by Kailin Gow
HEAT
Master Chef: HEAT Serial
VOL. 3
Kailin Gow
HEAT (HEAT: Vol. 3)
Published by KailinGowBooks.com
And theEDGEbooks.com
Copyright © 2015 Kailin Gow
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The HEAT Series by Kailin gow
He went to Paris to study the culinary arts and also to sample the sensual pleasures of the women he would find abroad, but Bobby Cummings, the bad boy of Brooklyn and the baby brother of Chef Taryn Cummings, didn’t expect to fall for an innocent virgin named Lilly Cooke from a convent, who happened to be his food science teacher at culinary school. Their chemistry is hot, but so is everything else, including someone from Lilly’s past, which may change everything.
HEAT Vol. 3 is part of the HEAT Series
Vol. 1 can be found here.
Vol. 2 can be found here.
Vol. 3 – you’re reading it!
Vol. 4 – Will be out in April 2015.
HEAT is a standalone series, but features Errol, Taryn, and Bobby from the Master Chefs Series.
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Prologue
Lilly
I’d always had a lot of love in my heart to give, even as a girl growing up at a convent. I loved broken things and hurt tainted creatures. I once fell in love with a stray puppy who’d wandered into the gardens there, took in a rabbit who’d escaped from the farm down the road when I was ten and even tended to a scraggly goat when I was twelve. My heart always swelled with so much love that Sister Anne had often call me a heart on two legs, an image that always made me smile. But, as loving and kind as I was as a little girl, I never really knew what love was until I fell in love with a young man a year younger than me and was my student at the International Culinary School.
Funny when I thought back to how we met that night all those weeks before; that awkward young man who didn’t know how to handle a little alcohol; that poor lost soul who was playing an endless stream of girls. The playboy alpha bad boy from New York studying abroad in Paris, who always got under my skin and burned through my inhibitions, was forbidden in so many ways. It would have been so easy to just forget all about him after that first meeting, and I would have forgotten him if we hadn’t bumped into each other again at the institute. Sometimes I wonder how we ended up falling in love. We were such different souls, with different destinies. So much was against us, and so much could have pulled us apart, yet we made it. That was the important thing.
We made it and I was more in love with him than ever. Life had been so good, so perfect. Maybe too perfect. Is that what happens when things are too perfect… something has to go wrong? Because something definitely did.
A chill ran up my spine and my skin prickled with goose bumps and I wondered once more why I’d followed the instructions of that fated phone call. I could have ignored it. I could have called the police.
I should have told Bobby. I bit my lip, thinking of him and how angry he must be. How could I ever explain Rial to him?
Rial. After all this time, after all these years, he’d called me, ordered me to meet him in a deserted and abandoned warehouse, and now…
I hated the position he’d put me in; trapped in that warehouse with a man who seemed to hold sanity by a thin and frail thread. He was filthy dirty, yet beautiful and sexy. I felt vulnerable, angry, frustrated and helpless.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I wanted to lash out at this man from my past, a man I didn’t even remember, a man who was making claims that didn’t make sense… that were impossible.
That man whose touch made me quiver with unexplainable sudden desire.
His stories about me, my father, broken promises, an arrangement between families…they were all lies, weren’t they?
Or were they?
Chapter 1
I stared at the two brothers, these tall handsome men who faced each other with such venom. While the family resemblance was there – their stature, their handsome faces, their thick, dark hair, their strong, muscular builds – it was clear the brothers didn’t share the same personalities. Quite simply, one was sane and the other one was not.
“Fancy meeting you under these circumstances,” Rial said. He seemed cool and confident… sure of himself.
Still confused and unconvinced, Errol looked at his sibling.
“Just think what a perfect opportunity this will be to get acquainted, dear brother,” Rial said with a cynical chuckle.
It was clear he lacked Errol’s refinement. Where Errol was elegant and charming, Rial was crude and rough. Where Errol was finely tailored and perfectly styled, Rial was rugged and untamed. Rial was a brute, a brute who’d kidnapped me, while Errol was the hero who’d swept in to save me.
Could two men be more different? And more importantly, could they possibly share the same blood?
“I don’t really see that happening,” Errol said.
Rial cocked his head to the side. “Really? No curiosity at all regarding your long lost little brother? No lingering questions about your parents?”
Errol’s eyes suddenly flashed with interest. He licked his lips and looked at me apologetically then back at Rial.
“Ah,” Rial said. “Now I have your attention, don’t I? You do want to know what happened to your loving mother and hard-working father. I don’t blame you.”
Pain flashed in Errol’s eyes and his fists clenched. “Nana told me very little about them… only that they had died when I was very young.”
“Oh, they’re dead all right. Why don’t you buy me a cup of coffee someday and I’ll tell you all about it.” He tugged at my wrist and pulled me closer to him, as if afraid to lose his hold on me. “For now I have quite a bit on my hands, but surely we can set a date. My calendar is wide open.”
