Sweet Tarte – Sweet Enough to Eat

8

Dimitri

“IS EVERYTHING SET UP for later? My plans have been followed to the letter?”

My housekeeper and secretary sighs down the phone. She’s been with me for years and is the only person in this world that can get away with something like that. Truth is, she’s more like a mother or a big sister to me than an employee. “Dimitri, when I say something is done, it’s done. I do not accept anything less than perfection, you know that.”

It’s true. If anything, Sarah is more focused on the details than I am. She’s never married, not that there haven’t been plenty of suitors. She’s looking for the one person who can match up to her exacting standards, and I get it.

“I trust you, but this is extra important.”

“And if it’s important to you, it’s important to me. The accountant, however, has questioned the sanity—”

“Fuck him,” I snap. “If he wants to question my decisions, he can find himself a new job.”

Sarah laughs. “He’s doing his job, Dimitri. He hasn’t seen how distracted you’ve been over this girl.”

It’s true. I cannot get her out of my fucking mind.

The last couple of days, my dick hasn’t known what to do with itself. Half the time I’ve been walking around with a permanent hard-on, just thinking about Victoria, the rest of the time I’ve been putting things into place for the two of us.

And dealing with disgruntled staff members who decide to gossip about me behind my back. I can only imagine what she thought when she overheard a conversation about me being a womanizer. I mean, nothing could be further from the truth, but my job does require me to entertain the high rollers and well-known faces of this world. Sometimes they’re women. All of them know that there’s never going to be anything more than friendly conversation on the cards.

But that doesn’t stop the gossip.

“Well, you deal with him. Tell him any more talk of my sanity and he can find himself another job.”

“I’ll make it a priority.”

“Good. That’s priority number two though. Priority number one is looking for a place for Victoria’s family.”

“I’m already on it. You said she has five younger brothers? There’s a street not far from hers, a much nicer neighbourhood with better access routes. Houses aren’t cheap, but a six bedroom is available.”

“Perfect. Buy it.”

When my private detective told me where she lived, I went over there just to watch her. The place is a hellhole, but that’s not their fault. As far as I can tell, her mom and brothers all love each other. They keep their place clean, but it’s not a safe neighbourhood and there’s work that needs to be done by the landlord.

Well, let me tell you who the fucking landlord is.

Yeah, that fucking doctor that brought her to my restaurant also owns her ass. No wonder she felt she had to spend time with him, she was probably scared she and her family were going to lose their home.

Well, not on my watch.

I bought the place across the road from her, using a couple of shell companies to hide the purchase from the doctor, who seems to own all the property around there, and installed a sophisticated camera system so that I could keep an eye on her all the time, watching her comings and goings, then I really went to work.

Turns out, Victoria is studying catering at the local community college, and no wonder she had such an eye for what worked and what didn’t when she came to my restaurant. I went there, only to find out she’d been kicked off her course for not keeping up with the written portion. Such bullshit. One of the teachers, James Dudley, saw me fuming at the admissions tutor and called me over. We got chatting and came up with a plan of action.

Well, now that plan is coming to fruition.

“Consider it done. Is there anything else?”

“No, that’s all. I’ll call you later when we’re on our way home.”

I end the call with Sarah just as the maître d’ arrives at my table. “Good evening, sir, can I say what an absolute pleasure it is to have you with us tonight?”

He is fawning, but I get it. It’s their opening night and they have a lot of guests here, but none that can do so much to make or break their reputation as I can. I’ve already greeted a few celebrities I know, film stars and politicians, and there are gaudy displays of opulence on every table, but I don’t care about them. All I care about is her.

My Victoria.

“I always like to check out the competition,” I say with a smile, and notice a slight moment of hesitation cross his face. “That was a joke. I’m hoping this place does well. It has the potential.”