Chapter 14

“K.C. have you had lunch already?’ she asked expectantly not wanting him to leave and waited for his answer.

“No not yet, I was going to make a sandwich when I got back up to the house.” He replied easily.

He realized that was the first time she had called him by his name and could imagine him screaming her name in passion.

They walked back around to the front of the salmon colored house but stayed under the roof of the carport out of the heat of the midday sun and he took a deep breath to control his unruly body and hoped his mind would follow.

“I’m about to make lunch if you can wait another hour to eat. I do appreciate you fixing the light for me and I'd like to thank you. And you can call me Rielle, everyone does.” She offered with a smile showing off pretty white teeth.

“Lunch sounds great. The food was really good at the restaurant last night but there’s nothing like a home cooked meal.” He replied as they continued up the concrete steps to her wraparound porch.

She looked back at him and paused with a hand on the door, a coy smile on her face before she asked, “By the way, do you like it hot?”

K.C. had seen the slightly provocative tilt of her mouth and barely registered her words but his head came up and a frown appeared on his face when he understood what she had said.

“I’m not sure what you mean.” He answered cautiously as his body stirred to life. He watched a mischievous look cover Rielle’s face and his gaze wavered dropping to her mouth.  

“I’m making spicy rice with shrimp and peppers. I’m just confirming that you can handle heat. What did you think I meant?” she replied before she slipped inside the house.

He was left to stare after her and K.C. threw back his head and laughed as he got a glimpse of her sense of humor, she was proving to be a really nice surprise. Just with a few words she had made him forget the turmoil that had been in his life several months ago and he could say Tiffany who? Gabrielle had totally gained his focus with her playful words.

“Hurry up and come in I’ll give you a tour and then I’m going to put you to do some more work.” She called laughter in her voice and he followed her into the cool house.

He looked around with interest at her home and saw a lot of Gabrielle's vibrant personality. 

The high ceiling was a tongue in groove construction with a palm shaped ceiling fan and light combination. The living room furniture consisted of a tan sectional, dark mahogany coffee table and a flat screen television anchored the large, yellow painted room.  

The adjoining dining room was also yellow with a mahogany dining room set that could seat six and a buffet table against a wall. This led to a pale green U-shaped kitchen with white cabinets and stainless steel refrigerator and gas stove.

A cream colored bathroom with a skylight to let in natural light was sandwiched between two good sized bedrooms painted pale aqua blue and peach respectively.

The final room on the tour was her lavender master bedroom with an attached bathroom and K.C. found himself eyeing her queen sized white sheeted bed with real interest.

All of the rooms were large and light filled with rounded archways and K.C. liked the flow and the way her feisty personality came through in the use of color. There were a few pieces of crystal scattered about, and several paintings on the walls but aside from what looked like some family photos she didn’t have a lot in the way of chachkis or decorations in the space. 

The floors throughout the house were terrazzo which was created when wet concrete was sprinkled with colorful glass chips and then polished to a high gloss. In this case the floors were a mixture of light brown, cream and white while the kitchen counters were shades of aqua blue and white.

He could see that she’d had an integral part of not just decorating but the design and building process as well. He liked the fact that she was that creative in making a space for herself at such a young age. K.C. complimented her on her home again and Rielle felt pride at his words as they returned to the kitchen and true to her word she put him to work after they washed their hands.

Rielle had him chopping green onions, green bell peppers, plum tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. She gave him food safe gloves to deseed one Scotch bonnet pepper after giving him strict instruction not to touch his face before he washed his hands thoroughly even with the gloves on.

Rielle moved efficiently around the space while keeping her eyes on K.C. making sure he wasn’t going to cut off one of his fingers as she made a dressing of olive oil, vinegar and green onions and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

She teased K.C. about his knife skills and since he was proving to be proficient she had him make the avocado, cucumber and tomato salad in a wooden bowl.

In the meantime she had heated olive oil in a large Dutch oven, sautéed shrimp till it was opaque and transferred it to a plate. She added what K.C. had chopped up and sautéed that until everything was tender before adding a little vinegar, rice and clam juice.

After bringing the pot to a boil she turned the gas down to a low simmer and set the timer for twenty minutes. She quickly washed the dishes they had dirtied as he rinsed and they were done in about five minutes. The aroma in the kitchen was faboulous and he couldn't wait to eat.

It was just after one and it felt like they had been together all day and they both privately enjoyed how well they had worked together to prepare the meal.

Rielle was impressed, apparently he really did cook a lot and hadn’t been joking when he talked about watching the cooking show and they discussed their favorite chefs as well as other shows they watched.

He laughed at her insight into the personality of the chefs and she got a kick out of him saying he had a crush on the very versatile hostess of Top Chef.  

He’d had women cook for him before and even helped a few of them in the cooking process but this was the most enjoyable experience of them all.

The kitchen had gotten hot even with all of the windows in the house being open and a good breeze blowing through so they took the pitcher with lemonade onto the front porch where they sat at the locally made mahogany table and sat talking.

“You know for some reason I can’t call you Rielle like everyone else does. I’d prefer to call you Gabrielle; it just seems to fit you better.” K.C. told her looking into her eyes and watched her eyebrow quirk for a second.

“Chris couldn’t pronounce my name when I was born so I became Rielle and that’s what I answered to, only my parents or teachers would call me by my full name when I was in trouble.”  

“I don’t mind getting into a little trouble with you and I sure wouldn't mind giving you some instruction.” He told her mischievously wiggling his eyebrows and she smacked him on a muscular shoulder playfully as she laughed.

“You are so bad.” She replied her nose wrinkling as she fidgeted on her seat, the heat that she was feeling having more to do with her company than the hot sun.

“Actually I’ve been told I’m very good.” He assured her eyes meeting as they sipped at the lemonade to cool off.

The sexual tension that had been simmering on low between them was back now on the front burner.

K.C. was friends with several women, a few of them he had slept with but with Gabrielle he knew already friendship was not all that he wanted from her.  He decided not to push the date question further for now and asked her a few questions about island life.

K.C. was interested in some of the different events on the island and listened as Rielle began telling him about the triathlon, food festival and Carnival all of which would be happening in the next few months.

She also told him about going through a hurricane and the devastation one could leave in its wake. The last one had occurred when she was in high school and she remembered being out of school for a month as things slowly got back to normal after a category 2 storm.

The vast majority of buildings on the island were made of concrete and while some windows had blown out, some of the houses had been damaged, and some vegetation burned from the seaspray it was nothing compared to the devastation left by a Category 4 storm like Hurricane Hugo. That storm had come through the Caribbean and there had been fatalities and widespread destruction in the region.  

K.C. was processing all of the information he was getting to incorporate it into the design of the hotel and he discussed some of the buildings he had designed.

Usually when he talked to women about his work and the effort he put into making his projects green their eyes glazed over with boredom, but he knew Gabrielle was really paying attention when she asked him some very pointed questions.