“Hello, Donald,” Salina said as she reached him.
“Good evening,” Donald responded, and held the door open wide for her to enter. As Salina stepped into the apartment’s foyer, he added, “Let me take your coat.”
Salina gazed around the immaculate residence. While the building itself was a prewar establishment, this unit had been renovated to reflect the design style of the 21st century. Sleek, white leather sofas, polished mahogany hardwood floors and modern art on the walls—the place could easily be featured in a home décor magazine.
“Did you have any trouble finding the place?”
“None,” Salina said. “Your directions were perfect.”
“Good.” Donald took Salina’s coat and hung it on the nearby coatrack. As he did, something suddenly struck her as peculiar.
There were no other coats on the rack except for one.
“Where is everyone?” Salina asked. “Or are the residents not arriving until we have the cooking complete?”
“Follow me,” was Donald’s reply.
Salina frowned. That wasn’t the response she had expected. In fact, she suddenly got that odd feeling again. The one that said something wasn’t right.
Because if she had come here to help with the cooking, then why did she smell the aroma of food? And not just any food, but Donald’s famous spicy curry chicken—the very meal she had told him was her favorite.
Salina’s feeling intensified when she followed Donald around the corner toward the dining room and saw that the table was set with two place settings. A bottle of wine sat in a carafe between the table’s head spot and the one to its immediate right.
Donald stopped walking and turned to face her. As if he had sensed the direction of her thoughts, he said, “I prepared the meal you said was your favorite. This one is your favorite, isn’t it?”
Salina knew that what she was about to ask was somewhat silly, because her mind already understood what was going on—even if her heart wanted to deny it. “Didn’t you want my help in doing the cooking?”
“Ah, yes. I did tell you that I wanted you here to help me prepare a meal.” Donald smiled devilishly. “I admit, I told you a little white lie.”
“A little white lie?” Salina asked, her tone implying she was still in the dark.
“There are two place settings here,” Donald said, gesturing to the table. “One for me. And one for you.”
“B-but—what about the guests? What about the dinner party?”
Now Donald chuckled softly. “That was the little white lie. You’re the only one I’m expecting.”
“Th—this is your place?”
“Yes.”
He had lied to her, told her he needed help in catering a Christmas party. All because he wanted to get her here for a romantic evening?
“I wanted to spend some time with you,” Donald went on. “Alone.”
Salina looked at him as if he had grown two extra heads. “Why would you want to spend time alone with me?” Again, she was aware that she sounded silly, or perhaps that she was playing dense. But she simply didn’t understand why Donald would invite her here for this kind of romantic dinner, to spend time alone with him, as he had said. “For God’s sake, you’re married.”
“My wife wanted to escape to Barbados with the kids before Christmas,” Donald told her, no discernable reaction at all to the fact that Salina had just mentioned his wife.
And then, without warning, Donald walked toward her and slipped an arm around her waist. He pulled her against him. “Come on,” he whispered. “You know what’s going on.”
She wriggled herself free from his arms and stepped backward, away from him. “No, I don’t. I don’t understand this at all. Not one bit.”
“I’ve prepared a special dinner for a very special lady.” He took a step toward her and Salina instinctively took a step backward. Donald chuckled softly. “What’s the problem? You don’t like my grand gesture?”
“Are you for real?” Salina asked. “Are you seriously pretending that the issue here isn’t that you’re married?”
“My marriage is none of your concern.”
“None of my concern?” Salina shot back. Was the man that foolish? Was he so completely arrogant that he thought she shouldn’t care that he had a wife and kids?
“Let me rephrase that. My marriage … it’s essentially over. It’s been dying for a long time. And ever since I met you … well, I knew we could have something special. Yes, I was hard on you in the beginning. I’m sure you remember. I was fighting my attraction for you. But then it all became so clear to me. Why fight it? I met you by chance, was extremely attracted to you, and then it turned out that your desire was to become a chef. I saw that as destiny.” Donald paused. “Our destiny. You and I, Salina, we can be a team.”
Salina was flabbergasted. She couldn’t even believe what she was hearing. “I don’t know what you were thinking, but I do not get involved with married men. I don’t know what you expected of me, and I’m sorry if you believe that I somehow led you on.”
That wasn’t what she believed, not in the least. She had simply worked hard for a man who, at first, had been incredibly demanding. She’d believed that he’d been testing her, making sure that she had what it took to work in the competitive culinary business. The tougher he was on her, the harder she had worked because she’d wanted to impress him, show him that he hadn’t been wrong in taking her on as an apprentice. That meant working late into the night and not arguing when Donald expected her to be back at his busy midtown Caribbean restaurant the next morning.
But Salina would say what she felt was necessary at this moment, including taking the blame for his error in judgment, because the bigger goal was that she get out of the apartment without incident. She suddenly had no clue what Donald was capable of.
And she also didn’t want to make an enemy of him. No, she would never be able to work for him again. But the New York culinary scene was relatively small. And Donald was famous. If he bad-mouthed her because she rejected his advances, that would be a hindrance to her achieving her goal of becoming a chef.
Donald moved toward her swiftly and once again drew her into his arms. “I already explained to you that my marriage is basically over. It’s you I want.”
And then he planted his mouth on hers and kissed her.
For one stunned moment, Salina couldn’t move. But then she sprang into action and fought Donald off her with all of her might. She was disgusted with him, more disgusted than she had ever been with anyone, and she wondered how it was that she had not seen his true nature before now.
Or maybe she had. After his initial coldness—relentless with his demands and coming off as a bit of a jerk—he had suddenly changed. Smiles and winks replaced his scowls. And there were little touches that she always found a bit too friendly … like the ones on her arm or upper back. And sometimes she’d catch him looking at her in a way that had her feeling distinctly uneasy.
But Salina had written it all off as harmless. Since he worked all day in a busy kitchen, she simply believed that he was the type of man who flirted as a way to ease the tension.
It was very clear now just how wrong she was.
Free of his embrace, Donald shot her a gaze of utter disbelief. Disbelief that soon turned to anger. He seemed unable to accept the fact that she was actually rejecting him.
“You’d better consider the consequences of your