Chapter Four

Alex

I went into the kitchen floating on air and buttered myself a bread roll. Then I leant against the wall and took a couple of minutes break while I ate it and watched Chef prepare the chocolate soufflé. “Make it really, really good,” I told her.

She glared at me. “Excuse me?”

I dipped my head. “Nothing.”

“You’ve been flirting with that man on his own at table three. Everybody keeps talking about you when they come in here.”

I reddened. “No, I haven’t. I’m just being polite.”

She was a squat lady with a fierce face and a grey bun. She reminded me of The Governess on The Chase , my favourite quiz show. “Of course you are. Are you expecting a massive tip from him?”

I made eye contact and drew myself up. “I don’t flirt with customers to get tips. I’m sorry you think I do. He was stood up. He’s on his own on Christmas Eve and I feel sorry for him. I’m giving him some human contact before he has to go home to an empty house. I don’t want anything from him. I like to think that doesn’t make me a terrible person.”

I realised the kitchen had fallen silent and the waiting staff and other chefs were staring at me. Then Anna and Liam started clapping and the other waiting staff joined in, while the chefs shook their heads and went about their business. My face flamed and I scuttled out. I went to the coffee machine and got it ready with a glass set up for his latte. Then I went to clear a few tables while I waited for Lucas’s dessert to be ready. I didn’t like to be in confrontation with anyone, least of all Chef—I didn’t know her actual name—because she was fearsome. And a tip from Lucas had never crossed my mind. The drink was enough. He was enough. Eye candy on a tiresome evening. He had made my fucking year and I would remember meeting him forever.

I heard Chef yell for service and I went back to the kitchen for the soufflé. The first thing I saw was the heart-shaped strawberry on the top of it. I looked at her. “What?” she asked.

“Are you trying to embarrass me?”

“What do you mean?” She looked innocent but was trying to hide a tiny smirk.

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t.”

I sighed and picked up the plate. “Do you want two forks with it?” she asked.

I frowned. “What?”

“Nothing.”

I hurried out. Nothing would have given me greater pleasure to sit at his table and share the dessert with him. Even better if I sat on his knee and let him feed me. I would definitely get the sack for that. I walked across the floor towards the cherry blossom wall and stopped dead.

He was gone.

I stood and looked around. He was in the bathroom, right? But his glass was empty and a new bill sat opened up on the saucer, with a credit card receipt on top.

No, no, no, no.

I rushed to the bar. “Where’s he gone?”

Max looked sorry. “He paid his bill.”

“Why?”

“He didn’t say. He asked for the bill and left.”

Oh God. Oh no . Tears rushed to my eyes. Disappointment consumed me whole. I put the dessert down and set off towards the door. “Where are you going?” Max called behind me but I ignored him.

Lucas was standing in the snow outside the main entrance with the collar of his winter coat pulled up. It was a long black coat with brass buttons. It made him look like a highwayman. Hot as unholy hell. He turned to look at me when I skidded to a halt, panting and feeling ridiculous.

“Where are you going?” I asked him.

He looked surprised but tried to hide it. “Home.” There were flakes of snow in his black hair.

“Why?”

He arched a brow. “Do you always chase the customers out?”

“No.”

“Well, I left you a tip, so you can go back inside.”

I stared at him. Oh God, now even he was accusing me of that. “I don’t want a tip from you,” I said, aggrieved. “I just…” I stopped.

He stepped forward. “What? What do you want? I saw your mate wink at you.” He was close. We stood almost nose to nose if I hadn’t been a bit shorter. I smelled the alcohol on his breath and shivered in my thin shirt.

“It wasn’t like that!” What a mess. God, how could he think…

“You felt sorry for me,” he said. “And I already told you I didn’t want you to. Then you traded on me being alone to butter me up.”

“No! I didn’t want you to go home and be alone!” I cried. “And I liked having you here! Your dessert’s ready and it smells amazing and now it’ll go in the bin when there’s people starving!”

He looked taken aback. A taxi drew up at the kerb and opened its window. “Taxi for Lucas?”

Lucas nodded at him. He looked back at me. “What time do you get off?”

I gawped at him. “Er, I don’t know. When everyone’s gone.” My heart hammered so hard I was sure he must be able to see it pounding against my ribs.

He reached into his inside pocket and withdrew his wallet. He extracted a tenner and gave it to the driver. “Perhaps you can come back later for me.”

The driver nodded. “Give me a ring. Ask for Ibrahim.”

“Will do, thanks.” The taxi drove off and Lucas turned back to me. “Let’s go before they give my table away.”

I couldn’t speak. I led the way back inside, astonished that my outburst had persuaded him to stay, and chilled to the bone. He gave his coat back in at the cloakroom and followed me back to the dining room. Max’s jaw was on the floor when I seated Lucas back at his table and headed over to reclaim the dessert.

“What the fuck did you promise him? Have you just sucked him off outside?”

