Sizzling in Singapore (A Carnal Cuisine Novel)
Read Sizzling in Singapore (A Carnal Cuisine Novel) Online
Authors: K.C. Falls,Torri D. Cooke
Sizzling in Singapore
B
y K.C. Falls & Torri D. Cooke
Chef de cuisine Mae Whitten is forced to step into the executive chef's job when her boss goes AWOL. She's a focused professional in the world of fire and knives and the lone woman in a major hotel chain's kitchen full of testosterone-driven colleagues. She keeps her private life on a low simmer until she makes a snap decision to taste a delicious stranger. Things really start to sizzle when she finds out that the man she thought was a short-term guest has come to Singapore to temporarily fill the head honcho's job.
Contains "recipes for romance" -a short collection of scrumptious dishes featured in the book. Cook up something spectacular for those moments (before or after) that you just have to come up for air!
You'll find them highlighted and linked within the text
. Some of the recipes are provided at the end of the book and other links will take you to Torri's blog where she adds additional recipes from time to time.
Content warning: Adult scenes with graphic, explicit descriptions of sexual acts.
Recipe warning: Tempting concoctions are not for those on a celery and water diet. Read at your waistline's risk!
Copyright © 2012
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.
The material in this book is intended for adults only.
Table of contents
####
"May I have my
bathing suit?"
"A bathing suit?" asked Mae as she swung the tiny, black garment from her index finger. Her bright blue eyes twinkled as she impishly grinned at the handsome guest standing in the midst of his scattered clothing. I thought it looked more like an eye-patch."
"Excellent observation, Mademoiselle Chef. It is the smallest swimming costume I can legally wear in most places. Of course, it would be considered over-dressed in
Cap d' Adge
," he answered with an accent that was too vague for Mae to place. Her travels had made her a veritable expert in placing people by their manner of speech. She found the small mystery appealing.
"That's the nudist town in the south of France, isn't it?" As she asked she couldn't help but ponder how the man sharing the elevator would look in the tiny suit--or out of it. Under his chic clothes she had no doubt that the body was just as yummy as the face. His tight jeans showed a perfectly tight male ass as he bent to retrieve more of his belongings from the floor.
"Not many would recognize the name of that place. Though those who frequent such places prefer the word 'naturist' to nudist." He reached out and transferred the black thong from her small finger to his. She observed his long, perfectly formed fingers and approved. Tiny hands on a man were a bad sign, and a turn-off. Mae, rightly or wrongly, associated little hands and feet with pencil dicks. She glanced down at his shoes which were impeccable loafers that her buddy Tank would describe as 'Euro-poofter shoes'.
Uh-oh,
she thought.
Has my gay-dar failed me? Nude beaches, poofy shoes. Damn and double damn.
"Have you ever experienced the pleasure of having no tan lines?" He looked up and down her small frame in a way that assured Mae that her gay-dar was still working perfectly. "It's quite liberating, really, to soak up the sun's warmth completely naked." He continued stuffing his suitcase with its scattered contents. "This old valise has seen better days. It isn't the first time that I have had the clasps spring open."
"Maybe it's time to get a new one. For the price of a night at the Elysium you could probably get a whole new set of luggage." Mae wondered why a man this well dressed would carry around an old battered suitcase.
He answered her unspoken question. "It was my grandfather's and I'd hate to part with it. Lots of sentimental value." He snapped the tarnished brass locks in place and moved away from the elevator doors he had been holding open with his body. The doors slid shut. "What floor,
Mademoiselle
Chef? I've detained you long enough."
"Oh, I'm going to the basement, so just go up to your floor first. You're the guest, after all. I just work here."
"No, you're in a far greater hurry. You practically knocked me down when you sprinted into the elevator and spilled my valise on the floor." He flashed her a toothpaste-commercial smile and she wasn't surprised that a little jolt electrified her.
"I'm not supposed to use the guest elevator when I'm in uniform. So I was making a dash for it. Sorry about the suitcase." Mae took a moment to realize what a mess she was. She probably smelled of a bad combination of food and sweat. Her jacket bore the results of a 'teachable moment' with a young apprentice:
grilled peach vinaigrette
and the immersion blender. Her clogs looked like she had been cooking with them, not wearing them. Tendrils of her cocoa-brown hair had escaped her braid and were swirling around her pale face like greasy little snakes. When he held out his manicured hand to introduce himself Mae involuntarily wiped her hand on her checks. Another lesson on
cracked-pepper crusted roasted beets
made her fingers look like she had been butchering a dirty pig with her bare hands and it would take several more scrubbings to remove the stains.
