Heat 1 (Heat: Master Chefs #1) (2 page)

Chapter 2

M
y first day in class was an eye opener.  It’d
started early enough, with my entire dorm awakening at a torturous six o’clock in the morning.  It was barely light out and the hall just outside my door
buzzed with activity and boisterous conversations in a variety of languages; among
them, a lot of French, a healthy dose of English, some Italian and a pinch of
German.

No
longer able to sleep, I’d schlepped out of bed and taken an extra long shower,
putting extra care to lather up good and wash my hair.  I wanted to smell good
for the babes in class.

And
I was glad I did.  The girls in my class were amazing; beautiful women with
luscious lips, smoldering eyes and shiny hair swept up in a variety of sexy
upsweeps, bohemian buns and tight, intellectual chignons.  Most wore comfy
shoes with rubber soles, but a few dared heels that screamed
fuck me
, which
I will as soon as I get their numbers. Most chose simple attire that hid their
curves, but were comfortable and functional, but, not too surprisingly, the few
with heels showed a desire to stand out.

And,
man did they stand out.  I had trouble concentrating on the day’s lesson.  I
wanted to dive into Sophia’s cleavage, and run my hand along Coreen’s sexy backside. 
I winked at Daniella when she glanced at me over her notebook, and smiled at Eloise
with syrupy charm when I picked up the pencil she’d dropped. Apparently since
Taryn, who was a student here and from a humble background, landed herself the
most eligible bachelor in the world – Errol King, the female enrollment at the
Institute had skyrocketed…which for me being one of the few guys in here who with
rock hard abs and biceps, was like being in a candy store. I smiled. Being at
the Institute in Paris was actually turning quite nicely.

All
in all, I was a hit.  The girls loved me, and by the end of the third class I
had a small band of hot and beautiful women following me around and hanging on
my every word.  They were charmed by my American appeal, my New York attitude
and the way I filled out my jeans. Just wait until they see me naked. That’ll
probably have their mouths hanging open to get a taste of me. Already, I had Sophia
scheduled for Wednesday night; Tania for Thursday; Rebecca for Friday; Colleen
for Saturday.  Then I’ll take a day to rest before going back to make my ladies
happy.

Heading
to my fourth class with my entourage swirling around me, I turned the corner
and bumped head on into another student.  In a flurry of long chocolate hair
and the sweep of a white lab coat, she swooped down to recover the clattering
of cooking items that I’d knocked from her arms.

“Hey,
I’m so sorry,” I said as I bent down to help her.

My
entourage quickly scattered and slipped away as they hurried to their
respective classes.

“I
mean
, pardonnez-moi
,” I said to the girl in halting French.

“Don’t
worry about it,” she said in plain English.  Her voice soft, feminine, yet
sultry. Damn, I was already aroused.

She
looked up at me when our hands met over a saucepan and I was stunned.

“You? 
How…?  What…?”

Equally
stunned, she stared at me.  “You!  That drunken young man on the street?  What
are you doing here?”

“No. 
What are you doing here?”  I was blown away by how beautiful she was.  Her skin
had a healthy glow.  Her eyes, not blue like I’d first thought, but violet,
sparkled with intelligence and wit, and her lips, so ripe and plump, invited a
deep and passionate kiss.  The memory I’d held of her since that dark and foggy
night was nothing compared to the beauty who now faced me.

We
rose together.

“You
can let go of that now,” she said as she gestured to the large pot we still both
clung to.

“Oh. 
Sure.”

She
looked at me, her gaze questioning and curious, but it lacked the quality of
the looks I’d been getting from the other girls all day.

She
wasn’t charmed.  Far from it, she seemed almost eager to get away from me.

I
glanced down at the exquisite body hidden beneath the lab coat.  A simple black
dress barely hugged her curves, but it was enough to let me know she had
breasts that would easily fill my hands, a tiny waist that was enticing and
sexy hips that promised a seductive ass.

“Why
don’t you let me help you with some of those?”  I reached out for a pot but she
turned away from me.

“I
was managing just fine until you ran headlong into me.”

