The Secret Ingredient Page 11

  This time she was the one who had voluntarily decided to enter the shark’s territory with nothing more than her brain and her wit as protection. To do...what, exactly? Had she completely lost her mind?

  Blinking away the butterflies of doubt and something close to alarm, Lottie watched as Rob broke his stare and strode over to the open-plan living space and shrugged off his dinner jacket, casually draping it on the back of a sofa.

  The muscles underneath the fine fabric of his dinner shirt strained taut against the tug and flexed enough to make the hairs on her arms perk up.

  And just like that the attraction she had felt towards him in the park sizzled and caught flame, making her inhale sharply and turn back to the patio.

  By turning into the gentle breeze Lottie could feel the cool air calming the heat of her skin, and, reaching back, she lifted her long hair from her neck and let it fall onto her shoulders.

  ‘Have you always lived in London?’ Rob asked as he joined her at the metal railing, so close that their elbows touched for a second before he braced himself.

  The heady muskiness of his aftershave blended with the coffee aromas and something on his skin that was so uniquely Rob to create a fragrance that was so addictive it should be banned. Lottie’s chest lifted and fell as she indulged in the pleasure before she managed to pull together a reply.

  ‘I spent some time in management school in America but apart from that, yes, I suppose I have.’ Her gaze scanned the lights laid out before her. ‘I love this city. I always have.’

  ‘Then that is something else we have in common.’

  Lottie let go of the railing and half turned to face him. The light from the living room created a mosaic of shadows on his face, which added to the hard planes she knew were there.

  London?

  ‘I thought that you couldn’t wait to get out of this city and your business was based in California? Your mother was telling me all about her wonderful studio home on the beach and...’

  Understanding flooded in to replace disbelief and Lottie turned back to face the panorama in silence.

  Now she was getting a clearer picture of this man. Remarkable award-winning chef moves to California to be close to his mother when she needs him. And in the process starts a new career in TV. Still a player. Still someone interested in what was in it for him...but...

  ‘She seems very happy there.’

  ‘She is. The exhibition is a hit and my mum is heading back to California as soon as it closes and the next lucky artist takes over. Which means that it is back to work for both of us. I probably won’t be back in London for a good few months.’

  ‘Wow. Do you have a home of your own to go back to?’

  ‘If you mean bricks and mortar and a welcome mat? Not exactly. I’ve claimed the penthouse in the Beresford Plaza and my mum has a loft packed with boxes of my old stuff. Is decaf okay for you?’

  ‘Perfect. Thank you.’

  Rob strolled back into the kitchen, topped up his elaborate coffee maker with water, and added two large scoops of ground coffee from a canister, before pressing several buttons.

  ‘Well, I can see your barista skills are just fine, but do you still find time to cook, Rob? You must miss running your own kitchen.’

  His hands stilled on the worktop. ‘Cooking as in chopping veg and making stock? Not for years.’ Then he grinned. ‘I have the fun of bringing new chefs into the hotels and seeing them learn and grow and do amazing things. Every one of them is so desperate to impress me they give us their all. Now that is magical.’

  Lottie strolled back into the apartment as he spoke and every word seemed to penetrate her heart and touch something very deep inside her. This was the closest she had come to the real Rob Beresford. No pretence. Just Rob standing in a kitchen waiting for coffee to brew after a night at a function where he played a clever version of the persona he had created for the outside world to see.

  And yet here she was. Alone with him. And suddenly that very idea became so heady with the rush that she deliberately stepped back one step so that she could look at him from the side.

  Desperate to keep just out of the effective range of his devastating power of attraction that was sucking her closer and closer by the minute.

  ‘So you understood what I was trying to do tonight? Raise funds to make that dream possible?’

  Rob swirled one hand into the air around his head. ‘Of course I understood. Lottie, the fairy godmother, wants to make sure that she has the support in place before she makes commitments that could change someone’s life. No false promises. That makes sense to me.’

  ‘Fairy godmother? I bet you say that to all the girls.’

  Lottie gave a mini curtsey. This was a mistake.

  Because at that precise moment Rob raised his arms to lift a tray from the shelf, and in the process his shirt rose high enough above the waistband of his low-rise smart trousers to reveal a couple of inches of toned, flat stomach.

  Why was it that she had always been attracted to the athletic type?

  Just when she thought that he could not be more gorgeous, he had to hit her with this. The irony of it all made her sigh out loud.

  Bad head.

  Bad heart.

  Bad need for contact with his man.

  Bad, full stop.

  ‘What? Was it something I said? Or have you found a new hobby down there?’

  Lottie hesitated before replying, desperate to avoid the harsh truth, so she started gabbling instead of ogling.

  ‘I love my bakery so much it’s hard to imagine living in hotel rooms full time, no matter how splendid the view.’

  Rob chuckled. ‘Don’t worry about it. I’m used to living out of a suitcase.’

  For a moment she wanted to run into Rob’s arms, feel the strength of his body against hers, and tell him how attracted she was to him.

  But she wouldn’t. Because he was leaving and she was staying, and that was a recipe for disaster in anyone’s cookbook.

