For Your Dining Pleasure

"What about your straps?"

"I'm not touching those," she said tersely, "And you're not going to either, okay?"

Andres shrugged and smiled. As he rubbed the lotion in his palms, he admired her smooth back. Sitting up like this, he could see that the slope of the small of her back had a particularly pronounced curvature leading to a lovely backside. The chef looked quite appetizing out of her cooking garb. Just as his hands were an inch away from her shoulders, Teaghan cocked her head around and eyed him. "Just smooth it on, alright? Don't try to pull any deep massage crap," she warned him.

Andres raised his hands up innocently. "What am I gonna do?" he shrugged.

She raised her brow towards him, clearly serious.

He shook his head and chuckled. For someone who had secretly slipped him a laxative the night before, she certainly was lippy towards him. He enjoyed her feistiness.

Finally able to gently place his hands onto her skin, he moved the cool, creamy lotion around, warming it with his palms His hands were surprisingly soft, she thought as she felt them slide around her back. With the sweet aroma of the lotion floating in the air, she relaxed and closed her eyes.

"So what's your story?" she heard him ask from behind.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Your background is obviously a mix. Oriental features, brunette hair, fair skinned, British accent...your name? Teaghan Luang?"

He could feel her body shift slightly. This had probably come up before. Teaghan had the crescent shaped eyes of an Asian, accentuated by high cheek bones, but they lacked the smooth eyelid and were a bit wider and a brighter shade of brown. Her hair, long and slightly wavy, also was more a natural chestnut brunette rather than black. Her skin was fair, a milky honey-beige. She was tall, about five foot seven or eight. And she did have a hint of a lilting accent when she spoke.

For a moment, Teaghan didn't say anything then she took a deep breath and said, "My father is Thai, my mother Welsh. He met her when he lived in England while working. I was born in London, moved to Canada when I was 12. Out of high school, I took 4 years of culinary classes in California and Paris then apprenticed in Florence for two years and was a sous chef in London for another. A former teacher in California recommended me to your grandparents, so I'm back here."

Her voice was monotone, very matter-of-fact.

She added, "I'm very serious about what I do."

Andres lowered his hands and leaned back. "That's fine," he said, "I'm not asking for your resume. You already have the job!"

Teaghan glanced back at him.

"I'm done," he said slapping his hands, "You're covered. That'll be 10 bucks."

She lowered her hair and moved to pick up her book.

"Hey, come on, Tigger," he chided, "Why are you always so grumpy? Lighten up and have some fun!"

"I'm not here to have fun," she said, "I'm here to WORK."

He nodded and opened his mouth but she went on.

"I'm said that I'm very serious about what I do and I don't think you understand that." Andres raised his hands, pumping them slowly towards her. "Okay! Okay!" he said, "Back down a bit. You're a good cook. I get it."

"I'm a CHEF," she said sniped. Now Andres was starting to get a little annoyed.

Before the poolside could erupt with the sounds of a full blown argument, however. Mr. & Mrs.Nikolaou strolled around a corner and waved at them. Andres and Teaghan glanced at each other acknowledging a silent truce.

"Been out for a stroll, Poppa?" Andres asked, his body relaxing.

"Just out checking on your Yaya's perennials in the garden," he said.

The couple sat with them by the pool and told them of their plans to go to San Francisco for the weekend. They invited Andres along.

"No, it's okay. I think I'll just take it easy around here," he said. He was looking at Teaghan when he added, "But while you're away, would it be okay if I invited a few friends over for a small party?"

His grandparents, of course, thought it was a great idea.

"We'll give you the names of some caterers," he replied, "Do it up however you want."

"Thanks a lot, Poppa," Andre glowed, "Let's do that!"

Teaghan turned her head away and widened her eyes. The excess lavished on this guy was beyond her realm of sanity. Then again, it was probably a good idea that his little shindig was catered. God forbid that the annoying man even suggest-

"And I was hoping Teaghan wouldn't mind making some of her special Kobe beef burgers," Andre chimed in.

The woman winced and blinked. She turned to him, a deep frown over her dark brown eyes. "What the fu-..." she sputtered as she over at Mr. & Mrs Nikolaou sitting beside their prized grandson. He flashed his sparkling teeth. She swallowed hard then said, "Um. Oh I don't think your guests would want just simple burgers for this type of party."

"Teaghan, dear, I'm sure your burgers are wonderful just like all of your fabulous foods," Mrs.Nikolaou enthused, a gentle, encouraging smile on her face. God bless her.