“I
said I was sorry.  Really, I am.”

“It’s
quite understandable.  I mean, how can you be expected to see what’s going on
in front of you?”

Her
voice was so sexy and sultry, it drove me nuts, all the more alluring because
it was also feminine and innocent.  That innocence had me instantly wanting to
wrap my arms around her slim waist to protect her, to possess her. I don’t know
what got into me, but suddenly, I wanted to be a caveman with her. To possess
her. To spend every waking hour with her. Damn Bobby, I shook my head trying to
stay cool. No woman likes a man who loses their cool.

“What
do you mean?” I asked.

“All
of those girls hanging around you.  It’s a wonder you’re not bumping into every
wall.”

“Oh,
them.”  I shrugged and tried to laugh it off.  “We were just all heading to the
same class.  That’s all.”  I don’t know why I felt the need to justify the
horde of girls I’d enjoyed having around until two minutes ago.

“It’s
good to know you recovered quite well from your night of debauchery,” she said
with a judgmental grin.

“I
wouldn’t quite call it… I mean, it really wasn’t what you…”

What
was it about this girl that had me stammering like some novice, like a real
amateur? 
Get a hold of yourself, Cummings.  She’s just some girl.  You have
tons of beautiful sexy girls hanging all over you.  You could fuck a different
girl every night and still have enough girls to keep you busy for the rest of
the year.
  But my silent little pep talk didn’t help any.  I was
embarrassed, and couldn’t fully understand why.  I loved those girls, those
sexy girls with big boobs and plump asses.  I loved hanging around every single
one of them.

“Look,
don’t worry about it,” she said.  “What you do with your private time is none
of my business.”  She headed down the hall and I followed along like a lost and
hungry puppy.

“Yeah,
sure, I know, but… I mean, I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a night of
debauchery.  Okay, things got a little out of hand, but…”

She
held her hand up to my face to silence me.  “Like I said, what you do with your
private time is your business.”

“Well,
I just want you to understand that I don’t get drunk and I…”

Her
arms overflowing with pots and pans, and her impatience churning in her eyes,
she stopped at the door to a room and turned to me.  “Oh, yes.  That’s right.  You're
American, aren’t you?”

She
made it sound like a bad thing.  Still, I nodded.

“I’m
guessing you’re not of legal drinking age back home.  It’s twenty-one there,
right?”

I
nodded again.

“And
you’re…”  She looked me up and down.  “What?  Eighteen?”

“Nineteen.”

She
turned the doorknob but left the door barely ajar.  “Just like I thought. 
You're not really used to the effects of alcohol.  You’re not allowed to drink
back home so when you get out here it’s all wild parties and fun.  You drink
too much, too fast and when you’ve had too much, you just can’t handle it. 
Here we start to drink a little younger.  We get a few sips of wine with
dinner, then a little more.  We learn to enjoy the flavor of good wine all
while learning to adapt to the subtle effects of the a little alcohol.  I guess
you could say we learn to enjoy the pleasures of drinking and the light buzz
that comes with it without going crazy and making ourselves sick.”

She
was talking to me as if I were some kid.  I felt like I was back in high school
being reprimanded by a teacher.

“First
off,” I said, pulling my shoulders back, “as it turns out, my mom owns a
restaurant back in New York, and it just so happens that she serves the best
beer in town.  Believe me, I’ve indulged more than once before.”

“Good
for you.”

Slam
me down in the nuts like a punk.  Shit, what was this girl doing to me?

“I’m
just saying,” I went on.  “I know how to hold my liquor.  That night when you
found me, it’s not what you think.”

She
laughed.  It was an adorable giggle that tickled me and left me wanting to make
her laugh more.  I wanted to hear that sound again and again.  I tried to think
of something witty and comical to say, but I drew a blank.

Damn
it.

“It’s
never what we think, is it?” she said.

There
was something teasing in the way she looked at me that made me want to pull her
into my arms and laugh along with her.

“I’m
not the kind of guy who goes around looking for trouble.”

“Don’t
tell me.  Trouble just has a way of finding you.”

