Page 71 of A Billionaire for Christmas
Levi rolled his eyes and put the coat on. The crisp, cotton jacket with its double row of buttons up to the neat collar suited him. He looked sexy as hell. ‘Okay, Chef.’ A warmth in his tone had replaced the usual gruffness as she saw him visibly relax. Lucca’s words echoed in her brain. ‘Where do you want me?’
Naked, sipping champagne in a hot tub.Molly shook the shocking thought away. She couldn’t afford to take her eye off the ball. Pardon the pun.
‘In the kitchen, please. I need you to sous-chef for me, starting with peeling the potatoes, then trimming the artichoke petals and slicing those shallots extra thin.’
He hesitated a fraction before giving her a half-smile. ‘Yes, boss.’
Lucca caught her eye and raised his eyebrows a fraction as though to say,What did I tell you?She gave herself a mental shake.
‘Here. I’ll show you.’ She would keep things strictly professional between them. She would focus on the delicate task of deconstructing her version of an innovative gazpacho with roast scallops on a bed of microscopic winter salad and not allow her eyes to stray. She was a robot. She would not react to him. It was a fool’s errand because as soon as Levi stood next to her, she caught his familiar woody scent, putting her libido on immediate red alert.
He got to work speedily while Lucca and Freda introduced their confused and not entirely pleased parents to their plans for the evening. Molly and Levi listened from the kitchen.
‘Where is everyone?’ asked an irritable-sounding Valerie.
‘Surprise!’ Lucca said. ‘We have a special evening planned for you both as a thank you.’
‘Thank you for what?’ Armand said gruffly.
‘For being our parents, for being alive, does it matter?’
‘What he means is,’ interjected Freda, ‘we wanted to do something special for your upcoming wedding anniversary.’
‘It’s six months away,’ said Valerie in a harsh tone. ‘And your father hasn’t remembered it for the last ten years so why start celebrating now? And does it have to be so dark? I thought we had the electricity back.’
Armand studied his wife. ‘You haven’t a romantic bone in your body. You’ve forgotten how to love. That’s why I don’t bother.’
A thorny silence descended.
‘Merry Christmas, parents,’ Lucca said abruptly. ‘Your loving children, well, the three you know about, hope you have a wonderful evening and would very much appreciate it if you could get along for at least the next two to three hours.’
‘Christ Almighty. Is there really any need?’ Valerie spat. ‘And for your information, Armand, it hasn’t been easy playing second fiddle to an art gallery and then to a golf stick.’
‘Club,ma chérie. It’s called a golfclub. Perhaps if you took the slightest bit of interest, we could play together.’
‘Never. I couldn’t think of anything worse,’ Valerie said frostily.
Levi gave Molly a grateful look as they hunched together over the bench, straining to listen. He whispered to her, ‘Maybe thisisa good idea.’
Lucca ploughed on, reading aloud from the card Molly had written for him. ‘Tonight is a celebration of your wonderful marriage. A chance to rediscover things about yourselves as we take you on a culinary journey of your lives together. Each correct question will move you on to the next round and so on.’
‘For the first round, we’re taking you back to your wedding day,’ Freda announced. ‘Can you remember what you served your guests?’
Valerie rolled her eyes dramatically. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. No, of course not.’
‘Like it was yesterday,’ replied Armand at the same time.
While Valerie floundered, Molly nudged Levi into action. She pointed to a slate platter featuring a wide selection of amuse-bouches of all shapes and colours. ‘I need you to gently place these flowers on top of the ones I pipe the purée on, please.’
Levi leaned very close to her, whispering back, ‘What are they?’
‘Each one represents every course they had at their wedding. But with a slight twist.’
Levi looked suitably impressed. ‘How would you know what they ate? It was nearly forty years ago.’
‘Research. Obviously. You’re not the only one who’s exhaustingly thorough. Also, Lucca has been pumping your housekeeper in France for information. She raked through an old box of mementoes and found the original menu. And I asked your dad earlier if he could remember, to jog his memory.’
She was pleased to see a smile tugging at Levi’s kissable lips.
