. Salina was relieved. She saw some parents introduce these electronic gaming devices into their children’s lives at too young an age, and she felt it was totally inappropriate. Clearly, Jake was a conscientious father, and Salina admired that about him.

At seven-thirty, Salina said, “Time for your bath, Riquet.” The girl was to have her bath, and by eight o’clock be dressed and ready for bed.

“Does your father come home late every night?” Salina couldn’t help asking Riquet as she bathed her a short while later.

Riquet nodded. “Mmm-hmm. He works all the time,” she added sadly.

Twenty minutes later, Salina had Riquet out of the bath, dressed in her pajamas and lying in her canopy bed that was filled with stuffed animals. She read the story Riquet requested, after which she gave her a kiss on the forehead and turned out the lights.

Still no Jake.

Emma hadn’t been kidding when she said the man was a workaholic. Salina could totally see now why he preferred a nanny to be of the live-in variety. If he got home too late, all Salina would be able to do was head to her sister’s apartment, climb into bed and get up the next morning to start the day over again.

She was glad she’d brought her suitcase with her.

Waiting until nine o’clock was all she could handle, because it had been a tiring day. Salina left a note for Jake, letting him know that his dinner was in the fridge and simply needed to be warmed up.

And then she retired to her own bedroom, got undressed and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

She was back in the bedroom, naked as the day she was born, when the door suddenly opened.

Chapter 5

Salina had no time to react. She should have said something—screamed or called out—but by the time the thought came to her, it was too late. Jake was standing in the bedroom.

Staring at her totally naked body.

She saw his eyes widen and his expression morph from surprised into mortification. That’s when she sprang into action, grabbing the towel she had tossed onto the bed, in a futile attempt to cover her body. What was the point now? He had already seen her in the buff.

“Oh, God!” Jake exclaimed, quickly backing up. “I’m so sorry. I knocked—you didn’t answer—God, I feel like an idiot.”

Salina said nothing, just scrambled backward into the bathroom. There she sank onto the bathtub’s edge and let out an angst-filled breath. Oh, Dear Lord, the man had just seen her without her clothes on!

Salina sat in the bathroom, not moving for a good five minutes. She was embarrassed. Never had a man she hadn’t intended to, seen her without any clothes on.

And the last person she wanted to see her like this was her employer.

It’s okay, it’s okay, she repeated to herself. It’s not the end of the world. It was an accident, no big deal. Jake’s probably seen plenty of women naked in his lifetime.

But despite the words she told herself, Salina still felt awkward. How could she face him again, after such a humiliating moment?

She allowed herself a few more minutes of wallowing in embarrassment before she got up, got dressed in her pajamas, slipped a robe on top of that and then went out to see Jake.

He was sitting on the sofa, his head hanging low. When he saw her, he looked up and said, “Salina, I couldn’t be more sorry. I knocked, and when you didn’t answer, I thought maybe you were lying down. I just wanted to check on you, see how your day went. I am the world’s biggest idiot, and I hope you don’t think poorly of me. I behaved inappropriately, infringing on your privacy. I’m truly, truly sorry for that.”