“Lilly has nothing to do with this… with us. Why don’t you deal with me man to man? Why don’t you act like a man? Let her go and we can discuss our past like grown men.”
“Ah,” Rial sighed. “Spoken like a true gentleman. Is everything always so easy for you, dear Errol? Is everything a docile conversation… over tea and biscuits perhaps?”
“You’re making a big mistake hanging onto her. Kidnapping is a serious offense. Do you really want to risk your freedom?”
“Freedom? You think the life I’ve led has been free? No. I’m now making the wisest decision I’ve ever made.”
“Why? What good can come from holding her? If you let her go now, I’m sure she won’t lay any charges against you, but keep going, and… You could end up inadvertently hurting her. Then what?”
Rial cleared his throat and gave his brother an annoyed look. “I was hoping we could have that conversation at another time… like over that cup of tea.”
Growing impatient, Errol took a menacing step forward. “Why don’t we just get that over with now?”
“Fine,” Rial said with a shrug. “But it’ll lack
all the drama it deserves.”
“Spill it already.”
“You know, I’ve had to fend for myself for a long time now.”
“Haven’t we all?”
“No, you don’t understand. I’ve had to fend for myself since I was very young… too young. A boy shouldn’t have to go through what I went through. I should have had a loving family to surround me, a doting father to protect me.”
“Cry me a river,” Errol said as he set his fists on his hips.
“I would have had that doting father to protect me if it hadn’t been for your lovely friend’s father.”
Errol frowned, and I’m sure my face reflected his confusion. I felt suddenly chilled and was certain the blood had drained from my face.
“Her demented and ambitious father killed ours in cold blood. How do you like that?”
Without even taking in a breath, Errol rushed Rial, grabbed the front of his shirt and twisted until Rial turned a deathly shade of red. “You’re making very serious and, I’m sure, erroneous accusations, Mr. Rial. Spewing such rubbish could get you in a lot of trouble.”
“You may not like what I have to say,” Rial said as he wiggled for breathing space under Errol’s fist. “Sometimes the truth isn’t pretty, but there it is all the same. And now that I have my father’s murdering offspring in my hand, I’m not going to let her go.”
“Your accusation is far fetched at best, but even if there is a speck of truth to it, Lilly still has nothing to do with it. Her father’s sins aren’t hers. Surely you're smart enough to understand that.”
Rial looked Errol up and down, examining the fine clothes, the perfect haircut, and expensive leather shoes. “Being orphaned hasn’t affected you much, has it? Life’s been good to you, Errol King. If you want to understand what hardship is, you should take a few steps in my shoes, Errol, and then tell me what you understand. Tell me that you understand how this girl’s father single handedly ruined my life.”
“Look, you obviously have a lot to talk about. You’ve been through a lot. Why don’t we drop all this kidnapping business and have a serious talk, a real man to man.”
“Oh, so now you want to talk.” His grip on my arm tightened. “We’ll, I’m not sure I want to open up now.”
“Stop acting like a child. Let the girl go and let’s sit down to a real conversation.”
“I’m not letting this girl out of my sight, no matter what you say.”
Errol looked at me and winked. It immediately soothed my nerves and I knew everything was going to be all right. Rial might have been a little off his rocker, but with Errol there I knew no harm would come to me.
“Fine, we’ll bring Lilly. We could grab lunch and talk about everything that comes to mind.” He looked over his shoulder as a door opened in the distance. “Bobby, in here.”
Bobby rushed in. “Lilly,” he gushed with a smile. Happy and relieved, his eyes quickly darkened as he took in Rial. “What’s going on?”
I’d never seen him so angry, so dark. The happy go lucky guy I’d fallen in love with faded and was taken over by an angry beast. He took a step toward us, but Errol stopped him.
“We’ll deal with all this, but not here,” Errol said.
“You better believe we’ll deal with this.” He shrugged Errol off and took a threatening step toward Rial. “If I find the slightest bruise or cut on Lilly, I’ll beat the living crap out of you.”
Rial flinched then jutted out his chin. He seemed prepared to argue with Bobby, but thought better of it and just stood in silence for a long moment.
“Release her now.”
Pulling in a deep breath, Rial pulled back his shoulders and found his voice again. “Who is this clown?” he asked Errol.
“This clown,” Bobby said, “is her boyfriend, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll release her… now.”
Rial nodded, slowly and deliberately. “Now, that’s very interesting. Dating, are you now?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry to be the one to give you the bad news, buddy, but this girl’s already taken.”
“Come again?”
“Yeah, little Lilly Cooke is already promised to someone else.” Rial grabbed my wrist and raised my hand in the air.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Bobby stared at us.
