Bella turned from where she was conferring with Luigi and she clapped her hands to gain everyone’s attention. Slowly the room came to order. ‘First, I’d like to say how wonderful it is to see so many people here this evening and to welcome you all to our very first cooking club. At this point I want to stress—’
She broke off when she saw Dominic. For some stupid reason he found it hard not to fidget.
‘Did you need me for something, Dominic?’
He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. ‘I, uh, I saw your poster in the lunchroom. I thought I’d come along and get some tips from a master.’
Her eyes widened. He didn’t blame her for her surprise. He’d made sure they’d barely clapped eyes on each other this past week.
He swallowed. ‘It did say all staff were welcome.’
She smiled and it made his gut clench. ‘Of course you’re welcome, Dominic. Now.’ Her gaze travelled about the room again and he found he could breathe more freely. ‘I want to stress that we are all equals here tonight, regardless of what position you hold within the hotel’s hierarchy.’
That was a smart move. There was staff in here from house-cleaning and reception; there were bar and waiting staff as well as a couple of managers. Even Luigi’s brother-in-law had snuck in.
‘Oh, except for Luigi and I, of course—we are the bosses.’
He could’ve sworn she’d twinkled that right at him. The titters and swift glances cast his way confirmed it. As always, her sassiness fired his blood.
‘The purpose of the class is twofold. First and most importantly, it gives us a chance to get to know each other, hopefully while having fun. Secondly, it’s to give you all the opportunity to benefit from the not inconsiderable experience and amazing talent of Luigi here—and moi.’ She touched her hand to her chest and bowed her head in exaggerated false modesty, and a ripple of laughter travelled around the room.
A chuckle rumbled free from Dominic’s chest, too. What was it about this woman? She held this small crowd in the palm of her hand and they hung on to her every word. If it were him up there, everyone would listen to him attentively because he was the boss, but he wouldn’t engage them the way Bella had just done.
‘If nothing else, you do at least get to take your dinner home with you tonight. Now, because I’m the boss—’ she twinkled at Dominic and everyone laughed again ‘—I got to choose what we are cooking tonight, but there is a suggestion box in the lunchroom if anyone would like to put forward a recommendation for one of our upcoming cooking clubs. Indian cuisine is my favourite, so we’re making a simple chicken madras curry. Are there any vegetarians here?’
Several people raised their hands.
‘Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you. You’ll be making a delicious pumpkin and chickpea curry.’
Dominic planted his hands on his hips and watched her closely. There was no doubt that she was enjoying herself.
‘We’ll be working in pairs, so I want you to choose a partner and move across to one of the workstations.’
A couple of female staff members flicked flirtatious glances his way. He ignored them, introduced himself to Matthew—a porter—and invited him to join him. They moved to a workstation at the back of the room.
Dominic told himself that, as boss, he wanted to keep a low profile and not let his presence interfere with Bella’s class. But down here at the back he could also follow her every move without fear of being caught out.
He and Matt followed—or attempted to follow—Bella’s instructions to chop the chicken into two-centimetre dice. Dominic dispelled Matt’s awe by making a veritable mess of the chicken.
‘I’ll, uh, do the onions,’ Matt volunteered, obviously getting in before Dominic could make a mess of those, too.
‘Okay, now it’s time to select the chillies,’ Bella called out. ‘For those of you who prefer a milder curry, take one of these banana chillies. If you like a little more heat take two of these jalapeno chillies.’
Dominic couldn’t help himself. ‘What if you like it really, really hot?’
Her lips twitched. Her caramel eyes, full of challenge, turned to him. ‘Then you need two of these bird’s eye chillies.’
It took more effort than it should to drag his eyes from the luscious temptation of her lips to the box she indicated. He swallowed. ‘Do you like it hot, mate?’ he asked Matt.
‘You bet.’
He strode up to where Bella stood and grabbed a handful of bird’s eye chillies. Bella laughed when she saw how many he had. He swore he could listen to that sound all evening. ‘Uh, Dominic, you won’t need that many. They are seriously potent.’
