Bombshell for the Boss

“I know. But sweetie, setting yourself up for heartbreak isn’t the smartest thing you’ve ever done.”

“True. But honestly, if there is no happy ending here, at least I had this time with him.”

“It won’t be enough.”

Sadie set the bottle down. “It’ll have to be.”

* * *

Gabriel watched as the chef made up the samples that they’d present to Ethan.

Making fine chocolates was more a science than an art, though most people didn’t realize it. Of course, there was plenty of art involved, as well.

Tempering the chocolate itself to the right temperature, where it would set up glossy and hard enough to snap when you bit into it. Mixing the ganache to the perfect texture before infusing it with the flavors Gabriel was hoping would convince Ethan to open his mind and try something new. Once the ganache was ready, the truffles and other assorted fillings had to be hand rolled into a uniform size and perfectly rounded or squared. Sometimes they used molds to get the right shapes, but here, in this rented kitchen, Jeff Garrett would be rolling the chocolates by hand.

As an assistant chef at Heart, Jeff was talented and eager to move up the ladder. Tonight was his chance at excellence, as well as Gabe’s. Jeff already had the chocolates—milk, white and dark—tempered and waiting. The cold marble slab held rows of perfectly rounded truffles and ganache and were just waiting for Jeff to hand dip them and then stamp and decorate. Now that most of the basics were done, the chef as artist would take over. With talent and style, a good chocolate chef would make his creations shine like jewels.

“It smells great in here, doesn’t it?” Gabe murmured, not wanting to disturb Jeff as he mixed the last of the spices into the final ganache.

“It does,” Pam whispered, her gaze never leaving the chef and the chocolates laid out on the marble slab in front of him. “Do you still have the recipe with you?” she asked. “Just in case he has to start over, I mean.”

“Don’t even say it.” Gabe shuddered and checked his watch. “Jeff’s already been at it for hours. If we have to start over...”

“But the recipe’s safe, right?”

He looked at her. “Yeah. Of course. Don’t worry so much.”

“I just...know how much this means to you, that’s all.” Pam watched as Jeff used a candy fork to hand dip a lavender truffle into the white chocolate melt. He carefully lifted it out, laid it on the cool marble, then swirled the chocolate on top by twisting the candy fork over it. He did the same with five more truffles until he had a tidy row laid out.

On another slab were pieces of what would be dark chocolate raspberry coconut bark drizzled with white chocolate.

Earl Grey tea truffles coated in cocoa powder were resting alongside white chocolate lemon blackberry bonbons. The last offering was a dark chocolate ganache infused with Sumatran coffee—Ethan’s favorite—and orange liqueur.

The samples were flavorful and beautiful, as Jeff concentrated now on decorating each piece until it shone.

“The chef I was going to have you use would have made the bark white chocolate with dark chocolate drizzle. To showcase the red of the raspberry.” Pam sniffed a little.

Gabe slanted her a puzzled look. “Jeff’s creations look perfect.”

“Oh, they’re very nice.” She shrugged. “I just think a more experienced chef might have done an even better job.”

Okay, he thought, she’d been a little off ever since their first fight about the chef and she was still off tonight. Not really angry, but not herself, either. He’d wanted her there with him because it had really all started out as Pam’s idea. The two of them together, facing down Ethan. But ever since Gabe had decided to use Jeff, Pam had been...different.

“What’s going on with you, Pam?” Gabe asked. “Jeff studied with master chocolatiers in Belgium. He’s been with Heart Chocolates for four years. He’s worked his way up to being an assistant chef and he wants this almost as badly as I do.”

“All true,” she said with a shrug, “but you never even gave my guy a tryout.”

“I didn’t need to,” he said, impatient now. After all, this might have started out as her idea, but this was his life. His company. She didn’t have a horse in the race, so she had nothing to lose.