Fire In the Kitchen by Donna Allen Read Free Book Online

“I’m in a hurry and so are you. Can we save this for another time? Stay here if you like, or come with me. Your choice. But I really have to go.”
    “Why would you be entering a competition like this?”
    She was beginning to think she wasn’t the main item on his menu after all.
    “It doesn’t matter,” Dante replied as he turned his back on her and started to walk back to his car. The rain started to plummet down harder. “I really have to go.”
    Cassidy had to think fast. If he was a celebrity judge and not a competitor, it was time to make amends. If he wasn’t a judge, maybe all he wanted to do was get to the auditions on time so he could compete.
    “Dante, wait!” As she called out, her sandal slipped on wet gravel and she fell. “Ouch!”
    Dante was already in the car and had started the engine. He left the engine idling and got out again. He reached out his hand and pulled her up. “You okay?”
    Cassidy wished his hand would linger for a millisecond longer, and she hated herself for it. She rubbed her backside and fought the urge to swear. He leaned down, put his hand on her waist and helped her up, and she was disappointed when he let go.
    “I’m fine,” she said. “That offer still open for you to drive me there?”
    “Only if you move your car to the next side street faster than a meteor and you don’t mind my drag racing skills.”
    “Okay, okay, okay.” She ran to Amy’s car and got in. The engine started and she managed to jerk the car around the corner.
    Dante pulled up alongside her.
    “Figured out what the problem with the car was?” he called out.
    “The driver,” Cassidy yelled back as she grabbed her handbag and locked the car behind her.
    She opened his passenger door and stepped up to swing herself inside the warm oh so warm compartment. Sinking into the plush leather seat, she allowed the comforting atmosphere to soothe her aching pride. The classical piano music playing on the car stereo would normally have made her reach for the dial to change it to more contemporary listening, but on this occasion, she found it oddly comforting. Everything about this situation was out of place, so it fit.
    Dante looked at his watch. “We have four minutes ’til registration closes.”
    “It’s almost a ten-minute drive from here,” Cassidy said, resigning herself to the competition being over before it had even begun for either of them. “And that’s in good weather.”
    “Fasten your seat belt, Cassidy.” Dante smiled. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
    He drove like a man who’d been injected with a hundred shots of caffeine. Cassidy felt like a schoolgirl playing truant, in a car with someone she shouldn’t be with. His driving was risky but skillful, and she found the adrenaline it caused as exciting as if he’d blown in her ear.
    Almost.
    Several eyes-squeezed-shut moments and three precious minutes later, Dante skidded to a stop in front of the auditioning studio.
    “You can’t park here,” Cassidy exclaimed as he opened his car door and got out. “You’ll get a ticket or it’ll be towed.”
    Dante opened the back door and grabbed his knives. “You coming or not?”
    He raced to her side and opened her door so he could reach for her hand.
    Men still open doors? Verrry sexy .
    “I left the keys in the ignition, so they can move it if they have to,” he said.
    She let him pull her out of the car and they ran. With his long legs, he would have been a lot faster without her.
    “What if someone steals it?” She panted, trying to ignore how good his hand felt in hers. She forced herself not to squeeze it.
    “Homing device. Better still: insurance. Newer model just came out.”
    “Do you always have an answer for everything?”
    “Do you always ask so many questions?”
    Dante let go of her hand as they neared the registration desk. It was manned by an older woman whose white hair was tinged with blue. She was arguing with a chef and pointing at the