Chef Showdown_A Romance

by MJ Post

  “It’s real, Toby,” Kacie said. “You’re not leaving me. This is real.”

  Toby freed his hand from her robe, then ran both hands from her shoulders down her sides, onto her buttocks, pulled her hips toward him. She felt his erection pressing against her.

  “God, I want you now,” she said.

  “Got to shower first,” he said. He released her and steered her out the door and shut it.

  Kacie lay on the bed and fingered herself again. Being touched by a man you were in love with was way better than a vibrator, way better than running hot water between your legs. She lay there, eyes closed, and thought of the first time she had seen her man. He had been dispensing hot mussels onto her plate. Did he remember? “Looks good.” “It is.”

  Toby looked good. He was; he really was a good man.

  She drifted a while in recollection, and when Toby came out of the shower, she was in a confused reverie. She snapped away when she felt the jolt of his body hitting the bed. He was wearing blue argyle sleep pants and a Crawdad King t-shirt. He snuggled next to her and put his arm across her breasts. “You okay?” he asked. “You need to take a nap? You must be exhausted after all that time and stress with the show. I know I am.”

  Kacie turned into him, looked into his dark eyes. “I guess I’m pretty tired.” She scooted closer and kissed him. His lips were succulent like the flesh of fresh papayas. Toby shifted too, and they huddled up kissing for a while and stroking each other’s bodies. He uncinched her robe, and threw it open, and caressed her sides and her outer thighs and then her inner thighs. Kacie gasped — his touch was sending shock waves through her. This was what it was like to be touched by a lover! She’d had no idea it could be so thrilling. Her crotch was wet. He’d pulled his pants off, and now his erection was resting on her leg. He moved up on her so the tip of his organ was tickling her labia and cupped her chin with his free hand and kissed her repeatedly, stopping to look at her in between touches. He paused after a while. “Oh,” he said. He pulled back. “Listen, I …”

  “Don’t stop,” Kacie said. It couldn’t be — he wasn’t going to change his mind?

  Kacie slapped her hand on the bedside table till she felt the condoms where Toby must have left them. “Don’t stop,” she said. “Don’t stop, please.”

  “You’re… um…,” he said. “I know, I know you told me. Do you want me to do anything special or anything different because it’s your first time?”

  “No, no. Just fuck me, Toby. I want you to, I want it more than anything else ever. Do it, do it.”

  Toby tore open a condom wrapper and put the condom on and climbed onto her and pressed his dick into her and there was a slight stretching sensation and then he broke through and into her and she felt her whole lower body blaze as he stroked. She closed her eyes and concentrated all her senses upon the feeling between her legs. It seemed as if she was lifted out of her body everywhere except at that point of contact. She felt her head was in the sky. The sensation eased, and she fell back into her body but he was still thrusting into her and she reached for his hips and pulled him toward her. There was no strength in her arms but still she pulled. Soon she was burning again, and Toby began to make grunts that she thought were the sounds of his pleasure, and then slowed down, and finally stopped. He stayed atop her and inside her till his erection softened, then gently lifted his body free and lay next to her, still touching her gently with one hand. He moved closer and nuzzled her neck and kissed her lightly there. Kacie lay still feeling her breathing slow and let him stroke her torso.

  “You have the most magnificent breasts,” he said finally. He had her left breast cupped in his hand, and after some change of position began to kiss it. His tongue moved along the aureole. “You know,” he said, “I was a little worried because you were a virgin. I didn’t want to mess up your first time.”

  “Oh, God, Toby,” Kacie managed. “You didn’t mess up anything. That was the best fuck in the history of the planet. It must have been.”

  “The next one will be, too. We’ll make sure.”

  They lay side by side and fell asleep.

  ∞∞∞

  Toby woke disoriented, his head spinning a little. He was in an unfamiliar bed, where was he? The soft breathing next to him helped him focus. Kacie was there. They had made love. It had been just the start. They would make love again, probably soon. This was what happiness was. Happiness was your woman beside you knowing that she wanted you there, so close it was like you had only one skin.

