12 #2
Dani’s chest heaved as she took in a deep breath.
“Yes. It didn’t, I mean, it doesn’t suit me.
Too fast, and… well, I just need something more suited to my needs.
” Dani looked away from him, unable to continue with what was fast moving into a conversation a lot more complicated than she had originally thought.
She knew he wasn’t talking about her car anymore and her heart pumped so hard, she was worried she’d make a fool out of herself if they continued this conversation laden with double entendre.
Why was he so God damned sexy? And was he deliberately flirting with her?
“You don’t like fast cars?” Jerome asked softly, placing his cup down before licking his delectable lips.
Shit, he was going to continue, thought Dani. Taking her cup, she looked him straight in the eye.
“I love fast cars. I just don’t trust myself with them. I don’t think I can handle them so well.” Dani tried hard not to let her nerves show as she sipped her coffee. Crap, maybe she’d overstepped the mark.
Jerome’s mouth twitched and he slightly cocked his head to one side. Edging further forward, he replied. “Really? You strike me as someone who’d have no trouble with speed. In fact I think you could handle pretty much…”
“Buongiorno. What are you two talking about?“ Gia’s familiar Italian accent broke through the highly charged atmosphere and both of them turned to look at her as she gracefully walked towards them.
“Cars,” they both answered, then shooting a sideward glance at each other, they smirked. The previous intense conversation seemingly pushed to one side, the charged atmosphere instantly evaporated.
“Really? Well Jerome loves cars. Always has. You too, Dani?” She bent over to kiss Jerome’s cheek and he reciprocated. Gia then turned to look at her. Dani noticed that though they both looked very similar, Jerome had blue eyes as opposed to Gia’s dark brown ones.
“Yes, I like cars. But we were talking about my car specifically. I’m selling it.”
“The Porsche?”
Dani nodded. Jerome rubbed his forehead nervously, then took a sip of his coffee.
“German cars are very… hard. I much prefer Italian: smoother, sleeker and a joy to ride.”
Jerome spluttered into his coffee cup and Dani barely contained her laugh. Gia patted his back and looked puzzled at the two of them. “What? What did I say?”
“Nothing, Mama. You just pretty much said what I was saying to Dani, that’s all.” He licked his lips, catching Dani’s gaze. Dani blinked hard at him, then she turned to Gia and asked brightly if she would like an espresso.
“Si.”
Dani turned back to the coffee machine, glad to focus on something other than Jerome, thankful for Gia’s interruption.
Dani dreaded to think how much further the conversation would have gone, her previous bravado fading fast. She smiled to herself as she pressed the button.
He had been flirting with her and she couldn’t contain how thrilled she was.
JEROME LOOKED DOWN INTO the car park where Adam was talking to the car dealer.
He was in two minds about whether he should go down or not.
He’d purposely hung around La Casa today.
The past few days, he’d avoided being down in the restaurant but he’d observed Dani from the monitors.
He was unsettled about his obvious feelings towards Dani, and the blatant flirting episode this morning had thrown him off balance.
He knew better than that. It was totally unprofessional, but he’d be lying if he said that he hadn’t enjoyed every second of it.
He grinned to himself. She gave as good as she got, he thought.
Jerome turned back to his desk and decided he’d better make his way to Level One and check up on his new manager.
He’d been splitting himself in two over the past three days and he knew that had a lot to do with wanting to see Dani.
He shook his head, appalled at his behaviour, and shrugged on his jacket, then headed downstairs.
Adam walked into the restaurant and headed over to the bar. Kuch was over in a flash, recognising Adam as a regular customer, though he didn’t know his name.
“Hello. What can I get you, sir?”
“I’ll just have an espresso. I’m waiting for Dani.” He slipped onto the bar stool.
“Sure.” Kuch’s eyes narrowed at the comment, then he immediately started to make his coffee.
Dani’s section was busy. She’d been totally preoccupied throughout her shift.
This was her sixth day and she already felt like she’d worked there for six months.
A lot of that was to do with the staff but it was also because Dani loved it, thrived off it.
Dani moved to the bar to collect a coffee order and smiled widely at Adam. “So, what did they say?”
Kuch frowned, confused as to who the man was and what they were talking about.
“Kuch, this is my brother-in-law Adam. Adam, Kuch. I’m selling my car,” she explained and Kuch’s expression relaxed.
“Pleased to meet you Adam, officially anyway,” grinned Kuch, holding out his hand for Adam to shake.
“Likewise.”
“Well?” she asked Adam.
