“Do you want to come by my office for dinner?” Daniel asked her.
“Sorry, I can’t. Shane asked me to go out with some chef buddies of his.”
“Hmm...” Daniel’s voice rose an octave. “Have you leaked it to the press?”
Audrey laughed in surprise that she hadn’t thought of that. And why hadn’t she? Everything Shane did was supposed to be toward a goal.
But when Shane asked her after his victory in the kitchen if she wanted to meet some old friends of his, she knew it was sincere. That he really wanted her to come along. She just needed to keep on guard.
After her now-customary fashion show in the mirror before she decided on what outfit to wear, a fitted black blouse with a deep scoop neck paired with a full lacy white skirt seemed right for what Shane said would be a chefs’ night off. She was just slipping on her heels when there was a knock at the bungalow’s door.
“Ready,” Audrey called as she grabbed her purse and unlatched the lock to find Shane standing in her doorway.
It seemed the most natural thing in the world to lean into him and kiss hello. Fortunately, she caught herself swerving toward him and pulled back in the nick of time. Those kisses under the sunset last night were a beginner’s mistake. Not to be repeated. Let yesterday be a lesson to her.
First and foremost, business partners do not shower each other with kisses. Fine, they got carried away yesterday, but now it was time to back up and get on the correct track. Second, kisses like the ones she had with Shane, the kind that made you crave more and more and more of them, were not on her menu. Kisses could lead to feelings. Feelings might lead to hope. And hope led to heartbreak. She knew that connect-the-dots only too well.
Shane placed his hand on the door in an attempt to open it farther. “Can I look at your bungalow? I haven’t seen the interior of a finished one.”
“Yeah sure.” She gestured him in. But as he lifted his foot over the threshold, she suddenly remembered the cardboard cutout of him that had become part of her decor. She surely didn’t want him to see that she had it in her room. Propped directly facing her bed no less! Reg had left town so hastily, he never followed up on what Audrey had done with the display after she removed it from the front of the restaurant. And knowing Shane, it wasn’t something that ever occurred to him to ask about.
“Oh, actually, it’s really too much of a mess right now.” Audrey tried to shove Shane aside and get the door closed behind them as quickly as possible. “Why don’t you come back tomorrow after Housekeeping has been through?”
“I don’t care about a mess.” He pushed on the door as Audrey tried to pull on the door handle.
“I’d rather you didn’t,” she protested with a tug.
“What’s the big deal?” His strength made this a losing battle for her.
“Personal items, okay?” Her eyes defied him. And won.
He lifted his palms in surrender. “Alright, Sugar. Let’s go. I’ve got to stop by Feed U first.”
Audrey bit her lip in relief.
Shane drove them to the parking lot at the warehouse kitchen and they went in. Teen helper Santiago was the only one inside.
Santiago gave Shane his four-part handshake. When he turned to Audrey to do the same, she fumbled less than she had when they met the first time. She remembered the other day here, the guileless faces of the young children with their salad and their bread dough, gazing up at Shane as if he was a superhero. If only she’d had a superhero to look up to when she was a kid.
“What are you cooking?” Shane asked Santiago.
“Me and my cousins are going to try to make tamales like our great-grandma used to do.”
Audrey noticed the bags of groceries on the counter.
“Okay, you know I can’t let you cook without an adult here. You’ll wait until Lois comes?”
“Yeah, man, no problem.”
“And you’ll lock everything down if she wants to leave and you stay to clean up?”
“Yeah, no problem. Thanks.”
“Alright. Have fun.” Shane handed him the keys.
* * *
“Man, it’s good to see you,” Tino said as he pulled Shane in for a bear hug.
“Been too long,” Loke followed with a clinch for his old kitchen mate.
“Audrey, I want you to meet Tino and Loke.” Shane introduced her to his two friends who were also cooking in Las Vegas. “The three of us go all the way back to apprenticing in Paris with Pierre.”
