Je t'aime
A billionaire marriage romance for adults
A whirlwind romance story by Shanade White of BWWM Club.
Kendra can certainly stand the heat in the kitchen.
This talented chef has spent her entire life perfecting her cooking skills.
Now her dreams have come true with a job offer at a five star restaurant in Paris!
In the city of lights, Kendra meets Remy, an heir to a billion dollar shipping fortune.
After an intense and passionate love connection, Remy proposes and Kendra marries her dreamy billionaire.
But everything comes with a price, and Remy and Kendra soon find tragedy butting into their happiness.
When Remy’s father falls ill, he finds he has to take control of a sinking business and right the ship once again.
With Kendra by his side, the two make a great team.
But will these problems with the company be too much for these lovers to handle?
Find out in this exciting French romance by Shanade White.
Suitable for over 18s only due to sex scenes so hot, you'll need to wear oven mitts to hold your book.
Tip: Search BWWM Club on Amazon to see more of our great books.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
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Chapter 1
Kendra set the phone down slowly, afraid if she let her emotion have full rein, she might just break it. The only words she could have used to describe what she was feeling, was pure elation. She wanted to jump up and down, squealing like a teenager who finally sees her idol in person. It was hard to believe that at only 29 all her hopes and dreams were coming true. Admittedly, she had sacrificed and worked hard to get where she was today, but she still couldn’t quite process that phone call and all its implications.
Her first phone call would be to her mother, who had scarified as much as she had, if not more. Since her father had died when she was very young, her mother had been a single parent of two young children under the age of ten. With little education, she had been forced to work menial jobs to pay the bills and keep them clothed and fed. She and her brother had repaid her sacrifice by doing their best in school as well as helping around the house.
Kendra had taken over the cooking as soon as she had been old enough to push a stool up to the stove. Truly, it had been an act of desperation. Her mother while talented in many ways, was admittedly a terrible cook. As if that wasn’t bad enough, their neighbor who watched them while their mother worked, couldn’t cook either.
Kendra had never minded cooking and had fallen in love with the process. It must have been the simplicity of the craft that appealed to her. Although her mother provided a good life for them, even at a young age Kendra knew that they were always just on the brink of disaster. She longed for a life that was predictable and secure, in cooking she found the predictability she craved.
She knew what would happen when she chopped, baked, or sautéed the things she found in the kitchen. She could take the cheapest cut of meat and turn it into a meal that even a gourmet would love. In the kitchen she had the control that she lacked in life, she could chart a course of action and know that the result would be exactly what she wanted. In the kitchen she could forget the cold, unpredictable world and retreat to a world of her making.
By the time she was ten, her mother recognized her talent and took steps to ensure that those talents were developed to their maximum. Like all mothers, she had dreams of her children attending college and moving up in the world, it was clear that Kendra’s talent would lead her to culinary school, if given the chance to develop.
Developing those talents would have been much easier had Kendra been good at sports or music. There were many avenue’s available to develop those talents in children, but the culinary arts tended to be geared to adults. Programs for children were few and far between, and very expensive. Additionally, they typically involved nothing more than fancy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
After much research and study, her mother moved Kendra’s grandmother in with them, took a better paying job at night and hired a private chef as a tutor. Chef Angela was a member of their church and was aware of Kendra’s talents, and charged much below her usual hourly rate, for the chance to work with Kendra. She could see a master chef in the making and was thrilled to play a part in Kendra’s education.
For two years, Kendra and Chef Angela worked together, building Kendra’s skills. From simple skills like knife handling to more complicated baking projects, Kendra soaked up everything Chef Angela taught her. As her skills grew so did the grocery bills and Kendra’s mother knew that she couldn’t continue to keep up with the expenses. The more complicated recipes, required ingredients that even with her increased income she couldn’t afford. She still had bills to pay, never mind saving for the children’s education.
When one of the most popular television cooking competitions announced a junior edition, Kendra’s mother entered her immediately. The grand prize was $100,000, which would go a long way towards paying for Kendra’s education. With her talent, it was possible that she would receive scholarships but her mother didn’t want to rely on that alone.
The world was an unpredictable place and sometimes luck just wasn’t enough, you had to make your own luck. This was a lesson she had taught her children from a young age. She encouraged them to work hard and always do their best. When Kendra was in the kitchen it was easy for her to follow her mother’s advice. She made her own luck with delicious meals that could charm even the toughest critic.
The contest had been both a difficult and rewarding experience. Being away from home had been difficult, but had helped her to grow more independent. The pressure of timed cooking had forced her to learn to think on her feet, a critical skill in the world of cooking. At the end of the show, she emerged, not only the winner, but a much more confident cook and young person.