  He didn’t want to wake Kacie, so he lay there a while. It was still daylight. At last he was aware that her eyes were open and he said, as casually as if they had been together forever, “I love you.”

  Kacie said, “I want this day to last forever.”

  “You hungry? Thirsty?”

  “Thirsty.”

  He got up and got her a chilled bottle of seltzer from the mini-fridge, popped it open. She sipped. He sipped.

  “I’ll go wash up.” Kacie went into the bathroom. He heard the sink. She came back. Her body was so powerful and yet graceful, he thought as he watched her hips swing. She bent to pick up her robe from the floor, and her breasts hung down. Toby started to roll across the bed to reach for her, but she was in her robe now and walking toward the window. So he rolled the other way and joined her as she parted the curtains and looked out at the late-morning skyline. There was a rectangular tower, black with glass, on the right, with the sign of a red numeral one at the top, and on the left, the Empire State Building’s glorious mast gleamed in the sunshine.

  Maybe New York City was going to work out for him after all.

  Toby put his arm around her. “Boris wants me to open a restaurant with him in the city. But I was thinking of doing my own thing. It’ll be hard to get set up, though.”

  “Yeah, culinary in the city is tough.” Kacie snuggled up close. Her plush robe felt great against his bare skin. Her hair tickled the skin of his chest.

  “What do you think I should do?”

  “I’m okay with whatever you decide.” Kacie’s voice was matter-of-fact, distracted.

  They looked at the skyline a while. Toby realized she was more tired that she was admitting. “Can I take you back to the bed?” he asked.

  “Yeah.”

  He took her hand and led her back, paused to fix the rumpled covers before she lay down.

  Kacie, on her back, smiled up at him. A shaft of light from the window caressed her cheek. He put his hand into the light and touched her also. His erection came. Kacie noticed it pushing at his sleep pants and cupped it with her own hand, stroked him lazily. When she let go, he got a condom from the bedside table, climbed into bed on the other side and stripped off the pants, put on the rubber, lay next to her. He opened her robe and kissed her belly. He moved up her body. Kacie stroked his hair with one hand, gripped his armpit and nudged him upward. He moved up and began to finger her nipples till they hardened.

  “Hey, that’s…” Kacie said. “Wow. Hey, lie down on your back.” She gave him a slight shove.

  Toby obeyed. “If you’re too tired…” he said.

  “I’m not too tired. Just let me know if I put my weight wrong.”

  “No, you don’t weigh much.”

  She posted up and inched forward and grabbed his dick and put it inside her partway, had to move a little to get herself ready and then took in his entire shaft.

  “I dreamed about us doing this,” Toby said. They held hands as Kacie shifted her hips to get the most comfortable posture. “Great, just kind of roll around, I mean, circle around, like…”

  “I got it, country boy.”

  Using his hands for support, Kacie rocked her chest back and began to swivel.

  After a while, Toby let go her hands and grabbed her sides. She held his forearms for support as she swayed still and his manhood throbbed. Toby realized his eyes were closed and opened them to watch the surging beauty of her smile hovering over him, her lips slightly open takin
g gentle breaths, her breasts partly covered by her long soft hair but sweat-glistening in the sunlight.

  “Love you,” he said. “Love you, love you,” he repeated with each rocking motion. “Love you. You were made for me. Yes. Yes.”

  His arms and hands trembled and he exhaled forcefully as he came at last. Kacie continued to move atop him for a while, then slid gently to his side.

  “Did I do it right?” she whispered.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Kacie and Lillian

  Kacie was greeted at the door of Community Kitchen by a heavyset woman in her fifties wearing a teal and purple Ankara dress and a teal dhuku. “I’m Madge,” she said. “You’re Chef Lee, right?”

  “Uh huh. Wow, I love your dress.”

  “Tell that to my husband,” said Madge. “The rest of your party is waiting. Follow me.”

