INFERNO (The HEAT Series Book 4) (6 page)

"I'd like to talk alone, Chef." Maribel raises her elbow in my direction. "Can you ask Cadence to leave?"

"No," he says calmly. "Cadence is staying. If you want to keep your job, you need to explain yourself to me. Let's start with why Neela was here."

"You said you wanted to hire an executive chef," she mutters under her breath. "She's perfect for the job. I was only trying to help."

"Who authorized it?" He leans his elbows on the desk. "Who signed her employment contract? I need to know who gave you the go-ahead."

"I'm a senior chef now," she says as she lifts her chin. "I take that seriously, Chef. I know it means I have more responsibility but it also means that I'm part of the team that runs this place. You said you needed some names for possible executive chefs. No one was stepping up with names so I took it a step further and found an executive chef and gave her a trial run so she could prove that she's the right person for the job."

He scratches his ear as he studies her face. "Did you hear any of what you just said, Maribel? All of it is wrong. A two person team runs this place. If I'm not making the decisions, Hunter is. You're not in a position to offer anything to anyone."

She scowls. "You know that I'm not like the other employees, Tyler. We're friends. You've treat me differently than you treat the others."

That statement makes my blood boil. She's referring to the senior chef job and the fact that Tyler took her on the morning show when he chose her dish over mine. He explained it all away by telling me that she was more experienced than I am. Now, she's confirming what I feared all along. Their friendship is at the root of it all. He favors her.

"Differently, how?" I interject.

Maribel turns to where I'm standing. "We hang out when we're not at Nova. You know that though. You were there when Tyler took me to Skyn."

"I accompanied you to that club because I knew Cadence would be there," he corrects. "We don't hang out, Maribel. I don't treat you differently than the others."

"You do," she insists. "You know that Neela handpicked me and that's why I'm so special."

"Is that what you think?" He chuckles. "You think that I've given you opportunities within Nova because Neela was the one who hired you?"

She nods quickly, inching forward on her seat. "I know that you two loved each other very much and it broke your heart when she left. I'm a reminder of the good old days. You miss those."

His gaze completely shifts from Maribel to me. He stares into my eyes, offering me a reassurance I didn’t even realize I needed.

"I asked Neela back because she was always the best." Her voice raises a full octave. "Nova needs her. She's the glue that held us all together."

Those words hit him deeply. I see it in his eyes before he turns his full attention back to Maribel. "Nova has thrived without Neela. She's not the glue. Neela doesn’t belong at Nova anymore. That's final, Maribel."

"I think you're wrong, Tyler." She looks at me before her gaze drops. "I think that you're allowing your relationship with Cadence to skew how you see things.  If you would just take a step back you'd realize that I'm making perfect sense. There isn't a better executive chef in the world than Neela."
              "This isn't up for discussion." He pushes his hands against the edge of the desk. "You're not in a position to hire anyone, Mirabel. You crossed a line when you brought Neela into the kitchen. You crossed another line when you invited her to the soft launch."

"So Cadence told you she was there?"

I shake my head. Dragging my name into it is a cowardly move.

"If I would have made it here last night, I would have been pissed." He stands. "Neela's name was not on the guest list for a reason. The fact that you went behind my back to invite her is grounds enough for me to fire you."

"You're not going to fire me," she says definitely as she jumps to her feet. "You just gave me a promotion. You said you were considering me for the head of the entrée section. You're going to take all of that away from me because I brought your ex-girlfriend to the soft launch?"

"You went behind my back, Maribel." He rounds the desk so he's standing in front of her. He's only a few feet away from me now. "You brought someone into the kitchen without consulting me. You took it upon yourself to suit her up to work even though you knew I wouldn't want her there. I see no reason to keep you on. I can't trust you."

She panics. She rushes toward him but he steps back to avoid her embrace. "Don't fire me, Chef. I honestly thought Neela could help you the way Doug did. I thought she'd take some of the burden off your shoulders. I didn't realize the wound between the two of you was so fresh."

"There's not a wound between the two of us," he says curtly. "I feel nothing for Neela."

The look on skepticism that clouds her face is almost palpable. Maribel's holding onto Tyler and Neela's broken relationship tighter than either of them are. She's too invested. That's what drove her to bring Neela to Nova.

"I need this job, Tyler." Her voice cracks. "You know how badly I need it."

The obvious emotion in her voice doesn't draw anything from him but a sigh. "I need to speak to Hunter, Maribel. Stay here until I come back. Don't set a foot in my kitchen. Understood?"

She nods. "I understand."

