Exquisite (19 page)

“Sure. Or adorable like a woman who
just had a very satisfying orgasm, either way.”

Sputtering a little she accused,
“You did to.”

He cracked an egg into the silver
bowl and added some chopped tomato then ham and looked up at her with a pout.
“And am I not adorable?”

Lena snorted in a very unlady like
fashion and shook her head. “You’re an idiot.”

He whisked the mixture then poured
it into the fry pan. “Thank you, but you didn’t answer me, am I not adorable?”

This time he fluttered his lashes
and it looked so ridiculous on such a big masculine man she couldn’t help but
laugh at him.

“Oh Langley. I can think of many
adjectives to describe you but I’m sad to say adorable is not one of them.”

He flipped the omelet over then
leaned against the stove, “Oh yeah? Give me one of them.”

“I’m not feeding your ego.”

He raised his eyebrow and his voice
dropped low, “Trust me you feed it earlier by screaming out my name when I
didn’t even touch you.”

Lena’s mouth feel open and she
shook her head. “A gentleman would never mention something like that.”

He reached up grabbed a second
plate, plated his omelet then walked around to sit beside her passing her a
fork. He grinned and those mischievous dimples appeared.

“Good thing I never claimed to be a
gentleman then.” he nudged her shoulder and said softly, “Eat Lena O’Donnell,
you hot sexy woman.”

Lena smiled and ate every last
bite.

M
onday morning rolled around and Lena found that
she was in an exceptionally good mood knowing it had nothing to do with work,
and for the first time she could recall, everything to do with her personal life.
She was finally seeing someone. It was hard to believe that it was one of
Chicago’s most eligible bachelors and honestly she still was waiting for him to
call her and say,
oh hey sorry but one of the models I dated last month is
in town and I wont be able to see you tonight.
However, so far he’d not
done that and he continued surprising her. After their meal on Saturday they’d
sat down and watched an old black and white movie then he’d told her needed to
go into work for a few hours. He’d dropped her home, still dressed in his
bathrobe and had given her the sweetest kiss she could imagine then left. She
figured she wouldn’t hear from him, until she was forced to call to give him
back his robe, but he’d surprised her by calling Sunday morning to see how she
was and what she was doing.

Lena just couldn’t get over the
fact that she was she supposed, dating Mason Langley.
She
was number
thirty four. Smiling a little to herself over that she sat down at her desk and
turned her computer on. She was just about to reach over and call Shelly when
she walked through the door.

“You look happy.” she accused then
looked around and then behind her. When she was satisfied they were alone she
demanded, “Alright what happened and you need to tell me everything from the moment
he dragged your drunk ass up those stairs.”

Lena grinned sat back in her chair
and proceeded to tell Shelly every last scintillating detail and thought that
for the first time in her life she was going to try and allow herself to enjoy
the moment. She would deal with the guilt later tonight when she stopped by the
flower shop.

On the other side of town Mason was
not enjoying anything. Wendy had stormed into the staff meeting and sat down at
one of the back tables. As Mason went through the slight staffing changes and
menu additions he noticed she was glaring at him in a way that reminded him of
Lena. She looked as though she wanted to strangle him. Rachel was sitting at
one of the front tables filing her nails and once he was done everyone got up took
the new menu and made their way to the kitchen. They would stay for another
hour making sure everything was ready for tomorrow when they opened and then
they’d head home. As the last of the staff trickled out to the kitchen Mason
lifted a hand and motioned for Wendy to come forward.

“What’s wrong with you this
morning?”

“What’s wrong with me?” she asked
incredulously as she dug into her bag and pulled out a magazine. He recognized
it as
Delicious
and winced wondering what’d been written for Wendy to be
so pissed off.

“Have we or have we not been
working our collective asses off for three years trying to establish this
restaurant as number one in Chicago?”

Rachel was looking from Wendy to Mason
then back to Wendy with a confused expression on her face then she nodded.

Mason nodded slowly as well. “Yes
that has been our number one goal for the restaurant.”

