A Taste of Pleasure

by Chloe Blake

  “Of course. How was business?”

  His gaze roamed over her face. “I got what I needed.” In their phone conversations he’d been cagey about what he was doing. Something about the warehouses blah, blah, blah. She got the sense it was something else too. He had hinted as much.

  “And what was that?”

  He presented the bag and she reached inside, delighted to find a familiar rolled knife bag. Marcello’s knives. “I had them sharpened.”

  Tears rose. “That’s so thoughtful.”

  “There’s something else in there.”

  She checked the bag and found a small velvet ring box. Her heart thumped as she met his steady gaze. He nodded. “Open it.”

  There were no words. A canary yellow diamond as big as her knuckle sat in a platinum setting of diamond baguettes.

  “I love you, Danica Nilsson. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I would have told you the other night, but it didn’t feel right without the ring. Regardless of what happens with the restaurants, I want you to know that I need you in my life.”

  She could no longer hold back the tears. She stared at the ring, her mind racing and her heart full for the man that stood in front of her. In her meat locker. She laughed.

  “You’re laughing.”

  “I’m not! This is just surreal.”

  “Say yes.”

  “Toni—”

  “Look who’s chickenshit now.”

  “Yes! You bully. Yes! I love you and I want to marry you.”

  Their kiss was freezing cold and wonderful. He took the ring and brought her hand up to receive it, but she pulled it back. “Toni, I can’t cook with that on my finger. I love it, but I can’t wear it right now.”

  He smiled and cocked his head. “I know, Chef, so I got you another one.” He pulled another box from his pocket and opened it to reveal an angel hair–thin platinum band encrusted with the smallest diamonds she’d ever seen. It was perfect.

  Opening night went without a hitch with Dani working endlessly to prepare her best meal. Every night is opening night, as Marcello used to say. She and the staff had begun cleaning when Toni and a wide-eyed server burst into the kitchen holding a table napkin.

  “Dani, look at this.” She took the outstretched napkin and saw handwriting in pen all over the surface.

  “Who defaces a cloth napkin like this?” Dani squinted at the cursive letters.

  Toni’s eyes flashed. “Read it.”

  Miss Nilsson, I was devastated to hear of Marcello’s passing and had come to this establishment to pay my respects. I know it was supposed to be his triumph. I must tell you that you have big shoes to fill, and from what I can tell, you are wearing them quite comfortably. Velvet artichoke soup? Never have I tasted anything so simple yet so rich. I must confess I was unaware of your contribution to the kitchen of L’Italy in New York until recently. Are you aware they have lost two stars? I will be retracting the scathing review I left. Although if you recall, I said the veal shank was excellent. My review will be posted tomorrow. Good luck, Chef Nilsson. I look forward to more from you.

  —The Taste.

  One year later

  “It’s time, Dani.” Liz burst through the door of the kitchen, almost knocking over Dao and the tray of chocolates he was preparing. Dani frowned at her friend, who backed away with her hands up.

  “Dao, put one of those little chocolates on each of the plates and a drizzle of Lambrusco sauce, please.”

  “I can’t believe you. You have guests out there.” Liz put her hands on her hips and raised her brows.

  “Almost done.” Dani swirled the icing over the seventh tier of the cake. “Dao, it’s ready.” She handed her sous-chef the knife and watched as her staff carried the cake away. Once she was satisfied that everything was set, she hurried toward the double doors.

  “Woman, take that black coat off!”

  “Oh!” Dani unbuttoned her chef’s coat, revealing a floor-length strapless wedding dress with a mermaid hem and short train. She kicked off her Crocs and slipped her feet into her sparkly Jimmy Choos.

  Liz tsked, then smiled at her friend. “You look gorgeous.”

  Dani walked with Liz back into the dining room, her eyes settling happily on their hundreds of guests, most of whom she had just met. But her heart filled to see Destin and Nicole, her mother, Grace and Sophia, and her father chatting animatedly with Toni.

  She strode toward the two, her father looking stately in his suit, his neck tattoos peeking from the collar also making him look like an older David Beckham. “You look lovely, darling.” Her father wound an arm around her shoulders and kissed her hair.

  “Thank you, Daddy. You look nice too.”

  “Do you think your mother thinks so?”

  Francesca was watching them from the side of her eye, and then she quickly turned away. She was ravishing in a blue sequined gown, and she knew it. Francesca was doing her best impression of ignoring her father, but it seemed a little more like foreplay. Gross. “Yeah, I think she does.” Dani turned to her husband. “We have a cake to cut.”

  “Yes, Chef.”

  Dani spread Marcello’s knives on the table and cut her husband a generous slice of marble cake with lots of red wine buttercream icing. His finger made it into the slice before she could serve him.

  “You are asking for it.”

  “And I hope I get it,” he said after sucking his finger. “Will you make this for me every night?”

