Chapter 9 - Katie

I returned from the supply room just in time to keep my white sauce from curdling, and my hand shook as I gripped the spoon. How was I still standing?

How was Aleks, the host of this last-minute party?

I had scrambled since yesterday, promising miracles and meaning to deliver, because I was so happy to be getting a call for a catering job at all. It was even better when the lovely lady who made the booking said it was going to be at the very restaurant, I slaved away most evenings. For one glorious night, I would be in charge of the kitchen, with Chef Dannilo nowhere in sight or shouting distance. Word would get back to him about the successful party, and he'd stop punishing me and give me back my sous chef position and the much bigger paycheck.

I'd barely slept from excitement, planning the perfect meal, all the way down to messaging Nataliye in Italy, asking her what kinds of wines would go best with my selections.

Well, imagine my shock when I went out to smoothly introduce myself, all worldly wise and professional. That big, handsome man stared me down like I was the main course. Sipping one of the very wines his own daughter told me to serve.

I took the sauce off the heat and checked on the stuffed mushrooms, unable to get my bearings back after those heated moments in the supply room. Time had stopped, all the noise my helpers were making in the kitchen just a few feet away vanished. It was only his hands and mouth, his woodsy scent, like rain after a hike through the woods.

How did Aleks do that? He was lucky I didn't scorch every last item on that menu I worked so hard to create. I had a good mind to turn off all the burners, send my friends home, and walk out. Clearly, he'd booked the party to shake me like this, and he'd succeeded. And while I would have let him drag me back into that supply closet again, I was a little bit pissed off underneath my shattered nerves.

No, hell no. I was a professional, and it didn't matter who booked my catering company, or rather, brought it back from the dead for this one party; I was grateful for the tidy sum it was bringing in. It was much needed and would be gone as soon as it hit my bank account, because I was going to send my sister on the trip to DC with her political science class. After Jenna raved about it, she pretended she didn't want to go, but it was clear she was desperate to visit the place she hoped to work one day.

We'd both had to go without too many things after our parents' accident, but since I was two years older, I had been able to experience more of the lux life than she did, and she'd had more years struggling to get through the overcrowded public school system in a not-so-great neighborhood. She never complained, kept her head down, and powered through it all to make it into her first-choice university. I was determined she wouldn't miss a thing while she was there.

I'd been walking on a cloud since the booking, but now my client was none other than Aleksandr Fokin.

And I just made out with him in the supply room. Lost my mind as soon as he touched me.

The full realization hit me just as one of my friends from the restaurant generously helping me out that night hurried to my side to heave a big pot of water onto a burner.

"Do you know who that is out there?" she asked, her face bursting from wanting to share a piece of juicy gossip.

I tried to remember who else had been sitting at the table, but once I saw Aleks at the head of it, I sort of went into shock. It could have been full of Oscar winners for all I knew.

"Who?" I asked, feigning curiosity so she wouldn't get suspicious.

I'd only disappeared for a couple minutes, and everyone was busy, but the fact I was dragged away to make out with the host was something I didn't want anyone ever knowing.

Once we had the pot on the burner, I turned it on high and walked over to where the thinly cut flank steaks were being plated and drizzled in their sauce.

"Aleksandr Fokin," my friend followed me and squealed.

I stopped and turned to her. What did she know about Aleks? He was rich and probably owned a good chunk of the city, but wealthy people were a dime a dozen in these parts.

"Yeah, I knew that," I said, clamping my lips around the need to ask what she thought was so special about him, because she was practically bobbing on her toes.

She gripped my arm and lowered her voice. "He's—"

My phone rang shrilly from my chef coat pocket. Normally, I'd have it on silent while working. However, my aunt still dodged my calls and answered only with the shortest possible text messages. I had told her if I didn't hear from her by today, I was going to assume she was kidnapped and I was texting with her abductor, then book a flight out to Tampa and file a missing persons report.

I yanked my phone out and sighed with relief to see it was Aunt Marjorie calling.

"Sorry," I said, stepping away from the bustle. "I have to take this. Please add the pasta when the water's at a full boil."

She nodded, disappointed she didn't get to share her news about Aleks, but by the time I answered, my mind was fully on whatever was keeping Aunt Marjorie from our regular talks.

"Oh, Katie, you shouldn't be such a worrier," she said after my harried greeting. "Are you at work? I can call back."

I stepped further away from the noise of dishes clanking and told her no way. "I'm on a break right now. Why have you been dodging me?" I asked. "Jenna says you haven't called her in over a week, too."

"I've been busy," she said. "Someone was out sick at work, so I filled in, and we had a big going away party for someone in my book club who's moving away and…"

I listened to her babble and give me excuses, and just the fact she was trying so hard was off. Was her voice a bit more breathless than normal? Or more scratchy, as if she'd been crying?

"So, what's up with you?" she asked. Yes, that was definitely forced brightness in her tone.

"Cut the crap," I said.

"Katie!" she gasped, uncharacteristically prudish. Now I was sure she was hiding something, and not something good like she'd recently started dating.

"Just tell me," I said, fully fearing the worst. "Is it back? Don't treat me like a child. Just tell me what's going on."

She sighed. "Yes, it looks like it's back. I'm sorry to worry you."

"I'm more worried about being kept in the dark," I said.

