What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 5)

by Cathryn Fox

  Lily knew exactly how that could go, having dealt with something similar many times.

  A reservation like it was a godsend on one hand, a nightmare on the other.

  Parties like that ate and drank a lot and usually left generous tips for the staff.

  First, though, space had to be prepared even if there was a banquet room. With that many people tables and staff almost always had to be rearranged. Taking servers from one place meant doing without somewhere else or calling more people in to work.

  Groups were also unpredictable. They could appear at once, flooding the kitchen with orders for twenty meals that all had to go out at or as close to the same time as humanly possible. If they ordered a la carte it was even harder, as some meals were quick and easy to prepare, like steak, while others were far more complicated.

  “With the show live tonight it means Dylan had to reset the camera setups to accommodate so he can’t be there either.”

  “Evan,” she said, softly, to interrupt. “It’s all right, I understand.”

  He let out a breath, audible over the phone.

  She could almost picture Evan running one long-fingered hand through his thick, dark hair in frustration.

  “Lily, I’m sorry,” he said. “We did want to be there.”

  She smiled.

  “It’s fine, Evan, really.”

  “All right,” he said. “Dylan sent a limousine from the service we use to meet you. He said to leave your things with the driver, everything is arranged. It’s all taken care of. Just bring your work clothes as we planned and come straight here.”

  In the background she could hear someone call him.

  “I have to go, I’ll see you when you get here,” he said. “We’ll make it up to you later.”

  A click and he was gone.

  Typical Evan. She smiled and gathered her things.

  As promised, a limousine driver waited for her outside of baggage check, a big burly man with a well-worn homely face and hang-dog brown eyes. He held a sign with her name on it. There was a name stitched on his uniform jacket. All it said was ‘Bob’.

  Tipping his hat, he said, “Ms. Cavanaugh?”

  “That would be me,” she said.

  She smiled and held out her hand. He seemed almost surprised at the gesture, but he took it and smiled a little shyly.

  “Welcome to New York. This way,” he said, escorting her through the crowd, toting her luggage as if it were nothing. “I’m a huge fan of the show.”

  He patted an ample belly.

  “As you can tell, I like to eat. I have a couple of your cookbooks too. The show is lucky to have you. Don’t let Evan get to you, bully you, he can be mean.”

  Evan’s TV reputation had preceded him apparently.

  Lily smiled.

  “I won’t,” she promised.

  “Mr. Bryant said to tell you you’re welcome to anything in the fridge, there’s something in there to calm your nerves if you need it and the flowers are from both of them.”

  She smiled as he chanted it off as if he had memorized it and repeated it back by rote.

  There were two roses in the back, one pure white, one deep red. In the language of flowers pure love and erotic passion. In the refrigerator a small bottle of champagne and a small bottle of orange juice awaited her. Mimosas.

  Lily smiled. She’d pass on the mimosas on her first day; she wanted her wits about her. She held the roses to her nose to breathe in the scent as they drove.

  As she walked in the back door of the restaurant Evan looked up at the sound of the door opening, stepped away from the group of people he was talking to and came to meet her, a smile curving his mouth.

  The moment she saw him, so beautiful, his eyes brightening as he came toward her, her heart lifted and started beating faster. Desire rushed through her, drew her nipples tight and flooded her pussy.

  For a moment he held her shoulders, just looking at her, and her throat grew tight at the look in his eyes. Doubt vanished. Then he pressed a kiss to her cheek, leaned close to whisper quickly in her ear. His lips brushed the curve of it, the gesture deliberate, sending goose bumps over her.

  “Dylan and I really wanted to meet you at the airport and greet you properly. He’s on his way. You don’t know how much I want to kiss you right now. I just want you to know that if it weren’t that it would be bad for morale, I would kiss you senseless and then we’d fuck your brains out.”

  He held her away, looked down at her his eyes hot and grinned.