  She held his piece to his mouth and their eyes met in challenge. If she smashed the cake on him, he’d do it to her. She let him have his cake and when it came her turn, he was behaved, if not a little impish when he slid a fingertip into the icing and slipped a little more between her lips. He didn’t know it yet, but she had made extra icing.

  The crowd cheered and her staff rushed in to cut and serve.

  “Where is the champagne?”

  “I vetoed the champagne.”

  Her husband’s head whipped around. “What? Why? I had the warehouse send the Clos.” He looked over her head and whatever he was going to say died on his lips. The staff was pouring sparkling red for their guests.

  “It’s the Dolcetto. Marcello’s Dolcetto. I asked them to bring it from our warehouse, but don’t worry, as your supplier I made sure you got a discount.”

  His eyes were filled with love. “That’s cute. Come here.”

  They kissed among yells and clinking glasses.

  “Are you ready for your cake? It’s the chef’s special,” Dani whispered, suggestively rubbing against him.

  “You get the icing,” Toni teased.

  “And you get the Clos.”

  Toni’s smile was wicked. “Sì, Chef. Whatever you want, Chef. Forever.”

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Undeniable Attraction by Kayla Perrin.

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  Undeniable Attraction

  by Kayla Perrin

  Chapter 1

  Sheridan Falls, 10 Miles

  Melissa Conwell’s hands tightened on the steering wheel as she passed the familiar sign along Interstate 90 west. Sheridan Falls. She was almost home.

  Home home. Not Newark, New Jersey, where she lived now, but the small town in upstate New York where she’d been born and raised. Normally, seeing that sign caused her heart to fill with happiness, knowing that she would soon be seeing her parents, sister and young niece. But today, the fact that she was almost home had her throat tightening.

  It was an illogical reaction, especially since she was returning to Sheridan Falls for a joyous occasion. It was sure to be the event of the summer, a big wedding that was bringing family members together from across the country. And yet joy was the last thing she was feeling.

  She was anxious. Terrified, even.

  Because this time she was going to have to see Aaron Burke. Small-town boy turned international soccer star.

  International heartbreaker, more like.

  She hadn’t needed to read the tabloids to learn that Aaron had had his share of women and had broken his share of hearts. She knew that from firsthand experience. Eleven years, nine months and ten or so days ago, Aaron had crushed her teenage heart and left her reeling.

  Not that she was counting or anything.

  Melissa’s fingers began to hurt, and she loosened her grip on the steering wheel. Why she was getting all tense at the thought of seeing Aaron was beyond her. She hadn’t spoken to him in nearly twelve years. He wasn’t part of her life, by any stretch of the imagination. So why was she acting as if seeing him was going to disrupt her world?

  Because she didn’t want to see him. Ever. Not after how things had ended between them. She might be over him, but they weren’t friends, and spending time with him was going to be awkward at the very least.

  But that’s exactly what she was going to have to do. Over the next few days, she was going to be seeing a lot of Aaron—at the welcome dinner, at the rehearsal, at the wedding. And worse than simply seeing him, she was going to have to interact and play nice, because not only was Melissa in the wedding party, Aaron was, too. And for some unfathomable reason, Tasha had paired Aaron with her.

  “What’s the big deal?” Tasha had asked when Melissa expressed mortification over the wedding arrangements. “The other pairings made more sense this way. Besides, you and Aaron used to be close.”

  “Exactly—used to be,” Melissa had said. “We haven’t spoken in years. Are you forgetting what he did to me?”

  “But weren’t you the one who decided not to follow him to Notre Dame?” Tasha asked, sounding confused. “You said he’d be too busy with his soccer scholarship and you didn’t want to get in his way? Then things fell apart after that.”

  Melissa had been glad that she and her cousin were speaking on the phone, three thousand miles between them. Because she didn’t want Tasha to see her face.

  The story that Melissa was the one who’d decided not to go to Notre Dame had not been entirely truthful, but it had been much better than admitting that Aaron had rejected her. She’d been trying to save face when she’d told her close friends and family that she was the one who’d chosen not to follow Aaron to college. The truth was, Aaron had been the one to ask her why she would travel across the country for school when there were better social work programs closer to home. Melissa had been stunned. Didn’t he want her around? Didn’t he love her?

  Melissa’s heart had been beating out of control as Tasha had gone on to talk about how Melissa being paired with Aaron would be fine, that years had passed and she was sure there would be no tension between them. Melissa hoped her cousin was right, but she wouldn’t bet money on it. How did you play nice with someone you’d tried to eradicate from your memory?

  Melissa gazed out at the familiar landscape. The trees along the interstate were a vibrant green and in full bloom. The sky was cloudless and a gorgeous cerulean blue this early-summer day. The weather for the weekend was supposed to be perfect.

  If only she could feel good about it.

