Page 20 of Recipe for Temptation

“She was brilliant,” Drew declared to Michael and the four contest judges who’d gathered in the conference room to compare notes on the auditions. “She was totally at ease in front of the camera, she seemed comfortable in the kitchen and she had great comedic timing. The way she played comic ingénue to Mike’s ‘straight man’ reminded me of something you’d see on I Love Lucy. And let’s face it, folks. She’s not exactly hard on the eyes. The camera loves her.”

Hearty murmurs of agreement swept the table.

Paige Somers, a leggy brunette who worked as a senior editor at Food & Wine magazine, raved breathlessly, “Let me just add that I absolutely loved the sexual chemistry between Michael and Reese.”

“Chemistry?” echoed a pretty black woman named Lexi Austin. “That was beyond chemistry. That was a five-alarm fire!”

Everyone laughed.

“I’ve judged a lot of cooking competitions in my career,” Paige continued, “but I have never seen anything hotter than the moment Michael fed Reese from his fork, then took a bite himself. Whew!” she exclaimed, fanning her face. “I think we all wanted to jump in a cold pool after that!”

Lexi snorted. “Speak for yourself. I wanted to jump Michael!”

More uproarious laughter filled the room. Even Michael, who’d been heretofore silent, couldn’t suppress a low chuckle.

Drew glanced around the table with a huge, satisfied grin. “These are the types of conversations women will be having at water coolers, on park benches and over chai lattes with friends once Reese makes her debut on the show. The chemistry between her and Michael is pure ratings gold. Their sharp repartee, the crackling sexual tension—our viewers are gonna eat it up.”

“I agree,” Paige said vigorously, and the others nodded.

“We all seem to be on the same page,” Lexi noted, “but we haven’t heard what the star of the show thinks.”

Michael smiled as five pairs of eyes swung in his direction. He’d been sprawled in a chair at the head of the table, eyes hooded, arms folded behind his head, long legs stretched out in front of him. Anyone observing his lazy posture might have assumed he’d tuned out the discussion long ago. But Michael—as everyone who worked with him knew—never missed a thing.

Still, it didn’t surprise him that Lexi had been the first to call attention to his silence. She knew him better than anyone else in the room, as they’d been friends for over twenty years. They’d met as freshmen in college; Michael attended Morehouse while Lexi was at Spelman. They’d hit it off right away, bonding over their mutual love of good food and cooking. When they graduated, Lexi followed her true passion and went to a French culinary school in New York while Michael went to work for a top engineering firm—a career move Lexi still teased him about to this day.

As a master chef instructor at a culinary institute in Atlanta, she was highly respected in the world of culinary arts. Michael considered her more than a friend; she was also a trusted advisor.

“You wanna know what I think?” he drawled, straightening slowly in his chair. “I think Howlin’ Good is a family-friendly show, one that stay-at-home moms can watch with their young children without having to worry about being bombarded with sexual innuendo. If we want to keep it that way—and keep the show off the FCC’s hit list—we’d better choose someone other than Reese St. James to be the apprentice.”

A ripple of laughter went around the table.

“Michael Sterling Wolf,” Lexi said, feigning a shocked tone. “Are you suggesting you wouldn’t be able to control yourself around Reese?”

Michael grinned sheepishly, rubbing his jaw. “It’d be damn hard, I can tell you that.”

He’d had a hard enough time keeping his hands off Reese during the short time they’d been on stage together. Her coquettish smiles had been disarming enough, but when she parted those lush lips, took his fork slowly into her mouth and moaned, he’d nearly lost his mind. He’d wanted to lift her onto the counter and take her right then and there, spectators be damned.

“Apart from the fact that you don’t trust yourself not to jump Reese’s bones,” Paige said, “what other objections do you have to working with her?”

For a moment Michael considered coming clean about everything that had transpired between him and Reese. But he quickly changed his mind. It was bad enough he’d been forced to eat crow and apologize to her. If his colleagues ever found out what an ass he’d made of himself, he’d never live it down.

And something told him that was exactly what Reese wanted. He didn’t believe for one second that she was interested in the prize money, or even fifteen minutes of fame. She’d come to the audition for one reason and one reason only: to get back at him.

So far her plan was working brilliantly. She had everyone eating out of the palm of her hand, ensuring that Michael would be the bad guy if he refused to work with her. But refuse he must.

“Look, I’m not disagreeing that she gave a great performance. She did. I just think we should keep our options open.”

Paige’s eyebrows shot up. “Who else came close to being as good as Reese?”

Michael racked his brain trying to recall the other contestants’ faces, but they were a blur. As much as he hated to admit it, the only one who’d stood out was Reese.

“You have to admit that the stars seem to be aligned in her favor,” Drew said, pressing his advantage. “First the recipe she submitted was our test kitchen favorite. Then she just happened to be in Atlanta when we notified her. As it turns out she’ll be here on sabbatical for the next two months, which means she’ll be available for taping the apprentice episodes and attending any publicity events we ask of her. And if that’s still not enough proof that she’s the right woman for the job, she just gave an audition performance that was clearly head and shoulders above the rest.” He cast an impatient glance around the table. “Quite honestly, I’m surprised we’re even debating this.”

“Well,” Lexi said diplomatically, “with all due respect, boss-man, it is Michael’s show. And since he’s the one who’s going to be working closely with this apprentice for the next few weeks, it’s only right that he get the final say on who it’ll be.”

Michael smiled at his old friend. Finally! A voice of reason. “Thank you, Lexi.”

“That said,” she added, dark eyes twinkling, “I think you’d be out of your mind not to pick Reese St. James.”

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