"She's absolutely right. That red sauce of yours was spectacular, Tigger!" Andre said, smirking at her.

Vindictive bastard.

Flustered, Teaghan stuttered through a twitching grin, "Bu-But, I'm not sure I'd feel so comfortable cooking at the barbecue with all those people around."

"Well, how about you use the one at the guest cottage?" Mr.Nikolaou offered, "It's a full size grill and we can ask that the waiters come and get them whenever you're ready. Of course, we'd compensate you with a little bonus for all the extra work."

"Besides," Andres added, "I wouldn't want the smell of smoke all over my guests anyway."

His blue eyes twinkled as he spoke. Teaghan mentally stabbed them out of his head with a spoon as she stared at him. Her eyes tethered to his, she spoke with a low, steady voice, "You know there's nothing really that complex about these burgers. Mix some fresh spices with meat. It's not that difficult. I'm sure your grandson has had a lot experience handling his own meat."

Andres blinked. The look on her smooth-angled face was like a wicked storm over the horizon.

"Just squeeze it and pull it and knead the meat with your hands," she continued, the words slipping through her clenched teeth, "You can even BEAT IT if you want to."

The young man leaned back in his seat a bit. He wasn't sure if it was the sun on his bare back but he was suddenly feeling really hot.

Mrs.Nikolaou laughed, "Oh no! Andres is terrible in the kitchen! I would never let him near raw meat let alone handle it that way."

Andres snapped out of his funk, choking on a chuckle surging up from his gut. Teaghan's mouth dropped along with her heart as she stared at Mrs.Nikolaou, dumbfounded.

"But you know," the elderly lady said leaning to face her husband, "That's not a bad idea. Maybe Teaghan could give Andres some cooking lessons."

His face was red and he could barely stifle the laughter in his throat as he snickered, "Yeah, that'd be great. You can give me lessons on how to work with my meat."

The grandparents and grandson all laughed now. Despite being in the sun, Teaghan was sure she was growing pale as the seconds passed. What was with these people?

"Ah, but then we'd have to give the young lady even more of a bonus," Mr.Nikolaou said, innocently, "If we pay her too much, she'll have enough to leave us and start that restaurant in no time! And we can't let go of such a lovely and talented young woman so soon!"

"No we certainly can't have that," Andres concurred with a smug voice. He tapped the stunned young woman on her bare shoulder and said, "We'll need enough for about 70 to 80 people. I'm sure you can handle it. You're here to work, right?"

He stood up and walked away along with his grandparents, around the pool and up the steps to the house leaving the young chef seated on her lounge-chair staring out at nothing. As he reached the top of the stairs, he glanced back at her. She still hadn't moved. He stopped and blinked. That haughty feeling he was enjoying suddenly tempered by unfamiliar compassion for the woman with long brunette hair and almond eyes. Deeper down, he knew there was something else he was feeling.

It hadn't just been the sun that made him so hot moments before.

***************

"Bastard!" Teaghan spat at her pastry on the coffee table.

Suzanne laughed, "It's just a poor mille-feuille, for God's sake! Don't take your frustrations out on it."

Teaghan held her breath, closed her eyes, then exhaled. She imagined the tension escaping her body. "Sorry! I'm sorry. I don't mean to spend all of my time complaining to you," she said to her friend. Then she tapped her fork on the sweet pastry on her plate, "And I certainly don't mean to take it on YOU, sweet thing."

She had been looking forward to this day off, spending time knocking around town with her friend. Managing to hold her tongue all afternoon as they went boutique shopping, she finally let loose when they had stopped in a little coffee shop. The thought she would have to be making enough burgers to feed 80 in a couple of days was eating at her specifically. Andres was always an annoying thought in her head in general. She stabbed at her pastry and stuffed a hunk of it in her mouth.

"This guy is really getting to you, isn't he?" Suzanne sympathized after her friend had gone on for over 10 minutes explaining what she was going through and associating this guy Andres with every form of rodent from a pygmy mouse to giant capybara. "What exactly is his problem?"

"I don't know!" Teaghan exclaimed, waving her fork around, "He's arrogant! He's spoiled! He's bored! He can't tell hamburger from soy paste! He's-"

Her tirade was interrupted by the ring of her cell phone. Flipping it open, she looked at the screen. Her face immediately turned sour. "What the hell is this?"

Suzanne swallowed her coffee and asked, "What? What?"

