Page 22 of A Billionaire for Christmas

She hoped he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it.

Otherwise, she’d have to admit it was vanilla pudding.

‘I’m sure you have some weird kinks of your own.

’ She busied herself wiping down the bench, pulling out salad from the box and rinsing it.

‘I have a lot to do. Did you want something in particular?’

‘No. I just thought I’d find out a bit more about you.’

Molly inwardly groaned. That was all she needed. ‘Sorry. Nothing to tell.’

Lucca grinned as though he didn’t believe her. ‘Well, I’ll look forward to getting to know you better. I’ll be here for the whole week. Who knows what could happen?’

Wow. Molly’s eyes widened. Lucca was clearly coming on to her. He’d only been in the house an hour.

Lucca seemed to hang around, waiting for a response. Molly stopped what she was doing to face him. ‘Me. I know what will happen. Nothing.’

He laughed. ‘Funny.’

‘Not particularly.’

‘We’ll see.’

‘No, we won’t,’ Molly said firmly. He may be as handsome as his brother, but Lucca was already beginning to get on her nerves. Out of her peripheral vision she saw Levi crossing the lounge towards them.

‘Lucca!’ he barked. ‘Leave her alone.’

Lucca threw his head back and laughed. ‘I’m not doing anything. You’ve both said nothing is going on between you. We’re all adults. I’m just being friendly.’ He winked at Molly.

‘Well, be friendly with someone else,’ said Levi through gritted teeth. ‘Molly is an employee of mine. Show some respect.’

Molly thought that that was a bit rich all things considered, but it was Lucca who was quick to take him down. ‘The kind of respect you’ve been showing her?’

Touché.

‘That’s enough. I don’t want to argue.’ Levi regarded his brother. Both men were the same height but there was something about his confident air that gave Levi the edge.

‘We wouldn’t know how else to talk to each other,’ Lucca replied cockily. ‘Molly, apologies if I overstepped. I will leave you two to pretending that nothing is going on between you.’

As he sauntered off, Levi and Molly stood in uneasy silence.

‘Sorry about him,’ Levi said.

‘From what I’ve seen, you’re both as bad as each other.’ Molly was still irked at the way Levi had so casually dismissed her earlier.

‘Meaning?’

‘One minute you’re all over me, and the next you’re treating me like I’m the hired help.’

‘You literally are the hired help.’

Molly was finding his regular and maddeningly accurate observations increasingly annoying. ‘Yes. How could I forget? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have meals to prepare.’

Levi stiffened. ‘Don’t feel you have to join us for dinner.’

‘Happy not to.’

‘We’ll just help ourselves.’

‘Isn’t that what you usually do?’

Levi raised his eyebrows, but Molly was already slamming kitchen cupboard doors and drawers. She heard him say something like ‘try not to be so puerile’ before he left.

* * *

Hours later, Molly risked going back to the kitchen to fix herself some supper.

She’d left everything warming in the ovens and hoped that the two men had left her something to eat.

She opened the oven door to find a full rack of roasted lamb and vegetables.

But… if they hadn’t eaten that… Molly quickly checked the smaller oven to see that her meat face was gone.

‘I’d heard that the resort had an innovative new chef, but that was quite something,’ said Lucca, standing in front of her with an empty plate.

‘And while I appreciated the irony of you quite literally serving yourself up on a platter, I’m not sure my brother did.

Although, to be fair it did look remarkably like you. ’

Oh, dear. There you go, Levi, you handsome bugger. Resentment on a plate. Enjoy!

Molly tried to picture Levi tucking in as he stared down at her image, made entirely of squashed sausage.

‘By the way, great idea to use red pepper for the lips and sprouts for your hazel eyes. Very tasty. Quite delicious.’

‘That was not meant for you.’ She grabbed some oven gloves and bent down to retrieve the slow-roasted lamb.

She put the heavy dish on the bench. The aromas filled the kitchen.

She placed the rack of roasted vegetables beside it.

‘ This was what was on the menu. Did you at least find the dessert I left for you?’

Lucca shook his head.

This was on her. She should have risen above it and served dinner properly. ‘Apologies. I wouldn’t normally abandon my post. Can I get you some dessert now? If it’s not too late?’

Lucca’s face lit up. ‘Absolutely. I’ll get some wine from the cellar. What dessert is it?’

‘It’s a kind of layered caramel turtle cheesecake with pistachio and kunafa.’ Unsurprisingly, she’d gone off the idea of making the panna cotta slippery nipple.

