Free A Taste of Love by Susan Willis Page B

quick lunch, and when Helen was confident that Karen would be all right with Greg, she dashed back into work. Annette and Tom both enquired about Karen and she quickly supplied them with the details then headed straight into the kitchen to put some initial ideas together – she needed to have her mind occupied.
    She took six pieces out of each bag of samples that had arrived and switched on the oven, then sat down on a stool and gazed out of the window across the car park. She had always been able to put her thoughts into compartments and think about them in order of priority, which she figured was a result of living with Rob’s dramatics over the years. And last night when Richard had left and she’d climbed into bed, she had purposely thought about Karen and what she could be facing with the biopsy results. Now she knew that this particular worry was stabilised, she could at last give her thoughts and full attention to the kiss.
    To use one of Rachel’s expressions – it had completely blown her mind. Apart from the sublime overpowering feelings of desire that had raced through her and the bodily cravings to be touched, it had lasted for such a long time. She’d felt as though Richard’s lips had been stuck to hers in some type of suction and he’d devoured her lips as though he never wanted to stop. When they’d eventually eased away from each other to take huge gulps of air, the look of complete astonishment on his face mirrored the exact feelings she was experiencing. She’d never been kissed with such force or passion before and had felt quite lightheaded.
    Maybe it had been the lack of oxygen to her brain, she thought, giggling, and then heard the oven timer buzz as it reached the correct temperature. In automatic movements around the kitchen she pulled oven trays from a cupboard and placed the six pieces of tempura prawns, pork dumplings, chilli rice crackers and dim sum parcels on the trays and slid them into the oven. While waiting for the twelve-minute cooking time she formed some sticky rice into log-rectangle shapes to make her Nigiri samples.
    Annette and Tom arrived in the kitchen doorway and Tom asked, ‘We can smell food cooking – is there anything good to taste?’
    Helen smiled at him. ‘Yeah, there is. I was going to call you both in five minutes,’ she said, and told them the names of the products.
    ‘Great. I’ll give Richard a ring. He might want to taste them too,’ Annette said, pressing his number on her mobile phone.
    Helen’s insides tumbled just at the sound of his name. After they’d got over the shock of the kiss he’d suddenly looked embarrassed and she too had felt unsure and totally out of kilter with herself. They’d sort of mumbled pleasantries about the meal and a lovely night as he’d shuffled towards the door.
    But now, she thought rapidly, how would they be with each other at work? It was probably best not to mention it at all, she decided, and resolved to keep her professional head well and truly in its proper place.
    He arrived, breathless, just as Helen was lifting the products out of the oven. She gave him her best smile while lifting the individual pieces onto separate plates. He apologised for being a few minutes late and Annette waved her hand dismissively.
    ‘These do look good.’ Richard said. ‘Do we have prices for each piece or do they sell them per kilo bag?’
    Helen gave them all a fork each. ‘Tuck in. Yes, Richard, I have prices for both actually. But I need to try the fit in some of our black trays and then we can discuss it on Friday at the meeting. This tasting is just to make sure the quality is good and we’re happy with the flavour profile before I do any more work on them…’
    They all nodded in agreement and Helen wrote down their comments on a taste panel sheet. It was unanimous that the only sample they couldn’t approve was the rice crackers as they didn’t quite match what they perceived would fit into the Sushi range.
    Just