Read Online What Love Tastes Like by Zuri Day - Free Book Online Page B

you.”
    Tiffany turned to the chef and looked him straight in the eye. “I want this job more than anything I’ve ever wanted, and I’ll work my heart out for you. I’ll work long hours, weekends, and holidays. I’ll help with the catering. I’ll do it all! This job would be everything I could ever dream of, and I can tell just by talking with you that just like with Chef Riatoli, I would be working with a master.” Tiffany didn’t quite believe this last statement but was hoping that in this case, flattery would get her everywhere.
    â€œIf we do decide to hire you, when could you start?”
    â€œThe same day you call me.”
    Chef Wang laughed. “Well, in that case, stay by the phone.”
    Tiffany was beaming as she left the offices by the kitchen. She was almost positive she’d be getting a phone call and was already dreaming about perfecting a scallop creation to hopefully become her signature dish. Chef Riatoli’s scallop and asparagus masterpiece was definitely the inspiration for her love of this particular seafood, and in time, after she’d proven herself, she hoped to add a piece of her imagination to the menu at Taste, the name Chef Wang said one of the owners had chosen for the restaurant inside Le Sol. Probably Nick, Tiffany thought, which was one of the reasons she tried not to like it. But she couldn’t help it. The name was perfect for this eating establishment—from the décor to the menu. Nick was the last person Tiffany wanted to think about, so she pulled out her BlackBerry and began typing in the ingredients she’d need from the store, to experiment with various scallop recipes. Chef Wang had gotten her excited. She was ready to cook!
    Tiffany hurried down the hallway, quickly crossed the lobby, and was almost to the revolving doors when she heard it. The voice she’d know anywhere. Firm and commanding, much like its owner. Tiffany stopped in her tracks, her thoughts quickly vacillating between running away and running into his arms. But since this was the owner of the establishment where she longed to work, there was only one choice.
    Tiffany turned around. It took everything she could do to place a casual smile on her face. Nick was looking finer than she remembered, dressed in fitted black dress pants paired with a stark white shirt. He wore no tie, and the first couple buttons of the shirt were undone. She knew what that chest felt like, but Tiffany reined in her thoughts before they could continue. It wasn’t time to think about that night, about how it felt with his arms around her. That incident was in her past and Tiffany was focused solely on her future. She waited patiently for Nick to cross the room with his sure, languid swagger. Inside, she was a bundle of nerves.
    A smile lit up Nick’s face when he finally reached her side. “Hello, Tiffany,” he said softly, his voice belying the formalness of his businesslike handshake. “Were you going to come into my establishment and not say hello?”

14
    Tiffany hid her disappointment at this formal greeting, even as the moment brought clarity to their polar-opposite positions. Nick was part owner of a luxury hotel and probably other establishments. She, on the other hand, was an out-of-work ex-intern seeking a job as a cook. What did I expect? His tongue down my throat in the middle of the afternoon, in the middle of his lobby?
    Nick had acted business-like and professional, just the way Tiffany had told Joy she wanted their interactions to be. Yet even as she thought this, an image, one of Nick’s head between her legs, popped into her mind. She willed the picture away, straightened her shoulders and held out her hand, hiding desire and nervousness behind dark sunglasses. “Hello, Mr. Rollins.”
    Nick’s brows rose slightly at the use of his last name. “I would think my, um, late night dessert at the penthouse in Rome put us on a