Chapter 5

The evening service is busier than usual that night. Ally runs most of the night. She is dead on her feat at the end of it. When everyone tosses their aprons in the wash bin and leave the kitchen, Ally follows without even rechecking everything. She will come in earlier today to recheck. It is already two in the morning. She needs sleep.

She goes home and makes haste to get into bed. She falls asleep instantly.

Ally wakes a few hours later. Even though she got much needed sleep, she still feels tired. It has been a busier than usual week. There are a lot of conferences in the city and most of them are near the restaurant where she works. She sits up in her bed and drags her phone closer. There must be a million messages that needs answering.

Ally scans through the messages, deleting anything that seems mundane and quickly giving attention to anything to do with business.

She is somewhat disappointed that she did not receive anything from Eric. She gets up to get ready for work. She wants to stop by Eric first to return his Chef jacket. She had it cleaned.

A few minutes later, Ally pulls up to the front of the restaurant. She walks through the doors and tries to make her way down the aisle.  A few waiters try to stop her and ask if they can seat her. She smiles at them and shows them the jacket with Eric’s name embroidered into it. They all react the same way. Their eyebrows shoot into the air. They look surprised and a lot more respectful. Ally thinks she even saw two of them make a little bow.

The ladies on the other hand react a little differently. They also have the shocked eyebrow launch but then the green monster surface behind their smiles. Eric must really be something around here.

Ally steps into the kitchen to see the entire room in full operational buzz. Eric is in the middle of the room making his way from one counter to the other. He would say something to a staff member and they would hastily comply. There is no pause, no questions, no defiance. Whatever Eric says is law around here.

Ally takes a few seconds to stare at this magnificent man. He is well built but not overly muscled. He has a slender waist, even with his chef jacket on and an apron tied around him. He moves with confidence which she finds even more attractive with the little silver hairs at his temples. His black chef’s bandanna matches his jacket today. He looks good in black.

Ally is caught off guard when Eric suddenly looks straight into her eyes. The soft playfulness she has come to expect from him is nowhere to be seen. His eyes are dark and cold and very demanding. He looks at her for a second before he starts walking towards her at a quick pace. As he approaches her, the smile breaks out around his lips, his eyes softens and the playfulness returns. Ally is relieved to see the Eric she expected to see this morning.

“Well if it isn’t the ever so beautiful Ally. This is surely the way to start every morning.” Eric says as he reaches her. Ally blushes slightly.

“Well, aren’t you full of complements this morning. Definitely a morning person, aren’t you?” Ally smiles at him shyly. Eric gives a small chuckle.

“Depends on who I have to spend my morning with.” He jokes as he takes the jacket, she holds out to him. “Thank you.” He tells her and turns to give the jacket to the nearest person to put in his office.

“Well, I have to get to work.” Ally says and turns to walk back the way she came. Eric holds the door open for her and they exit the kitchen. He walks next to her to the front entrance of the restaurant.

Outside they come to a halt in front of her car and Ally turns to Eric. Although she makes a habit of staring at him, today she takes notice of the fine lines around his eyes. He is one beautiful man. Even if he is almost twice her age.  

Eric’s jaw seems tense and he looks as if he is forcing control on himself. Ally wants to ask him if anything is wrong when he suddenly shakes his head a little and swears under his breath. He bends down and plants a kiss on Ally’s lips. The world stops turning for a second.

He slides his arm around her and pulls her tightly against him, kissing her a litter harder. Every nerve in her body responds to him.

When Eric straightens up, he smiles broadly at Ally. All the tenseness is gone and he looks soft and playful again.

“Ally’s kiss is so much sweeter than Ally’s lips” Eric says with a playful smile. Ally blushes as she thinks about the one-bite cube he named after her.

“You better get going.” Eric says as he places his hand in the small of her back and guides her into her car. He opened the door for her to get in. “Before I feel the need to taste the rest of you.”

Ally blushes even more. She smiles at Eric as he closes the door for her. As Eric turns and walks back to the restaurant, Ally cannot help but notice the venomous look on one of the waitress’ face. She looks as if she could easily rip Ally’s throat out.

Even more worrying than the obviously jealous waitress, is the older man standing behind the large window. The man must be in his late sixties. He looks at Ally with disapproval in his eyes. She can feel it burn into her skin as she quickly starts to close her window.

As Eric enters the building the old man turns towards him. Eric stops for a second, looks at the old man and shakes his head before walking angrily towards the back of the restaurant.

Ally feels nervous and a bit bewildered when she drives away from the restaurant.

The rest of the day, Ally feels torn in two. The older man with his disapproving stare bothers her. It makes her uncomfortable that a man who knows nothing about her can disapprove of her in that way. She has no idea who he is either.

On the other hand, she is still dazed by Eric’s kiss. All Ally can think about is those beautiful lips pressing firmly against hers. The tingles down her spine. Ally cannot remember ever feeling this way about a man in her life. She gets her job done during the day and when it is time to go home, she picks up her phone and calls Eric. Maybe he is still at the restaurant.

The phone rings twice before the call is cancelled on Eric’s side.

Ally stares at her phone in shock. Did he just cancel her call? Not wanting to be rejected multiple times, Ally puts her phone in her pocket and heads home.

She feels even more bothered when she takes the steps up to her apartment. Suddenly the disapproving older man weighs heavier on her mind than anything else. The day started amazingly and ended awfully.

Ally chuckles at herself. “The day is not completely done, Ally. There is still a bit before you can call it a day.”

Ally unlocks her front door and walks into the dark apartment. She switches on the little table lamp by the door and kicks off her shoes. She pushes her shoes under the little table with the side of her foot and head to her open plan kitchen.

This apartment’s kitchen is nothing any chef would dream about. It is very basic and doesn’t have much to offer. She didn’t really care for the kitchen either because she spends most of her time at the restaurant. She practically only come here to sleep.

She pours herself a glass of orange juice. She turns to put the glass on the kitchen counter when her eyes meet the cold harsh stare of the dark eyes looking back at her.

Ally sucks in a sharp breath to scream but quickly realises that she is staring into Eric’s eyes. She grips onto the counter for stability.

“Eric?” Ally says in a soft uncertain voice. Eric’s eyes are bloodshot. There is no sign of the playful, joking Eric, Ally has come to know. Ally stares at him in silence. The expression on his face has not changed. His hand that he placed on the edge of the kitchen counter has marks on the knuckles. Was he in a fight?

Before Ally could say anything else, Eric removes his hand and slides it into his pocket. The cold hard stare he is giving her is unnerving. Even though there is no emotion in his stare, she can sense that he is very upset.

“Do not come to my restaurant. Ever again.” Eric blurts out coldly before he turns to leave.