"I know. It was wrong to keep it from you. I'd still rather not tell Jenna, though. Not yet, anyway."

Tears began to prick at my eyes, and my throat tightened so that I could barely get the next words out.

"What do you mean, not yet? Is it worse than last time?"

Neither of us could say the dreaded word. I hated that disease with all my might and feared it was going to take Aunt Marjorie from us much too soon. "What kind of treatment are they prescribing this time?"

Another sigh, longer than the first. "I'm not getting the treatment this time. You know how much I suffered through every second of it before."

"Yeah, but it made you better," I argued.

"Did it?" she sniffed. "I'm back in the same spot."

"Two years later," I snapped. "Two great years you might not have had. Listen—"

"No, you listen, Katie," she interrupted. "I've made up my mind. My two beautiful and strong nieces are settled, and I'm surrounded by my lifelong friends that I love. I'd rather have my house go to you and Jenna than take out a mortgage to pay those damn medical bills."

I knew it and leaned against the wall, barely seeing what was going on a dozen feet away as my team scrambled to get the next course out. I'd been so happy to get this unexpected windfall, and it was already earmarked for Jenna's trip, as good as spent already.

It always came down to money, and not having enough of it.

"Absolutely not," I said, brimming with rage but nothing to aim it at. My aunt's disease didn't give a damn how pissed off I was.

"I've made up my mind. This is what I want." Her voice broke, and she tried to cover it with a cough.

"Don't bullshit me," I said, not letting her interrupt me again with more lies about how she was so thrilled about giving up and dying. "And don't try to say it isn't about money. I'll burn that house to the ground if you dare to leave us without putting up a fight first. You have an amazing life, and I know you love living it, so stop pretending you're ready to go because you think you're burdening us or some garbage."

"But it is a burden," she whispered.

"It's not," I said. "I'm actually doing a catering job right now. And I've got the next two months fully booked. You'd know if you'd answered my calls at all this past week."

"Really?" she asked, sounding thrilled for me. "That's wonderful."

"Really," I lied. "So promise me you'll make the first appointment. We still need you, Aunt Marjorie. It may seem like it, but we're not settled at all. And I'm only strong because I know you're there for me." My own voice cracked, and I heard a stifled sob at the other end of the line.

"I'll think about it," she said.

I ended the call in a fog, and barely got through the rest of the courses. My aunt's news even made me forget Aleks's kisses. I completely forgot he said he was going to get my answer after the party, until I took a bag of trash out back to the dumpster, and he was quietly waiting for me.

I yelped and dropped the bag in my shock. Thankfully, it didn't split open. He leaned against the wall just outside the door, his arms crossed over his broad chest and a smirk on his face. With a tutting noise, he leaned over and grabbed the bag I dropped, chucking it into the dumpster for me.

"Thanks," I said, turning to flee back into the kitchen.

"Not so fast," he said, resting a big hand on my shoulder. The streetlamps outside kept the back of the restaurant well-lit, and his shadow loomed over me. I turned to face him, but he was so close I had to tilt my head back to get a good view at the somewhat amused look on his face.

"I can't do this right now," I said. "There's too much on my mind."

Exhaustion was catching up with me, and there was still a ton to do to get the kitchen back in spotless order for when Chef Dannello would inspect it tomorrow, his keen eyes scouring for the slightest stain we might have left behind. Still, for some reason, I didn't bolt back inside. I stood there, watching his eyes for his next move.

"Then let me help you clear your head," he said, pulling me into his arms.

The comforting feeling of his hands on my lower back didn't let me immediately pull away. It just felt too good. And then he was pulling me in even tighter, so that I was crushed against his hard chest. His lips met mine, and like he had promised, all other thoughts flew away like startled birds. His tongue gently probed my mouth, and my hands rose to hold onto his strong shoulders. Shoulders that could weather any storm, and I was so desperate for a bit of calm.

The feelings his kiss inspired in me were anything but calm, but as long as he was touching me, my problems and worries were erased. He was like a drug.

Very, very bad for me. And he'd ultimately only make my life more convoluted.

I pulled away, trying not to moan, when his hands slipped from my waist to hang at his sides. Trying not to waver on my feet so that I collapsed against him. He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear and leaned close again.

"Marry me," he said. "Give me your answer now, Katie. The answer I want to hear."

It was so ridiculous I couldn't even laugh. "No," I said simply, turning away from that mesmerizing face once and for all.

He made me wild, but I couldn't be wild right now. Once again, life crumbled around me, and I had to find the strength to keep it from crushing me. And Jenna, and Aunt Marjorie. My family, the ones I loved.

I made it to the door without Aleks saying another word, and I ignored the stab of disappointment that the game was really over. Then, to my utter shock, he picked me up and flung me over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" My hands flailed as I tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he only tightened his grip around my legs as he strode toward a dark car that was parked on the side of the road a few yards away. "Hey!" I shouted.

No one came rushing out of the restaurant to help me, and in the next second, Aleks tossed me into the backseat, crowding in next to me. The door on my side was locked, so I tried to shove him and climb over his lap, but he only chuckled and grabbed both of my hands in one of his.

"Go," he said, and a shadowy driver pulled away.

Keeping my hands held tightly, Aleks grinned down at me. "Seems you need a bit more time to think."

I couldn't speak, could hardly breathe.

Holy hell, was he kidnapping me?