Page 28 of Slow Simmer

Chapter Fourteen

The following day brought news from Luke that the additional surveillance cameras had been discreetly installed the previous night, and emails from the producers of the music video for B-Rex and Myst.

“A nondisclosure agreement?” Suzannah crooked an eyebrow as she read through the document.

“Looks pretty standard,” Carlo said. He’d worked with celebrities a few times before, for his Youtube show. “They just don’t want the media turning it into a circus.” He borrowed a pen from Suzannah’s desk and scribbled his name at the bottom of his copy. He, Luke and Suzannah were back in her office again, the lunch hour over.

“Fine.” Suzannah signed her copy too, and they both handed the papers back to Luke, who slipped them into a folder before bringing out some more papers.

“Now you’ve signed those, I can show you these. The ‘script’ for the music video calls for B-Rex to ‘cook’ a romantic dinner for himself and Myst and serve it on the villa’s back deck overlooking the ocean as the sun sets.”

“Cliché, but I’m sure it will look charming,” Suzannah murmured, flicking through the script.

“Indeed. The speedy sunsets up here in the tropics mean they’ll probably only get one or two takes to get it right, though, so everything will have to be ready perfectly to the minute.”

“How many days will they be filming for?” Carlo asked.

“They’re planning on two. Good thing the weather’s predictably excellent at this time of year, isn’t it?”

“Here’s hoping we don’t get any afternoon tropical storms rolling in,” Suzannah murmured. She was scanning through the stapled sheets Luke had just handed her. “There’s nothing on here about what food they want B-Rex to ‘cook’, though.”

“Still waiting on that. There’s a list of what they want for the film crew, who will be based in the Jacaranda conference suites.”

Carlo nodded. That set of conference suites was located on the side of the resort closest to the private villas, only a few minutes’ walk or maybe two minutes in one of the complimentary golf carts. With rooms ranging in quality from luxury to opulent on the upper floors, it made sense to put the crew up there.

“Are we supplying all this?” Suzannah cast a faintly appalled eye over the long list appended to the document.

“No! We’ll open up the conference room kitchen and have it catered there using supplementary staff from the other restaurants.”

“Good.” She breathed an obvious sigh of relief, and Carlo had to cover his mouth with his hand to suppress an amused grin. Suzannah would have made it happen if Luke had asked, but catering for seventy people in addition toLa Sirène’s daily operations and making special screen-worthy dishes to appear in the video itself would likely have taxed even her abilities.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until B-Rex or his people get back to us,” Luke said apologetically. “I did send the menus through to them.”

“Whatever they want, we’ll make it happen,” Carlo said, smiling at Suzannah. She smiled back at him, her beautiful green eyes locking with his for a long moment before she looked quickly away.

She’d taken him to her cabin the previous night, saying she wanted to sleep in her own bed. Despite their mutual exhaustion, they’d still found the energy to make love again before drifting off in each other’s arms.

He’d woken in the early hours of the morning to find her already gone, returning to her self-appointed duty to inspect the fishing catch. She’d slipped back in beside him not long after, though, sun warmed and laughing, her clever fingers dancing down his body to bring him to instant, roaring arousal.

Luke left them a few minutes later and Carlo took a quick look around the kitchen outside the office, noting that the place was completely empty, before closing the door again, grabbing the chair Luke had just vacated and wedging it under the handle.

“What are you doing?” Suzannah asked, puzzled.

“No lock on the door.” Carlo gestured at the chair. “Just making sure nobody’s going to walk in on us.”

Suzannah’s mouth opened in a startled O before she grinned. “You’re insatiable.”

“Damn right,” he agreed, striding around the desk and dropping to his knees in front of her chair. “And I’ve been thinking about having you on this desk for days now, so take pity on me before I expire from thwarted lust.”

“So dramatic.” She rolled her green eyes at him, but she was still smiling, and she reached up to unbutton her blouse as she spoke. “I hope you brought a condom, because I definitely don’t keep them in my desk.”

“Maybe you should start,” he suggested, producing one from his back pocket with the air of a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat. “Because this definitely isn’t going to be the last time.”

* * *

“Tell me to shut it if I’m out of line, Chef,” Julie said as the two of them worked side by side plating dishes at lunch the following day, “but you seem particularly happy today.”

“Do I?” Suzannah spared a glance at her assistant. “Why do you say that?” She was trying to present her usual professional aspect to her staff, even though she definitely felt different. Sore, to start with… it had been quite some time since she’d engaged in any bedroom activities, and she and Carlo had been very enthusiastic over the last couple of days.

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