‘Good.’
‘I don’t think—’
‘They’re not as big as those first ones you held up.’ He wondered if he should take one of those, too. He loved a good curry. His mouth had already started to water in anticipation. He hadn’t managed anything more than a hurried sandwich at lunchtime, and that suddenly seemed like a long time ago.
The twitching of her lips became a full-blown smile that had the power to kick him in the guts, fire his blood to life and constrict his lungs all at the same time. ‘Hasn’t anyone ever told you that size doesn’t matter?’
His lips lifted in a wicked grin of their own. ‘Nope, no one’s ever told me that before.’
Her eyes widened, her cheeks grew pink and then she laughed. His insides sat up and begged. This woman was ten times more potent than chillies. He had a feeling she was more potent than an unexploded bomb.
She nodded at the chillies. ‘Well, on your own head be it.’ Her eyes suddenly gleamed. ‘Though I will advise you to discard the seeds. They hold the greatest heat.’
No way. He had no intention of wasting those.
With a wide smile she turned back to the rest of the class. ‘Luigi will now show you the correct way to de-seed and chop your chillies.’
When all the pots were finally simmering on their individual hotplates, Bella and Luigi discussed the different ingredients that could be added or substituted to either the chicken or vegetarian recipes, and then they held a general question-and-answer session. Dominic couldn’t believe how much he enjoyed the class.
Or how much he learned. A good curry was one of life’s little pleasures, but he’d never tried to cook one before. He glanced across at his and Matt’s pot and his chest puffed out. This cooking gig wasn’t all that hard. He wondered if Bella would consider teaching them how to make lasagne next. He’d pop that into her suggestion box.
No matter what she intended to teach, he’d be here. She’d chosen exactly the right tone for the evening, and once word got around places in here would be seriously limited. Rather than pairs it’d be groups of four and six around workstations.
As far as a getting-to-know-you exercise went, it was ingenious. He should’ve thought of something like this himself. Different departments had held meet-and-greet sessions for their staff, but no one had thought to organise a hotel-wide one. No one except Bella, that was.
And Bella was the reason he’d enjoyed the class. Everything about her had his saliva glands kicking into overdrive. Her deft movements had mesmerised him as she’d demonstrated this technique or that. Her butter-rich voice as she’d moved about the room making suggestions here and there had melted him. Her passionate flourishes had parts of him burning harder and hotter than the curry simmering on the stove.
But it was her passion for food and cooking that had engaged them and fired them all with a similar enthusiasm.
Was it that simple? That Bella’s zest for life was the result of engaging in the things she loved, such as cooking?
He loved his job, didn’t he?
He shook his head. Not the way Bella loved cooking. She beamed and literally glowed in the kitchen when she was cooking. He recalled her rigid shoulders as she’d sorted through the vegetables the last time he’d been down here. He thought about the way she frowned over her files and laptop in the apartment, and it hit h
im that Bella didn’t love the administrative side of being a restaurant manager the way she loved cooking.
His hands clenched. So what the hell was her secret?
Bella clapped her hands and claimed his attention again. A smile hovered on her luscious lips, tensing him up inside. ‘Okay, everyone, turn off your hotplates.’
She was so full of...life! He’d ask her outright for her secret only he doubted she’d be able to answer him. She probably wouldn’t have a clue what on earth he was talking about. It was something intrinsic to her nature—deep-seated and ingrained.
Matt leant across him to turn off their hotplate. Dominic shook himself and told himself to get with the programme. Only Bella chose that precise moment to hit him with one of her mega-watt smiles. It froze him like a deer in the headlights.
‘We have two more important lessons to take away with us today.’
Lessons, huh? As she moved towards him with that sensuous sway of her hips and the fullness of her breasts pressing against her chef’s tunic, all he could think were the lessons he’d like to teach her: lessons of love. Blunt, unadulterated images blazed themselves on to his brain, ensuring he’d never get a decent night’s sleep again.