Wendy let out a deep breath then
tossed the magazine on the table in front of him. “Then perhaps you can explain
to me what on earth happen on Friday night?” she paused as he reached out to
pick the magazine up slowly. “Because as far as I understood it, our boss, the
owner
of this restaurant had told everybody not to screw up. It was vital to stay
sharp and be professional!” she ended loudly.

As Mason flipped through the pages
Rachel spoke up. “Did I miss something? Because I feel like I certainly missed
something vital here.”

Wendy snapped her head around to
face her. “What you missed was Mason’s new, whatever he calls her, go apeshit
when an old girlfriend turned up and then lover boy over here ditched the most
important interview of his life to chase some tail.”

Spinning back to Mason who was now
staring at Wendy with a pissed off expression of his own she asked, “Isn’t that
right? And you’re looking for page 23.”

Gritting his teeth Mason found the
page and in large bold letters he read;

EXQUISITE.
A TALENTED CHEF’S DREAM OR A PLAYBOY’S PLAYGROUND? By Peter Ryder

Oh shit
. Wendy was right,
what
had he been thinking?
This was not what he’d wanted his restaurant to be
known for. He lifted a hand and rubbed his eyes. Then tried to swallow around
the lump in his throat as he looked up at Rachel’s enquiring gaze and Wendy’s
accusatory one.

Wendy shook her head then said in a
tone that could only be called icy. “Well go ahead read it out loud for us all
to hear.”

“Come on Wendy that’s enough.”
Rachel muttered.

“No, he needs to know he just
screwed us all.”

“I’m aware of that Wendy. Shit, do
you really think I wanted that to happen the way it did? Were you not right
there watching the whole thing turn to shit?” he asked through a clenched jaw.
“I’ll read this, and I’ll admit to my mistakes but let me say this once and
make it very clear. Do
not
refer to Lena as a piece of tail ever again.”

That seemed to register through
Wendy’s anger and he saw Rachel bite her lip like she was a nervous child
watching her parents fight.

“Go ahead Mase. Read it and get the
damage over with.” Rachel spoke softly.

Taking a deep breath he cleared his
throat and read;

Friday night and a crowd of
people are lined up around the east side of an old warehouse building that
houses the latest addition to Chicago’s restaurant district. People don’t seem
to mind standing out in the cool air if it means getting the opportunity to
come inside and dine on what has been named some of the finest cuisine to come
out of chilly Chicago. Upon stepping inside this hidden gem you get the
immediate feeling of old school jazz and a warmth that settles all the way down
to the pit of your stomach. The atmosphere is electric and the music is
soothing as the wait staff bustle from table to table
.

“Well that doesn’t seem bad at
all.” Rachel chimed in.

“Keep reading.” Wendy stated
bluntly.

The decision to choose the
lobster tail with the creamy butter sauce wasn’t a difficult one. Once I was
seated waiting on my meal I got to enjoy the sounds of the greats, like Sinatra
& Dean, while I sipped a fantastic cocktail from the bar. I’m delighted to
tell you that when the lobster arrived it practically melted in my mouth. I
chose a side of home style mashed potatoes that I’d been told were beyond
compare and I’m thrilled to report that deduction was correct. Mixed through
the fluffy white spuds were chives, garlic and a dash of paprika, this
complimented the lobster and truly made for a mouthwatering experience.

“See they said your food was
amazing Mase, that’s great.” Rachel tried again with a hint of desperation.

“Keep reading.”

It wasn’t until after my main
course when things began to get extra delicious. We’ve all heard the whispers
of the home town golden boy who worked his way through college and went on to
study fine culinary cuisine abroad. However, it seems like the young Mason
Langley may have picked up a thing or two in the ‘love them and leave them’
department from the French and the Italian’s. It seems that our highly
respected entrepreneur is somewhat of a Casanova. It makes one start to wonder
if his restaurant is a success due to fine cuisine or a pretty face with a
playboy image. After all when a ravishing redhead and a buxom brunette are
fighting over being #34 there must be more to this Head Chef than meets the
eye. So in the end I give the dining experience 4 stars out of 5 but ladies I
have a feeling you’ll be giving it a 5 for the ‘Exquisite’ experience, pardon
the pun, and personal attention you’ll receive in Mason Langley’s high class
restaurant.

