Taste It Read Online Free PDF Page B

into those amazing blue eyes and when she saw the look on his face her grin faded. 
    ‘I used to be a drunk.’
    All the words left her and she simply watched him talk. Her heartbeat had sped up and a tiny bit of anxiety worked its way beneath her skin. 
    ‘I had a marriage that failed and too much stress from a restaurant that also failed – thanks to the marriage failing – and I stared drinking. Heavily. About a bottle of vodka a day.’
    Wow.
    ‘And I ruined a lot of stuff and hurt a lot of people and then … I got my shit together.’ He shrugged again and continued to stroke her long hair with a gentle touch. 
    ‘So now …’ she waited.
    ‘So now I am proving to myself that I have fixed my problems and am back to myself – better, actually – and deserve all the good things that are happening to me.’
    ‘So when you said you don’t drink any more …’
    ‘That was why.’ He touched her nose. ‘And if you want to you can totally sta –’
    Jill sat up, fear blazing a yellow trail through her gut. ‘I do have to go. I won’t sleep here. I won’t sleep because it’s a strange room and because,’ she nodded down at his fine bare form, ‘you’re all naked and hot and stuff.’
    ‘You think I’m hot?’
    She smiled wide and when he echoed it with his own smile her heart knocked hard in her chest. ‘I think you left cute behind about eight bus stops ago,’ she said, parroting his kindness from earlier.
    ‘It was six bus stops,’ he said, touching her bottom lip in a way that made her think sinful things.
    ‘Mine is eight,’ she said, rising up fast to kiss him.
    He cupped her face and made her slow down. He made her kiss more leisurely and lazier and God, so much more intensely. Then she ran like the devil was on her heels. She was terrified. Terrified!
    Cole Roberts made her almost wish for him that he’d win Best Chef. She almost didn’t care if she saved face. And what … the hell … did that mean?

Chapter Five

    ‘GOOD MORNING, CHEFS,’ KAT Stephens said. She was in a red and black polka dotted dress that made Jill think of Minnie Mouse. All she needed were yellow heels and white gloves.
    And big giant ears … and a tail ...
    For some reason that struck her as hysterical and she had to stifle a laugh. She was giddy. Lack of sleep, stunning sex and late night confessions had all banded together to create a slightly loopy but much calmer version of herself.
    ‘Today we are down to three. By the end of the day we’ll be down to the final two. Are you ready for your mystery ingredient?’
    Jill and Ginger and Cole all nodded in near unison and Kat smiled for the camera more than at them. ‘You may open your grocery sacks.’
    Going by the guest judge who was standing there in overalls and a sleeveless top and a feed cap, Jill was going to have to guess the ingredient was rustic. Something farm-friendly. 
    She was right. Inside was …
    ‘The mystery ingredient is corn!’ Kat crowed and Jill had to stifle another laugh at the woman’s apparent glee over the yellow vegetable.
    ‘You have 45 minutes to make this corn sing! And our guest judge, one of the country’s leading corn farmers from Bennett Farms, will help us get to the final two. Your time starts … now!’
    Jill spared one glance at her tall handsome bedmate from the night before and felt a rush of blush in her cheeks. He grinned and her entire body undulated with dirty, dirty memories. 
    Focus, woman! Focus!
    He gave her a subtle thumbs up that she knew meant good luck and she smiled at him and nodded wishing him the same. Poor Ginger looked like she might swallow her own tongue or pass out.
    Jill tried to wrangle her galloping mind and focus. Every other time people had done really well or won challenges it was due to evoking a memory in one or more judge. She stood at her station, closed her eyes – cameras be damned – and tried to call up childhood memories of corn. 
    Corn … corn … corn … Corn