She halted in front of him and her smile widened. He craved to reach out and trace the plump fullness of her bottom lip with his thumb. She reached under the bench behind him and everything inside him that had clamoured as she’d drawn near slammed to a halt when her shoulder brushed his hip.
She straightened again. He had to blink a couple of times to clear his vision. She held a plate. ‘I’m going to ask Dominic to sample his curry.’
She spooned a small amount of meat and sauce onto the plate, handed it to him with a fork and then waited expectantly. He wondered why she’d chosen him. With a shrug, he did what she so obviously expected and shovelled the food into his mouth.
‘Water won’t help,’ she said, sottovoce.
Wouldn’t help what?
The curry hit the back of his throat. He doubled over and started to choke. If he’d had any breath left in his body he’d have yelled or groaned or something. His face started to burn and he swore it must have turned a deep red from the neck up. Perspiration broke out on his forehead and top lip. Tears started to stream from his eyes. ‘I’m dying,’ he finally managed to croak.
Bella ignored him to turn back to the rest of the class. ‘Important lesson number one—always follow the recipe to the letter the first time you try it. Once you know how the original recipe tastes, then you can experiment and set about adding your own touches. Dominic and Matt used three times the recommended number of chillies. Would you like to sample the curry as well, Matt?’
The young porter took a hasty step back. ‘No, thank you.’
‘Water,’ Dominic gasped out, still bent double.
‘I told you, water wouldn’t help.’
Dominic wondered if it’d be quicker to drop to the floor and die now. He’d have no mouth or throat lining tomorrow. He groaned as the curry hit his stomach. There went his stomach lining, too.
‘Important lesson number two...’
He tried holding his breath in the hope it would ease the burning as Bella calmly ambled towards the industrial-sized refrigeration units at the other end of the room. Nope, that didn’t work. He winced as he dragged in a breath that made his lungs catch fire.
‘If you get chilli in a cut or accidentally touch your eyes after you’ve chopped one—or simply eaten too potent a dose...’
His head shot around.
‘The best remedy is to rinse your cut or eyes with milk.’
He watched her pull a carton of milk from the fridge and slowly take down a glass, but he couldn’t wait. He staggered forward, seized the carton and gulped down great mouthfuls, the relief immediate and exquisite.
‘Or to drink it,’ Bella laughed.
The class laughed with her but he didn’t care. He kept guzzling cool, soothing milk.
‘You’ll make yourself sick,’ she chided, sottovoce again.
He reluctantly let her prise the carton from his hands. He waited for the burning to start back up. It did, but when it came it was merely a shadow of its former self and he slumped in relief.
Then he straightened, glared at her and pointed towards his and Matt’s pot. ‘That stuff is lethal! It’s—’
‘But I thought you liked it really, really hot.’
She raised an eyebrow and his collar tightened about his throat. She had tried to warn him, he acknowledged as she hip-swayed away.
‘Okay, everyone.’ She clapped her hands. ‘You’ll find containers over here. Matt, you can take your portion from my and Luigi’s pot.’
She didn’t make the same offer to him, but he had a feeling she knew it’d be a while before he could face another curry with any equanimity.
* * *
‘That was a dirty, rotten trick!’
Bella nearly jumped out of her skin as Dominic barged into the apartment. Minky, who had been sitting on the sofa beside her, yowled and shot under the dining table. Bella’s heart surged against the walls of her ribs. It didn’t slow again when she saw that Dominic was grinning rather than scowling. In fact, that only made it thud harder. ‘I, uh...’ She couldn’t seem to get her tongue to work properly.
‘And I acknowledge it was entirely my own fault.’ He grinned at her. ‘But I should’ve realised how you were playing me.’
Yep, he should’ve.
He set his briefcase on the dining table. Minky peered out at him. Her tail still swished but her gaze had lost its narrow-eyed spite. It was as close to hero worship as the cat could manage. Bella sympathised with her wholeheartedly.