For the next year, Kendra was in the spot light, cooking on morning shows, creating her own cookbook for publication, and going to school. While she still enjoyed cooking with Chef Angela, she had adopted the attitude that she had mastered the art and no longer needed instruction. In true teenager fashion she believed the world revolved around her and acted accordingly. Her mother put up with her daughter’s attitude knowing that one day she would be brought down like everyone is at one time or another in life.
When she turned 16, Kendra was hired as a sous chef in a popular restaurant and did indeed find herself at the bottom of the ladder for the first time in her life. The head chef had little respect for television cooking shows and hired her not on the basis of her appearance on that show but on her skills in the kitchen. Instead of showing K
endra the respect she believed she deserved, he ridiculed her every move. Having never been treated this way, Kendra quit the job within a week, sobbing that she had been mistreated.
*****
Kendra had spent two days in bed, pretending to be sick, before her mother decided it was time to call in some reinforcements. In retrospect, it might have been a mistake for Kendra to participate in the show, winning had given her an inflated opinion of herself. But the money had been much needed, and would provide for an excellent education, no matter where Kendra chose to go. Never one to dwell on the past, she made the phone call, that she hoped would bring her gifted daughter out of her funk.
Chef Angela showed up at the front door just a few hours later. She went straight to Kendra’s room. “Time to get up. We all know you’re not sick, unless a good dose of reality can make a person sick.” She said.
“I am too sick.” Kendra said, burrowing her head in the covers. “This has nothing to do with that jerk of a head chef.”
“I think it has everything to do with your recent experience in the real world. It’s not all glamour and cameras. In the real world, people who go to restaurants, like the one you were working at, expect a meal that lives up to the restaurant’s reputation.” She explained.
“I just don’t see how berating me and criticizing everything I do, is going to make me any better. I know how to cook, it's not that hard to make the stuff they're serving. I make more complicated dishes in my kitchen.” Kendra said.
“Well, that may be true, but have you ever cooked for more than a few people? Have you ever had to have those meals ready at different times? Have you ever had to worry about the cost of the food and profit margins?” Chef Angela said, standing up and crossing the room to the closet.
“Well....” Kendra said.
“I didn’t think so. Put some clothes on. You and I are going on a little field trip. It’s time you learned what the real world of hospitality involves.” She said, throwing some clothes at Kendra. “Don’t take too long, our first appointment is in less than an hour.”
Knowing an order when she heard one, Kendra hauled herself out of bed and got dressed. She was in the front room and ready in 10 minutes, knowing better than to keep Chef Angela waiting. Their first stop was one of the hottest restaurants in the city and Kendra was excited to meet the chef.
“Am I going to get to meet Chef Paul? I’ve heard he is a genius. I would love to ask him some questions about his technique with mousse. I wonder if he’ll know who I am, do you think he will?” Kendra continued to gush as they made their way to the back entrance.
“You’re not here to elbow with Chef Paul, I’m sure he won’t know who you are or care. You’re here to see a real kitchen in action. Pay attention, this kind of opportunity doesn’t come often. No questions, no talking. Stay out of the way and maybe you’ll learn something.”
They spent the rest of the afternoon and evening traveling from one restaurant to another. Most were four or five start establishments were Chef Angela had worked or knew the Chef. As ordered Kendra kept her mouth shut and only asked questions when allowed. She learned a great deal that night including the fact that she by no means knew everything there was to know about food.
At one point during their wanderings, they ended up in what could only be called a dive. There they stopped for one of the best meals Kendra had ever eaten. Simple ingredients had been transformed into a feast. The skill with which the cook had combined the spices, vegetables, and meat could only have come from a well-trained chef.
After the meal Chef Angela took Kendra back to the kitchen to introduce her to the man who had created the wonderful food.
“Kendra, I would like to introduce you to my good friend, Chef Michael. We went to culinary school together and have known each other for years.”
“What are you doing in this place?” the words were out of her mouth before Kendra could stop them. Horrified, she clamped her hands over her mouth.
“That’s okay, it's a valid question. I think Angela wanted you to see the full picture. Let’s get some dessert and we’ll talk.” Chef Michael said, grinning.
Over the next hour, Chef Michael told Kendra about his life, from his graduation from culinary school to the downward spiral into drugs. This was a side of the culinary world that Kendra had not known about. By the end of his story, Kendra understood that the world she was joining was more than just food. It was a world of deceit, competition, sex, and drugs.
