“You don’t mix—except for tonight.” She winks. “Say no more. It’s our little secret. I won’t breathe a word until you two are ready to make things public.”
I wink at her. “You’ll be the first we tell, promise. We just want to get through the festival before, though, okay?”
“Okay!”
She pulls me in for one last squeeze of a hug, then softly punches Callum in the shoulder before yanking him into one of her death-grip hugs. Even though he’s twice her size, he winces at her strength.
“You nabbed a good one, buddy,” she says.
Callum can’t seem to contain the grin tugging at his mouth. “Don’t I know it.”
Penelope makes a zipper gesture with her lips, waves good-bye to us, then scurries back down the hall to the dining room.
I pat Callum on the chest. “Bold move deciding to let her in on us.”
“It’s obvious how highly she thinks of you,” he says. “She doesn’t want to let you down.”
“Way to think on your feet. I was sure we were busted as soon as she saw us together.”
He raises his eyebrow at me. “So according to Penelope, I’m the lucky one in this arrangement.”
“She speaks the truth.”
He chuckles and turns toward the kitchen.
“Wait.” I catch his wrist. “About earlier. I didn’t mean to sound so harsh. Cooking here with you was a dream. I’m so sorry if I made it sound like anything else.”
His mouth curves up in a soft smile. “Thank you. I feel the same way about working with you.”
We say nothing, the tension between us from earlier melting like an ice cube on a hot sidewalk. With his hand on my waist, he pulls me against him and leans down so we’re nearly mouth-to-mouth.
“Come on,” he rasps. “We’ve got dessert to plate.”
* * *
• • •
Ted walks into the kitchen, arms outstretched. He pulls me and Callum in for a double hug.
“You two blew everyone away tonight!”
I slip out of Ted’s grip and step away, leaving him to strangle-hug Callum. Ted boasts a tall and thin frame, but he has the hug-strength of a grizzly bear.
Callum pats his back and Ted lets go.
“So it went well, then?” Callum says, straightening his shirt.
A wide grin rips across Ted’s face. “More than well, mate. Bloody brilliant. Everything from the starters to the mains to the dessert was a hit.” He turns to me. “Nikki, remind me to get that turon recipe from you. You gave multiple mouth-orgasms tonight with that one.”
I cup my cheeks in my palms to keep the blushing at bay.
“Is it really just bananas, brown sugar, and lumpia wrapper?” Ted asks.
“Yes, but it’s fried, and that’s what makes it.”
Ted raves about the tempura crust on the fish, then whips out a room key card from his inside jacket pocket. “And this is my way of saying thank you. The most luxurious bungalow on the resort property, free of charge for you two tonight.” He pats the key into Callum’s hand, then winks at us. “Have fun.”
Ted whips out his phone before hollering “Happy Easter” at us and waltzing out the door.
My eyes cut to Callum, who immediately puts his hand up in surrender. “I didn’t say a word to him about us, I swear.”
I press my lips together to muffle the squeal aching to let loose. I’ve never, ever stayed in a resort this luxurious before, and tonight I get to enjoy it on the house, with Callum.
“I don’t even care. We get to stay at a luxury resort tonight. For free. I’m pumped.”
Callum leans his mouth to my ear. His lips barely graze my skin, but I still shiver. It’s a whisper of a kiss but just as hot as everything else he’s ever done to my body. This is a whole new level of arousal.
“How about we go play dirty, Nikki?”
My eyes flutter and a moan rips from my throat. “Yes, please.”
We do the world’s fastest cleanup of the kitchen, thank the staff and servers for their hard work, throw our chef jackets in the dirty laundry bin, then slip out to be as discreet as possible.
The roar of conversation and elevator music wafting from the dining room drifts all the way down to our end of the hallway.
Callum touches my arm mid-step. “Bollocks, I forgot my phone.”
I grip his wrist, pulling him down to me. “Hurry back. We’ve got some dirty business to take care of, remember?”