You Leave Me With a Dangerous Taste

Mr. Gaskarth had asked me if I would be willing to stay for dinner the next day almost immediately after I came back to the kitchen with William in tow. I knew I couldn’t decline. Something inside me was telling me that he didn’t actually need me there to help, but that he wanted to figure out what had happened between us. However, there also was a chance that he actually did need me. I didn’t want to risk losing my job just because of my own selfish reasons. Maybe I had over analyzed everything that had happened.

The day itself, I tried not to overthink it. I used to cook dinner for many of the families I worked for. It was easier and it was how I ended the day. Sometimes, I would eat with them, other times I’d eat with Jack. Speaking of him, because I had done it so often, he was completely fine with me not coming home for dinner. Especially since I told him that Mr. Gaskarth was intending to be home early and have dinner early for William. Part of me hoped he would give me a good reason not to, that I wouldn’t have to face my feelings again, but another part of me was begging that he would let me go.

I went out with William to the supermarket to buy some groceries. Now that I had a key, I didn’t need to bring things from home or ask Mr. Gaskarth to buy items for me. I wasn’t sure what he meant when he asked for dinner. Was it supposed to be something fancy or something more suitable for William? I assumed the latter. There was no way otherwise that he would ask me to cook for him if he came home at five himself.

So, as four-thirty started creeping up on me, I started cooking. I pulled out all the ingredients I bought earlier and started looking around for all the non-food things I needed. For example, I had no clue where the pans were. I spent ages trying to find them until I realized I didn’t even need one, I needed a pot. Since the kitchen was so large, I opened and closed so many different drawers and cupboards. It was always the last one that had what I needed. I wasn’t even smart enough to pull out something I did need when I saw it while looking for something else.

I was just slipping the cooked carrots into a blender when Mr. Gaskarth came home. The sound of his keys hitting the wooden table at the front door notified me of his presence. My body immediately tensed up and my heart started beating fast. I wanted nothing more than to be around him, but at the same time, I was so afraid.

“What are you doing?” Was the first thing he said when he entered the kitchen to greet me.

“Blending carrots,” I answered and I put the lid on the blender. When I knew it was on securely, I pressed the button that looked like it would turn on the whole machine. The horrifying chopping noise filled the room and I turned around to face him as I leaned back against the counter.

He looked at me, a smirk quickly appearing on his face. I crossed my arms and raised a brow at him, causing his sly smile to intensify. He started saying something to me, but I couldn’t understand a thing. The noise was too loud and I wasn’t exactly a pro at lip reading. So, I mouthed back ‘sorry, can’t hear you, I’m blending carrots’. He copied my posture, eyebrow and all. After I believed I had teased him long enough, I turned off the blender.

“What I was saying,” Mr. Gaskarth started as soon as the blender stopped, “was that I fully intended on ordering in when I asked you over for dinner, but I’m cool with this too.”

So he did ask me to have dinner with him just to have me around longer, not because he actually needed help cooking dinner. The realization only made the fuzzy feeling in my stomach increase.

“It’s part of my job, Mr. Gaskarth,” I shrugged and turned back around to continue working on my dinner. I was just lucky I didn’t have anything cooking yet, or it would have been overcooked by now. He was too much of a distraction.

“What did I say about you calling me that?” He sounded closer than he was before. “It’s Alex.”

“Right,” I nodded and started boiling water for the pasta, turning on a timer, “Alex. I won’t make that mistake again.”

“Good, ‘cause it makes me feel really old.” Even closer.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you’re the youngest person I’ve ever worked for,” I retorted and poured my mixture into a pan I decided I actually did have to use.

I felt a light tugging on my hair--which had always been up in a ponytail every time I came over--causing shivers to run down my spine. It continued until I felt something being pulled down until my hair cascaded down and fell onto my shoulders.

“I like your hair down, you should wear it like this more often,” Alex whispered in my ear, touching my shoulder gingerly.

I turned around and held my hand out to get my hair tie back. However, he just shook his head at me and stuffed it into his pocket. Once again, I crossed my arms at him.

“How do you even know you like it like this without ever having seen me with it down,” I challenged. I wasn’t going to let this be a one-sided thing. He couldn’t just take control of me like that.

He bit his lip, making my stomach drop, and gave me a suggestive look. “I can see now, can’t I?”

“Well, I like it up more, because it stays out of my face.”

“Then you just do this.” Once again, his hand raised up to the level of my face. Since there was no cup to move out of the way this time, he tucked the hair that was just a little too far in front of my eyes behind my left ear.

I stared up at him as he moved his hand a few inches away again. However, it never went back to his side. There was a slight hesitation in his movement, but eventually it managed to find it’s place of my left cheek. I didn’t flinch away nor did I lean into the touch. I just let him do his thing. Just like last time, he came closer, but not as slow and I also didn’t stop him. In no time, his lips were pressed against mine.

I had never properly kissed anybody other than Jack before, but that was the last thing on my mind. I could feel Alex’s surprisingly soft lips in the only way I would have ever wanted to. The mixture of his sweet scent with his manly cologne filled my nostrils, flaring up all my senses. I could feel my heart thumping in my chest, giving me the adrenaline to wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer. He dropped his own hand and let it go down to my waist instead. His fingertips pressed through my clothes and into my skin, getting me to press my body completely against him.