Shane had been in and out of Vegas for months as he readied the restaurant but had made excuses to avoid hanging out with these guys. They were from a different time in his life. When he had been full of ideas and dreams.
Funny, but he felt some of those old feelings of hope and possibility coming back now.
Tonight, just like when he went to visit Josefina, he was very happy to have Audrey there with him, seeing these pals from the old days. The way she made him feel seemed to give him courage. Drive him forward. Finally.
“Oh, yeah, we’ll never forget Paris,” said Loke, a short but solid wall of muscle who hailed from Osaka. He shook Audrey’s hand. With a perfect French accent, Loke mimicked their old instructor to a T. “Zee pate a choux muz be creesp ahn hallo.”
Tino, a lanky Italian American, and Shane nodded in memory. “You muz slap zee dough aginst zee saucepan,” Tino chimed in with his pretty good impersonation. He shook Audrey’s hand, as well.
Shane added, “The guy was a major pill, but darn if we didn’t learn how to make profiteroles in our sleep.”
“I’m hungry. Let’s eat,” Tino urged.
The four left the entrance where they had met and strutted through the casino floor at the MGM Grand. The night was hopping with its herds of people who had fled their normal lives to come to the mirage that was Las Vegas.
The lights and sounds of the slot machines permeated the casino. Clangs signifying jackpots came from every direction even though, in reality, it was the casinos that gained win after win.
Cocktail waitresses in skimpy costumes hoisted trays of drinks while maneuvering through the rows of gaming tables. Blackjack, roulette and craps games were all in play. High rollers puffed on cigars while women who’d had too much cosmetic surgery sat beside them, some dragging on cigarettes in designated smoking areas and others looking around, hoping to be noticed. Poker tournaments and high-stakes games like baccarat were being played in areas partitioned off to the sides of the main gaming floor.
Besides the gamblers, people crossed the casino floor headed in every direction. The masses were from every corner of the earth, comprised of all colors, all ages, all sizes, all socio-economic classes.
Tourists in sneakers snapped photos. Older people walked slowly or used motor scooters or wheelchairs. Travel group chaperones pointed out casino features in several languages.
Groups of people in their twenties moved in packs this way or that. Many held cocktails. Among them, all of the young women wore a uniform of little dresses cut way up to there and sky-high heels. Of the men who accompanied them, some wore dress shirts and slacks while others looked incongruous with their dates in T-shirts and baseball hats, and some even in sports shorts.
Audrey and her curves looked hotter than any other woman around in her fitted black top tucked into a tasteful skirt. That body of hers was a true hourglass shape and Shane was starting to catch himself on far too many occasions imagining what all those inclines and angles might feel like without clothes to cover them. He’d held her during that crazy kissing on top of his car but, even in the throes of that, he’d censored himself from letting his hands wander too much.
The back of his mind lectured the front lobes that good things came to those who waited. Although, really, he shouldn’t be waiting to experience her naked flesh because that was not going to happen. Never. Ever.
N
onetheless, when he was with her he was unable to direct his eyes anywhere else.
The end of the enormous casino gave way to the promenade of shops and restaurants. It was here that Loke was cooking at Shinrin, a small plates and sushi bar favored by the younger set as the cocktail menu was longer than the one for the food.
“Look at this place,” Audrey said to Shane as they entered the restaurant.
“Vegas, baby.” Shane placed his hand on Audrey’s back as Loke escorted them in.
Shane remembered how impressed he and Audrey had been at the Big Top nightclub with its high-concept circus design, perfectly implemented. In fact, Shane had lain awake thinking about every tiny detail of that night at the club. It was that night, the magnificence of Big Top mingled with his heady memories of sensually dancing in a frenzy with Audrey that had served to crack his internal shutters open a little bit. Every step that had led him to be able to come up with a new recipe today was connected to Audrey.
