Hungry for You Read Online Free PDF Page A

wasn’t up to scratch, she would have to cook here herself tonight, which meant she couldn’t see to the things she needed to do to get the larger restaurant opened on time at the new location.
    Why on earth had she set herself up for this hell? Alex wondered miserably. It had seemed such a simple and easy plan at the time. This restaurant had been going like gangbusters, always full, the money rolling in. She’d been the fat, happy cat enjoying the cream of her success … and then some little devil had whispered in her ear that she should expand and, like an idiot, she’d rushed impulsively forward with the idea.
    Originally, Alex had hoped to purchase the storefront next door and simply knock down the wall between and make this restaurant larger. But then she’d realized it meant canceling several bookings to get the work done, and then someone suggested simply opening another restaurant at the other end of the city. She might bring in a whole new clientele.
    With visions of a chain of La Bonne Vie restaurants dancing through her head, Alex had set out to find the perfect building in the perfect location. Then she’d settled down to decorate and market the opening of the second La Bonne Vie. Everything had gone smoothly at first, and then bad luck had begun to plague her. The perfect spot had been an old Victorian house at the edge of a busy shopping area. It was newly renovated, charming, and perfect—until an electrical firehad broken out late one night shortly after she’d started decorating it.
    Fortunately, Alex had already had an alarm system put in, and the fire department had gotten there quickly. Unfortunately, while the fire itself hadn’t spread far, there had been smoke damage throughout the entire building. Suddenly, instead of some light redecorating, Alex had found herself faced with the necessity of gutting the interior and fully restoring it.
    Her luck hadn’t gotten any better from there. The last few months had been spent putting out fires of a different sort: chasing down shipments that were delayed or just seemed to have disappeared, workmen who suddenly quit or simply didn’t show up, orders that had somehow gotten confused so that the wrong products arrived. In a couple of instances, the workmen had started to install the wrong items before she got there, and the companies refused to reimburse her for “used” products.
    Soon the money had started to run out, and she’d had to dig into her private savings. That was when Alex had begun to panic. With the opening date already set and promoted, she’d fired the project manager who had been overseeing the redecorating and promoted Peter from sous-chef to head chef at the original La Bonne Vie, so that she could be on site at the new building all the time to ensure that there were no more foul-ups … which had apparently convinced the little weasel that he was a world-class chef worthy of scads of money.
    “The ass,” she muttered to herself, her glance sliding unhappily to the clock on the wall. Dinner bookings started at five, and it was nearly that now. If Sam’schef didn’t show up, she’d have to start cooking herself. Not that she minded. Cooking was Alex’s first love, all she’d ever wanted to do. It had been a terrible wrench to her when she’d had to pass the head-chef hat to Peter so that she could oversee the renovations at the new restaurant. But she’d had no choice.
    Normally, Alex wouldn’t even have been here today when Peter arrived with his announcement. She’d only popped by the restaurant to check on things and grab some paperwork she was hoping to go over later tonight. Her intention had been to head back over to the new restaurant in time for the delivery of paint the painters were supposed to get on the walls before the diningroom tables and chairs arrived tomorrow. At least that had been the plan before Peter had turned up with his announcement that he’d been offered that ridiculous sum of money to go