Read Online The Coffee Shop by Lauren Hunter - Free Book Online

laughed. “All right, I might need some help, but only a little.”
    “You could always watch how to do it on a cooking show. Or better yet, pay a high class chef to teach you,” she laughed.
    “Now why didn’t I think of that?” He stared straight ahead. “Man, I could have impressed you if I’d done that.”
    “You’re forgetting something.”
    “What?”
    “You’d need to do that before each meal.”
    “True.”
    Annie couldn’t help but smile. She was enjoying herself, even though they both couldn’t cook a meal if their life depended on it. Throwing the shrimp and scallops in the pan, she stirred making a mental note of the time. “You know, I’m having a really good time.”
    “You say that like you’re surprised.”
    “Is that how it sounded? Because that’s not the way I meant it.”
    He nodded to himself. “Are you really?”
    “Yes. I am.”
    “Even if you do have to work for your dinner?”
    “Even then.”
    They followed the instructions carefully, and between them they managed to cook the meal.
    Derrick held up the platter, and comparing the finished product to the photo in the print out, he looked back and forth, several times.
    Annie laughed. “Yes, it looks exactly like the photo. Looking five more times won’t make it any different.”
    “Now if it just tastes as good as it looks.”
    Setting the platter on the dining table between the two empty plates, he held out Annie’s chair for her and lit the candles.
    “All right.” He breathed deeply, as he mentally prepared himself for the worst, and dishing it up onto each of their plates, she returned his look.
    “Here goes nothing.” He took a large mouthful and chewed with his eyes closed, as if it would help him to concentrate.
    Annie watched as he opened his eyes.
    “Oh, my God!”
    “What? What?”
    “This is amazing!”
    “Really?”
    “You say that like, all right, considering we made it, and we both admit to not having any cooking ability whatsoever.”
    Annie took a big bite. “You know, I just figured out something. Separately, we are both totally horrible cooks. But together, somehow we make one awesome cook!” She laughed as Derrick watched her eat. “Don’t look at me. You don’t want it to get cold. Not after all that work I went to.”
    Derrick looked so happy, she didn’t want it to stop. They finished their meal, and moving to the living room, they sat on the couch before a gas fire. He could have had a real one, the advantage to having a top floor penthouse suite, but then he didn’t want all the work and mess that went with it.
    “You never did make me my virgin chi chi.”
    “Oh, sorry. I didn’t, did I? Well, I guess you can consider me a horrible host, as well as a terrible cook.”
    “I wouldn’t say that.”
    “Wouldn’t you?” He got up, and disappeared into the kitchen. A couple of moments later he came back in and handed her a drink. “Here, try this, a perfect chi chi.”
    Annie took a sip. “That is the best chi chi I have ever had. Mr. Sloane, you are a cocktail connoisseur.”
    “I don’t know if I would go that far.”
    She pointed to her glass. “This is where your true talent lies. How is it you got to be so good at it?”
    He shrugged.
    “I’m betting college?”
    “What? You think I spent my parents’ hard earned money partying the entire time I was at college?”
    “Oh, so you’re saying you didn’t?”
    “Not exactly.”
    “I can see how you got to be so successful.”
    “How’s that?” he asked.
    “You seem to know what to say.”
    “Do I? You think I always say the right thing?”
    “I never said always.”
    “Careful, or I just might take my chi chi back,” he threatened with a smile.
    “You wouldn’t.”
    “Oh, you don’t think so?” He reached for her glass, and she pulled it away. He stretched to grab it as he leaned across her, and she leaned back trying to hold it away from him. Grabbing it with both hands, she held it tight within her