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“Is it just me, or are you even more stressed than before,” Mac said, reading my mind.
“I assume that with every advancement in the competition, I’m going to be more and more nervous... maybe a little unsure. I mean, the competition was fierce. Everyone did such a great job, even those who were eliminated.”
“Are you telling me that you were surprised that you’d made it to the next round?”
I shrugged. In a way, I was, especially considering the weight that Axel had at the academy. He could have me eliminated no matter how well I performed. What would it take for him to simply push the judges to write me off before I even have a chance to compete? .
Not much.
So then, why hadn’t he done exactly that?
Did he really want me to leave?
I smiled, thinking of his arms around me as he’d made love to me. It’d been so intense, like nothing I’d ever experienced before. Damn it. The connection had been so strong, I still couldn’t believe that he hadn’t felt it.
Or maybe he had, but he just couldn’t admit it.
Wishful thinking. Yeah. It was wishful alright.
“Are you there, Layla?” Mac was saying.
“Huh?” I said, looking sheepishly at him. “What?”
“Where did you go just now?” he said with a smile. “It was like you’d gone off into some distant, but very pleasant place.”
Damn it. Had I gone back to Axel again?
I shrugged and pushed Axel out of my mind. “The judges really got a kick out of my clangers,” I said, quickly shifting gears. “Only one of them had ever vaguely heard of such a thing. They were impressed by the idea, by my research into them and by the actual taste of them, the savory and the sweet.”
Mac smiled that sweet and complacent smile of his. “I know, Layla,” he said. “I was there, remember?”
That’s right. He had been there, silently cheering me on from the sidelines. But my focus had been so split between my clangers and my thoughts of Axel, that I’d barely been aware of Mac at all.
I shrugged. “I know,” I said as I prepared the chicken. “I’m still so excited about all of this.”
He came around the island and stood behind me. He gently brought his hands to my shoulders and massaged my tense muscles.
“Look at you,” he said. “You’re a bundle of pent up stress and anxiety. You do know that your energy, positive or negative, can be transmitted to the meal that you prepare?”
I looked back at him. “Do you really believe that?”
“Sure, I do,” he said. “A meal that is prepared with love, will be enjoyed and savored, whereas a meal prepared in haste, with impatience or with anger, will only be eaten as sustenance and not with pleasure.”
He continued to rub my shoulders, his hands coming down over my arms, down to my forearms then over my hands.
As I set the cover on the pot of the chicken, he pulled me away.
“You now have an hour to kill before that chicken is done,” he said, in his husky tone that was heavy with want. “How about we finish what we started last week.”
I turned to face him, looking into his wise eyes and seeing all the passion in them. Where Axel had looked upon me with wonder in addition to hunger, Mac had a slightly more pragmatic element to the way he looked at me.
You’re analyzing this way too much, I thought. Just enjoy being with the man. Let go. Let him pleasure you.
“If I remember correctly,” he said, reaching under my skirt to grab my ass. “I do believe that I had one hand here before you so suddenly ran out.”
I was about to defend my actions, but clearly he had no interest in why I’d left. He leaned in to kiss me. His lips were moist and warm and so, so hungry. As he reached up with his other hand to grab my breast, the kiss intensified.
I sank into him, wanting more of him. But images of Axel’s stunned face flashed through my mind.
