Culinary Delight Read Free

of the booth, keeping him suspended before me, up close and personal. He slit his gaze. “Tell me from appearance what this tastes like, Molly.”
    Damn my body for reacting to the way he said my name. He revved my engine , warming my intimate bits, enticing my prowess and infuriating me all at once. He needed some woman to come along and burst his ego bubble.
    I crossed my arms over my chest, meeting his gape head on. “The rice will taste like over salted white rice with un-sweet peas. The color you added this time around was with seasoning salt. And the pork chops probably started out with seasoning but it disappeared in the pan of oil you cooked it in. You have too much oil in the pan and the temp isn’t high enough to properly sear the outsides and hold the flavor. You’ve served me a greasy lump with a side of taste bud killer.”
    His lips quirked just enough to tell me I amused him. “ Nena, you’re a gringa. What do you know about cooking my people’s food?”
    My blood boiled, burning through my veins. I clamped my hands into fists. I wanted to smack the smugness right off his face. “Is the owner here?”
    He snickered. “You’re right next to him, gringa. ” He jutted his chin towards Carlos.
    No wonder he had paled every time something was wrong.
    “Mind if I use your kitchen, Carlos?”
    He opened his mouth like he was going to object. He scanned the room, his forehead creasing. With a sigh, he conceded. “ Mi cocina es su cocina, Molly. But please, be careful. I shouldn’t be allowing this. Health codes, worker’s comp if you get hurt…” He scrubbed his jaw and neck in one fluent motion of discomfort.
    “I’ll be careful. I just need to show Rico-wanna-be-suave over here what his people’s food should taste like.”
    Rico stepped back, throwing his arms up in a challenge manner. “Let’s go, gringa. ”
    “Oh no. This is a contest. Everyone needs to try your monstrosities before they taste mine, including you.”
    “I so did not plan for the night to go like this.” Rachel sounded giddy, amped up as if she was about to watch an aggressive sporting event. She slid over. “Take a seat, Carlos. Molly’s about to knock your socks off.”
    “Carlita, lock up, will you?” He called towards the hostess. He sat down beside Rachel and grabbed a fork. He winced at the rice hit his tongue. “ Dios miyo, primo! Esta -” His features twisted in disgust. “She was right.”
    “Hey, I never said I was chef. You were in a bind. I covered your ass. You should be thanking me.”
    Carlos dropped the fork. “My chef ran off overnight with his girlfriend. He moved up north without notice,” he admitted.”
    “Well, relax. I’ll remake these dishes the way they ought to be made.” I cut my eyes at Rico.
    Rico had the audacity to smirk. “I’ll make sure the judges go easy on you.”
    “They won’t need to. I know you’re looking at my blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin thinking that I know nothing about anything outside the continental United States, but take a seat, bud, because I’m about to kick your culinary ass.” I slid out of the booth, glaring darts at him the entire way.
    “This is gonna be good, Carlos. I’ve only seen Molly’s eyes spitting fire like that one other time and she kicked her cheating ex-husband’s ass. Don’t worry though, she’s not usually violent.” Rachel was enjoying every minute of this.
    I had to admit, some sick part of me was too. Adrenaline coursed through me. I was hyperaware of him, the way he watched me.
    “You’re cute when you’re all hot and bothered.” He winked, slinking past me to sit where I was. “Don’t burn down the kitchen.”
    I huffed, stomping childishly towards the back. The man was infuriating yet my pussy throbbed as if it wanted to take him on. My breasts had perked, all of me responding to his challenge. Dammit.
    Everything was stainless steel from the cabinets to the counters and appliances. It took me some time to