Her worst enemy is the one man she can't resist.
Maria Martinez thought it was a dream come true when Ritchie Perez - a sweet and sexy guy she met volunteering at a soup kitchen - took her delinquent little brother Joey under his wing. But her drea...
As she rounded the corner and headed toward the kitchen she heard Joey laughing again. Ritchie joined in, and a light feminine laugh blended with his. Jillian. She was leaning forward with her hand on his shoulder as they both looked at something Joey was showing them on Ritchie's iPad.
Ritchie looked up as she stepped into the kitchen and their eyes met and held. His were so intense and she felt the air heating between them, and blushed. It was ridiculous. There was no way he could know what she'd been doing in the shower. He couldn't look right through her and read her thoughts.
She broke eye contact and poured herself a cup of coffee.
"Can I fix you an omelet?" Jillian turned her perfect face toward Maria.
At least if she was cooking, she wouldn't be standing so close to Ritchie. Maria knew she shouldn't be jealous. It was none of her business what sort of relationship Ritchie might have had with the picture-perfect personal chef in the past.
"Thank, you," Maria said. "That would be great."
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"Any special requests?" Jillian asked, as she moved toward the array of chopped vegetables, fresh herbs, and cheeses spread across the cutting board in neat little piles.
Stay away from Ritchie, Maria wanted to say, that's my special request. Instead, she said all of it looked great, so whatever Jillian added to the omelet would be fine.
When Jillian slid it onto her plate a few minutes later, garnished with a generous helping of fresh tropical fruit, Maria had to admit that it was probably the best omelet she'd ever eaten.
"Come on over." Maria watched in amazement as Joey the junk food addict sorted through the selection of chopped mushrooms, peppers, and other fresh vegetables and piled them onto a plate for Jillian to slide into his omelet as soon as she flipped the eggs – and by flipped the eggs, she meant casually and literally tossing them into the air. If Maria did that, the omelet would either land on the floor or be stuck to the ceiling.
"Hey," Joey said, "can you teach me how to do that?"
"Sure," Jillian said. "Go talk Ritchie into a second omelet and you can be the chef."
"Cool."
"But first," Jillian said, as she added some cheddar cheese and folded the omelet over, "you have to eat this one before it gets cold."
Joey, of course, didn't even think about giving Jillian an argument. He just hopped back on his stool at the bar and waited for Jillian to slip his second helping of fluffy omelet perfection onto his plate and fill his glass from a frosty carafe of almond milk.