  Madge swayed through the narrow gaps between full tables. The delicious scent of fried fish intensified as Kacie followed her into the depths of the restaurant. At the back of the dining room a corridor ran past a server station and the kitchen on the right, and on the left was a doorway blocked by a floor to ceiling curtain of plastic beads. Madge eased the beads aside so that Kacie could enter. Toby and Lillian were waiting there at a round table covered with a checked tablecloth, with pictures on display of the clay-walled Great Mosque of Djenne-Djenno and a marketplace peopled with men and women in colorful trailing garments.

  Seeing Lillian for only the second time, Kacie was impressed by the warmth of her smile, the crinkle at her eyes and the grace with which she bent forward to offer her hand. There was a scar on her cheek — Kacie hadn’t noticed that before. It didn’t harm her beauty. She was as gorgeous as her brother, or more so.

  “This is an alcohol-free establishment, but I’ll bring you three some cider,” Madge said. “Alia just took a call, but she’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  Lillian guided Kacie by the shoulders to a chair next to her and left her arm in place, touched her hair gently with her fingertips before raising her eyebrows and sitting again. “It’s so great to see you,” she said. Her voice wasn’t deep like Toby’s, but it had an adorable lilt.

  A broad-shouldered black man in slacks and a collar shirt approached and gestured. “Welcome to chef’s table. My name is Shemar. I’ll be your server tonight.”

  Alia came in behind him carrying a glass jug of golden cider. As Shemar poured four glasses of the fragrant beverage, they rose and she greeted them with hugs. “You must be Lillian.”

  The two women shook hands. “Great to meet you,” said Lillian. “Congratulations on your win.”

  “Thank you! But to tell the truth, being back to work here feels like the real reward. I’m going into TKN soon to start the media there, but I really love my own community kitchen.”

  Shemar stepped to the curtain, where someone outside handed him a tray. He set it down on the table.

  “Fresh-baked breadsticks and handmade aioli,” said Alia. “Bon appetit. You guys let Shemar know what you need. I’ll bring you hot apps in a little while.”

  They enjoyed the hot bread and flavorful peppery mayonnaise with their cider.

  “Go find out how she makes this aioli,” Lillian told Toby.

  “Oh, I think I can tell you right off.”

  “Sure, but go make sure.”

  “Light, I can tell you right now.”

  “Give us some alone time, Dark.”

  Kacie smiled. She’d used that tone with Eunice before when her sister couldn’t take the hint.

  Toby got up, a breadstick dangling from his mouth, and sauntered out. “I need to whiz,” he offered.

  “Now we’re alone,” said Lillian. She looked at the beaded curtain. “Aren’t we, Dark? I don’t see your shadow outside, do I?”

  “You’re imagining it,” he responded.

  “Get going!”

  “Yeah, g’wan,” Kacie added.

  Several loud footsteps signaled that Toby had finally moved away.

  “You’re okay?” Lillian asked. She put her hand on Kacie’s where it lay on the table. “Is my bro treating you all right? He can get moody.”

  “Yeah, I really like him,” Kacie said. “I probably give him more shit than he gives me.”

  “I’m so glad he found you. He needed something more in his life than just a stove.”

  “So did I,” Kacie admitted.

  “Have you guys figured out how you’ll get time together with your schedules?”

  “Not really. Toby needs to get the permit for his truck, and he’s meeting Boris about some kind of business deal. I’m just back to my restaurant for now, but I’m meeting with Lou Morton tomorrow.”

  “Great. What’s it about?”

  “Business. I made him promise. He doesn’t seem like the type to try to make me his mistress.”

  “No, he sure doesn’t. I looked at his background before Toby started the show. He built the network with money from his wife, and they have seven kids, three adopted. Not the profile for a philanderer. I think you’re safe. So, you liked being on TV?”

  “Well, not all the time stuck in the dorm, but being on-camera and that kind of pressure, all that was easy.”

  “But now it’s over.”

  “Yeah, now it’s over. But I like being a restaurant chef. I’m assuming Morton offers me something stupid, like being a Hammer Chef’s prep cook, and then I say no and I go back to Koryo Burger and stand over the flattop twelve hours a day.”