  No. She had to control herself, and fight this powerful attraction. She just had to. His life was in the fast lane of the cities she had left behind her.

  Time to put the mask back on, drink her coffee, and swallow down her feelings. And get the hell out of there before she did something stupid. Like pounce on him.

  Lottie watched in silence as Rob poured the coffee.

  ‘That smells divine.’

  ‘Special import from one of the hotel’s best coffee roasters. Oh, if you’re hungry for dessert you’ll find some soft amaretto biscuits in that tin. My Italian pastry chef claimed he made them himself, but I know your standards are pretty high so I await the expert opinion.’

  Rob watched as Lottie flicked open the clasp on the steel canister and brought it up to her face, inhaling deeply.

  ‘Oh, this is heaven. Did Dee tell you that I adore Italian food? Or did you have a premonition?’

  ‘Serendipity. It seems that we share at least some of the same passions, Miss Rosemount,’ Rob whispered as Lottie slowly closed her lips around a piece of the soft round almond-and-apricot biscuit and groaned in pleasure, her eyelids flickering as her face twisted in delight.

  It was the sexiest thing Rob had ever seen in his life.

  His chef was going to have to hire extra staff to cope with all of the takeaway orders coming to this apartment, because there was no way he was going to sit opposite this woman in a restaurant if she was going to act out a movie scene with her food.

  He froze, stunned, as he tried in vain to control his breathing...and various other parts of his anatomy that seemed to have woken up to the fact that he was within arm’s reach of an amazing woman, and they were alone in this apartment.

  Once they recognised him as the chef who they had seen on the TV, women tended to either get stuck
into the whole celebrity lifestyle and the second-hand fame that came with being photographed hanging on to his arm, or hit on him straight away for the extra points on the famous name scoresheet.

  He gave them what they wanted and they gave him what he wanted. Simple, straightforward. No grey areas; always black and white.

  Lottie was as multicoloured as a rainbow. She was totally unfazed by his star ratings and had challenged him from the first moment they met in the gallery.

  He admired her for making him change his routine and cut out his usual public performance.

  In fact, he liked that more than was good for him.

  Maybe it was going back to the Beresford hotel and then the catering college, but the fact that she had crept under his guard tonight to the point where he had blurted out his life story rankled him deeply.

  He never told his story. Not to the press and certainly not to strangers. It was way too risky and likely to end up in a tell-all story in some sleazy newspaper, which Sally would have to pay to suppress.

  So what did that say about Lottie?

  Could he trust her? Dee was a special girl and his brother adored her, but Lottie was very different. Clever, witty, and on the surface an excellent businesswoman.

  After a lifetime in the hotel business he prided himself on being able to judge people and every instinct in his body was screaming at that moment that she was someone who had no guile or hidden agendas. And yet there was something sad lingering under that very lovely surface.

  Hell. He knew all about that. But it was strange to see the sadness and regret so openly on Lottie’s face when she thought he wasn’t looking.

  Even stranger, it made him all the more attracted to her.

  His heart was racing, hard and fast, as he stepped across to the refrigerator to bring out the milk, and took a breath of cool air, fighting to regain his composure. This was getting out of hand, and all he was doing was looking at Lottie!

  It had been a very long time since he had wanted to be with a woman as much as he did at that moment.

  Lottie chewed and hummed gently to herself as he pretended to move the meagre contents of his huge refrigerator around.

  Was this what it would be like to have someone who loved you, and wanted to be with you, not just for an afternoon between international flights, but seven days a week? He had only met this woman a few days ago, and the connection was... What was it? A crush? Because it was a lot more than physical attraction, that was for sure.

  In a few days he would go back to his normal life across the Atlantic. This apartment would be rented out, and his time here would be a memory. Left to his imagination.

  If this was what Lottie did with biscuits, what would she be like in his bed? Naked, with his hands running over the soft skin of her stunning body, giving her pleasure.

  Suddenly Rob found an excellent reason to plunge his head inside the chiller.

  ‘I have white wine if you would like some,’ he asked, casually waving the sealed bottle the sommelier had sent up. ‘Or perhaps a twenty-year-old tawny port?’

  ‘Thank you, but I have to be up early tomorrow morning and I am already starting with a headache. This has been a long day.’

  He closed the door and looked at her, slack jawed. ‘You’re serious. You are actually going back to work on a Sunday?’

  ‘Of course. One of my very special customers at the bakery is celebrating her fiftieth wedding anniversary tomorrow and I promised that I would bake a very special decorated cake and deliver it in time for their tea party.’ And without asking or waiting for a reply she dunked an amaretto biscuit in the hot coffee, slid off the stool, and held a piece of it in front of his mouth so quickly that without thinking he leant forward and closed his lips around her fingertips.

  Sweet, warm, intensely flavoured almond exploded onto his taste buds. It was superb.

  It was one of those special moments when the food and the company and the location came together and he knew that the next time he tasted that biscuit anywhere in the world he would remember how Lottie looked at that moment. Her face was flushed with excitement and sparkling energy, her lips warm and plump and soft, and those stunning eyes were focused completely on his face.