  She laughed, even as a matching heat shot through her and said, softly, “Hello to you too, Evan.”

  Evan chuckled, but looking into that lovely face he fought the urge to do exactly as he’d said.

  One look was all it had taken, the minute she stepped through the doors. Just the sight of her, her hair loose to frame her lovely face before spilling over her shoulders, her dress skimming her curves, and Evan had gone hard in an instant. All he wanted was to strip that dress from her, take that soft mouth and get his hands on her body.

  But he couldn’t, there was no time.

  Instead, he gestured. “This is it, restaurant and set. Everything was remodeled just for the show.”

  The space had been redesigned to be both a real kitchen and a working set, with fixed lights and cameras strategically placed along the walls and along supports in the metal rafters above. The aisles between ranges, ovens and tables were wider than normal to accommodate cameramen. Out in the restaurant proper, cameras and microphones were concealed discreetly within the walls and tables, a few hidden in the eaves or concealed by domes. At the moment none of the production side was in evidence, none of the cameramen or sound people. There was only the staff of both the kitchen and the TV show.

  It was just before show time, though, the decision to do that had been deliberate. Dylan hadn’t wanted word to get out about the change to the various talk shows and he wanted the reactions of the staff to Lily’s sudden arrival to be genuine, dramatic. It was so sudden Lily didn’t even know where she was staying yet, as Evan had said Dylan had made all those arrangements. Knowing how detail-oriented he was though – bringing the contract with him to that first meeting for instance, and in all their conversations since – she was perfectly happy to leave it all in his capable hands.

  She would be as new to the staff as the viewers though, literally hitting the ground running.

  It promised to be interesting.

  As if the thought of him conjured him up, Dylan came through the doors from the back. His brown eyes warmed as his gaze met hers, a smile on his handsome face. Her heart caught and her body heated. She hadn’t been sure how he would react, or how she would, but seeing him again she knew she wanted him just as much as she did Evan.

  He caught her hands in his.

  “Damn, Lily,” Dylan said and glanced quickly at Evan, clearly as frustrated as he was at the circumstances. “You’re as beautiful as I remembered. Did Evan tell you how much we wanted to meet you at the airport, to greet you properly?”

  A lovely flush rose in her face, her eyelashes fluttered a little over those soft brown eyes. “Yes.”

  “I see he did,” he said, with a grin.

  Tugging her closer to kiss her cheek, he whispered against it. “Did he tell you how much we want to fuck you?”

  Feeling her quiver in his arms, he smiled and stepped back enough to see her brown eyes were a little blurred.

  She cleared her throat, looked up at him. An eyebrow lifted. “Yes, I believe he did convey that message.”

  He laughed. “If we had more time…” He sighed. “But we don’t.”

  Taking a breath, reluctantly he turned away.

  “Okay, let’s get this show on the road. Meeting, everyone, now. It’s show time, folks.”

  As everyone moved toward the kitchen, their attention elsewhere, Evan’s arm slipped around her, pulled Lily into his arms. His fingers speared into her hair as he crushed his mouth over hers, his tongue driving deep.<
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  Just as quickly, he released her.

  “There’s a place to change in the back,” he said, as he cupped her face and his thumb brushed over her bottom lip. “Ready?”

  She smiled. “I think so.”

  Turning her in the right direction, he smacked her sharply on the ass and strode away.

  Evan was being filmed giving last minute instructions to the staff as she walked back into the room, a shoulder mounted camera pointed at him.

  He gestured her toward him.

  “Perfect timing. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Lily Cavanaugh. Some of you were aware that changes were being made. Lily is that change. As of today she’s our new sous chef. All right, everyone to your stations.”

  The meeting broke up as everyone obeyed and the restaurant opened for customers.

  It was a little strange to find herself in kitchen whites once again, with her hair confined and an apron tied around her, but old habits died hard. As the orders flooded in Lily fell into those habits easily. She instructed the prep, saucier and dessert chefs, took some parts of the meals in hand herself while Evan took his specialties, and responded to his instructions for the orders as the tension in the room ratcheted up and the orders came fast and furious.