The theme of Shinrin was that of a forest. Miniature fir trees stood in clusters that divided the space into semiprivate areas of couches covered in checkered fabric to give them a picnic look. Patrons ate from low tables made of tree trunk slices where communal plates for sharing were served.
Loke gestured for them to take a seat at two small couches facing each other with a table in between. Shane helped Audrey to one and Tino took the other. While they settled in, Loke dashed away and returned with a ceramic flask of sake and four matching cups. “My cohorts are going to bring us some nibbles,” he said and sat beside Tino.
“I stayed at your hotel in Key West,” Tino said to Audrey as they sipped their rice wine.
“Ooh—” Audrey smiled “—I hope everything was good?”
“Yeah, first class. I like those huge wooden and brass fans in the front lobby.”
“Thanks. We had the blades hand carved.”
Loke pointed to Shane and asked Audrey, “Where did you get the idea to partner with this pain in the butt in Vegas?”
“We’ve been in business with the Murphys for a decade with the Lolly’s casual eateries. But when we bought the old Royal Neva here, we knew we needed a big restaurant.”
“Reg had been thinking about an expansion to Vegas, anyway. Who wouldn’t want to showcase here, where you can pull out all of the stops? When the Girards asked us to consider venturing in, the pieces fit.”
Much as he loved these guys, he wasn’t going to tell them how much he needed Vegas. Just like he didn’t want to acknowledge how much he was beginning to need Audrey.
Tino lifted his sake cup in a toast and the others followed suit. “To the Murphy brothers in Vegas. Long may you reign.”
Shane looked over to Audrey, at the smooth cheeks he had enjoyed running his lips across. How cute she was sitting there with one leg crossed over the other, both shapely legs on view.
“Thank you, Emi,” Loke said to the pretty waitress who delivered some plates. He pointed to one of them. “Ankimo sushi. Monkfish liver.”
Tino and Shane laughed as they battled each other for what they thought was the choicest piece on the plate. Loke lifted one, as well. Audrey didn’t. Shane wasn’t surprised but wondered how to handle what food might be arriving, knowing that she wasn’t an adventurous eater. He didn’t want to embarrass her.
“Unagi.” Loke pointed to another plate.
“You’ll like that one,” Shane said to Audrey, knowing it was cooked eel brushed with a sweet glaze. “Trust me on that.”
She lifted a piece on rice and took a tentative bite. And shot a sly smile at him that went straight to his heart. If this was a different world, he might like to spend his life figuring out things he could do for her that would earn him that kind of smile.
Emi delivered more dishes. Loke pointed, “Karaage.”
“Fried chicken,” Shane translated.
“I want some,” Audrey said quickly. In his zeal, Shane reached for a morsel and fed it to Audrey. Then immediately wished he hadn’t in front of Tino and Loke.
When Audrey excused herself to the ladies’ room, Shane knew he was going to get grilled.
Tino started, “What’s going on there?”
“A corporate partnership.” Shane put up his palm as if to shut Tino down.
“Uh-huh.” Loke bent in to take another piece of unagi. “I’d like to see what Fat Riku in the kitchen would do if I tried to feed him a bite with my fingers.”
“I know, I shouldn’t have done that.” Shane chuckled, still shocked at his own lack of censorship. Although he shouldn’t be surprised. Whenever he got anywhere near Audrey’s succulent mouth, he didn’t do his most prudent thinking.
“Been a long time for you, man,” Loke said. “You dated anyone since Melina died?”
“I’m not dating Audrey!”
“I’ll tell you,” Tino persisted, “the way you hardly take your eyes off of her looks like a different kind of merger to me.”
Loke picked up a piece of ankimo and, with fluttering eyelashes and a quivering mouth, fed it to Tino. The two busted out laughing.
Shane flared his nostrils like he was a bull about to charge at them. But then he cracked up, too. It was about time he laughed at himself.
These guys were really fun to be around. He wished he hadn’t waited so long to see them.
