Page 29 of Slow Simmer

“You were humming.”

“I was?”

“Sounded like Beyoncé.” There was a definite little smirk on Julie’s face.

She’d been singingCrazy In Love, Suzannah realised, and felt extremely relieved that the flush on her cheeks could be put down to the heat in the kitchen. Carlo had been shooting her promising looks every time he crossed her line of sight for the last hour, and she was looking forward to him barricading them in her office again that afternoon.

Unfortunately, just as Carlo was entering her office with an anticipatory grin on his face, Suzannah clicked on the email from Luke marked URGENT.

“B-Rex and his manager will be available in the next hour for a video call,” she said, holding a hand up to stall Carlo. “We really need to talk to them and see what they want.”

Carlo sighed, but he reached for the spare chair and pulled it up beside her, smiling as she fussed a little with her hair before reaching for the computer again.

“You look stunning. Don’t flirt with B-Rex or I’ll be jealous,” he said, his tone teasing.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” As if a famous musician would look at her! He probably spent his days surrounded by beautiful models and actresses just dying for his attention.

She’d also been under the impression that B-Rex was black, like most famous rappers, so it was a surprise when a thin young man with a lot of tattoos under very white skin, peered out of the screen and gave her a toothy smile. A slightly older man in a suit, who Suzannah assumed was the rapper’s manager, sat beside him.

“Good afternoon,” Suzannah said politely. “I’m Suzannah Monteil from theLa Sirènerestaurant and this is Carlo Gianetti, our pastry chef.”

“Hey, gorgeous,” B-Rex said. “This my homeboy Joey.”

Suzannah ignored the inappropriate compliment and forged on with the question she had pre-planned.

“Have you had the chance to look over the menus we sent through to you, Mr… ah… B-Rex?”

“Yah,” B-Rex nodded. “And that stuff, it’s all way too fancy. Just do some hot dogs and fries, yah?”

Suzannah’s jaw dropped. She had absolutely no idea what to say, and when she glanced across at Carlo, she saw he looked just as flummoxed - and not a little bit outraged.

“With respect,” Suzannah gathered herself to say finally, “if you want hot dogs and fries, why is the production company willing to pay a premium for two highly-trained chefs to prepare it for you?”

“I dunno, babe.” B-Rex heaved a sigh, leaned back in his chair and looked at his smart watch. “I ain’t even read the script for this shoot. Why so much fuss about what I gotta eat?”

Helpless, Suzannah looked at Joey, who seemed to finally realise some intervention would be needed.

“You supposed to be cooking a fancy romantic dinner for Myst, man,” he told his client.

“Yeah? But I can’t cook.”

“That’s not the point,” Carlo said, obviously seeing that Suzannah was beyond words. “We’ll do all the cooking behind the scenes. You’ll just have to drop a bit of garnish on the top and carry the plates to the table.”

“Cool, cool,” B-Rex nodded several times, still looking at his smart watch. “Whatever you think best, my dude. Find out what Myst likes to eat. I’d look a dipshit if I served her steak and she’s some paleo keto vegan or something, yah?”

That was a good call. Suzannah nodded. “We’ll try and find out. What about you, is there anything you don’t eat?”

“Lots of shit, yah,” B-Rex grinned toothily at her. “But I don’t actually have to eat it, do I?”

Carlo grinned. “No. But if you did, and liked it, you could tell all your friends and Instagram followers how awesome we are.”

B-Rex laughed and pointed finger guns at the camera. “I like you, dude. I’ll do that. Just make me look like Masterchef, yah?”

“You got it.” Carlo made finger guns back, B-Rex got up and walked off, and Joey promptly followed him.

Suzannah made sure the computer was definitely switched off, and turned the webcam around as a precaution, before giving into laughter and collapsing on the desk.

Carlo just shook his head, a grin on his face. “Suzannah, it wasn’t that funny. What an ass! He had no respect for you at all, completely dismissed you!”

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