HEAT Vol. 2 (Master Chefs: HEAT Series #2)

 HEAT (HEAT: Vol 2)

Published by Kailin Gow Books

And theEDGEbooks.com

Copyright © 2014 Kailin Gow

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To My
Readers, Betas, and Kailin Krusaders, Thank You for All Your Love, Support, and
Encouragement. You are truly one of the most important reasons why I’m blessed
beyond measure.

Prologue

Lilly

I
was older.  I was in a position of
authority.  I was responsible for my students.  I was his mentor.

I,
and I alone, should have known better.  I should have put a stop to it, but I
didn’t and now we were both going to face the consequences.

Shaken
and silent, we walked to Monsieur  Franchine’s office and held our breaths as
Bobby knocked on the door.

“
Oui
,”
came the sharp, biting invitation.

Bobby
opened the door and walked in, but when I followed him in, Monsieur  Franchine
glared at me.

“I’ll
see Monsieur  Cummings first.”

“Monsieur
Monsieur Franchines, please let me explain.  It is completely my…”

“I’ll
deal with you and your responsibility in all this after I’ve spoken to
Monsieur  Cummings.  Please shut the door.”

I
knew there was nothing I could say, but I wanted desperately to protect Bobby. 
“Monsieur .”

“Out.”

Shaken,
I backed out the office, closed the door, but stood close by, my ear pressed to
the hard oak.

Monsieur 
Franchines’s voice was hard and uncompromising, and though I couldn’t make out
many words, the tone of the conversation was loud and clear.  Our sexual
rendezvous was an unpardonable act.

For
a full twenty minutes, Bobby was berated, reprimanded and scolded.  But then
came the word I hadn’t really expected to hear.

Expulsion
.

No. 
He wouldn’t do that.  He couldn’t expel him.  Bobby was such a talented cook
with so much potential.  Monsieur  Franchines couldn’t ruin his future like
this.  It would also be such a great loss to the institute.

I
heard Bobby let out a pain-filled cry and then the angry scrape of a chair
against the hardwood floor.

“You
can’t do this,” Bobby said.

“You're
free to bring it up with the board if you so choose, but I assure you, the
result will be the same.”

“I’ll
tell Errol King.”

“Go
ahead.  In this situation there is little he can do.  Even the mighty Errol
King has limited powers in cases just as this.  You stepped out of line,
Monsieur  Cummings, way out of line.  I suggest you take a little more time to
consider your actions in the future. Let this be a lesson that stays with you
for a long time.  A moment of carnal pleasure is a hefty price to pay for a
soiled future.  I hope she was worth it.”

I
wanted to gag.  I wanted to throw up.  I wanted to die.  How could I ever look
Bobby in the eye again?

“Monsieur 
Franchines,” Bobby said in a low, dejected voice.

I
had to press my ear tighter to the door.

“Surely
you remember what it was like to be young and a little out of control.  I meant
no harm.  Things just got a little out of hand.”

“I
did some foolish things as a young man.  Yes, I was once young and I understand
the urges of the human body and the difficulty we sometimes face in controlling
those urges, but, not only did you satisfy your urges with a member of the
faculty, an act already difficult to overlook, but you chose to satisfy that
urge right here in the school… right in her office.”

“I’m
sorry.”

“So
am I.  You had a lot of promise and we all had high hopes for you.  Perhaps a
semester or two of growing up and maturing will do you some good.  Come back
then and we could re-evaluate your… aptitudes.  Maybe we’ll take you back
again.”

“A
semester or two?”

“Do
you think you’ll need a little more time than that?”

“No! 
Tomorrow.  I’ll be ready tomorrow.  Now.  Just sitting here with you has
slapped the immaturity out of me.  Believe me, if you give me another chance, I
won’t let you down.”

“Come
back in a semester or two.”

Bobby
grunted in defeat.

“If
that turns out to be sufficient for you to…” Monsieur  Franchines cleared his
throat.  “… to gain control of yourself, we’ll talk then.”

“But,
I have a scholarship.”

“As
of now, it is officially revoked.”

Tears
came to my eyes as my world continued to crash down around me.  He couldn’t
revoke Bobby’s scholarship.  I was certain of it.

“You
have an hour to clean out your dorm room and leave the premises.”

“I
have to leave today?”

“You
have to leave in the next hour.”

The
office fell silent then I heard the click of the doorknob and stepped aside as
the door peeled back.

Ashen
and bewildered, Bobby walked out, his head low and his eyes unable to meet
mine.  He closed the door behind him.  “Monsieur  Franchines wants you to wait
a minute before going in.”

“Bobby,
I heard what he said.  I’m so sorry.  I’ll do everything I can to change his
mind.  I’ll take full responsibility.  I’m the one who should’ve put a stop to
it.  He knows how talented you are and I’m sure he doesn’t really want to lose
you.  I’ll talk him into seeing what a mistake it would be to let you go.”

He
shrugged and I just wanted to pull him into my arms and tell him everything was
going to be all right.

“Mademoiselle
Cooke,” Monsieur  Franchines bellowed from behind the closed door.

I
knew it wasn’t going to be easy.  Biting nervously on the corner of my bottom
lip, I opened the door and walked into his office.  With a grunt and a tilt of
his head he directed me to sit down across from him.