  Every show was set up to feature a certain dish, how it was prepared, how it was served, with Evan watching the preparation and judging it as it was finished, but before it went out to the customer. Then the customer’s reactions were filmed.

  Pots and pans clattered, knives chopped spices, meats, vegetables, sauces were whipped or blended, the air filled with the aroma of food cooking. Lily loved it, every minute of it. This was her element.

  An order got confused somehow, the server grabbing the wrong plate. Lily saw the mistake and jumped in to catch it even as Evan spotted it, shouting, cutting the server off before he could leave with it.

  “I’ve got it,” she said.

  “Don’t tell me you’ve got it,” Evan snapped back. He was furious at the mistake and how close it had come to going out to the table. “Tell me it’s fixed.”

  Swapping the plates around, she threw up her hands like calf-roper with a successful tie.

  “It’s fixed,” she shot back.

  To the server she said, “Slow down. A second to be sure takes less time than ten seconds to fix. GO, before it gets cold.”

  “Next time don’t get it wrong in the first place,” Evan snapped at the server.

  Lily rolled her eyes, but said, “He has a point. Pay closer attention. Go.”

  “Don’t give me that look, Cavanaugh,” Evan snarled.

  “Just like old times, Evan,” she tossed over her shoulder and then corrected herself. “Chef Taylor.”

  “Screw that,” he growled back.

  Glancing over her shoulder at him, she smiled sweetly back at him, knowing it would fan the flames of his fury.

  That smile was like a punch in the gut, a goad to Evan’s temper even as it sent a shot of lust straight to his cock. He didn’t know whether he wanted to turn her over his knee and spank her for not being properly respectful in front of the other staff or push her up against the wall and fuck her.

  This was what it had been like the first time, this was what he’d missed. The truth was she was still the best sous chef he’d ever had. Most would have missed that mistake, but she’d seen it and caught it before it left the kitchen, not when it came back.

  He shook his head, still furious at the server for fucking up the order, but he had to admire Lily for catching it.

  In the newness of the situation, orders got crossed, tempers did, too, and organized chaos ensued.

  Oddly enough this was what Evan loved, the madness, the scents, the aromas, the urgency, but the precision, too. And, like him, Lily could smell when a sauce was just right. Or when it wasn’t.

  The people for the twenty-top table arrived, actually several tables joined together into two long ones. Unfortunately not all them, the rest were on their way.

  A decision had to be made. Evan ordered more bread to be set up and sent their salads out to those that had arrived to hold them, requiring the staff to adjust on the fly.

  He swore at a cameraman who got in the way of an order going out, nearly toppling four meals.

  The twenty-top became twenty-four as friends joined the party unexpectedly.

  It was a delicate balance, a carefully balanced choreography.

  He barked as he always did, tempers flared, but somehow they got through it.

  It was almost startling, the shift from full out to nearly dead stop as the last coffee and dessert orders went out.

  Clean-up began, dishwashers churned, grills were scraped and scoured as the last meal order went out, the floors were swept. Waiters and waitresses left, tired and grousing or laughing, depending on how their night had gone. The camera crew was already gone.

  Lily dragged her cap off, scrubbed her scalp with her fingers and shook out her hair as the last of the wait staff departed, their tables empty.

  Still, she looked around a little uncertainly. Evan was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Dylan. She went to toss her whites in the laundry bin, wondering where they were, nodding to people as the last stragglers left.

  From out of nowhere, it seemed, Evan caught her around the waist and dragged her into the pantry, his mouth on hers before the door had completely closed.

  “It’s the only place where there aren’t a thousand cameras, only one or two,” he said, as his mouth devoured hers and his hands found her breasts beneath the thin t-shirt she wore. He ground his hips against hers. “God I wanted you. I love it when you snarl at me. If the cameras aren’t shut down already, I hope Dylan is watching this. He’s the only one still here.”

