Lotus Blossom by Hayton Monteith Page A

opened one of the upper stoves, a thick glove on his hand. Here we are. Artichoke canape. We can munch these while we get the other things ready. I hope you like lobster.”
    I don’t like it. I love it.” Lotus watched him put the hot dish on the wooden segment of the island work area. The rest of the surface was tile with orange and green azulejos interspersing to carry through the color scheme of the front room.
    Dash walked toward her with a section of artichoke canape in a napkin, watching her face. She’s still very shy with me. “Taste.” He held the piece up to her mouth, feeling his heart beat as she bit into the hot food. “Good?” he asked her.
    Lotus nodded, one hand fanning her mouth as she chewed, then swallowed. “Hot. Good.” She smiled up at him, feeling her face go flaccid as he bent toward her and kissed her, his tongue running along her lips, then entering her mouth. Lotus was sure her legs were going to buckle.
    He took her full weight against him, loving the feel of her. He lifted his head a fraction, his body bent over her. “There was a crumb of food at the corner of your mouth. Waste not, want not, my Boston Yankee grandmother taught me.”
    “Wise maxim,” Lotus said and gasped, still leaning on him. “Haven’t finished the spinach yet.” “Shame on you,” Dash muttered, not releasing her.
    Lotus pushed back from him with shaky hands. “I’m hungry.”
    He grinned at her, masking his own excitement, delighted that she would be as affected as he was by their embrace. “You win.” When she turned away from him to the small sink where the washed spinach was set in a collander, he let his one hand feather down over her small but rounded backside. “Very nice,” he whispered in her hair as she arched toward the sink. “Very, very nice.”
    “Thank you.” Lotus babbled, then could have kicked herself for sounding so inane.
    They finished the preparations in companionable able silence to the strains of the love ballads that were coming from the stereo system that seemed to be in every room.
    The last thing they did was broil the lobster tails over the open hickory fire. Dash fitted an apron on her as she stood next to him watching him turn the seafood. “I don’t want you to get too close to the fire. You could be burned again like you were this morning when the grease spattered on you.” He frowned down, then lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing the red mark. “You got this when you went too close to the grill.”
    “It doesn’t hurt anymore,” Lotus said. But she didn’t want him to stop kissing her hand. It drove her crazy.
    Dining with Dash was fun! This continually amazed Lotus. It was so diverting and relaxing to be with him. Not even her brothers, whom she loved, made her feel so comfortable . . . and they certainly didn’t bring out the other feelings she experienced with Dash!
    "What are you thinking, love?” Dash asked her as he put another broiled lobster tail on her plate and proceeded to cut and lift the meat from the shell.
    "How nice this is.” She could feel laughter brimming inside her as she watched him. “But I feel I should tell you that I’ve been cutting my own meat and feeding myself since I was quite small.” she opened her mouth and took a forkful of food from him.
    “How innovative of you! Now feed me,” Dash told her, leaning toward her and opening his mouth.
    Right through the cheese and fruit they had, they fed each other. Lotus told herself to stop, put on the brakes, and that this man spelled danger with a capital D. He wasn’t good for her and she could list the reasons why he wasn’t. All her adjurations to herself had substance and she found them valid, but she felt caught in Dash’s web . . . and she didn’t want to free herself. She wanted him to be hers . . . for just a little while.
    Dash watched the play of emotions over her face. He could read the struggle within her. It irritated him to think that he was holding his