  The silence between them opened up.

  Then the coffee machine pinged to tell him the milk was hot and he swallowed, suddenly desperate to keep Lottie close to him as long as he could stretch out the precious time they had left together. ‘I am going to have to give that man a raise. But tell me more about this cake of yours. Why is it so important to you?’

  ‘Why? Oh, that’s easy. Lily used to be our housekeeper and the woman who taught me how to bake. I owe my entire career to the one person who made my childhood bearable. I think that’s worth a cake. Don’t you? And these biscuits really are so good.’

  She turned her back on him, scrabbling to open the spring lid on the canister, only her trembling fingers let her down and the biscuit fell to the floor.

  Before Lottie could reach down to scoop it up, Rob stepped forwards and slid his fingers onto each side of her waist, holding her firm. Secure.

  He breathed in an intoxicating combination of luxurious fragrance, body lotion, shampoo, and Lottie.

  She smelt fabulous. Felt. Fabulous.

  He dared to inch closer behind her, until he could feel the length of her body from shoulder to groin pressed against him.

  His arms wrapped tighter around her waist, the fingers pressing, oh, so gently into her ribcage, and he was rewarded by a gentle but tantalising low sigh.

  Rob smoothed her hair away from her face so that he could press his lips against the back of her neck.

  ‘Dee told me that you gave up your job in banking to spend your life doing something you loved instead,’ he said, and his low soft voice seemed to resonate against the side of her head. ‘That takes guts. And passion. If Lily gave you even a hint of that, then, yes, the lady does deserve the best cake you can make. Even on a Sunday. But why do I feel that you are only telling me part of the story?’ He paused and slid just far enough way so that he could run his fingers back through her hair.

  ‘Why did you really leave your old life behind, Lottie? What made you give up a well-paying job and take a risk on a bakery? You must have had choices.’

  He sensed her shoulders lift with tension but waited patiently until she was ready to fill the silence. ‘I did. If I’m honest, I had too many choices. My parents couldn’t help. My dad wanted me to move to France and a ready-made slot in an IT company he had started as a retirement project. But not one person thought that I had it in me to retrain for a completely new career and start my own company. And that...hurt for a while.’

  He swallowed down hard, stunned by the calmness of her voice, and pressed his chin against the top of her head. ‘Then they didn’t know you. Their loss.’

  A deep chuckle bubbled up from inside Lottie’s chest and he could feel it through his fingers. ‘You’re right. They didn’t know the real me at all. My boss, my friends—even my boyfriend at the time—thought I would be back to work and my old life within six months. They were wrong. I love it. I sold enough shares to make it happen, but with Dee’s help I think we created something very special. I am Lottie’s cake shop now, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.’

  ‘So you gave it all up? Career, lifestyle, everything you had?’

  ‘I traded up. Some of the happiest times of my teenage life were spent helping Lily in the kitchen, experimenting with pastry and flavours and textures.’

  ‘Any regrets?’

  ‘Some. I thought the friends I had made at school and university would stay my friends. But that didn’t happen. Suddenly we didn’t have anything to talk about any longer. Packing it all in and starting a bakery was what you did for a hobby when you retired, not your life’s work. So I’ve ha
d to make new friends instead.’

  ‘Wait a minute. Your boyfriend didn’t support you when you were going through so much upheaval?’

  Rob slowly but firmly turned her around at the waist until his gaze was locked on that stunning face, his hands resting lightly on her hips.

  ‘You are a beautiful woman, Lottie. He was a fool to let you go.’

  Lottie smiled and pressed the flat of her hands on his chest before replying in a low, hoarse voice.

  ‘He didn’t let me go. We both knew that our relationship had come to an end. He wanted to climb the corporate ladder and achieve his dreams in banking. I didn’t want that life any longer and he didn’t understand how I could leave it all behind and start again on a shoestring. So don’t judge him—that wouldn’t be fair.’

  ‘Then he was an even bigger idiot. Although it does make me wonder.’

  ‘Wonder what?’

  Lottie leant back within the circle of his arms so that she could gaze up into his face, and the compassion and need that Rob saw in those wide green eyes fractured the frosting of ice around his heart like an ice pick and kept on picking away until the warm and vulnerable core was exposed to the world.

  It destroyed him. Broke him. Blasted away the shell that he had built up.

  So that when he did reply, every word came from the heart instead of the head before he had a chance to change his mind.

  ‘I was simply wondering whether you’d be willing to give another bloke a chance to show you how stunning you are. Is that so outrageous?’

  Lottie inhaled a sharp breath and her gaze scanned his face as though she was looking for something. And found it.

  ‘No. Not so outrageous at all.’ She smiled.

  ‘Excellent. Then why not start right now? Today. With me.’

  * * *

  Lottie’s brain froze.

  Him? Rob wanted her to start dating him?

  He was holding out the most delicious temptation and all she had to do was say yes and find out if his touch was as exciting as she thought it would be.

  For a night or even a weekend, if she was lucky, she would find out what it was like to be the object of a man’s desire again.