Sweet Tarte (Sweet Enough to Eat, #5) Page 6

  “Of course.” Cornelius turns to one of the waiters. “You heard the instruction, please follow it.”

  “Now leave us.”

  “Yes, sir.” Cornelius backs away, shrugging as I meet his eyes. I’m glad he’s not mad at me for being involved with the asshole giving out instructions as if he owns the place.

  “You know, you can say please once in a while,” I say, narrowing my eyes. “It wouldn’t kill you to treat people with a little bit of courtesy.”

  “I’ll give him a generous tip.”

  “Not the point,” I say, glaring. “I want to hear you apologize to my boss.”

  He pauses for a moment, then draws a deep breath. “I will apologize on the way out, if I have you with me.”

  The laugh is out of my mouth before I can think, but his entitled ass needs taking down a peg. “If you have me with you? Why would I be with you? You left me, and I know I’m nothing special to you. Well, let me tell you something, Dimitri, you were special to me. You have no idea how special. I have feelings, you know, I believed the lies you told me.”

  He leans forward, taking my hand between his own. He’s gentle, even though he could crush every bone in my hand if he wanted to, his own are so big and powerful. But it’s like he wants to cherish me, to keep me safe from harm.

  “Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you, Victoria. I will never lie to you. I had to leave because of a fire. That was real. And I know what you heard about me because I forced the man who said it to tell me. None of that is true. You are all that matters to me. Truth is, I hadn’t been with a woman for a very long time before I met you, and if you walk away from me now I’ll have to live the rest of my life as a monk, because no other woman will ever satisfy me. I need you, Victoria. I want you. I want you in my life.”

  I want to believe him, but how can I when what I heard makes so much sense? “I don’t believe you,” I tell him. “I’m sorry but I don’t. How can a man like you, who looks like you, not have a string of thousands of women waiting to fulfil his every desire and need? You told me to sit at this table and I did. I’m not vain enough to think I’m the only one that obeys you. You probably snap your fingers and have a gazillion naked swimsuit models falling to their knees.”

  “No.”

  “What do you mean, no?”

  He shrugs. “It’s not true. I don’t want swimsuit models. I don’t want a string of women. As I already told you, I haven’t wanted a woman in a long time. There is nobody else for me, Victoria. And I can prove it to you. Come home with me and I’ll prove it.”

  I stare into his eyes, and all I see there is honesty. And when I think back to the time we spent together, I never detected anything but pure emotions from him: lust, sure, desire too; but also love. Caring. A need to protect me. I draw a deep breath and look down, away from his eyes as I murmur: “I’d like that.”

  Next moment, I feel his hand under my chin, lifting my head so that I have no choice but to meet his gaze. “Let’s leave.”

  “Now?”

  “Now.”

  I find myself nodding. “Okay.”

  Without another word, he grabs my wrist and pulls me up from my seat, opening his wallet and tossing the entire contents—more money than I’ve seen in my life—onto the centre of the table. Then he moves his hand to the small of my back as he walks me to the front of the restaurant. Before we get to the doors, he’s pulling out his phone and dialling, then muttering, “Pull the car around. Now.”

  “Mr. Cossack, is everything all right?”

  We both turn to find Cornelius standing there, and for a moment I feel Dimitri tense beside me when my new boss’s eyes fall on me. Then he relaxes, and it’s clear he’s detected what I felt the first time I spoke to Cornelius: he’s no threat to Dimitri’s claim on me.

  Claim on me. Did I really just think that?

  The idea of being claimed seems so archaic to me, so old fashioned, but it calls to me nonetheless. I want to be claimed by Dimitri, for the whole world to know that I’m his and they’d better not overstep.

  “Everything is fine,” Dimitri says. “I’ve left enough on the table to cover the bill and a generous tip.”

  “What about your desserts, sir?”

  I glance over to see the two waiters carrying trays of desserts, looking unsure of what they’re supposed to do with them. A lot of effort has gone into producing them, and I draw a breath as I think about how I’d feel if I’d just stood there making food only for the customer to walk out.

  Dimitri shrugs. “We don’t need—”

  “Please load them into the car,” I interject, drawing everyone’s attention. “We’ll take them with us. Thank you.”

  Dimitri turns to me, but my face is set and it must be clear that I’m not about to change my mind. “Fine. Please do as the lady said.” He presses harder on my lower back. “Now, we’re leaving.”

