Yes Chef, No Chef - By Susan Willis Page 0,108

around her and into the back pockets of her denim shorts and squeezing her buttocks gently he pulled her into him. She felt his urgency hard against her and moaned in anticipation when it stretched nearly to the hip pocket of his jeans.

“Oh God,” he breathed heavily, “I’ve been dreaming of these shorts since first thing this morning when I saw you in the garden.”

Whether it was the reminder that he was, in fact, her next door neighbour that snapped her out of the hypnotic state she wasn't quite sure but suddenly she pulled back from him. Starting an affair with her neighbour probably wasn’t the brightest idea she'd ever had and stuttered, "I...I'm just not ready for this, Sam. Sorry, I mean, well, s…sorry."

With one last squeeze of her bottom he reluctantly removed his hands from her shorts. "Hey, that's fine," he said stepping back from her. "Some other time?"

Sighing heavily he clicked his tongue with disappointment at the rejection and stood back to the bench busying himself with the basket while she felt her cheeks burning hot with embarrassment.

What the hell was wrong with her, she agonised and trying to get a grip on herself she pulled her vest down that had ridden up doing their snog. She was desperate to be with a man again and felt starved of physical and intimate contact but every time she got close to doing it she scared herself silly and backed off. Sighing, she wondered what Sarah's psychologist friend would say about her weird behaviour and then answered her own question with the obvious answer. Basically, she knew that although she was desperate for sex she still only wanted it to be with Tim.

She walked behind Sam feeling like a ridiculous silly teenager while he carried the basket of vegetables to her car and she mumbled further apologies hoping that what had happened wouldn't affect their friendship. He reassured her it wouldn't and she placed a weekly order with him explaining how she was going to shred some of the vegetables to garnish the seafood buffet.

Opening the car door for her and with his cheeky-chappy grin fixed firmly back in place he told her he really hoped they could meet up again sometime in the greenhouse. Giggling, she pulled away from the kerb and waved behind her shaking her head in amazement at his resilience.

Chapter Twenty Seven

The five o’clock alarm in the morning was a rude awakening and reminded Katie of her early working days as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She needed to be at Billingsgate market to buy the freshest seafood possible and because the best choices were usually sold out by seven she had a quick wake-up shower, punched the post code into her sat-nav and drove through the empty streets.

The city was a different place at this time in the morning and she marvelled at the quiet stillness surrounding the usual packed tourist spots on Tower Hill and along Canary Wharf which was where the party was to be held later that night. Inside the market it was buzzing with noise from merchants shouting and laughing, and dealing with throngs of bleary-eyed customers.

The information board stated that the market held the largest selection of fish in the UK with daily arrivals from every coast from Aberdeen to Penzance. There were over 54 merchants, 98 stands, 30 shops, an 800 tonne freezer, a shellfish boiling room, and as she walked through the market hall making her purchases, the light salty smell of fresh fish filled her senses. She managed to buy the freshest seafood she could find and was pleased when it fitted the exact budget Andrew had given her for the buffet.

Arriving home again she made a risotto, assembled and packed all the other dishes which Andrew had arranged to be collected late afternoon and breathed a sigh of relief when his chauffeur turned up at the door to carefully load all the cool boxes into his car boot. She shook her head in disbelief when he jumped back into his car and gave Katie a cheeky wink. Bloody hell, she murmured but couldn’t help feeling flattered especially because she was dressed in her old tracksuit and her face was covered in a thick green facial mask.

She reckoned Andrew must be worth a mint if he could afford to have someone to run his errands and picked at some of the left over vegetables. She felt her cheeks flush with shame when she