"I'm Nicholas Seville." He smiled that model smile again and shook her hand warmly. "Nick."
"Mae Whitten. Pleased to meet you, Nick." As the handshake lingered just a fraction longer than expected, Mae was surprised to notice that the apparently aristocratic hand had a few calluses on it. A working hand like hers.
"M-A-E or M-A-Y?"
"M-A-E" she blushed." Mae Belle. My great-grandmother was a grand old Southern lady from New Orleans and I'm named after her."
"Here's the basement, Miss Mae Belle. I'm glad I ran into you."
"Well, actually I ran into you, but I can't say I'm sorry. Have a great stay in Singapore, Nick. Everyone at the Elysium is at your service. We're here to please."
As the elevator door slid closed behind her Mae found herself thinking about what a pleasure it would be to please Nick Seville in ways the Elysium's employee handbook didn't cover. Then, remembering how late she was running, she pushed the lovely image from her mind and sprinted down the hallway to her quarters.
Because Mae was the only female among the kitchen's upper management, she had special rooms tucked into the basement floor of the hotel. A nice suite with a spacious living room and bedroom and a bathroom that was far too luxurious for employee quarters. Mae absolutely loved the fact that her bathroom was open to a tiny walled garden with a miniature rock fountain. It was a godsend of a respite after hours in the clanging bustle of her busy kitchen. Right now she wanted nothing more than to fill the tub, slip into the water and point the shower massage between her legs. She'd cast Mr. Nicholas Seville in her fantasy and be on her way to a rollicking orgasm.
But Cecily would be furious if she was any later than she was already going to be. They had so few evenings together what with Mae's schedule in the kitchen and Cecily's schedule in the skies. Being a flight attendant had great perks, but it was a hectic life. So Mae sluiced the sweat from her body with a quick shower and shampoo. It always took a while to get her long hair combed through and she knew she'd regret going out with wet hair when she hit the freezing interior of the Finewood Park's coffee shop but she just couldn't spare the time to dry it. She twisted her dark locks into a bun and secured it with a couple of lacquer chopsticks. She hastily pulled a sundress from her closet. She slipped into the dress, wiggled her feet into some sandals, grabbed a shawl and was out the door.
Mae cut through the hotel's carefully-maintained gardens to Orchard Road and hot-footed it the few blocks to the Finewood Park. By the time she reached the underpass at the big intersection she was glistening with sweat once again. She shivered as she pushed open the doors to the coffee shop and wrapped her shawl around her slight shoulders. Cecily was already at 'their' table looking like some guy's idea of a ravishing Nordic goddess. The two women couldn't have looked much less alike. Mae, at just barely five feet tall had almost black hair and brilliant blue eyes. Her skin was as pale as milk because, even though she lived in the tropics, she rarely saw the sun. Cecily was nearly six feet tall with white-blond hair and a deep golden complexion she cultivated on every beach and at every pool side on her stops around Southeast Asia.
"Who craves the Kway?" Mae asked as she leaned down to give her friend a kiss.
"Bring on the noodles and don't spare the peppers!", answered Cecily. "It seems ages since I've had my fave Singapore dish."
"Sorry I'm late sweetie. Bad afternoon. Kurt went AWOL."
"That nasty old sod you work for? Good riddance to him."
"Oh, come on Cess, Kurt is a pussycat underneath it all. And he's not all that old, either. Just because he goosed you at that party..."
"Goosed me? He practically raped me with his hand. His fingers were nearly in my twat."
"Darling, that should teach you to wear panties."
"Spoils the line. And anyway it doesn't give one license..."
Mae laughed at her mind's eye picture of her crusty exec trying to grab a piece of her friend in a drunken moment. Really, with all Cess's sexual escapades Mae couldn't quite understand the exaggerated indignation that brought on." He wasn't himself. He was swept away by your considerable charms. Seriously though, I'm really worried. It isn't like him to just not show up. And it's been more than a week. No one knows anything. Or if they do, they're not saying. But the upshot is that I've had a bitch of a week doing his job and mine. It's a miracle I got tonight off. Tank is holding the fort. I couldn't take it. I've worked doubles for ten straight days."
"You poor thing. I'm glad that my stopover inspired you to take a break. You can't be all things, Mae. Even before Kurt left you didn't have much of a social life with that job."
