Whetted Appetites (12 page)

     Victoria gave her a watery smile.  “Thank you, Melissa.  What would I ever do without you?”

     “Wander aimlessly in search of meaning,” Melissa quipped.

     Victoria rolled her eyes as if she were saying, “oh, brother”.

     “It was a rhetorical question.”  Victoria guffawed.

     “Oops.  My bad.”  Melissa laughed as she shrugged her shoulders.

     “I’m going to finish up the rest of the desserts for Bloomberg,” Victoria informed her.  “Can you wait on the customers for me?  It shouldn’t be too hectic, since its Monday,” Victoria pointed out.  “It’ll be a lot easier when we hire some more help.”

     “I know.  I put the ad in the other day and I just made it through the door before they closed.”  Melissa wrapped an apron around her slim waist and went up front.  “Yell if you need help.  If I’m not waiting on customers, I’ll be glad to give you a hand,” Melissa called to Victoria in the back.

     “I will, Melissa.  Thanks.”  Victoria tied the apron securely around her waist and fixed her chef’s hat to her head.

     Thanks to Dalton, she was just a little ahead of schedule.  The party was on Wednesday at five and she could complete the rest of the baking and packing today.

     She got busy making the truffles.  As she chopped rich, dark Valrhona chocolate, her mind wandered to Saturday.  She got heated remembering Dalton, clad in an apron and hat.  He had looked sheepishly at her until she approved of the way it fit him.

     She dumped the chocolate into a large glass bowl.  She walked over to the stove to heat up the heavy whipping cream.  Once it started to steam, she poured it into the chocolate.  She reached for a rubber spatula and stirred it until it was glossy and had the look of fine satin.

     The scent wafted to her nose.  It was heavenly.  This scent could definitely evoke some wicked, sexy fantasies.  Fantasies of Dalton painting it on her blazing body.  Spreading it over her breasts then taking his time licking her clean.  She’d return the favor and drizzle it over his hard, throbbing shaft followed by luscious whipped cream.  He could be her very own sundae.  A hot-male sundae.  For flourish, she could even add a cherry on top.  Her thighs quivered at the arousing vision.

     Victoria reached for her rectangular glass dish and poured her ganache mixture into it.  It slid out smoothly; almost seductively.  She scraped the remains with a spatula and set the pan aside to cool.  She snuck a taste of the melted chocolate.  Her taste buds sang in relish.

     She took a candy thermometer from a drawer and put it in the pan to keep up with the temperature.  When it reached ninety degrees, she would mix in the butter.

     That done, she walked into her storage room and selected five square maroon tins.  She had her tins specially made.  The SweetTooth label was raised on the top in elaborate calligraphy.  She looked at them with praise.  She and Melissa designed each set of tins differently.

     Cooking, designing and artfully arranging food was their
joie de vivre.

     Contrary to what her mother assumed, cooking was not a chore.  It wasn’t tedious, menial labor.

     Victoria laughed.  Sometimes she was mystified that she sprang from her mother’s loins.  The immaculate
mis
conception sounded about right.

     Victoria checked the thermometer.  It read ninety degrees.  She began to stir in the butter.  After finishing, she left the ganache to cool completely before scooping and coating.  Her favorite part.

     Besides, all great cooks had to sample the goods before they were sold.  She had to make sure they tasted delicious before she could sell them. 

     That was her excuse, at least, when she ate more than one. 

     “Whew, what a day.”  Melissa leaned back in her office chair.  “Murphy’s Law.”

     Victoria looked up from her ledger.  “Didn’t expect a Monday to be that bad?”

     Melissa kneaded the knot in the back of her neck.  “No way.  I couldn’t believe the number of people coming in.”

     Victoria frowned.  “Melissa.  You should’ve called me.  I would’ve stopped what I was doing.  You know that.”

     “Don’t worry about it,” Melissa said with a wave of her hand.  “We’re hiring more people.  I don’t mind a couple more weeks of hard work.”

     “I know.”  Victoria patted her hand.  “Wednesday is the bid day.  After that, we’ll have two weeks before the next catering affair.”

     “Speaking of affair,” Melissa teased, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.  “How are things going with Dalton?  He’s coming to the party, which I know.  Got any plan for the ‘big seduction’?”

     “Things are great.”

     “Plans?” Melissa asked again.

     “Like I would tell you my secrets,” Victoria replied, nonplussed.

     “Come on.  We tell each other everything,” Melissa prodded.

     “Just because you volunteer your sex life doesn’t mean I’ll volunteer mine.”

     “You know you want to spill the beans.  I can see it in your eyes,” Melissa accused lightly.

     Victoria gave in to a smile and told her.  But not in too great a detail.

     “Wow,” Melissa remarked.  “Dalton’s in for the sweetest—and naughtiest—time of his life.”

Chapter Eight

     “Just look at all these responses,” Melissa said, holding a stack of papers in front of Victoria.

     “How many?”  Victoria was pleased when she saw the stack.  They desperately needed the help.

     “Fifteen for the cook position and twenty-three for the food service and cash register.  Finally,” Melissa sighed in relief.  “Some help.”

     Victoria chuckled.  “Well, let’s go through them and see who we want to interview first.”

     They trotted to the office, cups of coffee in hand, and studied the applications.

     “Look at this one,” Melissa said, handing an application to Victoria.    

     Victoria skimmed over it, impressed.  “Wow, this guy, Robert, has been cooking since he was six, studied at the Culinary Institute of America a.k.a. ‘the CIA’ for 3 years.  He says here that he wanted to get one more year in but he stopped to take care of his mother who was diagnosed with lung cancer.”  Victoria blinked back tears.  “That is so devastating.  But it shows what kind a man he is.”  Victoria pointed to the comments section.  “He stated that he can cook any pastry, pie, bread or cake.  He’s even come up with his own recipes.”

