Free A Little Holiday Temptation by Janice Sims Page A

mind.”
    Erik laughed softly and smoothed her brow with the pad of his thumb, a gesture he was fond of doing, Ana recalled, just before he kissed her, which he did, long and passionately. When they came up for air, he said, “I couldn’t make love to you with Abby right outside my door. I’d never be able to look her in the eyes again.”
    Ana left Erik’s office feeling as though she were floating on a cloud of happiness. And when she got home, she saw that someone had left a package at her door. Once she was inside she opened it. It was the Walter Mosley book she had admired in the bookstore window the night before.

Chapter 6
    E tta James belted out lyrics to “I Just Wanna Make Love to You” as Ana danced around the living room area of the loft, supposedly cleaning. She wasn’t the neatest person in the world. When they were teens her sister, Sophia, used to say her bedroom looked like a tornado had hit it. Once she was living on her own, however, Ana had learned to pick up after herself. Now her house looked shabby chic. At least that’s how she liked to think of the juxtaposition of ultra-modern furnishings with antiques thrown in here and there. And the kitchen had recently had an upgrade. Now all the appliances were stainless steel, the countertops granite, and the floor Italian tile. Except for the two bathrooms, which had tile floors, the remainder of the loft had hardwood floors.
    Ana warbled along with the CD.
    She’d been listening to Etta ever since she’d returned from Erik’s office. She would clean a little, dance a little and admire her ring—a lot. She couldn’t stop smiling, sometimes laughing out loud. She was glad she was alone because anyone observing her would think she was certifiably insane. She wanted to talk with someone, but she had already tried to phone her mother and the message service had come on and she had not wanted to leave a mere message about this momentous occasion. This news had to be told live, not recorded. The same thing had happened when she’d phoned Sophia. She couldn’t talk to anyone in Erik’s family because he wanted to tell them about their engagement when they got together in New Haven for Thanksgiving. That was nearly a month away.
    Finished dusting and straightening up in the living room, she moved on to the kitchen.
    On the way home she’d stopped by the market and bought fresh salmon and salad fixings. She was making one of Erik’s favorite meals tonight: grilled salmon with spicy red pepper sauce, a baked potato and garden salad. It was simple to prepare yet delicious and light. She didn’t want anything weighing them down tonight. Nothing was going to go wrong when things started getting heated between them.
    It had crossed her mind to go to a spa and get the works: hair, nails, facial, wax. But she was plucked and prodded enough in her work. Erik liked her natural. She liked her natural state, as well. Besides, doing all that bordered on the obsessive and she was already neurotic enough. She kept her legs and underarms shaved, took long baths, after which she moisturized. That was sufficient.
    Erik was coming at eight. By seven, she had the salmon ready to put on the grill, the salad and the pepper sauce were prepared and the potatoes washed and ready to pop into the microwave and then afterward put on the grill a few minutes to make the skins crisp. A trick her dad had taught her via one of their Skype cooking lessons. He was the chef in the family. Her mother could cook but didn’t really enjoy it. Carlo relished cooking all the recipes his mother, Renata, had taught him. Because Ana hadn’t paid much attention when he’d tried to teach her to cook while she was growing up, she had persuaded him a couple years ago to teach her over the computer. So about once a month, they got together via Skype and he taught her another recipe from his ever-expanding handwritten cookbook. She was a quick learner and was becoming quite proficient in the