Obviously
I wasn’t going to convince her that I was a good guy.  “Look, in any event, I
want to thank you for helping me out.  I’m not really sure what happened that
night, but I lost it and I don’t really know where I would have ended up if you
hadn’t stepped in to help me.”

She
chuckled and gave me another up and down glance.  “Yeah.  you really did lose
it, and I apparently found it.”

“Well,
it’s a good thing for me you did.  I would imagine there aren’t a lot of people
out there who would have helped a guy like me.”

Shrugging,
she looked up at me and for an instant her eyes warmed to me before reverting
to their cool gaze.  “It’s the least I could do.  I wouldn’t have been able to
live with myself if I’d learned the next day that a young American had been
found unconscious on the streets… or even worse, dead.”

“That’s
it?”

“What’s
it?”

“That’s
the reason you helped me out?  Because I’m some helpless American tourist?”

“Well,
no.  If you’d been a Canadian tourist, or German tourist, Japanese tourist, or
any tourist, I would have helped you out all the same.”

I
grunted.  It wasn’t the answer I was looking for.  “You didn’t help me out
because I’m a good looking guy and you were attracted to me.  You didn’t bring
me back to your place because you were sort of hoping that… you know…  we’d….”

Again
she gave me an up and down glance, but she took the time to scrutinize me a
little too well.  “To tell you the truth, I didn’t really get that good a look
at you.  It was dark, but from what I could see you were pretty green around
the gills, you know what I mean.”  She shook her head in disgust.  “It’s not
really a good look on you.”

“Oh.” 
Damn, I couldn’t remember the last time a girl had made me feel so idiotic. 
Was I losing my touch?  I should have had her wrapped around my little finger
by now.

“Besides,
how you look has very little impact on whether I would help you out or not.  Do
you really think I would leave someone out on the street because they look a
particular way?”

Stunned,
I just stared at her.

“I’m
not that shallow.”

“That’s
not what I was implying.”

“It’s
exactly what you're implying.”  The teasing laughter had left her eyes and her
brow furrowed in displeasure as she bumped the door wide open with her hip and
entered a large and well lit room.

“Are
you trying to win some good Samaritan award or something?” I followed her in.  “Running
for Mother Theresa? My sister has that title already.”

Setting
down the pots and pans on a wide, stainless steel counter, she grunted and
looked at me, her brow furrowed even deeper than before.  “Running for Mother
Theresa?  Seriously?”

I
stammered, before finally spitting out, “You know what I mean.”

She
turned away and poured some liquid into the smaller pot then set it on an
individual burner.

“Hey,
what is this room?”  The counter parallel to where we stood was lined with
burners, tubes, vials and an assortment of cooking instruments.

She
pulled an apron over her head, wrapped the ties around her waist and knotted it
at her back.  “It’s a food lab, silly.  What does it look like?”

I
nodded.  “A food lab.”  I picked up a jar marked ‘cream of tartar’ then spotted
a canister of liquid nitrogen on the floor beside a vacuum cooker, and looked
back at her.  “So, what are you doing here?”

“I
have other talents than playing Mother Theresa in dark alleys at night.”

“I
have no doubt, but...”

“I
work here.  I’m an assistant cuisine technician.”

“Wow. 
Sounds impressive.”

“Well,
it helps pay the rent, and I do enjoy it.”

“So
what do you do exactly?”

“Try
out new products, new techniques.  I formulate new recipes.  The possibilities
are endless and I’m here to discover some of the better possibilities.”

“So
what have you discovered?”

She
looked at me with a playful frown.  “I’ve been working on a few special sauces,
but that’s all I can say on the matter for the time being.”

“Oh,
secret stuff, huh?”

“It’s
really easy to steal a recipe.  When we find something new and innovative that
works, we try to keep it hush-hush for as long as we can.”

I
crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against the counter behind me. 
“And here I thought you were just another pretty student.  You continue to
surprise and impress me.”

“Good
to know.”  Clearly she wasn’t as impressed by me as I was by her.

“How
long have you been working here?”