     Melissa got the application and looked it over again.  “We should really give him a call, set up an appointment and have him bake something here at the store.”

     Victoria put Robert’s application in the call back pile and read over the rest of the applicants.

     “Okay, we have narrowed it down to five cooks and ten cashiers and servers,” Victoria told Melissa after two hours of poring over the résumés and applications.

     Melissa stretched and popped her knuckles.  “I think we should call the possible cooks first because it’s going to take longer to find a suitable one.”

     Victoria kneaded her neck.  “Yeah, it’ll be pretty simple finding the cashiers.”

     Melissa got up from her chair.  “I’m going to open up the store while you give these people a call.”  She put on her apron before saying, “I already made the closing sign for tomorrow.  We’re closing at two so that should give us plenty of time to set up for Bloomberg and his guests.”

     Victoria nodded.  “They loaned us their maids and butlers for serving and pouring the wine and champagne, so it won’t be all that hectic,” she informed her.

     Melissa let out a breath of relief.  “Good.  I’m hoping we’ll have hired some people in a few days to help us with that catering event in a couple of weeks.”  Melissa rubbed her cheek.  “While we’re on the subject of cooking, you know that Friday is the big day, don’t you?”

     Victoria smirked.  “Is that all you think about?  Whether or not I’m going to be getting any from Dalton, Miss Dirty Mind?”  Victoria said this with no hint of malice.  They could say just about anything to each other without the other one getting defensive, offended or hurt.  There was nothing that Victoria hated more than someone who got offended over every little thing.  If they didn’t have a spine, they better get one if they want to make it in this world.

     Of course, Melissa smiled at Victoria’s description of her.  She always had some kind of moniker for her.  “Yeah.  I’m dirty,” she said, raising her nose in false haughtiness.  “And darn proud of it.”

     Victoria’s eyes crinkled with laughter and she shook her head.  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she replied truthfully and warm-heartedly.

     “I know you wouldn’t,” Melissa rejoined.

     Victoria tapped her lips and looked up to the ceiling.  “I’ve already gotten the boxes, plates, cake servers and doilies packed.  All we have to do is put them into the van.  We should leave here at two-thirty or so.  I’ve already called the florist and she has the flowers put into vases and ready to go,” she told her best friend, tapping off the list with her fingers.

     “We’re in for a big day tomorrow.”  Melissa knew it was a lot of work ahead but she loved the catering business.  “I can’t wait.”

     Dalton raised his arms and yawned loudly.  He was plain worn out today.  Man did he ever need a vacation.  Max was right.  He did carry too much of the world on his shoulders.  Maybe in a month or so, he would call the airlines and book a flight somewhere far away from Alabama for a while.

     It’s not that he hated being her.  He just needed to get away for a week or two.  Or three.  He smiled.

     He’d been thinking a lot about Hawaii lately.  Soaking up the tropical sun in Oahu would be perfect.  Sipping fruity drinks, swimming in the clear blue ocean and being lazy for once in his life.

     I deserve a break just like every hard-working person.

     Thinking about Hawaii steered his mind to Victoria.  Clad in a tight, hot little bikini, her skin nicely tanned in the bright sun.  No problems there, except for all the guys that would be ogling her.  He knew without a doubt they would stare a hole right through her.  Because he felt the same way.

     He brought up the mental image of the two of them on Saturday.  Even thought he thought bold women could make him forget his tongue, he sure found his when he propped Victoria’s supple and sultry body on her desk.

     Yeah.  His tongue had no problem finding its way around between her smooth legs.  He wasn’t going to have a problem on Friday either when he took her completely the way he’s been wanting to.

     He glanced up at the clock and realized he had been daydreaming for far too long.  He scolded himself and got back to work.

     Wednesday went off without a hitch.  Elliot Thomas Windsor Bloomberg III knew how to throw a party.  It was the most lavish affair Victoria had ever been to.  And that was saying a lot, given her background with attending parties with her family.  Her mother became neurotic and impossible to be around when she hosted a parties and charities.  Her mother considered herself a perfectionist when clearly, she wasn’t.

     But now, Victoria was a behind-the-scene type of person.  She loved every minute of it.  It was very hard making sure that, first and foremost, the food was delicious, artfully arranged at the buffet tables and that there was plenty to go around. 

     Victoria’s chocolate-y truffles—her
piece de resistance-
were stacked neatly and meticulously on a crystal cut glass tier with ribbons of lace attached to the sides of each plate.

     These little orbs of heaven were disappearing faster than she could arrange them, which made her ecstatic.  Nothing made a caterer happier than people eating your food and making noises of approval and coming back for seconds and even thirds. 

     The weather cooperated wonderfully today.  There wasn’t a menacing cloud in the beautiful blue sky.  The wind was softly blowing, picking up scents of the freshly cut grass and, every now and then, the confections decorating the table. 

     Melissa was at the other end of the buffet table placing more petit fours on a plate.  She was working frantically to keep up with the demands of the guests.

     Victoria grinned.  Melissa was a very dedicated and hard-working employee.  Like Victoria, she wore many hats and that left little time to go on to long a vacation. 

     Victoria made a mental note to set up a week’s vacation for Melissa and Eric.  She would make reservations at a bed and breakfast; make a list of restaurants, places of interest and other recreational fun things to do.  Melissa’s birthday was in three weeks, so Victoria would start doing some research on her computer.  When she found the perfect place, she would request some brochures so she could put together a vacation package for her best friend and Eric.