The kiss kept getting deeper and deeper, faster and faster. After he had pushed me against the counter, the cold stone contrasting greatly to his hot touch, he raised me up and made me sit on it. I brought him closer by pushing him with my feet so that my legs were around his hips. With the pulsing inside my body becoming unbearable, I tugged on his hair.

And then the timer went off.

I pushed Alex off out of fright, afraid that somebody had just caught us. However, it was just an alarm telling me the sauce and the pasta were supposed to be finished. I stared at Alex, unsure of what had just happened and what to think of it. It felt so right, but I knew every part of it was wrong.

“I’ll finish putting this together and get William,” Alex walked up to my creation, seeing that all that had to be done was mixing the two together, “you can go and get changed.”

“Get changed?” I asked and carefully slipped off the counter. My legs were shakier than I thought they were. My entire body was trembling with excitement. I was doing something so stupid, but nothing was stopping me.

Alex nodded and pulled a flat cardboard box off one of the barstools. “I got you something.”

He handed the box to me and ushered me to go to and get changed before I could take a peek. I had no idea what he was making me wear--it could have been a super risque outfit that he had some fetish for--but I still tiptoed to the nearest bathroom.

Before I stripped off all my own clothes, I lifted the lid from the box. It wasn’t some trampy outfit. It was nothing like that. Inside was a beautiful velvet dress. As I pulled it out, I was even more amazed. The color was such a deep burgundy that it almost looked purple. It must have cost a fortune. As much as I believed I wasn’t worthy of it, I couldn’t help but try it on.

Somehow, Alex had guessed my size. It fit perfectly, just covering my butt. The neckline went all the way up to my neck and the sleeves were short. Although the dress style itself didn’t seem all that special, the material made it look astonishing. It would have gone perfectly with a nice pair of heels, but all I had for now was my white original vans. I hoped it wouldn’t ruin the grandeur of the dress.

Throughout dinner, Alex kept giving me looks that I couldn’t place. I had never experienced them before, but every time I saw him looking at me that way, everything inside me heated up. It was strange, but I couldn’t get enough of it.

When we finished, Alex went up to bring William to bed. That left me to clean up the dishes. I probably should have used that alone time to cool down and rethink everything I had done. I should have thought about Jack and what I was doing to him. I should have noticed that I could ruin everything I had just with the wrong move. But the lust was too overpowering. All I could think about was that fierce kiss I had shared with Alex. He was consuming my mind.

And I was consuming his.

Once again, he sneaked up behind me, only this time while I had finished putting all the dishes in the dishwasher. His hands started on my sides and slowly glided forward as his chest started touching my back. I move my head to the side a little as he pulled all my hair to the left and started kissing my neck. They were nothing like the quick cute kisses Jack would give me when I was working in the kitchen. These were sensual and craftily placed to make me yearn.

Although his hands got to roam wherever he wanted them to, he decided it wasn’t enough and turned me around. I pressed my sweaty palms against the nape of his neck as he continued making my heart flutter with every kiss he placed. All I needed was something to steady myself on as my knees became weak and my eyes slipped closed.

Either Alex felt me slipping away, or he felt the need to change positions, because he had me up on the counter again in no time. His lips trailed all the way from my neck up to my mouth all while his calm hot breath caused goosebumps on my skin. My hands were still cupped at his neck, both as a guide for me and a way for me to hold on. I could feel his dry fingers start halfway up my thighs. With this dress he made me wear, my skin was more than just tingling.

His touch kept going up further until his palms also fell flat against my skin. My mind was unsure whether to focus on the addicting taste Alex left behind or his touch making me feel urges I had never experienced at this level before. One was just as entrancing as the other.

When he continued further up my legs and slightly more inward, my heart skipped a beat. Just like before, my eyes snapped open, and I pushed him away. Only, this time, he was only at arm's length and both of our hands were still on each other.

“I-- I can’t.” I shook my head. I knew exactly what I was about to let myself do, I couldn’t actually go that far. All this time, I had waited. I couldn’t just throw it all away for the man I worked for.

Alex nodded in agreement, but his gaze kept flickering between my eyes and my lips. “We shouldn’t.”

“I have a boyfriend,” I tried to justify my decision, although I was only trying to convince myself, “and you have a wife who… who…”

“... passed away,” he finished my sentence.

It wasn’t enough to persuade either of us. As quickly as I had pushed him off, he also came back to me. We fell back into the hasty and impatient pace we had shared during our first kiss. Neither of us could resist the other.

But, I had to push him away again.

“Right, right,” Alex shook his head, trying to snap himself out of it, “we--”

“I’m a virgin,” I blurted out, the heat present on my cheeks quadrupling.

“Oh…” He looked at me and slowly started retracting his hands. “Shit. Fuck, I--”

Although he wasn’t gone yet, I was already missing his presence. I grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him back to me. Everything was telling us not to do this, but I couldn’t care anymore. I needed him, I craved him. He wasn’t going to be let off the hook so easily. I wanted him more than anything else in my life.

Alex’s grip went from on top of my legs to the bottom, just below my ass. Before it became uncomfortable, he was hoisting me up from the counter, his hands becoming my only life source, and I was messily brought up the stairs and into his bedroom.