  Her mind ventured back to the one thing she couldn’t escape—the fact that she would have to see Aaron. Did she hate him? No, hate was too strong an emotion, but she certainly didn’t like him. Once she’d learned that Aaron had done the unthinkable—he’d married Ella Donovan, the one girl in high school she couldn’t stand—any remaining respect she might have had for him instantly died. He’d given Melissa the song and dance about how they were young, it was time for them to concentrate on their careers, that the distance between them would eventually become a factor.

  Yet somehow he’d ended up making a relationship work with Ella? Ella had stayed in Sheridan Falls and worked for her father, who’d been the longtime mayor of the town. When had Aaron had time to forge a relationship with her?

  Unless they’d been involved while he and Melissa had been. Every unthinkable scenario had crossed Melissa’s mind, and she’d ultimately been livid with herself for falling for a Burke brother. Hadn’t she known better? During high school, she’d heard all the rumors about the four Burke boys, how they dated whomever they wanted, were too popular to be faithful and women were supposed to take what they could get—if they were lucky enough to catch the eye of one of the Burkes. Which was exactly why Melissa had always vowed to never be like the other women in town, who seemed to lose their minds whenever in the presence of Aaron, Keith, Carlton or Jonas. Yes, the Burkes were hot, but it was pathetic how googly-eyed women became around them.

  And then Melissa spent a summer with Aaron. They were both hired by a local camp at the end of their senior high school year as counselors charged with entertaining kids twelve and under. Melissa and Aaron had spent a lot of time together, time in which she’d gotten to know him. And he’d seemed so different from everything she’d heard. Caring. Funny. Engaging. Truly interested in the kids. Relatable. A good listener. He didn’t seem conceited at all. And somehow, Melissa had fallen for him.

  Her first love. Her first heartbreak.

  Dreams shattered. Her innocence lost.

  The best summer of her life had turned into her biggest regret.

  Though Melissa had tried to the best of her ability to avoid following Aaron’s career and his life over the years, she hadn’t been able to avoid everything. She had seen the photos of him in various highlights on the news about his soccer achievements, and of course about his happy marriage to the mayor’s daughter.

  It was rare that she didn’t find a story about Aaron whenever she looked up news in the online version of the Sheridan Falls Tribune. In their town of seven thousand people, Aaron Burke was a local hero. Even him buying a new car made the paper.

  Melissa had fallen for him before he’d ever become successful, though he had always been legendary. He was the son of Cyrus Burke, a local celebrity who’d had a long and celebrated career in the NFL. Not that Melissa knew anything about Cyrus’s personal life, but every time she’d seen him in town with his wife, Cynthia, he seemed like a man in love. Always holding her hand. Opening doors for her. Gazing at her fondly, as though there was no woman more beautiful in the world.

  There’d never been a hint of scandal about Cyrus’s fidelity, something Melissa had reflected on after she and Aaron had become an item. She’d figured lik
e father, like son, and had assumed that if Aaron became successful as a soccer player, he would be like his father. Instead, he’d proceeded to behave exactly like the majority of highly paid professional athletes out there—parties, women, a string of broken hearts.

  Melissa had read all about it in the tabloids. Seen pictures of him on yachts in the Mediterranean with other soccer players and a horde of bikini-clad women. She’d seen how female sports reporters would look up at him with the same googly eyes she’d witnessed on the women from Sheridan Falls. It had been hard for Melissa to stomach.

  And then Aaron had married Ella in some big event in Sheridan Falls, and Melissa had stopped paying attention to what Aaron did with his life. She’d spent too much time over the years thinking about him as it was, and if he could marry the one person who’d made her life hell in high school, he didn’t deserve a second thought.

  “Enough of this nonsense,” she said to herself. Vowing to forget about Aaron, she turned up the music on the radio and bopped her head to an upbeat tune. Her eyes ventured to the lake as she crossed the city limits into Sheridan Falls. That was the lake on which she’d spent her last summer of high school as a counselor.

  The summer she had fallen in love with Aaron Burke.

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” she all but yelled. “Stop thinking about Aaron! He’s ancient history.”

  Suddenly, it hit her what the real issue was. She didn’t want to see him with Ella, who she knew would rub in the fact that she had snagged a Burke brother. Having to stomach Ella gloating over her coveted prize would be more than Melissa could bear. In high school, Ella had lived to steal other women’s men, as though it were a competitive sport. If only Aaron had ended up with anyone but her. Ella, who’d never suffered from self-esteem issues to begin with, must have an ego as large as the state of Texas now.

  Dealing with Ella’s gloating would be bearable if Melissa were heading home with a hot man on her arm. But sadly, she was single. Her relationships over the years had all died before any real promise of a happily-ever-after. Her most recent relationship had started off with hope, in part because of the fact that Christopher worked in the social work field, as did she. But hope had faded as quickly as the initial spark, and the relationship had ended without so much as a fizzle.