“Thank you Michael, for sharing all that with me. It must have been hard to find yourself cooking here after all the fame you had.” She said.
“Actually, I’m happier than I have ever been. Just remember it’s all about the food and what you do with it.” He said, as he returned to the kitchen.
By the end of the night, Kendra had a new appreciation for how difficult making it in the restaurant business really was. But Chef Angela still had one more lesson she wanted Kendra to learn.
“How many of those Chef’s we met tonight were women?” She asked.
“Well, not many.” Kendra replied.
“And how many were African American?”
“Only a few.”
“My point is simple. You are going to be competing in a world that is geared not only to men but to white men. African American female chefs are hard to find. It will always be a struggle, but don’t let that struggle make you lose sight of what you really want. To cook.” She finished.
Kendra was quiet for the rest of the trip home. She had a lot to process and she was feeling a little over whelmed. Her vision of the future had always included fame and fortune, she had to determine if the price was worth it. In the end she realized that what she really wanted to do was cook, whether in a five star restaurant or in a dive, her life would be spent in the kitchen.
With new determination she sought to learn as much as she could, working any job that would allow her access to the best chefs in the city. She had taken Chef Angela’s lessons to heart, worked hard, and graduated from high school early. Securing herself a slot at one of the best culinary schools in the city had been easy, with her tuition covered, she graduated with honors.
From there she had gone on to work in some of the best restaurants in the city. Never as a head chef but only as an assistant, soaking up as much knowledge as she could. When she had been ready, she had taken a position as head chef in the very restaurant she had fled in tears, all those years ago.
She had only been at the restaurant a year when it had received two Michelin stars. She had been propelled to the top of the restaurant world in the city, gaining the fame she had dreamt of all those years ago.
Now only a year later, she had just been offered a coveted position at La Femme, the hottest restaurant in Paris. It was the chance of a lifetime, the only downside was the move to Paris. She could speak passing French, but leaving her mother would be difficult. They had never been that far apart before and she knew it would be difficult for them both. Regardless of the drawbacks, she was beyond excited about the new job.
*****
In less than three months, Kendra found herself living in Paris, working in the restaurant and making new friends. The language had been a difficulty, but Margot, one of the waitresses at La Femme could speak English about as well as Kendra could speak French. They found that through a combination of both they could communicate fairly well.
Margot had been a life saver, helping Kendra acclimate to her new world. Paris was like no other city. There was always something interesting to do, no matter the time of day. Things moved slower here as well, the Parisians didn’t face the day with the same urgency that American’s did. They enjoyed lingering over their food for lengthy periods of time. This was especially true of breakfast, which quickly became Kendra’s favorite time of the day.
Because she worked at night, Kendra always slept late, then found her way to the corner café where she would enjoy croissants and a rich cappuccino. She would eavesdrop on the othe
r patron’s conversations, practicing her French in her head as she lingered over her breakfast.
One morning, Margot found her there, in her usual spot. Getting a cup of tea, she joined Kendra on the patio.
“Though I might find you here.” Margot greeted her, grabbed a croissant from the basket and sat down.
“It’s the best way to work on my French. I had to witness a break up this morning. That couple that I told you about were here again this morning, fighting as usual. Then, out of the blue the woman threw her hands up in the air and said she was done. She just got up and left, end of story.” Kendra said, glancing over her shoulder.
“It took me 15 minutes to figure out what they were fighting about, today. I would feel guilty about listening in, but they don’t lower their voices, so I guess they don’t mind the whole world knowing their business,” she said.
“Sounds like a good story but I have more important news. I’m going out for drinks after work tonight and I think you should come. It’s something you don’t want to miss. Besides, you don’t get out enough.” Margot said.
Knowing she was right, Kendra said, “Okay, I could stand to get out more. My French has gotten much better, so I might even be able to communicate with people. Where are we going?”
“Only the hottest club in Pairs, Wonderlust. The dance floor overlooks the Seine and only the elite can get in. It’s by invitation only and I’ve got two VIP passes with our names on them.” Margot said, taking the engraved invitations out of her shoulder bag, then waving them triumphantly in Kendra’s face.
“Wow, that’s great. I didn’t know you had those kinds of connections. Where did you get them?” Kendra said.
“This hunk of a guy named Remy, I met him through his sister, Greta. They’re like stupid rich. Heirs to a shipping fortune or something.” Margot said.
“Margot, I’ve never been much for night clubs and partying, I hope I won’t be out of my element.” Kendra said, a frown crossing her face.
Je t'aime: A Billionaire BWWM French Man Marriage Romance Page 1