Teaghan held up her phone. On the little screen was a picture of Andres, a full-on leering grin on his face.

Suzanne's mouth gaped. "Holy shit. He's a cutie!"

Teaghan ignored her and firmly pushed the "receive" button. "Why did you touch my phone?" she snapped into the handset.

Suzanne flinched, realizing her friend meant business.

"I MEAN, what is your stupid face doing on my phone?" she repeated. "When did...what? Wait, what? What olives? What do you mean?"

She screwed up her face and looked at Suzanne. Her friend leaned back in her chair.

"You've got a pantry full of olives! You're a fucking GREEK for Christ's sake!" she continued with vehemence, "Yes, I can swear at you now because it's my DAY OFF! No! I'm not going grocery shopping for you! I don't care! Are you listening...hey! Will you...NO...don't hang up! Don't you freaking dare hang up you..."

Suddenly, Teaghan was motionless in her chair, an eerie serenity settling on her face.

"Um...how's the Greek Tycoon?" Suzanne eked.

The irked chef calmly lowered her phone from her ear and closed it. The fine line of her lips was puckered as if she'd been sucking on a lemon. Dropping her phone in her bag, she pushed her chair back and stood up from the table. Her brow twitched sharply upward as she growled, "I have to go find him some fucking olives."

******************

Teaghan had been prepping the whole afternoon, hours before the first guest had even arrived. Burgers were easy to make - when you were making a half dozen or so. To make enough for roughly 80 people though, took a bit more time. Guessing what Andres' friends were like, the Kobe beef burgers were likely going to end up being used as clay pigeons before the night was over. She probably could have bought them from McDonald's and no one would know the difference. Except SHE would know the difference, and dammit, her professionalism and pride as a chef would never allow anything less than her best effort.

She'd make the best goddamn Kobe burgers that the world has tasted, so good that Japanese cows would be lining up to give up their flesh for the cause.

Then she'd pray that Andres choked on them.

She had decided to make extra large patties and set each on an oversized slice of fresh baked egg-bread. After topping each with fresh garnish, fried onion straws and a special garlic and roasted red pepper mayonnaise, she simply cut the giant burgers into quarters. In no time, 25 burgers became 100. Stepping back from her preparation table on the cottage deck, she admired her work. Not bad, though it still took a helluva lot of time.

From the deck, she could hear loud music and conversation coming from the poolside. She checked her watch. Now where the hell were those waiters?

*************

Andres made he was through his guests crowding the pool and garden. He looked the part of the Golden Boy: beaming smile, slick clothes, not a care in the world. His friends were in good spirits, the women were hot and willing, and the booze was flowing freely. Everything was going great when he felt a pointed jab into his back.

Turning around, he looked into the face of someone not having a good time. Her white tunic looked completely out of place amongst the glitzier, richer fashions swirling around them. Her naturally pretty face looked stern, as twisted as the tight pretzel ponytail she had tied her hair into.

"Hey, Tigger!" he said, "What brings you by?"

"Where are the waiters?!" she snapped.

Andres looked left and right and waved his hand around. "They're...somewhere. After they brought out the food, I told them to kick back and join us."

She watched him take a sip from the glass in his hand. When she realized that was the end of his answer, she blinked then said, "They haven't served ALL of the food! There are still 100 burgers sitting on the deck back at the guest house! 100! Remember? Some dip-shit asked me to spend the whole day making them!"

"Oh yeah," he nodded unfazed, "That's right. Okay, I'll find the waiters and send them over."

His casual response nearly sent her into conniptions. Her mouth gaped but she only croaked out inaudible noises.

Andres thought to himself just how amusing and cute she looked right then. He of course knew where the waiters were. He just really enjoyed seeing the pretty chef get all wound up. It took everything he had not to just reach out and hug the anger out of her.

"Hey, hey, Andres! Who is this lovely bundle of sweetness?" Remy, one of his guests, interrupted their momentary stare down.

Teaghan shirked back a bit. She eyed him through her glasses. The tall man with the clean shaven head, sharp smile and sharper red silk shirt sidled up to her. He wore a heavy cologne that lit up her sensitive nose. "You gonna do the introductions, Andre?" Remy asked, his eyes fixed and narrowing on her.

Andres hesitated then said, "Uh, Remy, this is our live in chef, Teaghan." His voice had immediately softened seeing the man brush up close to her.

"Live in chef, eh?" Remy continued to fix his gaze on her, "Well, my compliments to the chef. No wonder the food tonight is so delectable."

