Unknown Diners

Chapter Ten

"This is superb sushi, so creative. The textures, the flavours... Mmph." Catherine put her hand up as she finished savouring the bite. "Sorry, I just had to have another. This is so delightfully appropriate, doing raw seafood in the raw. This is so good."

Lorne swallowed his bite. "It's still as good as I remember. Better. Appears the lower overhead is allowing him to pay up for quality. Way up. This is truly delicious."

"Lower overhead? Where was he before?"

"On Arbutus in Kits. He and his wife decided not to renew the lease. They rented out their Vancouver condo and bought this place. They now live upstairs."

"Wise move. The rents in Kitsilano have become ridiculous." She nodded. "That's why the name was familiar — this is eSushi, isn't it, but better?"

"It was always among my favourites in Vancouver. Known for freshness and quality." He laughed. "I remember sitting at the bar and hearing a know-it-all type ask if the uni was fresh. Hachirou picked an urchin out of his tray, put it on a board in front of the fellow and told him to watch as it slowly crawled toward him."

"That was fast thinking — probably an old trick. What was that, oma something you said to the itamae? That was such a brief order for this superb assortment."

"Omakase. It's Japanese for I'll leave it up to you. A talented itamae will assess the client and act accordingly. I mentioned yacht, Champagne and being very hungry, then nodded at you and smiled. He understood."

"I missed the nod." She smiled. "You didn't, did you?"

"Did too."

"Oh, my God. How to inspire a creative spread."

Lorne nodded down at her display. "But as wonderful as this spread is, that one is more intriguing to me." He shuddered. "I've not imagined what it would look like in a sukhasana."

She glanced down, then back up to his eyes, smiled, winked and took another sip of her Champagne. "I needed to cool it off. It's been so hot for you. And I see you've risen to the challenge, or is that its acknowledging salute?"

"You have such a marvellous way of phrasing such things. You should write women's fiction."

"I do."

"You do? You've never told me."

"And you've not told me about your restaurant reviews, your sailing, your climbing."

"True." He shrugged. "You're published?"

"Thirty-two and counting. You edited my first one." She winked at him and popped a tako nigiri into her mouth. Then sipping her Champagne, she watched his expression change from puzzlement through amusement and into the contortions of his loud laughter.

"You published that?" He laughed again. "I got so hot reading your chapters. Rereading to edit, but more as jerk inspiration. My God! I still remember those steamy scenes." He shook his head. "Thirty-two of them? Under your name?"

"No, I was too embarrassed, so I did a pen name. They're much better now, but I kept the name. It had developed a following."

"So?"

"So?"

"Pen name? I need to know your alter ego so I can read her. God, she turned me on."

"Wouldn't you prefer hearing it straight from the source?"

"Oh, my! Oh, my, my."

As he stared at her, she began speaking in a soft, deep-throated voice through her actions. "She winked back at him and licked her lips, shaking her shoulders just enough to swing her breasts across his vision and entice his eyes down from hers. He watched her buds pucker, invite, beg his hands, his lips. She swung her breasts gently again to confirm, to beg..."

Lorne was quickly on his knees in front of her, one nipple in his mouth, the other being rolled between his fingers.

"So it seems you like my prose... Oh, God! That feels so good."

He looked up at her face as he continued licking, tongue flicking, sucking and tweaking. He paused his mouth to speak. "You're a hypnotist, an effing hot hypnotist. How did you do that?"

"Simply sensing what you want, knowing what I want."

"But that's easy — I want you."

"I know that, and I ache for you, I crave you... Desperately."

"I'd love to do something about it. You're the expert on these things. What would you suggest?"

"Whoa, Lorne. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not an expert here at all. I write steamy novels. My postgrad is in psychology, not psychiatry. We can lie in bed and talk about it. Talking often loosens things. You know you can talk with me. You know I don't bite. You know I don't judge."

"I'd like that... I'd like it a lot." He watched his fingers tweaking her nipples and trembled lightly. "God, you're beautiful."

"And you're so good at doing that." She cupped the sides of his head and gently lifted his face to hers. "As much as I'd love you to continue doing that, let's finish this marvellous sushi, not leave a second dinner on the table. We haven't eaten much today, and we need the energy. I'm hoping we'll need lots of energy."