  “Not so fast, buster,” I mutter, and see the question in his eyes. “You haven’t apologized to Cornelius yet.”

  10

  Dimitri

  VICTORIA GLANCES AROUND the room as we enter my house. The only lights are the candles that are set along every wall, while the smell of roast dinner drifts through to greet us. On the table inside the door, there is a heart-shaped box of chocolates and a dozen red roses, with a card that reads: Victoria.

  She turns to me, a question in her eyes, and I nod. “I needed you here tonight.”

  After I’d apologized to her boss at the restaurant, which is something I haven’t done in as long as I can remember, I was hoping we’d be on our way straight over here.

  Nope, wrong again.

  I swear this girl has me wrapped around her little finger. On the way home we passed a homeless shelter and my girl insisted that we stop and take the desserts from the restaurant inside for the homeless people to share. She said we didn’t need more than two, and told me to choose one for myself and one for her.

  How could I possibly resist?

  “You did all this for me?” She asks as she wanders through to the dining room and gasps. “How many people are going to be eating with us?”

  “Just us,” I say, following her through. “I was guessing you wouldn’t have eaten at the restaurant.”

  “No, but you have.” She turns to me, and for the first time she wraps her arms around my torso, pulling herself into my chest.

  I hug her back, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and holding her close as I shrug. “High metabolism. I can eat again. Not that it’s food I’m hungry for.”

  She giggles. “Well, I don’t want this food to go to waste.”

  “Ah, you’re back,” Sarah’s voice comes through as she enters from the kitchen. “I had cook lay out the food on the table as requested, and I’ve dealt with the other tasks you set for me.” She smiles. “You must be Victoria.”

  I texted Sarah when we stopped at the homeless shelter, and told her to get everything prepared for when we arrived home. My house is an old manor from the 1920s, set in several acres of woodland that shields me from the outside world. I know it might seem antisocial, but the truth is I like to be away from people when I’m relaxing.

  “Victoria, this is Sarah, my assistant.”

  “And only real friend,” Sarah adds with a grin, pulling Victoria in for a hug. “Believe me, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “Sarah, please can you tell Victoria who my last girlfriend was?”

  She chuckles, then falls silent when she sees my face. “Oh, you’re serious?”

  “Very. Who was the last woman I had anything to do with?”

  Sarah clears her throat as she turns to Victoria. “Well, let’s see...” She purses her lips, her eyes shifting up and to the left. “He mentioned someone called Karen once.”

  Victoria’s gaze moves to mine, doubt in her eyes, and I hate that expression. I never want to see it again in my life. I almost growl as I speak to Sarah: “Karen was my sister’s girlfriend. Six years ago.”

/>   “Oh, yes, that’s right. Well, I only met Polina twice, I can’t be expected to remember every name of everyone. I have no idea then. Why do you want to know?”

  I turn to Victoria. “Is that enough?”

  She nods, a thin smile on her lips, and I finally relax.

  “Sarah, that will be all for today.”

  Sarah smiles, and I don’t think anyone could read her expression as anything other than completely honest. “Victoria, it’s lovely to meet you. I sincerely hope we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other. Good night, both of you.”

  “Good night,” Victoria murmurs as Sarah swivels on the spot and marches out of the room.

  “Are you satisfied?” I ask when she’s gone, and Victoria nods.

  “Thank you.”

  “I’ll never lie to you, my heart. Believe that.”

  “I do, but there’s one more thing I need to know.”

  “Anything, just ask.”

  “Did you set up everything? Did I really earn that job at the restaurant or did you arrange it so that I’d get it?” She pulls herself into my arms. “I won’t be mad, but I need to know if I’m good enough on my own or if I need help.”

  I sigh. “I met with your teacher, Mr. Dudley. He told me what happened with the school and I knew about the restaurant opening. I booked to go there on the opening night so that I could see you, but otherwise?” I shake my head. “It was all you, baby. I would never try to interfere in your life like that. You earned that job, as both I and Mr. Dudley knew you would.”

  Victoria’s grin is genuine as she pulls herself out of my arms and takes a slow walk around the table. “You know, this food looks delicious. But I’m not really that hungry.” The light sparkles in her eyes as she looks across at me. “Not for food, anyway.”

  11

  Victoria

  EPILOGUE

  Five Years Later

  THE PRIDE SWELLS INSIDE me as I watch Dimitri holding Isabella on his shoulders, Dimitri, Jr. standing next to him, gripping tight to his hand, as I put the finishing touches on the family dinner.