Threading his fingers through mine, Rial brought my hand to his lips, his dark eyes steadily on Bobby. I wanted to crawl into the gutter. I wanted to peel my skin off and give it a good shake. “I should know, because I’m the one she’s promised to.”
“Ha!” Bobby let out. “You're hallucinating. You're on something, buddy, and on something strong. Get sober before you make a fool of yourself. You think you can just grab some random girl and make her yours. Welcome to the millennium, buddy. Girls aren’t promised to lame guys.”
Errol put a calm hand to Bobby’s shoulder and pulled him back. “Let’s all head to my place. We’ll have lunch, we’ll sit down calmly, and we’ll figure all this out.”
While I wanted to trust Errol’s judgment, I couldn’t understand his calm in light of this strange man’s proposition. It made no sense.
But as I looked at the two men again, these two long lost brothers I wondered if Errol wasn’t so eager to reconnect with a member of his family that he couldn’t see the danger; he couldn’t really see how unpleasant this family member was.
Chapter 2
“I’ll have to take a rain check on that offer, but I do look forward to it. I’m sure a meal cooked by Chef Errol King must be quite memorable.”
“Lunch with Errol King might be memorable, but I’ll give you a rain check for a good beating if you don’t let her go,” Bobby snarled. “And I’ll guarantee it will be memorable.”
I was sure I’d never seen him so angry before, but his anger did nothing to lessen Rial’s grip on my arm.
“Nothing doing,” Rial said.
“Listen carefully, little brother,” Errol said in a tone that was menacing in its calm. “You might have heard of Errol King, the famed chef, but you’ll see there’s more to me than just whipping up a gourmet meal if you don’t release her unharmed.”
“Tsk, tsk. Such a shame our first family meeting has to be so full of angst and discomfort. I’d always fantasized a pleasant stroll through one of Paris’ great parks. We’d reminisce and trade stories…”
“The angst is through no fault of my own, brother. No fault of my own.” Errol took a step closer. “You brought all this on yourself. I’ve tried to be civil by inviting you to lunch. I’ve offered you an olive branch, and you spat on it. You’re the one who insists on being an ass. Now let her go.”
Errol lunged at us, but Rial gave me a good shove directly into Errol’s arms.
“Take her,” Rial shouted as he jumped back and ran.
“Wait, get back here you weasel,” Bobby cried out as he ran after him, but Rial had too great a head start.
“Business awaits, but I’ll contact you, big brother,” Rial shot over his shoulder as he ran in the opposite direction and headed to the back door. “I look forward to our little tête a tête.” He disappeared through the door and slammed it shut.
The echo of the slammed door was the only sound in the warehouse. For a long moment we simply stood there stunned. Errol shot a quizzical glance at Bobby while Bobby looked straight at me. His face was a collage of emotions; his eyes sad, his brow confused and his lips hard with anger.
“What’s all this craziness about?” he finally said, looking from me to Errol. “Lilly’s father. Your brother. And this engagement?” He turned to me. “How the hell can you be engaged?”
I didn’t know what to tell him. I barely understood myself what had just happened. It would have made things so much easier if I’d known about this supposed engagement before, but as it stood, I was just as stumped as he was.
“Don’t let all this upset you guys,” Errol told us. “We’ll figure it all out. For now, let’s get you guys home. Once our heads have
cleared a bit, we’ll find out who that man really is and what he really knows about Lilly’s father.”
“If my father’s alive…” I barely dared consider the possibility. It was so outrageous, so unbelievable. All those years orphaned…
“Don’t get your hopes too high, Lilly.” Errol led the way out of the warehouse. “This guy is probably some great con artist and he knows exactly what to say to get to you.”
“Yeah, like telling her she’s engaged to him,” Bobby said as he followed behind Errol. Though he walked at my side, he seemed distant, almost cold.
“Let’s not freak out until we know more.”
“Freak out,” Bobby muttered. “How can I keep from freaking out when I just learned that my girlfriend is engaged to some pompous jerk?”
We reached Errol’s car and he unlocked the door with a quick click of his remote. Surprised to see Bobby go around to sit up front with Errol, I quietly slid into the back seat.
The ride to Errol’s building was long and tense. No one said a word and with every passing second I felt responsible for what had happened. If I hadn’t accepted to meet this man. If I’d just hung up when he called.
I glanced at Bobby’s profile and could feel his frustration, but I also had trouble controlling my own. Not only was I troubled by everything Rial had said, but I felt Bobby was blaming me for what had happened.
As for Errol, he seemed miles away and I wondered how he managed to get us all home safely. The dark cloud followed us as we got out of the car and rode up the elevator.
“Errol!” Taryn shouted the moment we entered the penthouse. She hurried to the door to greet us, obviously worried. “Lilly! I’m so glad you're all right.”
“Hey, honey,” Errol pulled her into his arms and gave her a tender embrace. It almost seemed like he wanted to free his troubled soul through the warmth of her arms.
