Free Into the Fire by Amanda Usen Page A

perfect.
    She heard the back door open and a few seconds later, a stunning forty-something woman with riotous salt-and-pepper curls and warm brown eyes walked into the kitchen. Her chef coat was slung over her arm and her black t-shirt proclaimed her love of heavy metal music.
    “Lila, this is my pastry chef, Emily.” They shook hands. “Lila is…” This was going to be fascinating. How was Jack going to explain her presence to his staff without damaging his enormous ego? She raised an eyebrow and smiled, waiting.
    “Lila is our secret weapon. She’s a wizard with flavor. I want her to put her creative spin on the Inferno menu before we open. Please treat her as you would my partner. Anything she says goes.”
    Lila had to lock her jaws together to keep her mouth from falling open. She had expected Jack to treat her as his underling, and he’d just given her the key to the kitchen. She hoped her smile looked confident, not terrified.
    “You got it, boss.” The older woman smiled. “Welcome to Inferno.”
    Jack motioned toward the back. “Why don’t you two get acquainted in the bakeshop, and I’ll introduce Lila to the rest of the guys when everyone is here?”
    Lila nodded and followed Emily around the corner into the small bakeshop. Lila had already been through her cooler and tasted everything, a fact Emily wouldn’t be able to miss, since there was one bite out of every dessert except the chocolate cake. Lila had eaten most of a piece of the airy, flourless confection topped with whipped cream.
    “Sorry about that,” Lila said, pointing to the nibbled on desserts.
    Emily shrugged. “Either you eat them, the jackals on the line get ‘em, or we take it all down to the mission. A chocolate lover, huh?” Her smile was genuine.
    Lila smiled back. “Guilty.”
    “Me, too.”
    “I can tell.” The desserts were heavy on the chocolate, but Lila wasn’t going to start making suggestions until she got a feel for the dynamic in the kitchen. For all she knew everyone was going to hate her. Even with Jack’s clear support, this could be more difficult than she had imagined.
    “So, how long have you known Jack?” Emily asked. She looked up to find the pastry chef giving her a grin that could only be described as naughty.
    “Excuse me?”
    “When I walked in, you two were standing awfully close to one another. Jack keeps his distance, so what’s the story? You two go way back or what?” Her chocolate brown eyes gleamed with curiosity.
    “I…uh…” Lila had clearly been working in the kitchen by herself for too long. She’d forgotten that gossip was the rule, not the exception. Her natural tendency toward honesty was not going to serve her well here. “We went to culinary school together,” she finally said.
    Emily nodded slowly. “Interesting. I wouldn’t have ever thought Jack would hand over control of his kitchen to anyone.”
    Lila blinked hard and took a deep breath, fighting her memories of Jack losing control on top of her…beneath her…behind her. She felt her cheeks heat and knew she had given herself away when Emily chuckled.
    “Very interesting.” Emily tossed her backpack under the table and shrugged into her chef coat. After it was buttoned, she twirled her hair into a tight bun, washed her hands, and tugged a clipboard down from a shelf.
    Lila surveyed the rest of the room, noticing the bakeshop equipment was brand new and top-of-the-line. In fact, the entire Inferno kitchen was amazing, clean, well-equipped, with plenty of refrigeration and ample storage. She thought of the tiny kitchen at Personal Chef and anger burned inside her. Yes, it must be fun to be Jack, with an unlimited budget to open his new restaurant. Jack, who only had to open his checkbook to get what he wanted. Jack, who stole what he wanted if he couldn’t buy it.
    She picked up a balloon whisk so delicate it could only have one purpose, to whisk egg whites, and gave it an experimental twirl. Her soufflés