‘Wow. Sounds great. I’ll be back in a minute. You dish up. Get two glasses. I know just the wine to go with it.’

Lucca dashed off, leaving Molly in a bit of a flap.

Did this mean Lucca and Levi would be eating dessert, and she would be serving them?

She grabbed her apron and quickly got the cream from the fridge to whisk up.

She would grate a vanilla pod lightly into it.

She needed to quickly make some caramel crunch for decoration.

Like lightning, she added brown sugar to a pan of melting butter.

‘Found it!’ Lucca said, brandishing a dusty bottle. ‘Whoa, that smells delicious. I’ll get the bowls, shall I?’

‘That’s okay. This will only take two minutes then I can set the table for you both.’

‘Both?’

‘You and Levi?’

When Lucca didn’t reply, Molly swivelled round to find him opening the wine. He poured two glasses and offered her one. ‘I thought we’d have dessert together. Get to know one another. Cheers.’

Molly felt rude not taking the glass and clinked it to his. ‘Oh, erm, thanks. That’s kind of you. I think.’

Lucca laughed. ‘We don’t all treat our staff like second-class citizens in this family. Unlike my brother, I’ve never been one to judge a book by its cover. I knew that behind that fabulously sexy burlesque costume there was a dowdy chef just screaming to be let out.’

Molly glanced down at her meat-stained apron and baggy sweatpants and let out a huff of laughter as she took a sip. She felt her tastebuds instantly zing.

‘Nice, isn’t it?’ Lucca said, turning the bottle over in his hand. ‘I’ve been dying to try this one. Come and sit down. Let’s finish the bottle.’

Alarm bells started ringing in her head. The last thing she needed was to get caught drunk on the job. ‘I’ll bring the cheesecake over.’

She finished whisking the cream and piped out the cooling caramel onto baking paper. She placed two generous slabs of sumptuous cheesecake onto plates and arranged the caramel crisps, dollops of cream and drizzled caramel, crisscrossing it carefully over the plate.

‘This looks very decadent,’ Lucca said as she placed the two plates down on the large table. He had increased the flames in the fire, lowered the lights and suddenly, she became aware of music softly playing. It was all very unnecessary. ‘Sit,’ he instructed.

Molly perched reluctantly on the chair opposite.

‘This is incredible,’ he said, spooning the creamy filling into his mouth. ‘The best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth. And that’s quite the compliment I assure you.’ He winked at her.

Molly had no words. She rose from her seat.

Lucca put his spoon down. ‘Sorry. I should have warned you. I’m a notorious flirt.’

‘So I see,’ Molly said, hovering by the table. ‘Is there any point in telling you you’re wasting your time? Or would you just carry on regardless?’

Lucca laughed good naturedly, holding up his hands in defeat. ‘Sit back down and tell me all about yourself,’ he said, his eyes twinkling.

Molly marvelled at how alike the brothers were. Very smooth. Very confident. Insanely handsome.

‘Thank you but I’d rather leave you and Levi to enjoy your dessert together.’ She swigged back the wine and placed the empty glass on the table.

‘I told you, he’s not coming.’ Lucca refilled the glass. ‘How long have you been in the employ of my emotionally repressed brother?’

She gingerly sat down. ‘I assume you’re the black sheep of the family?’

Lucca raised his glass. ‘Absolutely. How could you tell?’

They were interrupted by Levi walking towards them.

It was hard to tell what he was thinking.

He appeared void of emotion. ‘You two seem to be having a lovely evening,’ he said, a slight edge to his voice.

He picked up the dusty wine bottle. ‘I’m so glad you found something worth celebrating. ’ He put it down with a thump.

‘We’re celebrating this delicious melt-in-your-mouth slice of paradise,’ Lucca said, keeping his eyes trained on Molly. ‘Besides, wine is to be drunk, not collected. Would you like a glass?’

Something was clearly going on between the two brothers, yet Molly couldn’t help the feeling that she was going to come out worst.

Levi bristled. ‘No thanks. Enjoy your evening.’

Molly watched him walk away.

‘Ignore him,’ Lucca said. ‘He’s just pissed off that I opened the wine he was saving for Christmas Day to toast my sister’s impending nuptials.’

‘Don’t you have another bottle of it?’

Lucca burst out laughing. ‘Unfortunately not, no. It’s the last of its kind. It cost over seventy grand. Drink up.’

Molly stared at her glass and immediately lost her appetite.