  “You’re sure?” Lillian looked deep into Kacie’s eyes.

  “Well, who could know for sure? But most people on these reality chef shows never go anywhere when it’s over, so why should I?”

  “Toby said you’re a natural in front of a camera, that you never showed any nerves.”

  “No, I wasn’t nervous. When the cameras were on, I just did the same stuff I always did. It was away from the camera that I lost my shit, usually. Performing was easy.”

  Lillian shook her head. “I was born with the talent to read people, honey. I think you’re at least a little bit reserved.”

  “Yeah, I am. So? Shouldn’t I be?”

  “Of course. A lot of public figures give everything they have to the public. They don’t keep much for themselves. I think it’s what makes them crazy.”

  Lillian was being pretty aggressive, Kacie thought, but Toby had been that way also when they were new to each other. Maybe it ran in the family. Time to change the subject, though. “Did Toby tell you about that message your folks sent him while we were competing?”

  “Uh huh. Smooth move, right?”

  “I thought it was pretty awful. He took it badly. Are they as hard on you?”

  “Oh, well, my mom fusses me about getting a boyfriend, but career-wise she doesn’t disapprove of what I do. I was always a people person, so she saw it coming. But they think culinary is a pretty hard life. Isn’t it?”

  “I guess so, but it’s kind of like being an athlete. You’re born with the ability and you need to use it or you’ll go crazy.”

  Lillian nodded. “Yep.”

  “Will your parents come around?”

  “I don’t know, really. I’ll keep working on them.”

  Kacie asked, “How are you adjusting to New York?”

  “Oh, fair to middling. I’m rolling with the punches. I like the energy of the city. I really like window shopping. I had a day off last Sunday and I just walked up and down Fifth Avenue looking at stores. You like window shopping?”

  “No.”

  “Great. I like it, too. We’re going together this Sunday. How early can you meet me at Macy’s Herald Square?”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “The news is so goo”

  Kacie arrived at the executive suite on the top floor at 9:45 AM. She had on a new black suit, a new blue blouse, new $600 Ferragamo heels that her auntie had surely gotten a deal on before gifting them, and her mother’s special-occasion beaded clutch bag. On the other side
of the door marked Executive was a round reception desk staffed by two women with headsets, one gray-haired and black, the other Asian and a little older than she was. Each had a slim computer. The current program on TKN was playing at low volume on a wall-mounted flatscreen TV; it was a rerun of Hammer Chef Singaporean Justin Chiang making char kway teow, stir-fried rice cake strips, which Kacie had already seen twice. There were some cushioned chairs in TKN logo colors and a coffee table with a selection of neatly stacked TKN cookbooks. One wrinkled copy of USA Today was the only thing out of order.

  “He’s expecting you,” said the gray-haired receptionist. She gestured at a corridor that began to the left of the desk. “Straight back, take a left, end of the hall. The door should be open.”

  Kacie followed the directions. The Ferragamo shoes were pinching the crap out of her feet. Her heart was beating fiercely. I don’t need anything, she told herself. It’s okay. I’ll be fine if this meeting turns out to be a waste. It’s okay.

  She mentally rehearsed her thank-you speech, extended her hand into the empty hallway in front of her.

  The door was indeed open. Lou Morton and Herschel Singer were sitting at a small side table with closed folders in front of them. Gray sunlight came through two catacorner windows behind Morton’s right-angled black desk. A wheeled tray table held a coffee pot, several Poland Spring bottles, an ice bucket, glasses, and a bottle of vodka with a loose cap.

  Morton gestured to the tray of drinks and an empty chair between him and Herschel. “Chef Lee, welcome. Pour yourself whatever you’d like and join us.”

  Kacie made herself a weak vodka and water, sipped, and sat. Her heart was still racing; she almost heaved up the small sip of liquor.

  Morton said, “This contract is a little more complicated, so you’ll need an agent and probably a lawyer. Herschel has your copy. Do you have an agent?”

  “A what?”

  “A theatrical agent. Make sure you get into AFTRA also. Herschel, you’ll fill her in on that.”