"Ah, but your social life gives me so much vicarious pleasure. Tell me the latest. How goes it with Captain Bret or Brad or Brent or whatever his name is?"
"His name is now Mud. We went to a sex club in Bangkok last week and a clearly underage prostitute was hitting on him. When he told her that he had a date for the night she said '
That okee dokee, I do you bofe
!' He thought that was a dandy idea and I didn't. Then he got pissed and told me I was 'inhibited'. Another one bites the dust."
"Was it that she was underage or that he called you 'inhibited'? Clearly, given your history, it was not the suggestion of a threesome that bothered you."
Cecily pulled herself up straight in the chair and peered down her aquiline nose in classic British style. "You are referring," she sniffed, "to an incident from the far distant past. I was utterly besotted by that man and would have done anything to see him happy. And she was undeniably quite the little hottie. She was also a mature woman not a teenage whore."
The waiter appeared tableside and Mae ordered them a couple of Tiger beers. "Two Tigers for my uptight friend and I. Followed by two more and two orders of
Beef
Kway Teow
. Don't be stingy with the peppers." She smiled across the table at Cess. "You might want to cruise the Elys if you're on the prowl. I literally ran into a tasty hunk of manhood in the elevator today. Don't know much about him except that he's fond of being naked. And he's gorgeous. I mean a real delicious; eat 'em up, cream-your-panties kind of guy."
"If he's so hot, why don't you jump on him. The way you live, you might as well be wearing a nun's habit instead of a chef's coat. It has been way, way too long since you've had any. It isn't healthy."
"Believe me, sister, even though I much prefer a decent, warm actual 'relationship' with someone, I'd make an exception with this one and just jump his bones. Unfortunately, I don't even have time for sport fucking these days."
"Oh that's rich. Mae, I've known you quite a while. Not once in all the years we've been sharing our deepest and darkest have I known you to just have sex just for the sake of sex. I know you're not a prude, but you're also..."
"Not a slut like you?" Mae grinned and poked her best friend in the ribs.
"There's a lot to be said for 'recreational' sex. I may be peeved at Captain Bret, but I am not heartbroken. As I recall, you mourned your last break-up quite dramatically. You haven't tried just doing it because you are horny and he is hot. Here's a guy in transit. There's no 'relationship' potential. Therefore it's the perfect opportunity for you to try something new. It's called 'adult playtime' and there's not a thing wrong with it. You can have a good time without romance"
"Given my schedule right now there's not much chance of playtime or romance. And really, my celibacy seems to bother you more than it does me. I chose a career that is A, notoriously rough on relationships and B, extra tough on females. I love what I do. It consumes me. It is deeply satisfying. I don't lie awake at night pining for Mr. Right or even Mr. Playmate. I'm okay, really I am."
"And I," sighed Cecily," have a non-career as a flying waitress. The satisfaction in my life all revolves around what I can do when I am off of that tin can. I still love the travel, though. When the thrill of that wears off I guess I'll be looking for a new job."
The waiter put two steaming bowls of Beef
Kway Teow
in front of Mae and Cecily and their attention instantly turned to the food.
"Here's something that satisfies us both, Cess. Look at that perfect bowl. No 'presentation', no 'artisanal' ingredients, no 'fusion'. Just simple slippery rice noodles, melt-in-your mouth beef, brilliant greens probably picked today and all punctuated with spicy, fruity pickled peppers. This is one of the meals served in my heaven, for sure."
Cess clinked her beer against Mae's. "Cheers to that, my friend!"
***
The air had cooled just enough for Mae's walk back to the Elysium to be comfortable. She strolled slowly along Orchard Road as the sparse traffic cruised by. Singapore is not a city that never sleeps. At eleven o'clock most restaurants are closing their doors and the city loses the frenetic air it takes on during the business of the day. Late in the night, even in the heart of downtown, there is a sense of the abundant tropical life evident in lush swaying palms and flowers spilling out of planters and over walls everywhere. Insect song, drowned by the sounds of commerce by day, reminded her that life in this latitude found its way into every crack and crevice man had not covered in concrete.
Mae was tired, but she wasn't ready to sleep. A chef's life means nighttime hours are energetic hours. When a chef closes the restaurant for the night there are still miles to go before she sleeps. Kitchen energy is like theater and it takes some time for the adrenaline of the 'show' to subside. So Mae used the late night hours to think and relax and plan for the next day. She particularly enjoyed the deserted gardens of the Elysium at those hours when you could hear the tinkling of the waterfall at the pool and smell the night flowers sprinkled through the landscape.