Chapter 4 My Imagination

The beautiful night light of New York city flickered, it seemed as if this city never slept. Even though the streets were kind of empty the air had an electric charge or was it just because I was sitting next to Edwards in his car? No matter what it was, it just my blood run wild. Every time his fingers brushed against the fabric on my thigh it made me flush. The silence between us for not very comforting either. The void created by us not speaking gave enough space for my thoughts to run over every inch of his skin. This time, he didn't turn once to look at me.

Maybe I was wrong, maybe every time he paused was just a coincidence, I don't know. All I knew was I wanted him, bad. I did not know how I ended up here. I am not a type of person who would just imagine about strangers not matter how attractive they were. Even when I went cold turkey for almost a year, I didn't feel something quite like this. This fire, this urgent fire and the fact that my skin burnt every time his blue eyes were on me did on help.

"Where to?" I heard a whisper. I turned my head and felt his eyes just searching my face. No burning just his beautiful soft eyes fixed on mine.

"Annica?" he said louder as his fingers brushed against my thigh. And with a single touch the feeling was back.

"I....I am not were sure but I do have the location save on my phone" I replied as I looked down and pulled my phone out. I opened the GPS and handed it to him.

"This is really close to my place" he said, scrolling through the map. "Really?" my inner goddess said as pulled her glasses down.

"Oh, where do you live?" I said fumbling. For a second he paused and looked at. His face was hard to read but it felt as if he did not expect me to ask that.

"I'm so sorry chef" I apologized.

"One thirty five E seventy ninth street" he replied. I nodded as if I had any goddam clue.

"You have no idea do you?" he asked, the corner of his mouth curling up in a smile.

"No" I whispered. And when I though my imagination and attraction towards this man couldn't get any worst he, smiled. His blue eyes twinkled his cheeks got a touch of red I was on fire.

"You look good when you smile" I mumbled.

"I heard that" he commented. Amazing! I squinted my eyes and curled up fist. How in the world can I embarrass myself more?

"Why are you here?" he asked, his face getting serious.

"I....I didn't get you chef?" I asked.

"Why you in New York?" he cleared.

"Well I always wanted to work here" I answered.

"Wasn't happy in you last job? Even though they didn't make you wash dishes?" he asked. My blood ran cold. Did he hear that?! The entire conversation?! How?! And if he did I am so fired! I blinked at him a few time then took a gulp.

"Yes they didn't but everything a chef asks out of you should be done. You'll learn something new" I finally said.

"Very good. Very diplomatic" he replied. Although he said what he said, to me it felt like there was more he wanted to add to this statement but the words never escaped his throat.

"I was known for been diplomatic back home" I smiled.

"If that's the case then why aren't you in the front of operations?" he asked.

"Never found it as fascinating" I replied.

"So you always wanted to be a chef?" he questioned.

"Honestly, when I was young I wanted to be a model, then a fashion designer for a really long time.

And finally when I was a senior in school I decided to be chef" I told him.

"Did not ask for the entire story" he scrunched his nose.

"Sorry chef" I replied as I looked down and smiled. For the first time in what felt like forever I got a warm and homely feeling from him. Like there was more to him than what the world saw. Maybe he wasn't that bad after all. Maybe it was justified why he acted the way you do. When you're this young and this successful you need to keep your guard up no matter what and no matter when. And Edwards did a pretty good job at doing that. No one knew much about his personal life. No one saw him walk in an event a date or even a family member. If any information about his life did manage to get out it was either incorrect (ninety percent of the time) and if it happened to be correct it just was a one time thing you'll never hear about it or anything related to it ever again. Maybe his secrecy was the biggest reason behind the controversy that surrounds his title of being "The Youngest" person to own fourteen Michelin Star restaurants. But I think until and unless

he's like fifty or fifty five plus, he is still worthy of the title.

"This is it right?" he pointed towards a building.

"Yeah that's it" I said

"Then that's you then" he said as he pulled the car over.

"Yeah. Thank you" I smiled.

"You don't need to thank me. It's...it was on me" he replied.

"Still thanks" I said before stepped out. I walked around the car towards the entrance door. I looked over my shoulder and saw Edwards car still there. I could make out his face pressed against the window as if carefully watching all my move. I unlocked the door and walked in, I stood by the door for a few minutes waiting to here the sound of the engine, but all I got was utter silence. I walked up the stairs towards the apartment. I opened the door and let myself in.