Andres shifted on his feet. He knew Remy, but they weren't exactly friends. The leering man probably caught wind of the party and accompanied one of Andres' friends or colleagues. The man trolled these events mainly to score some tail.

"How did you come up with such cool recipes?" Remy oozed on, his eyes always on her, looking her over, "Maybe you could should me your technique first hand in the kitchen."

He was laying it on thick but he certainly wasn't an unattractive man, Teaghan thought, barring the cologne. She smiled at him, "My food hasn't been served. The food I prepared is still back at the guest house waiting for someone to come serve it!"

"Well, by all means," Remy said, putting his glass down and placing his hand on her back, "Allow me to be of some help."

Andres frowned and started to say something.

"Well, that'd be really nice of you," Teaghan remarked. Andres' annoyance hadn't gone by her unnoticed.

"That's not necessary," Andres spoke up, "I'll send the waiters right now." Teaghan grinned, satisfied. "Thank-you."

As she turned to leave, Remy took her by the wrist. He said, "So since you're done with your work tonight, why don't you join us?"

"Teaghan doesn't like things like parties or having fun," Andres remarked quickly, "She just likes to cook."

She glared at him. Forcing a tight smile she placed her hand on Remy's chest and said, "That sounds like a great idea. But only if my 'employer' lets me though."

They both looked at Andres. He grudgingly shrugged, "I don't care. Do whatever you want."

"Then I'll just go change into something more appropriate," she chirped, winking at Remy, "Give me 15 minutes then maybe you can teach me how to have some 'fun'."

As she slipped away through the party, Remy nudged Andres in the arm. He grinned hardly controlling his excitement, "You know, I never thought a straight white coat could be so goddamn sexy. Wish I could just unwrap her like that. She's just gotta be packing something tasty under there, huh?"

His eyes staying on the fiery chef as she made her way down the steps to the garden, Andres said nothing and simply walked away from Remy.

She was halfway to the guest house when she heard her name called.

"Teaghan!"

The woman turned. In the darkly lit garden, Andres came around a hedge. Teaghan crossed her arms as he approached her.

"You don't have to come," he said.

"I think I'd like to join the party," she replied, "Besides your friend is kind of cute."

He shook his head. "There's nothing 'cute' about that guy. He doesn't want to do 'cute' things with you."

"Even better," she shrugged.

"What's gotten into you?!"

"Maybe I want to do this! Maybe I need to feel appreciated!"

"Oh yeah? That Remy will make you feel REALLY appreciated when he's screwing you in the backseat of his car," Andres scoffed. He was fully aware of how quickly this had gotten under his skin but somehow he couldn't help it.

Teaghan waved her hands in the air as if fanning his flames. Her English accent began to flare again, "You're the one who told me to have fun! I plan on having some! Or are you just so upset that you might not be able to fuck your personal chef before one of your friends does?"

She blinked at him. The explicitness of her own words shocked herself. She had no idea where that had come from, didn't realize how much raging emotion she had built up inside of her. Her words had the same effect on Andres.

He dragged both of his hands through his hair. He wanted to scream. Starting with a low growl then raising his voice he yelled, "I told you to relax. I didn't tell you to jump into bed with an asshole and get yourself fucked like a goddamn whore!"

Her hand came across his face in a flash and painted a red streak on his cheek. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. Her mouth opened and closed slightly but she said nothing. They just stared at each other in the darkness.

"Ahem." Behind Andres, three waiters stood nervously by the hedge. "We-uh-we're to serve some trays of food waiting at the guest house?"

The uneasy silence persisted for another half minute, both Andres and Teaghan breathing hard. With a frown, he beckoned the waiters to walk by. He stared at the ground, feeling the woman's cool eyes on him.

"I'll be there in 15 minutes," she said with a defiant look.

The two parted without another word.

****************

Andres wasn't enjoying his party anymore. Slinky, willing women would crowd around him and he'd just push past them and walk away. His friends would start talking with him and his head wasn't there, muttering responses that had nothing to do with the conversation and staring off into a corner. The only thing he was interested in doing right now was drink hard and heavy. As he downed his drinks, he glared towards the other side of the pool at a couple of people standing on the upper level garden balcony. One of them was the pretty Thai-Welsh chef, now dressed in evening attire, backing up against the marble railing. The other was a party guest he didn't actually invite himself leaning very closely to the woman, one hand on the railing just barely brushing her hip.