After dinner, they decided to play some blackjack in the casino. They were able to find a table with four stools available. None of them were planning to gamble big—it was just to have some fun. Bets were placed and the dealer doled out the cards.
“Eighteen, Loke, you’re good,” Tino said. “Argh, what do I do on fifteen?”
“Hit,” Audrey said without missing a beat.
“Ah ha, the lady is a gambler?” Tino raised an eyebrow.
Audrey smiled at Tino.
Then she turned to Shane.
Then Shane fastened his eyes on her.
Then time stood still.
Then the lights and sounds of the casino faded into a foggy distance.
Then talk of Audrey as a gambler had nothing to do with blackjack anymore.
CHAPTER NINE
“OH, NO,” Shane exclaimed when he checked his phone while he and Audrey, Tino and Loke were wrapping up their blackjack session at the MGM. He shoved his and Audrey’s gambling chips over to Tino, grabbed Audrey by the hand and pulled her up from her seat. “There’s a fire at Feed U. We’ll talk to you guys later.”
Audrey ran to keep up with him as he tugged her across the casino and out to the valet station. “What happened?” she asked as they waited for his car to be retrieved.
“I don’t know. Darn it, I missed three calls from Santiago before he texted.” And attempts to return the teenager’s calls were going unanswered. Shane tabbed to another phone number and explained to Audrey, “Lois.
“She doesn’t know anything about it...” He kept Audrey updated as he talked to Lois. “She went home two hours ago. Santiago’s family had finished cooking and they were cleaning up when she left.”
“Should we call the fire department?”
“We’re close by. We’d better go see what’s going on.”
Shane swung into the driver’s seat of the Jeep as one of the valets helped Audrey in. He palmed the guy a tip, gunned the gas pedal and pulled a sharp left to get away from the Strip as quickly as possible.
When they careened into Feed U Santiago and two other teenagers were in the parking lot, trying to get their phones to work.
“What’s happening?” Shane charged out of the car and toward them.
“Fire! Our phones aren’t working.” Santiago was distraught as he cried out. “Two of my cousins are still inside!”
Shane raced over to the door, which was ajar, and he was able to kick it open farther. Once he saw the blaze inside, he turned back to Audrey and y
elled, “Call the fire department!”
Putting an arm in front of his face as a shield, Shane entered. Smoke engulfed the kitchen from flames centered around the stove. He remembered that he had a blanket in the back of the Jeep so he stepped back out to call to Audrey, “Bring me the blanket.”
She quickly met him at the door and he used the blanket as a cape and hood to protect himself as he went back in.
“What are your cousins’ names?” Audrey yelled behind her to Santiago.
“Denise is twelve and Celia is eight.”
Audrey joined Shane inside as he was moving toward the fire.
“Go back!” he shouted to her.
“I’ll help. Let me under the blanket.”
Not wanting to take the time to argue, Shane threw a piece of the blanket over her and they charged forward.
“Denise!” Audrey called out. Flames crackled and visibility was low.
Smoke and ash burned Shane’s eyes. He commanded Audrey, “Shield your eyes.”
“Celia!” she yelled.
“Denise!”
“Celia!”
Shane and Audrey moved farther toward the flames. Stacks of kitchen towels succumbed to the fire’s reach. Boxes of dry goods on another surface were burning to dust.
“Celia!”
“Denise!”
Shane’s heart beat double time as more seconds elapsed without a response from the girls. Anxiety nearly overtook him. He looked over to Audrey who, like him, had begun to choke on the smoke. Taking a few steps farther into the raging heat, they heard a rustling from under one of the worktables. And both girls rolled toward them.
Audrey picked up the smaller girl and yelled to Shane to take the larger. He did his best to cloak them all in the blanket and they ran out the door. Once outside, Audrey and Shane placed the girls gently on the ground. Santiago and the other cousins rallied around them. Everyone was covered in smoke and soot.
Her Las Vegas Wedding Page 12