“You’re so funny.”

I took the plate back to Lucas. “Shall I get it warmed up?”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I’ll make your coffee.”

“Thank you.”

I headed over to the coffee station and stood there breathing hard. Oh my God . My hand shook as I frothed the oat milk. What did his question mean? That he wanted to take me out when I finished? Surely it couldn’t be that. Maybe he wanted to have a drink with me here. Either one of those two scenarios would be fine. God, I couldn’t ever be that lucky, could I? I thought back to his other words. I’d hurt his feelings. Getting stood up tonight had clearly rocked him and he was feeling sensitive and fragile. I knew how that felt. I finished the coffee and used a stencil to add a cocoa powder heart-shape to the top. Idiot . I took it back over to him.

Our chocolate soufflés were messy. They stained lips and faces and teeth and nobody got out unscathed. The most perfect scarlet lipstick became a brownish smear. Kids had been known to get it up as far as their ears and there was no stain remover in the world that would get your clothes clean. Lucas was no exception. He had a small dark patch on his upper lip. He looked up as I approached and licked his lips, missing the spot entirely. I looked at it and imagined leaning down to him, cupping his head in my hand and running my tongue over the chocolate stain. Backwards and forwards until we were both moaning. My dick loved that idea. It surged to life and I shifted nervously from side to side once I’d placed the glass down.

“Thanks,” he said and wiped his mouth on his serviette, missing the stain once more that seemed to be ground into his lovely skin.

“You’re welcome. Was it okay?” I took his plate, still looking at the chocolate on his mouth.

“Very nice.”

“I’m glad. Can I get you an after-dinner liqueur?”

“Yes. An amaretto, please.”

“Of course.” I bit my tongue before the word sir spilled out and turned to go. I headed back to the bar, sensing his eyes on me all the way and went behind it where I could hide my bulging groin. I stood facing the optics, breathing hard in relief.

“What’s wrong?” Max cast a glance at me from pouring a glass of wine.

“I’ve got a hard-on.”

“Fuck’s sake, Alex.” He shook his head.

“Sorry. I can’t help it. He’s fucking delicious.”

“You’re right, he is. I’d probably do him.” I darted a glance at him. “Want to tell me now what went on outside?”

“He saw you wink at me. He wasn’t happy. Thought we were taking the piss out of him and I was buttering him up for tips.”

“Shit.” Max cast a glance across the room. “Shall I go and speak to him?”

I looked at him in admiration. That my boss was willing to go and have a difficult conversation rather than just brush off a customer’s feelings impressed me. “I don’t know,” I said. “I’m not sure it would be a good idea.”

Max looked torn. “I feel bad. I caused him to walk out. Obviously he only came back in because he fancies you. And you sucked him off.”

“Stop saying that,” I hissed.

Max smiled. “I’ll go over. Is he having a drink?”

“Amaretto.”

“Okay, I’ll take it in a minute. Table six needs clearing.”

“On it.” Hard-on subsided, I hurried off.

When table six was done, I turned my attention to the starter order for table eight with dread. They were a rowdy bunch of businessmen who spent a lot of money here and knew the owner. One of them, a guy named Bill, was a problem. He was fifty-ish, balding with a paunch, and treated the staff like shit. He reserved his flirting for me though. On three occasions, he’d run his hand over my arse. One time, he’d squeezed it. I had glared at him, but said nothing. I’d gone home all three times asking myself why I’d let him get away with it. I could have caused a scene, I could have gone to Max, or I could have gone straight to the owner, who was in attendance on each evening. Instead, I’d done nothing and it made me feel sick.

I worked my way around the table taking orders, leaving him till last. “Hello, beautiful,” he said when I reached him. “Happy Christmas.” He made sure to say it in an undertone. His friends were obviously straight and he practised his groping of me discreetly too.

“What can I get for you?” I asked coldly.

“Want to go out later?” he replied. “I know a great place.” His arm came down behind me and he stroked my arse. I jerked and stepped back, fixing him with a glare. He smiled. “I’ll take the scallops and your phone number.” I walked away with my heart beating hard with fury. In the kitchen, I took some deep breaths. I glanced around me, wondering if any of the staff had seen, but nobody had followed me in to mention it. I should do something about this situation tonight. I should. It had to stop. But I was potentially on the hook for a date with Lucas. That overruled everything else. I didn’t want to have to stay behind to talk about the harassment with the owner when maybe Lucas was going to take me out to show me the sights of London. I was getting carried away. Maybe it would all come to nothing and I would go home alone to my little flat to look out of my window at the Christmas lights and wish I had someone there to share the night with.

I came back out of the kitchen in time to see Bill getting up from the table and waddling his way over to the bathroom. I went back to the bar and saw Max over at Lucas’s table. My stomach clenched with anxiety. Max walked away, towards the kitchen, and I watched Lucas toss his serviette onto the table and follow Bill to the bathroom.

I frowned. What the hell?