I wait until Tyler has exited the office before I close the door behind him. The soft click of the door handle catching draws Maribel's attention to me.

"You know that this has nothing to do with your personally, Den." She sits back down in the chair that's facing Tyler's desk. "You weren't working at Nova when Neela was. She and Tyler were the best team. The restaurant had so much potential back then."

I pull on the back of the chair that's next to her. I smooth my hands over the legs of my jeans before I sit down facing her. "I'm sure they were a great team. Tyler only hires the best."

She heaves a sigh as a smile pulls on the corner of her lips. "When Tyler said that he was looking for an executive chef, I knew that Neela was the person for the job. She lost her job recently. It made sense to me to bring her back to Nova."

"You talk to Neela often, don’t you?"

She crosses her legs before she uncrosses them again. "We've kept in touch since she left Nova."

"It's more than that." I cross my legs and lean back in the chair I'm in. "You're close."

"It's not a crime to be friends with someone you used to work with," she scowls.

I tilt my head as I study her face. "It's more than that."

She laughs but it's laced with anxiety. "What's that supposed to mean?"
              "You tell me, Maribel." I shrug. "You were fine with the two of us dating in the beginning and then something obviously changed. I don't think it was a coincidence that Neela came back to Nova shortly after you found out that Tyler is in love with me."

"That was a coincidence." She chuckles. "I don't think Chef knows what love is. You two didn't meet that long ago. I think he has lust confused with love."

"No." I shake my head. "He knows what love is. He's in love with me."

"Do you think it will last?" She asks with a cock of her head. "I saw the way he was with Neela. He's nothing like that with you."

"I'm glad," I spit back. "What we have is better."

"You're no judge of that." She smirks. "He lost her and you're the latest replacement. Don't get too comfortable, Cadence. You won't last. None of the women he's been with since Neela left have."

"You're too invested in the two of them, Maribel," I point out as I sigh. "You get that it isn't normal for a co-worker to be this obsessed over a relationship her boss had with some random, right?"

"Neela is not a random," she seethes. "You don't know what you're talking about."

I lean forward. "I know exactly what I'm talking about. She used to wear a ring her mother gave her on her left hand so people would think he proposed to her. How fucked up is that?"

"Her mother didn't give her that ring." She shakes her head as she lowers her voice.

"She did." I raise my hand to rub the back of my neck. "It's the ring that hangs on a chain around her neck. Her mom gave it to her when she was a teenager. It's a family heirloom or something."

"That's not her family." Her fist hits the top of the desk with such force that a pen that was sitting on top of it tumbles to the floor. "I'm her mother. I'm the only mother she needs."

I push back into my chair from the sheer force of the words, their meaning washing over me. "What? You're her mother?"

Her hands are shaking as she reaches for my forearms. "I gave her up, Cadence. I gave her up for adoption. Neela is my baby."

***

"Maribel will start at Axel next week." Tyler rubs his fingers over my forehead pushing my hair to the side. "Hunter needs a senior chef there. I told him I'd prefer to let her go completely, but ultimately Axel is his call."

I nod. "You heard what I said about her being Neela's birth mother, right?"

He glances toward the open door of his office with the same blank expression that's been on his face since I told him that Maribel confessed to me that she'd been in touch with Neela's adoptive parents since she handed her child to them shortly after she were born. They had a unique agreement in place that granted Maribel limited access to Neela in the form of pictures and video clips as she was growing up.

Maribel cried when she told me that Neela's adoptive parents split when she was ten-years-old. They were determined to keep Neela's adoption a secret and to this day they have, even from Neela herself. Maribel sought her out a few years ago. They struck up a friendship over their shared love of food. That progressed to Neela getting Maribel the job at Nova.

It was Maribel's dream come true until Neela quit and went back to Boston, leaving Maribel alone with the man she believed had broken her little girl's heart. She thought they'd find their way back to one another until Maribel realized Tyler loves me.

"Tyler?" I tap him on the shoulder. "You heard me, right?"

"I heard you." He looks into my eyes. "Maribel's been fucking with a lot of people's lives. She needs to stop with the selfish bullshit and put her daughter first. If that's Neela, the two of them need to sort it out. It's not my concern, Cadence. Maribel is leaving Nova. My relationship with Neela is done. I've got everything I need right here. I don't want to talk about them anymore, or think about them."

"I'm going to go visit Sergio now." I wrap my arms around his neck. "Will you do me a favor while I'm gone?"

"Anything for you." He circles my waist with his hands. "You name it and it's done."

"Don't stop loving me," I whisper through a smile.

