Chapter 9

Grace

Daniel’s family consisted of the head chef, the sous-chef, two trainee chefs and three waiters; all men of varying ages and sizes. But what I did understand from the introduction was that none of them were Daniel’s blood relative, yet they were nothing less either.

George Vitale, the head chef, was a man in his early 50’s and had a short built and a bulging tummy. He also had salt and pepper hair cut close to his scalp and kind grey eyes. Then was the sous chef, who appeared to be in his late 40’s and very similar to George in height and appearance, was Mike Vitale, George’s younger brother. As for the helpers and the waiting staff, they were all part timers who had different day jobs but at the end of the day, came over to this restaurant at the end of the day where they were a close knit family. To Daniel these boys were his friends, brothers even. It was clear on their faced how excited they were to have Daniel here with them.

Daniel then introduced me to each member of his family, one by one. George and Mike pulled me into a bone crushing hug that reminded me of my brother. The waiting staff and helpers were all Daniel’s age-in their late twenties or early thirties-and they all welcomed me with teases and hugs, clearly excited that Daniel has brought ‘his girl’ to their domain.

While the introductions were going on, I saw Daniel whisper something to George and he nodded in excitement, pointing towards the kitchen and talking animated to his ‘son’. When almost everyone had gone back to their duties, or should I say scolded into going back, Daniel came back to my side and wrapped an arm around my waist.

“Aren’t we going to take a seat?” I asked him.

“Not here,” he answered with a smile that lit up his whole face. “There’s something I need to show you.”

Daniel led me towards the kitchen and as soon as we entered through the door, a gust of smoke and spice and deliciousness overpowered my senses and made me cough. I covered my nose as Daniel rubbed my back slowly and took me in another direction from where George and the rest of the staff were preparing some fantastic delicacies. We went out through what looked like a back door to the kitchen and entered a hallway which had a few doors on either side a flight of stairs at the very end. Daniel took me up those stairs and soon enough we were standing on an open roof where a small table for two had been prepared, most probably by Greg and Kenneth, two of the waiting staff, with the skyscrapers of Los Angeles as the background.

The table had been draped with a white table cloth and a small bouquet of red roses were placed at the centre. Two large candles provided a romantic feel to the atmosphere and it provided enough illumination so we could see what was on the table. A bottle of red wine was set to one side and two glasses were filled with it and there was also a plate of starters provided to accompany the wine. Daniel helped me into a chair and instead of sitting opposite from me; he brought his chair closer to mine and sat next to me, a most spectacular view of LA in front of us.

We took a few sips of the wine and Daniel fed me a cheese stick and a tomato, basil and mozzarella Bruschetta. “You know,” Daniel said into the comfortable silence. “When I was younger, I used to come up here every day and look at those huge buildings that touched the clouds and think to myself, ‘I’m gonna live there someday.’”

“And now you do,” I reminded him. Hell Hole wasn’t the only place Daniel owned, he also owned a restaurant at the Industrial section which was doing extremely well and he had even told me about his plans for an expansion. Daniel might not yet be a Billionaire, but he certainly had a five figure earning.

“Yes, that I do.” He sighed ruefully. “But I also found that living amid all those high rises and flashing lights can be a bit lonely.”

I didn’t say anything to him as he gazed at the LA skyline. Probably because there wasn’t anything I could say. Yes, I too was miles away from home, in a big city, trying to make a living, but I had Ken and Ty to keep me company. They never make me feel like I miss home, and in many ways they are way better t being my family than my parents ever were. It’s not that I don’t love my parents, I do, but it’s also because of them that I had lived a very sheltered life and had missed out on so much in my teenage years.

“Damn! And here I thought you two would be getting all down and dirty.”

We both turned towards the entrance to the roof to find Kevin, one of the kitchen help, bringing us two bowls of heaping spaghetti in what I could smell as a meat sauce.

“It’s not that easy to sneak up on me kiddo; if I were to get down and dirty, I’d have locked the door.” Daniel smirked at the younger man with dirt blonde hair and eyes of a lighter shade of brown. Clearly the men had some history since Kevin turned bright red as soon as Daniel spoke.

“Kevin had once sneaked in his high school girlfriend and they were in the middle of having sex when Damien and I found him in his room. Prick had forgotten to lock the door and my brother and I went in to investigate when we heard something crash in his room.” Daniel told me with a grin, after Kevin had placed the plates in front of us and made a hasty exit. “Turns out, the love birds had been wild enough to break the bed.”

“Who’s Damien?” I asked curiously. There hadn’t been any Damien when I’d been introduced to everyone downstairs.

“Ah, sorry. I forgot to properly introduce my family to you.” Daniel rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, the other thrown over the back of my chair. “Mike and George are actually my maternal uncles. My mother was their baby sister. Kevin is Mike’s son, but since he looks just like his mum, not many can make the resemblance. Uncle George has two daughters, both of whom are happily married with kids of their own. And Damien is my older brother. We’re two years apart and he’s a lawyer who now lives in New York. Both Damien and I’ve been living here with them ever since my mom and dad passed away in an accident.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I told him, placing my hand on his thigh. “How old were you?”

“I was seventeen, Damien was nineteen.” He told me, his blue eyes meeting mine and his accent thicker than I’d ever heard. “It’s a long time ago and George and Mike had always been with us since they passed away.”

I cupped his cheek with my free hand and bringing my face closer to his, placed a light kiss on his cheeks, careful not to smear too much lipstick onto his face. But then Daniel placed the hand he’d been resting at the back of my chair to my nape and turned in the kiss so that his lips would meet mine. I moaned into the kiss as his tongue swirled around my lips, inside my mouth while his hand massaged my nape. It wasn’t long before I felt his free hand trail up my thighs and vanish under my skirt. He pressed two fingers against my clit in bold possession and just like that I felt heat pooling between my legs. Gods! Why am I always so horny whenever I’m with this man?

But Daniel pulled his hands away from me and the kiss ended just as abruptly as it had started. I gasped in deep breaths, my lungs burning from the deprivation of oxygen while Daniel used that time to fix my hair and right my dress.

“Not here,” his voice was harsh, raspy. “I’ve already missed the chance to admire you properly. I need to do this properly tonight.”

“Yes.”

It’s hard to believe that we’ve only just met and I already feel like I would starve without his touch. Is this a momentary thing? Will this phase pass by soon and we’d both go back to our own worlds, never seeing each other again? Right now it hurts to even think about it. I really want this to last. I want to believe that I’ve finally found a man who would always cherish me, no matter what comes in our path. I want this sexy, intriguing man to be mine and mine alone. And I his.