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I frown. “How many you got?”
“A few. I use this one for weekenders, mainly.” He takes a look out the window. My eyes follow to a rank of blue lights. “Here we are.” He smiles and winks at me.
We pull up outside a modern split-level house with a wraparound deck. My God, it’s beautiful—and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. As I get out, I can smell the salt in the air and hear waves crashing on the shore nearby.
It’s not a huge house, but from what I can see in the dusky light, this is the perfect vacation getaway. Millions of dollars worth of vacationing.
We leave the car, saying thank you to the young male driver, and Neal ushers me inside.
My heart is pounding like a drum. “So, we’re dining here?”
“We are,” he says and, in the next breath, calls out. “Mim!”
A woman wearing chef’s whites and sporting cropped blond hair appears through a doorway across the wide hallway. I recognize her from TV. This is Mimi D’Lore.
“Neal,darling!There you are!” she says in heavily accented English.
“Thanks for this, Mim. I owe you.”
“Non.” She swats her hand, smiling. “Always a pleasure to cook for you.” Her eyes dart from Neal to me. “So this is the special lady? Pleased to meet you, Dani.” She holds out her hand. I place my hand in her cool palm for a girl shake.
“And you, Mim.”
Special lady?I doubt it. It’s just part of his plan. The charm-me-and-swipe-my-shop plan.
But even if it is, bringing a famous French chef to his vacation home to cook for us is a very expensive treat. Everything about Neal screams money and power. The helicopter, the luxury cars at his disposal, the gorgeous house by the sea, and a French chef willing to drop everything to do his cooking.
I might have been impressed, but I’m not.
One thing I now realize—he must want my shop a lot to be going to this level of effort.
Suddenly my little boat is rocking. And I know it won’t take much for him to sink me. I’m out of my depth. I was from the beginning.
Nerves flutter in my stomach again.
Don’t think too hard, girl... just play the game. One step at a time.
“Wow... what a lovely surprise, Neal. My gosh!” I fix an innocent, delighted smile on my lips. Pretending I don’t know about his plan is my only option at the moment.