"Where the fuck were you?" Remy jumped up from the couch.

"Hey I though you slept" I said as I locked the door behind me.

"You were suppose to call me from cab! I was worried sick about you!" she snarled.

"I'm sorry just give me one minute!" I said as I rushed to the balcony. I opened the sliding door and peeped out. And just as I stepped out I saw Edwards' car leaving. He was waiting for me to get to the apartment? How did he leave at the exact moment? Another coincidence?

"Hey what happened?" I heard Remy's voice behind me.

"Nothing!" I replied as I stepped back in.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

"No I'm just tired. I'll head to bed" I weekly smiled.

"Sure....You okay right?" she asked as she gently touched my shoulder.

"Yeah absolutely. I'll see you tomorrow" I replied before I walked to my room.

I quickly got changed and threw myself on the bed. I rolled over my belly and picked up my phone. I typed "Christopher Edwards" and press search. Hundred of articles popped up. His past life, at least a part of it, known relations, net worth, name of all his hotels and their locations, a little bit about his family but out of all that interested me was the "Controversies" section. I clicked on the article and the headline read, "Is the known chef Chris Edwards as he seems?" I arched an eyebrow to that sentence. What is that even suppose to mean? I scrolled a bit "A lot of people say that Mr. Edwards is equivalent to nothing but a person full of cotton candy. But act and his ex girlfriend Alice Rays had a different story to tell. In one of her interviews she said, "Christopher is not the sweet, charming guy he seems. He's a sadist. He loves torturing people and has done the same with me mentally." A lot of people close to the America's sweetheart said that what Alice said is not even close to the truth. And conclusions cannot be drawn after just hearing one side of the story. Even though the renowned chef have made absolutely no comments or even refuses to talk about the matter we can only imagine what went wrong."

I tilted my head to one side, more than Alice's claims it was harder to believe the fact that Edwards was full of cotton candy. I scrolled a little further and found another article title, "Outbreak from Hell". The title felt way too interesting to let go without a read. So I opened it. It had a huge picture of him as a cover. It seemed as if he was throwing things and a few where he was blocking the cameras. It started by saying, "In a recent event where chef Edwards with a few other Michelin Star chefs including chef Gordan Ramsay, chef Thomas Keller, chef Vikas Khanna, Clare Symth and Dominique Crenn. It was thought to be one of the biggest event conducted where people got to meet and talk with the favourite culinary stars and even get to taste their signature dishes. The event would have be thought to be a success if hell did not break loose and chef Edwards didn't decide to walk away mid-event. According to sources, the famous chef lost it when a report tried to question him regarding his personal life. The chef did not like the questions and continued to ignore the reporter. Things went south when the reporter insisted again and again, that was the moment when chef decided to walk away. According to one of the witnesses, chef threw away his equipment when the reporter GOT IN HIS FACE to take pictures. It was when security stepped in and chef was escorted out."

I threw my phone and took a deep breath. A part of me felt that he wasn't that bad. At the end of the day he had reasons behind his outburst. But again. if Alice was telling the truth, this guy was nothing but BAD NEWS!!

I closed my eyes and rested my arm over my eyes. I could see Edwards standing next to me. His fingers brushing mine. The thought ignited a fire inside me. The thought of him grabbing me and pushing me to a wall made my skin tingle. I wanted him to kiss me, I wanted to bite and suck that lower lip. I wanted to feel those eyes looking up at me while they sucked me. I thought of feeling his tongue on my bare skin left me breathless. The thought of going down on him, feeling him, sucking him made me moan. I knew it wasn't just lust, it was more than that. It felt as if there was so much unspoken conversation happening between us every time he looked at me. The picture of his face on mine, sucking, licking, biting while pressing himself inside me made me wake up with a jolt. I was left panting just by thinking about it. I very well knew that all this will never happen but could I stop myself or my eyes from wandering over his body? I could I stop the burning of my skin every time he looked me. I wanted him so bad, I wanted him in me and for me. Just for me. The thought being so strong in my head made my skin crawl. If I ever acted on my thoughts or imagination I could loose my job. And in the end I'll be left with nothing. I couldn't let my desires get the best of me. The stakes where just too high.