‘Dumb cat,’ Dominic muttered.
That made Bella grin. ‘Don’t give me “dumb cat”. I’m on to you, Dominic Wright. You’re the only one who could possibly have bought this wind-up mouse for said dumb cat.’
‘This from the woman who cooks the dumb cat a piece of diced fillet steak every evening.’
How on earth did he know about that? She shook herself to say, ‘Well, I’m very glad you’ve taken to the dumb cat, because Mel rang earlier and she’s been delayed. We may end up with Minky for the entire two months.’
He scowled and rolled his shoulders. It made her grin. His unexpected kindness to the cantankerous moggy made her want to hug him. Which would be a seriously bad idea, so she wound up the silly toy and set it on the ground instead. Right on cue, Minky emerged and preceded to dance around the mechanical mouse with her back arched, batting it occasionally with her paw. When it wound down she walked over to Dominic and meowed plaintively until he reached over to set the mouse going again.
It shouldn’t turn a girl to mush. It shouldn’t.
She gulped and did what she could to stiffen her spine when he walked over and planted himself against the arm of the sofa.
He rubbed his jaw. ‘I wanted to tell you that your cooking class tonight was brilliant. It was an inspired idea. Well done, Bella.’
She stared at him. Warmth flooded her. ‘Really?’
‘You made it fun. The staff, they’re going to love working for the Maldini with programmes like that in place.’
Her chin lifted. Her shoulders went back.
‘And, what’s more, you’ve inspired me.’
She had? She leaned forward. ‘How?’ And then she remembered the small dimensions of the sofa and eased back before his cinnamon scent could completely undo her.
‘I’ve been thinking about the things you said to me last Sunday.’
She grimaced. She’d wanted to apologise for that all week, only there hadn’t been an opportunity because Dominic was never here, or the time hadn’t seemed quite right because Dominic always steered the conversation. ‘I want to apologise about that, Dominic. I had no right to say those things.’
He waved her apology away. She couldn’t discern an ounce of resentment in the holiday-blue of his eyes. ‘I’m starting to see what you mean about defi
ning what will make our hotel unique.’
Our? The way he said it did unnerving things to her. So unnerving she leapt up to shush Minky’s meowing and wind her toy mouse up again. When she returned to the sofa she sat as far away from him as she could.
‘I do know that’s part of what you’re trying to achieve with the cooking club. If the staff love working at the Maldini, then that will be silently communicated to our patrons.’
She hoped so, but it was such a small initiative. It wouldn’t reach all the staff.
‘You want the staff to be invested in the hotel. You want them to be as happy as you are to be working there.’
‘You know what I hope for? I want a waiting list of potential staff who are dying to work for the Maldini hotel. I want staff queuing at the door vying for positions that become vacant. I want the hotel to inspire people to choose hospitality as their career of choice. Can you imagine it?’
He stared at her.
‘And can you imagine staying in a hotel that the staff love and respect and are so proud to be a part of?’
‘It’s a seductive vision,’ he finally said.
Had it seduced him?
‘Like I said, Bella, you’ve inspired me. Because tonight was such a hit, it got me thinking.’
‘About?’
‘Do you think day excursions would be well received by the staff? Do you think they would enjoy them?’
Her jaw dropped. She hauled it back up into place. ‘Yes!’
He grinned. ‘Good, because I thought, if you weren’t busy over the weekend, we could explore some options.’
‘Ooh, that’s an excellent plan. But in the meantime...’ She leapt up and raced out of the room. She came back with a handful of brochures and held them up for him to see. ‘I made a trip to the tourist information centre during the week.’
She crouched in front of the coffee table and started to spread them out. He knelt down beside her to see. ‘I’m amazed,’ she continued, ‘at how much there is to see and do in Newcastle.’
‘Like?’
She held a brochure out to him.
Bella's Impossible Boss Page 9