“You’re busy. What time are you done?”
“In about forty minutes.”
“Okay. I’ll hang on and then we can go for a coffee and I’ll fill you in.”
“Okay.” Dani took the tray of coffees Kuch had prepared and went back to her section.
Jerome entered the restaurant and walked towards the bar area. He stopped to speak to a table for a moment, then headed to where Adam was sitting. “Hello. Adam, isn’t it?” Jerome held out his hand to shake.
“Yes. Hello, how are you?”
“Great, thanks. Are you waiting for a table?” Jerome settled onto the barstool next to him.
“No. I’m waiting for Dani to finish.” Adam motioned with his head.
Jerome turned to look across to where Dani was. “Oh. I see.”
“She asked me to sell her car for her. The dealer seemed keen.”
“Ah yes, she mentioned she wanted to sell her car.” Jerome smirked to himself, remembering their earlier flirtatious conversation.
“How’s she settling in?” Adam asked.
“Brilliantly. It’s like she’s always worked here. She’s fitted in incredibly well.”
Adam’s eyebrows rose at Jerome’s enthusiastic response. “Yes, well she’s very good at her job. And I know she loves it here. She’s had a bit of a rough time of late, so it’s definitely something she needed to take her mind off everything.”
Jerome narrowed his eyes and before he could stop himself he asked, “Rough time?”
Adam smiled tightly, wondering whether he should elaborate on his sister-in-law’s recent break up. Then he thought, what the hell, Jez was history. “Bad break up with a boyfriend.” Then he twisted his mouth, indicating it was a difficult situation.
Jerome nodded sympathetically. “Oh. I see.”
“Yeah. They have assets together. So I’m trying to get that sorted for her.”
“Ah, that must be, er… difficult.”
“Yeah. Putting mildly.” Adam shrugged. “He’s lucky he’s two hundred miles away,” Adam muttered under his breath. Jerome nodded at Adam.
Wanting to change the subject, Adam replaced his frown with a smile. “I’m coming in tomorrow with a couple of clients.”
“Did you book? It’s pretty busy on Fridays.”
“Yeah, my secretary has.”
Jerome looked at his watch. It was two thirty, and he really should be going.
He slipped back off the stool. “Well, I better go. It was nice seeing you. See you tomorrow, then.” Jerome extended his hand and shook Adam’s, then turned to Kuch, signalling that the coffee was not to be paid for. Kuch nodded discreetly.
Once finished, Dani walked over to Adam, eager to hear about her potential buyer. “Thanks, Adam.” Dani looked at the clock. It was four thirty. Her eyes scanned the car park and she felt a twinge of disappointment when she couldn’t see Jerome’s car.
“So. I’ll sell it to the dealer. He said he’d give you a good deal on a car. You really want a Smart?” Adam asked.
“Yeah. I don’t go far. They’re economical. They’re just me.” Dani shrugged.
“Okay. I’ll sort it out. You’ll be able to get a really top of the range one and you’ll have a decent amount of cash.”
“I want a convertible.”
Adam chuckled, “Okay. I’ll see what I can organise.”
Dani reached across and hugged him and he awkwardly reciprocated. “Thanks. Really, for everything.”
“No problems, Dani. I’ll be in tomorrow with some clients,” he mumbled, embarrassed at Dani’s outburst.
“Yeah? That’s great.”
“A convertible eh?” he sniggered. “I’ll see what I can do.”
BY THE TIME DANI got home, it was eleven thirty and everyone was asleep.
She let herself into the house and quietly crept through to the kitchen.
Still wound up from a very busy night at La Casa, she decided to bake Jerome’s birthday cake tonight.
She turned on the oven and then closed the kitchen door.
Within a few minutes, she was mixing up the sponge batter and pouring it into the prepared tins.
It was almost midnight as she shut the oven door and put the timer on for forty minutes, feeling thoroughly pleased with herself.
Dani quickly tidied up the kitchen and set about preparing the filling and frosting ready for her to assemble the cake in the morning.
As she put everything into the fridge, she spotted the Tequila bottle in the door.
She lifted it out and poured herself a generous measure, then sat and waited for the sponge to finish baking.
Her heart fluttered thinking about tomorrow.
She wondered whether Jerome would remember she’d promised to make him a birthday cake.
She took a large gulp of her drink just as the timer beeped.
Dani got up and took out the perfectly baked sponges and placed them on the kitchen work surface.
The whole kitchen smelled wonderful and Dani smiled to herself as she turned off all the lights and headed upstairs to bed.