"That's not a favor, Cadence. That's a promise I'll never break."

His hands slide over my naked flesh, stopping when they reach my breasts. "Your tits are the perfect size, Chef. They were made for my hands. Have I ever told you that?"

I push my back into his chest, my legs parting from the sheer weight of all the desire I'm feeling. I rushed to get to his apartment after spending the afternoon at the hospital. Every hour that passed was more difficult than the one before it. I couldn’t reach out to Tyler via text since he'd lost his phone in the accident. The only communication we shared between the time I left his office at Nova and my arrival at his apartment was a short phone call.

He'd used Nova's landline and as I heard the bustling sounds of people in the background I could hear the smile in his voice. He was happy to be back in the place he'd worked so hard to rebuild. I'd almost told him I loved him before I ended the call but I'm saving those words. They'll be my gift to him tonight.

"You tell me all the time that you love my body, Tyler."

"I'll tell you that forever." His left hand snakes down my stomach toward my core. "I'll touch it forever too. I get hard sometimes when I'm away from you and I think about the taste of your cunt."

I arch my back and open my legs more. "You like the way I taste."

"I fucking love the taste of you." He inches his fingertips over the seam of my pussy. "When you come on my face, I hate showering. I love closing my eyes so I can smell it whenever I want."

I smile. "That's how I feel when you come in my mouth. I can taste it on my tongue. I never want it to go away."

His cock rubs against the cheek of my bare ass. "If you keep talking like that, I'll need to fuck you before your body is ready for me."

I push his fingers until they're grazing between my folds. "Do you feel how wet I am? I'm more than ready."

He moans. "I'm not ready then. I live to hear you come. I'll touch you first, eat you second and then I'll fuck this sweet pussy until you come all over me."

I buck against him, grinding his hand against me. "Will you make me come now, Chef?"

"Spread your legs."

I do, shamelessly. I fold my left leg over his so my pussy is open and ready. He moves his fingers until he's circling my clit. Each movement is gentle with just the right amount of pressure.

"I was looking for you forever, Cadence," he purrs in my ear, his voice thick and deep. "I knew the first time we fucked that no other woman would ever have me again."

I swallow hard, my mouth suddenly parched, my lips dry. "I don't want any other woman to touch you. You're mine."

"I'm all yours." He plunges one of his long fingers into my channel. The sensation is so much, so fast that I groan.

"Fuck, I love that." He picks up a steady rhythm with his fingers. "Use me, Cadence. Use my hand to get yourself off."

I reach down and press his hand into me. I circle my hips. "I want you to fuck me, Chef. I want your cock inside of me."

"This first," he says in a low growl. "You'll come on my hand and then on my cock."

I nod as I close my eyes and let my body feel everything it needs to.

***

"Look at me, Cadence."

I look up. He's above me. His bruised and battered face more beautiful than I've ever seen it. His hair is mussed, his skin covered with a fine sheen.

He's inside me. He sheathed himself after I came. He wanted to go down on me, but I'd whined impatiently about the need to feel him inside of me. I wanted us to be one. I needed that more than I've ever needed it before.

He slides his cock deeper before he pulls back. He sets the pace. It's excruciatingly slow and everything I need right now.

"I love you," he whispers. "I love you so fucking much."

Tears start to well in the corners of his eyes as he claims me with his body, as he claims my heart with his tender words.

I feel my lips tremble as my own tears slide down my face.

He fucks me as he cries. Each movement of his hips pulls a groan from his lips.

"Tyler," I whisper his name as my eyelids shutter. I grab his ass, grinding myself into him. Pulling his perfect cock deep into my core. "Oh, God, Tyler."

"You'll come for me," he hisses between clenched teeth. "I love when you milk my cock with your pussy."

I still briefly, my breath catching in my chest.  I open my eyes to look into his.

He moves again, the plunges slow and exquisite. His gaze holds mine as he takes me to the edge and then pulls me back.

"I love you, Tyler," I whisper softly. It's so soft that he stares at my lips, his head turning slightly.

"Say it again."

I still once more. This time I skim my tongue over my lips to chase away the dryness. I look into his eyes, into the eyes of the man who has changed every facet of my life. "I love you, Tyler. I love you."

His face softens as he leans down to kiss me. His lips brush over mine. I'm careful as I kiss him back, not wanting to hurt the tender swollen flesh around his mouth.

"You can't hurt me with your kisses, Cadence." His breath rushes over my cheek. "Show me that you love me."

I do. I slide my mouth over his and show the man I love exactly how I feel.