Mason stopped reading and continued
to stare at the article in front of him. He couldn’t even bring himself to look
at the disappointment on the faces of the two women in front of him. Hell, he
couldn’t even stand himself right this minute.
How could he have been so
utterly stupid? How could he have let himself get so caught up in the moment
that he’d let all of their hard work go straight down the toilet because Lena
O’Donnell had thrown one of her many temper tantrums?
Closing his eyes he
squeezed them tight thinking back to that night and how she’d cut him off at
the knees in front of everyone, with little thought to what damage she may have
or may not have been causing him and his own.

Sure, since then he’d hung out with
her, laughed with her, come with her but right now he couldn’t even stand the
thought of her. This was a huge mess and he’d really thought Peter fucking
Ryder had overlooked the whole incident when he’d called him and asked him all
about the menu. Stupid, he thought shaking his head then looking up at his
girls.
Yeah they were his girls.
They’d been with him from the beginning
of this whole endeavor and right now they were both looking at him like they
wanted to punch him.

“I don’t know what to say.” he
paused and put the magazine down rubbing a palm over his face. “I’m so
incredibly sorry. What I did was inexcusable. I can see the ramifications of my
actions and I’m horrified with myself. He called into question all the positive
points of the article by wrapping it up with a negative.”

Rachel stood and walked around the
table to stop beside him. He hung his head down and thought she might smack him
one right in the back of it.

“Mason?” she questioned softly. He
raised his head to meet her eyes. “You better be crazy about this doctor, or
I’ll kill you for this.”

He winced. “I’m so angry at her and
myself right now I don’t even want to think about her. I don’t know Rach, she
brings out this side to me that makes me go all crazy.”

Quietly he heard Wendy say, “What
did your dad use to say when he’d come in here?”

Mason looked up as she walked
around and reached out putting a hand on his shoulder. She squeezed it gently
seemingly back to not wanting him dead.

Mason chuckled softly. “I don’t
know. He said a lot of things to me, some nice and wise and some not so nice
but still wise.”

Wendy nodded, “I’m referring to
when he’d see you with the latest girl. He’d always shake his head and say to
us;
That boy is to careless, goes from one to the next like they’re
disposable. Mark my words when the right one comes along he’ll change, he wont
be nearly as cavalier.That’s when he’ll finally be a man
. I guess he was
right huh?”

Mason reached up and squeezed her
hand that was resting on his shoulder. “I don’t know about that Wendy, but I
sure don’t feel like I usually do when I’m with her.”

Wendy tilted her head to the side
and lifted her lips in a small smile, “In that case I’ll forgive you for acting
like a jackass, but don’t think your new nickname around here isn’t going to be
Casanova, lover boy.”

Mason winced at that then felt his
shoulders relax as she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

“Don’t worry, even if the women
flock to the restaurant in droves to meet you, they’re still paying customers.”

Rachel grinned at him. “Yeah and we
all know women are suckers for cocktails from hot men and pastries to drown
their sorrows.”

He felt himself laugh a little at
that. “That’s a horrible assessment of a woman.”

Rachel rolled her eyes and stood,
“Oh please I speak the truth. I’ve been there before and trust me I’ve tasted
the bottom of a tequila bottle and eaten a tub of ice-cream,
on my own
.
Us women know how to feel sorry for ourselves.”

Mason nodded and was about to stand
to go back to his office.

“Actually speaking of reasons to
drink and feel sorry for ourselves this article was pre-tt-y bad, sure you
don’t want a gallon of rocky road?”

He stood up hugged his sister and
smiled a little at Wendy, “Nah I’m good as long as you two still love me.”

Wendy grinned and Mason smiled as
they both moved in to hug him. He heard Wendy whisper against his ear. “What
woman could resist Casanova?”