Page 198 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

He looked at the little garnish of parsley. ‘It looks very nice,’ he said, then turned his plate and nodded.

He picked up a fork and sliced a piece of ravioli, then took a mouthful and tasted it as carefully as Gio would taste wine.

Susie almost wished he’d just dive in and declare it ‘nice’ or ‘awful’, as her ex had. But then she’d hated it when he did that.

Dante took his time.

‘Okay...’ he said at last, when he’d swallowed the first mouthful. And she knew he wasn’t saying that about her food.

He thought for a moment, and took another taste of her walnut sauce, before delivering his conclusion.

‘Tell Cucou that you want a trial.’ He looked right at her. ‘Demand it.’

‘I can’t demand it!’ She laughed away the very thought. ‘Is it nice, though?’

‘Susie, I was always going to be polite, no matter if it was nice or not. I was always going to say it was delicious, because I am polite and you cooked it. But this belongs in any top restaurant I have eaten in. I want to eat it all immediately. Even if you offered sex, right now on the table, I would want to finish my food first.’

‘Honestly?’

‘Offer me sex on the table and I’ll prove it.’

She laughed, and yet she felt close to crying. It was the first time someone had really, properly talked with her about her cooking.

‘Tell them you want a trial,’ he repeated.

‘I already have. They’re not interested. I don’t have experience... I can’t speak the language.’

‘Tell them foodisyour language, and then suggest they give you a chance or you’ll walk out.’

‘I need the job.’

‘Susie, they’re testing you. You have to be tough to survive in a kitchen like that. They would not have you preparing food for my grandfather if they didn’t think the world of you. He is a very well thought of man here.’

‘Yes...’

‘Stand up for yourself. You might find they are just waiting for you to do so.’

She’d never considered such a thing.

It was a gorgeous night.

‘I don’t know what was better,’ Dante said a whole lot later, as they lay there breathless and sated. ‘The food or the sex...’

Such a gorgeous night...

So much so she forgot to dread the morning.

Even as it arrived...

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘ILIKETHIS...’ Susie admitted.

‘What?’

‘Lying in bed talking...’

They hadn’t really slept, and now morning was creeping in. No beams of light, but she could see their hands knotted together on his stomach as she lay with her head on his chest. And as brilliant, as dazzling and as whirlwind as the weekend had been, and as fabulous as the sex was, it was these quiet moments, just talking, that she’d cherish deeply. It was where they were closest to one another, and the truth serum seemed to reach its peak dose around dawn...