Passionate Chef, Ice Queen Boss / Rescued in a Wedding Dress: Passionate Chef, Ice Queen Boss / Rescued in a Wedding Dress. Cara Colter
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chest-to-chest there in the rear area behind the restaurant. It was quiet and still out here, the van parked close to the back of the building. They stood between the van and a windowless section of wall.
She looked up into his eyes and he looked down into hers and…that was the end of it. The end of days of working with each other and suppressing all sorts of things and today not managing to suppress them.
Scarlett didn’t know who kissed whom. She didn’t know who made that first infinitesimal move or whether they both did.
All she knew was their lips pressed together in the seclusion of the back area. Lorenzo made a soft sound in the back of his throat.
Their hands rose and arms locked around each other. This wasn’t a one-second press of lips against lips and a hurried and startled breaking away. This was the rest of that first kiss. The completion of that first kiss. A giving and taking and offering and receiving that seemed to touch on so much more than a shared attraction or a past closeness.
Scarlett kissed Lorenzo and completely forgot where she was. She forgot her position as Financial Manager of Rosa, forgot that potentially someone could happen along out here. She forget everything except the taste and the touch of him as they held each other close and he kissed her as though he had starved for the taste of her, had needed this intimacy with her. Had to have it for the sake of his soul.
Oh, these were dangerous thoughts for Scarlett to have. Dangerous, wanting-to-leap-to-conclusions-that-she-shouldn’t-leap-to thoughts. They dissipated anyway into pure sensation before Scarlett could do more than feel the drift of them through the recesses of her mind. Her hand rose and her fingers cupped the nape of his neck. Strong muscle shifted beneath her fingertips as she stroked them softly over his warm skin.
Lorenzo’s hands firmed at her waist and their kiss deepened, became an expression of urgency and need that felt more immediate and necessary than ever before.
‘I have missed your taste, the touch of you, the scent of you.’ He murmured the words as he pressed kisses to the column of her neck, the side of her jaw and across her cheek. Finally, before his mouth closed over hers, he added, ‘I have missed you, Scarlett. More than I understood. More than I understand now.’
‘Lorenzo.’ His words were beautiful to her ears and Scarlett gave herself up to kissing him, to the belief in his need for her. She gave and gave and Lorenzo gave back to her, worshipping her mouth with his lips, gently caressing her arms and back and shoulders until she wanted to stay in his arms and never leave.
Would Scarlett have ever thought to stop that kiss?
It wasn’t a question she could answer because a sound nearby broke them apart like…guilty lovers. In that first moment, Scarlett realised it was only a bird rustling through the branches of a tall bush at the edge of the area.
And then her mind began to function again and she became truly aware once more of their surroundings. She’d kissed Rosa’s head chef in plain view of anyone who might have happened out the back door of the premises. She’d kissed Lorenzo and Lorenzo had kissed her right back, as though all of their past hadn’t happened and she hadn’t been forced to navigate her way through the pain of him totally betraying her back then.
What on earth had she been thinking?
‘I—I need to work on the books.’ Scarlett uttered the words without any real idea of what she was doing or saying. She needed to escape. That was all she knew.
From what had just happened, from dealing with how it had made her feel, from addressing the issue of…this, whatever ‘this’ was, altogether.
She didn’t wait for him to argue the point or question her or anything else. Something told her he wouldn’t have. That he felt just as surprised and taken aback by their actions as she did. They were actions they might have taken five years ago when stealing kisses and being together had felt so exciting to her. And then she’d had to deal with his revelation that he was married, his explanations about the broken state of that marriage.
His promise to make all things right in his world so he and Scarlett…
Not now. You’re not thinking about that now.
Scarlett glanced every which way about her to ensure as best she now could, after the fact, that they had indeed not been observed in that compromising few moments, and she hurried into the restaurant by the rear door and shut herself in Luca’s office, where she proceeded to bury her head in bookwork.
Deeply!
To the point where she had no space to think about anything else whatsoever!
And can you continue to ignore all your thoughts and hope that will be a true answer to anything, Scarlett?
To not only the issue of Lorenzo, but of family, too? Do you want to be close to them, or don’t you?
Yes, she did, and Scarlett was trying. These things took time!
Chapter Six
‘OH, NO!’ Scarlett stared at the e-mail she’d just dug out of the spam folder in her Internet mail program. ‘How could this have ended up in the mail trash? What date was it sent? Why didn’t they contact me when I didn’t respond? What if I’ve missed out on the opportunity?’ As these questions popped out another question followed. She opened the e-mail and started to scan its contents. ‘What date have they said they want to do this?’
It was Friday evening. She’d been just about to pack up in Luca’s office and to be honest she had felt a true sense of achievement.
She still didn’t have all the answers for making the restaurant completely self-supporting and guaranteed to always run in the black, but the changes she’d made were starting to pay off and she wasn’t at the end of her stream of ideas by any means.
This was only the beginning of what Scarlett could do. One of the things she’d tried was to canvas the local promotional body for Monta Correnti to see if she could interest them in granting publicity and media coverage to Rosa for a weekend cook-up. The body had a budget for community-related events, and Scarlett had hoped she might be able to interest them.
Scarlett had logged onto her e-mail account at the last moment just now to check for a response. Because she’d asked about it and time had passed with no answer, she’d all but given up on the possibility. But she had found her answer, sent almost a week ago and hiding out in the mail program’s trash file!
She quickly skimmed the contents of the e-mail. The promotional group not only loved the idea she’d put to them, they’d taken it further and brought in a second restaurant so the two could run a ‘friendly’ cook-off contest. ‘Oh, please tell me it’s not—’
Sorella.
But of course it was, because they were side by side in the square. The local co-ordinators couldn’t imagine anything more exciting or convenient. They anticipated a high degree of interest, advertising would commence…Scarlett read the date and her eyes widened. Advertising would commence today. And the contest itself would run next weekend with TV and newspaper coverage!
‘That’s only seven days away.’ A lump of panic lodged itself in Scarlett’s throat, and doubled in size when the remaining implications made themselves felt. ‘And they’ve set us up to compete against Sorella.’
According to this e-mail, Sorella’s owner had been more than delighted to front up for a contest to see which restaurant could prepare the best dishes and be declared better than the other.
Oh, Scarlett, what have you got Rosa into? And the family into by letting this come about?
Scarlett’s mother would thrive on this kind of competition. It didn’t surprise Scarlett that Lisa had agreed to the contest. That was enough of a problem. Scarlett could imagine Lisa hustling her restaurant staff by remote control over the phone from wherever she