Fleetingly, thoughts of our business conversation popped into my mind but before I knew it my gaze was roaming the woman before me and I was appreciating the sight. Several grains of the rice I’d spilled were still on her flesh. There was also a seaweed-like strand of nori on her right thigh, curled like a question mark. And although the scent of cooking filled the air, I could almost believe that the subtle scent of woman was also tickling my nostrils—petals, sugar and spice. Suddenly she flicked her eyes open. I wouldn’t have noticed except that I was staring at her face when those long lashes fluttered upward. My heart flipped in surprise and a bubble of both suppressed lust and shock popped in my belly. She stared straight up at me with the darkest brown eyes I’d ever seen. Eyes that held such richness and such depth that I could have just jumped straight in and drowned a happy man. She poked out the tip of her tongue, pointed and pink, and swept over the scarlet lipstick at the center of her mouth.