  “See how Mommy braises the lamb chop, searing the outside...” He does a play by play of my cooking, which the kids listen to as though he’s telling them a story.

  Every Valentine’s Day in the five years since that first one, we take the night off and always cook at home, inviting friends and family for a special meal we design together and I cook.

  We have become a strong unit. Dimitri’s already successful business has taken off to another level with me by his side.

  Our children have only brought us closer, and he is the most amazing father. I met his mother and father not long after those first weeks, and they are a delight—albeit a bit crazy; I finally got the story of how two Russians named their son Dimitri Dolce Cossack.

  Seems Dimitri’s mother always had a deep love for Italian cooking. The passion, the flavors, the romanticism. She even introduced him to romance by reading him the less steamy parts of her Harlequin novels as a child. He said he never believed in that sort of all consuming love until he met me.

  Dudley is here as well, as has been every year. He is one of the reasons we are together and we want to honor his effort as the years pass and our gratitude only grows.

  My mother is now an administrative assistant within our company, and as she’s learned new skills she’s proven herself time and again. Honestly, she’s become a leader, in her own way. All my brothers are here, of course, the oldest in high school now and on track to go to culinary school himself.

  The strength I found with Dimitri by my side, cheering me on, has been a miracle. I still struggle with my disability, but it hasn’t held me back in my cooking and my dishes are on the menus of every restaurant in the portfolio.

  I no longer feel less than, in any way. I feel individual, my disability for me really creates other strong abilities that others wouldn’t cultivate if they didn’t have to compensate for a brain that doesn’t see things the way most do.

  “Almost ready?” My mom pokes her head in the kitchen, drawing delighted cries of Grandma! from both the kids, and Dimitri sets Isabella down to toddle over and be scooped up with kisses as my mom reaches down to hug D. Jr.

  “Ten minutes.” I smile, and she nods.

  “Okay. I’ll get the troops to the table.”

  She disappears back out of the kitchen while Dimitri comes up behind me, running his hands over my enormous belly.

  “I can’t keep my hands off you like this.”

  He has always been attentive and lustful towards me, but when I am in the last few months of my pregnancies, he is absolutely insatiable. But, then, so am I.

  “It’s going to be difficult to sit at the table with you attached to my back.”

  I stir the sauce, then move it off the burner and tip my head back to give my husband a quick kiss.

  “As soon as dinner is over, we will need to take a break...I can’t wait.”

  He moves his hands over my hips and belly one more time, before kissing my neck. After I work the food off the other burners and check the oven, I stand up and turn around to find him standing there with a red velvet box in his hand.

  “What is this? I thought we said no presents this year. I have everything I could want...”

  “Sorry. I lied.” He smiles, those blue eyes melting me as they have ever since the first day I met him.

  I take the box and flip open the lid to find a pendant inside. I gasp as he takes it out, running the chain around the back of my neck as my hand reaches up to finger the enormous heart-shaped diamond, surrounded by deep red rubies.

  “Dimitri...it’s amazing.”

  “No, you are amazing. We are amazing. Our life is amazing. Thank you for giving me all the things I never knew I wanted. And now, I can’t live without.”

  He pulls me close, his lips on mine as he holds my cheeks.

  “It’s burning...” I mouth into our kiss and he finally relents.

  “To be continued...” He reaches down, slaps my rear end, then works his way into the other room.

  “Happy Valentine’s Day! Let’s eat!” His voice is raised as he claps, and two of the servers from Sweet Tarte come down the hall with trays full of plates, ready to serve.

  I leave them to the service as I strip off my apron. The babies kick and twist, the scent of the food making them even more active as I hold my fingers to the heart now around my neck, and know everyday is Valentine’s Day when you have all the love you ever wanted.

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  About Dani

  Dani Wyatt used to feel bad about having such dirty thoughts. Luckily, one day, she decided to start writing them down. Her ultra-obsessed, alpha heroes have a wicked possessive streak and an insatiable libido. Her heroines are intelligent, quirky, and worry about having too much muffin top. So, if you like your insta-love over the top, super-hot, with a little more plot and always a happily ever after, you’re in the right place.

  She’s fighting middle age like a warrior and lives an average life battling gravity. When she's not writing, she is probably laughing about some irony (like the fact that A-1 Steak Sauce is vegan), reading, riding her horse, or looking cross-eyed at some piece of technology sent to ruin her day.