  He gathered her t-shirt in his hands, stripped it over her head. In a moment his mouth was back on hers as his hands crushed her breasts, his thumbs pressed hard against her nipples trapped within her bra.

  Uncertainty gone, her hands were just as wild on him, tugging on his shirt, desperate to get to his hot skin.

  The truth was, his rages, his passion, had always turned her on, fired her. She’d always wanted them unleashed on her, as he had the night he and Dylan had come to her restaurant.

  As he did at this moment.

  Her pants were thrust down, tossed impatiently away. His own were pushed just far enough to free his cock as his hands clamped over her ass and he lifted her to drive her back against the wall. She braced one leg on a lower shelf as he slammed his cock inside her so hard and fast her head snapped back. Desperately she bit back a cry as he drove his shaft into her and passion exploded through her.

  She clung to one of the shelf supports as he tugged down her bra and feasted on her breast, sucking hard, his hips slamming into her to drive his throbbing cock deep into her aching pussy.

  It was wonderful, overpowering, passionate and wild. It was Evan. Just what she wanted.

  His hips pounded against hers. He grabbed a handful of her hair to make her look at him.

  “Come for me,” he growled. “I want to see you come. Give it to me, Lily.”

  Her pussy clenched around his thick member at his words and he ground his hips against hers, shifted them to work his shaft deep inside her, make her feel every long thick inch of him, feel the head in the very depths of her pussy. Throbbing, pulsing.

  Bracing one hand on his shoulder, her eyes locked on his, she came, biting her lip desperately to keep from crying out as she shuddered nearly uncontrollably.

  “Yes,” he growled in triumph and drove his cock just that little bit deeper.

  He came himself, his shaft throbbing as his cum spurted into her, as it filled her while she shook.

  Evan let his head fell to her shoulder, kissed it and breathed her in as she trembled, the muscles inside her still pulsing around his cock.

  “What the hell did I wait for?” Evan asked himself as she held him, stroked his hair, brushed her cheek against it.

  The tendernes
s of her gesture shook him.

  Lifting his head, he looked at her, kissed her gently. “Are you okay?”

  Lily smiled, let out a breath, lifted a hand to touch his face.

  “I’m just fine.”

  That smile told him everything he needed to know.

  Evan smiled back as they straightened themselves, and then drew her back into his arms for just a moment before they stepped out. For a moment he just looked at her then lowered his mouth to hers, caressed it with his.

  Opening the door, they found Dylan waiting patiently, leaning back against a table with his arms and ankles crossed.

  He grinned at Evan, lifted an eyebrow and offered a hand to Lily.

  She took it, feeling a little uncertain.

  “Yes, I was watching,” he said to Evan, “but you know I like to do that.”

  Evan grinned. “I do.”

  Heat shot through Lily at the thought of Dylan watching them as Evan fucked her and her nipples pebbled again, her pussy tightened. She looked at him and her gaze dropped to his slacks almost involuntarily. There was no doubt he was aroused, his cock twitched, pressed against the material.

  Lily’s eyes widened as she looked at him.

  “There’s no one here, but us,” Dylan said.

  He’d made sure of it. Rather than searching the restaurant as the rest of the staff wandered out he’d done what he usually did when he looked for Dylan, keyed each monitor until he found them. Then he’d been transfixed.

  The confined space and limited light had created a chiaroscuro of pale skin and shadow that focused all the attention on the two of them, the play of light over the curve of Lily’s breast, the long line of Evan’s back. He’d watched as Evan yanked down her bra to reveal the lush fullness of her before he sucked her nipple into his mouth. Seeing her body arch, the look of abandon on her lovely face as Evan’s muscles had flexed with each thrust, had had Dylan as hard as a rock. For that matter, he still was. It was what he loved, watching, but not as much as having.