“I
take it you’ve been listening to my conversation with Monsieur  Cummings.”

“I
heard a bit of it here and there, yes.”

“Then
you know he is not to return to the institute for at least a semester or two,
and that he has lost his scholarship.”

“Monsieur 
Franchines, I don’t take what we did lightly.  I fully aware of the severity of
our actions.”

“Are
you?”

“Please
don’t ruin his life, his career over such a foolish act.  Punish me.  I’m the
one responsible.”

He
nodded and an irritated smirk curved his lips.  “Not only were you his teacher,
Mademoiselle Cooke, but I specifically trusted you to look after him.  I
specifically selected you to mentor him.  Do you know how it makes me feel to
see just how mistaken I was to entrust that responsibility to you?  Do you know
how it makes me look?  Other teachers were proposed for this mentorship
program, teachers with more experience, more maturity, but I fought for you.  I
argued that you  were the ideal candidate.”

“I’m
so sorry.”

“I
have no doubt you are sorry, but that doesn’t change anything.  That doesn’t
change what you did.”

“Please,
Monsieur , as a member of the faculty, as one of his teachers who knows what a
talented and hard working young man he is, I’m begging you; could you not
overlook this one indiscretion?  This incident aside, he’s been an exemplary
student.”

“Mademoiselle
Cooke.”  His voice was so grave, my heart sank.  “I’m sorry, but as of this
day, you are no longer a member of the faculty.”

I
gasped, or grunted, or groaned.  Either way, some strange and unrecognizable
sound came from me and I had no words.

“Please
clear out your office and any personals you may have left in your class.”

“But…” 
I was speechless.  This couldn’t be happening.

“For
the time being, you’ll continue to work in the lab, but your time here at the
institute is to be strictly restricted to the lab and only the lab.  You are to
have no interactions with any of members of the faculty except me and, of
course, you are to have no contact whatsoever with any student.”

I
started to weep.  It was all too much.  Everything, positively everything I’d
ever worked for was slipping through my fingers.  “Please,” I blubbered.

“Count
yourself lucky, mademoiselle.  The only reason I’ve decided to keep you on at
the lab at all is your remarkable talent.  We have too much invested in you, in
your work at the lab to throw it all away now.  Maybe, as time goes on, you’ll
be able to redeem yourself.”

I
continued to weep and he simply sat back and cast his gaze to the door.

The
meeting was over.

Swiping
the tears from my cheeks, I took a moment to collect myself before standing and
walking out of his office.

“How
did it go?” Bobby said.  “Were you able to clear things up?”

I
shook my head.  The words wouldn’t come.  Teary-eyed, I just looked at him.

“What
happened?”

“He
fired me.”

“He
can’t do that, can he?”

“I
broke the most important rule.”

The
door to the office opened, startling us.  Monsieur  Franchines came out and
glared at both of us.

“Very
disappointing indeed.  Our star pupil and our first mentor in a new program
we’d hoped would be fruitful.”  His gaze traveled over us with disgust.  “But
not quite fruitful in the way you took it to mean.”

Dumbfounded,
we stared at him.  At the very back of my mind, I held onto the slightest
possibility he’d had a change of heart, that he realized what a loss we both
were to the institute.

“I
suggest you not wait until I call security to escort you out,” he warned. 
“That could prove embarrassing.”  He directed his gaze at Bobby.  “I would hope
you’d wish to limit the disgrace you’ve already brought to the Cummings name,
not to mention the blemish that you are on Errol King’s good standing.”

With
that he left us.

“Come
with me to New York,” Bobby quickly said.

“You’re
going back to New York?”

“I
can’t stay here.  Please, come with me.”

 I
shook my head.  “I can’t.  Monsieur  Franchines fired me as a teacher, but he
wants to keep me on at the lab.”

He
nodded.  “That’s good.”  He was already gone.  His eyes were glazed over and I
knew he couldn’t even see me.  “At least you’ll have that.”

I
looked up at him, wanting to say so much.  Looking past his shoulder I spotted
one of the blue uniformed security guards rounding the corner.

It
was over.

Chapter 1

3 Months Later

J
anuary was particularly cold in Paris that
year.  We’d seen unexpected snowfall and the thermometer seemed to constantly
hover over the freezing point.  The cold, drab days of winter reflected well
how I felt inside.  Cold, empty, lonely.

Staring
out the window of my dingy little apartment in the 19
^th
arrondissement, I once again found myself scanning the streets below hoping to
see Bobby.  I knew it was impossible.  I knew he was back in New York, but
still, my heart ached to find him among the Parisians who strolled the streets
below.

I
finished my coffee and dressed for work; another long day alone at the lab. 
Another day of not talking to anyone.  Another day of avoiding everyone, namely
Taryn and Errol.  I couldn’t bear the thought of facing them.  How they must
hate me.  I’d already had a few close calls.  A few days earlier I’d seen Taryn
in the distance talking to one of the teachers Bobby had had.  She looked up at
me, but before she could even take a step toward me, I turned on my heel and
disappeared down the hall.

How
long was I going to go on like this?

Penance. 
I had to pay for my mistakes.