Julie grumbled as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill.
Lia’s mouth fell open. “You two made a bet over whether or not I’d sleep with him?”
“You betcha.” Dax snapped the bill open several times to get any wrinkles out. “Julie thought you’d hold out until you knew he wasn’t going to kick you out, but I got a good view of Mr. Hottie, and I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist him once he put the moves on you.”
She tried to come up with some harsh retort, but words failed her. Her face was probably as red as a tomato. She pushed her way past them, finding her voice again once she stepped into the domain where she ruled without question—the kitchen. “You two stop speculating about my personal life and get to work. We have an hour before we open for lunch, and I don’t want to hear any excuses.”
They both scurried back to their workstations—Julie to the pasta machine and Dax back out into the dining room.
Lia hid inside the walk-in fridge and let the cool air bathe her flushed cheeks while she looked to see what she could use for today’s special. Their teasing had struck a nerve in her. As much as she had enjoyed her evening with Adam last night, there would always be that lingering doubt in her mind that one of them had subconsciously seduced the other to get their way.
I just have to trust Adam to keep his word.
Her mind said she could, but her heart was still too wary to trust any man completely. After all, she’d trusted Trey, and look where that had gotten her.
She emerged from the fridge with several bunches of asparagus in her hands, already mentally forming a list of the other ingredients she needed to make the vegetable the centerpiece of a risotto.
It was one second past opening when Dax burst into the kitchen. “Lia, you need to come out here now,” he whispered.
She followed hot on his heels into the dining room and stopped short. A man who looked like Rutger Hauer after a Queer Eye makeover stood by the maître d’ stand, his arms crossed as he stroked his chin. “No, I’m definitely certain,” he said in a strong Austrian accent, “this all has to go. Every bit of it. Ick!” He squeezed his shoulder blades together as though he’d just dunked his fingers into slime.
Mr. Bates wrote something down on a notepad and nodded. “Yes, Mr. Schlittler. Shall we proceed to the next room?”
Amadeus Schlittler strutted into the dining the way supermodels did on the catwalk, swaying hips included. “Oh, God, this is simply horrendous. It all has to go, too. The rustic look is simply passé. I want the black marble to continue into here, and mirrors along this wall to reflect the city lights.”
Lia’s teeth clenched. She started counting to ten before she lost her cool, making it all the way to eight before she reached them. “Is there something I can help you with, Mr. Bates?”
Before he could answer, Amadeus barged in. “This is none of your concern, little girl. Go back into the kitchen and keep scrubbing pots.”
Her blood pressure skyrocketed, her pulse pounding along her scalp. “I am the owner and executive chef of La Arietta, and I demand to know what you are doing here.”
Amadeus rolled his eyes and did his best Valley Girl sigh. “Mr. Bates, will you please deal with her? I don’t have much time to decide what I want to do with this place, and I’d rather focus my creative energies on something other than this speed bump.” He spun around on his heel and rocked one the chairs at a nearby table, wrinkling his nose.
Mr. Bates cleared his throat. “Ms. Mantovani, as you know, Mr. Kelly still plans to lease this space to Mr. Schlittler once your lease is done, so we’re here—”
“No, you have it all wrong,” she interrupted, shaking her head as though this was all a bad dream. “Adam said he’d be showing Mr. Schlittler other properties.”
“What’s this about other properties?” Amadeus rushed back to them. “Mr. Kelly and I had an agreement. I want this space and nothing less. I deserve this place.”
Lia was thankful she’d left her knives in the kitchen. She curled her hands up into fists, her arms pressed against her sides to keep from knocking the other chef’s teeth out. “And what makes you think I don’t deserve to stay here?”
“Oh, please,” he replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. “You’re just a little nobody. I’m Amadeus Schlittler, one of the greatest culinary geniuses of all time. My restaurants have more stars than you’ll ever dream of seeing in your life. Why should Mr. Kelly keep you when he can have me?”
The insults hit her like a slap in face. Why would Adam let her keep this place when he could have Schlittler? And now that he’d gotten what he wanted from her in the bedroom, why should he keep his word to convince the diva-chef to open his restaurant elsewhere?
Her eyes burned, but she refused to show any signs of the weakness trembling inside her. She lifted her chin and said in a cold voice, “Perhaps so, Mr. Schlittler, but until the end of the month, it’s my name on that lease, so get your self-absorbed ass out of my restaurant.”
Schlittler’s eyes widened as though she was the first person who’d ever spoken to him that way. Then they narrowed into a sneer. “For now. Enjoy it while you can, little girl, because on the first of the month, this will all be mine.”
He snapped his fingers and turned around. “Come along, Mr. Bates. I can continue to give you all my demands on the way back to Mr. Kelly’s office.”
Lia kept her muscles locked into place, staring at the entrance long after they left. She didn’t crumble until Dax laid a hand on her shoulder. “Oh, sweetie.”
Fat, scalding tears rolled down her cheeks and plopped onto her crisp, white cotton chef’s jacket. She’d been a fool to ever believe Adam. He always got what he wanted, and this was no exception. And she’d been stupid enough to fall for his bullshit. A treasure? Ha!
Julie pressed a glass into her hand and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Dax stood guard in front of them as they hurried back into the safe confines of her office. “Have a sip of grappa and get it out of your system,” her sous chef urged.
But it wasn’t as simple as that. She’d been tricked into believing Adam had actually cared for her when all the while, he was plotting on destroying her business to make way for that conceited piece of strudel. She’d opened her heart to him, and he’d betrayed her in a far worse way than Trey ever had. He’d given her hope and then squashed it.
It was over now. Lia set the glass on her desk and let the first in a series of silent sobs rack her body.
Adam bolted up in bed, his heart hammering as he stared at the numbers on his alarm clock. 4:17 PM. A glance at the late afternoon sun outside his window only confirmed that the display was correct.
He ran into the bathroom to check his reflection and frowned at the stubble shadowing his cheeks. He might be able to bypass a shower to save on time, but there was no way he could leave the house without shaving. He snatched the razor from its charger and began running it over his cheeks while he grabbed a fresh suit from his closet.
Cheeks now smooth, he turned his phone over to speaker and dialed Bates’s number. “Yes, Mr. Kelly?”
“Please tell me you showed Mr. Schlittler some of my other properties,” Adam said as he hopped into his pants.
“No, sir. I thought you’d decided the Michigan Avenue property would be the best location for him.”
Adam cursed and shoved his arm into a clean shirt. “That was last week. I wanted to show a few other places before that one.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but if you don’t tell me these things, how am I to know what to do?”