Dished

By Adan Ramie

Adonia wants to be a professional chef to exclusive clients and she's willing to do anything to get ahead in the tough industry, relationships be damned.

When a crazy pop-rock star hires her company to cater the rest of her flagging tour, she joins a crew where each budding chef competes against each other for a spot on her cut-throat boss's exclusive first line.

Adonia deals with everything from breakneck deadlines to a forced spa weekend while still cooking up to professional standards, keeping her temper in check, and fighting the building tension between her and her cute co-worker, Leah.

Losing means being blacklisted from the industry, but winning could cost her something a lot more important - her self-respect.

Buy Dished today to find out how Leah ends up in the arms of someone else - and what Adonia does to win back her affections.

Contains adult content. Reader discretion advised.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adan Ramie
• Release date: Apr 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386795049

Adan Ramie

Adan Ramie lives in a small town in Texas that is not unlike Andy Griffith's Mayberry with her wife and children. You can find her work in anthologies, magazines, and online journals. For updates, free fiction, and giveaways, sign up for her newsletter at: http://www.adanramie.com/newsletter

Book preview

Dished

Adan Ramie

Dished by Adan Ramie

www.AdanRamie.com

Copyright © 2018 Adan Ramie

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

A Note from the Author

To say Adonia, Leah, or any of the other characters from Dished will return in another story would be putting the cart before the horse, but I hope that, should you want to read more, you will be able to move on from Dished to another of my romances, like Set-up or Rescued.

For early discounts, free stories, and exclusive giveaways, you can join my Constant Readers group.

And if you enjoy Dished and feel so inclined, it would be a great help to me if you posted your opinion in a review.

Thanks for giving my book a shot. Bon appetit!

1

1998

Patience.

The girl's eyes, trained on the covered pot, flicked occasionally to the metal sheet on which almonds, toasted to a golden crunch, sat cooling. The fragrance of dill wafted into her nostrils and she breathed in deeply. The old woman next to her sat upright, her posture perfect despite her advanced age, her eyes sweeping over the worn pages of the heavy Bible in her lap.

Yaya, is it ready? the girl whispered.

Her grandmother reached one hand out and pushed in the girl's lower back, never moving her eyes. The girl straightened and shut her mouth.

Adonia, it will be ready when it is ready. You must have patience. She turned her eyes to stare at the girl's face, suppressing a smile. You are just like your mother at your age. Only five years old and wound up to spring.

Adonia's back bowed again and she twisted her lips up in a pout. She gulped back the tears she knew wouldn't do any good and steadied her voice. Will she come back? she asked. Her voice cracked.

The old woman sighed. Kalo mou. She wrapped her sandpapery hands around the girl's cheeks and brought her in close to her face. You don't worry about what your mother does. You worry about learning to be a better woman than she. She planted a kiss on Adonia's forehead, then pushed her back into her chair.

Standing, Yaya ambled over to the counter, where she poured dill seeds from a pan into a little black mortar. She shoved the mortar and pestle into Adonia's hands, then climbed back onto her stool. Adjusting herself, her right hand turned one page of the Bible. With her left, she pushed the girl's back. Patience brings wisdom.

2018

Adonia Zabat tapped her knife against the cutting board, then pushed the little pile of minced dill into the electric mixer and handed the board to the woman beside her. She moved straight to spooning half a cup of sour cream into the mixer, then horseradish. She squeezed a lemon, tossing the peels and seeds into the trash, and finally looked up when she felt eyes on her. Her cooking partner's eyes widened in surprise, then she blushed and turned back to her vegetables.

Can I help you with something?

She had more skills than most of the other new recruits, and she wasn't hesitant to share them. Whether they took her up on the offer of help was their choice. The competition was fierce on the Betheny Clement Bitez tour, but if any of them made it through, they could have their choice of jobs for other musicians and artists alike. It was the chance of a lifetime, and some people couldn't handle the pressure. Adonia hoped her partner wasn't one of the ones who would crack fast.

The woman beside her shook her head at the offer and furiously sliced red bell peppers. Adonia turned back to her mixer, grinding sea salt and fresh cracked pepper over it all, and rolled her eyes at the woman's pride. She put the top on and turned the mixer on to blend all the ingredients, rubbed the back of her hand over the sweat beading on her forehead under her short-cropped hair, then looked sideways at the woman she had been assigned to work with for the duration of the Bitez tour.

Her partner's skin under the blush was the color of apricot butter, and her hair, swept up at the back of her head in a knot, reminded Adonia of dark, rich espresso. She might have been a few years Adonia's junior, but she couldn't say for sure, because despite her blushing and stuttering, there was wisdom in her eyes that spoke volumes. Adonia's own eyes traced the gentle sway of her partner's lower back until her cell phone chirped and snapped her out of her inspection. She wiped her hands on her apron, then pulled the phone out of her pocket and looked at its face. When she swore, the woman next to her looked up at her expectantly.

We have twenty minutes to get the salmon spread and crudité over to the venue. Ms. Clement cut her performance short due to a wardrobe malfunction. She bit the inside of her bottom lip to stop the laughter that danced up from her belly. She cleared her throat, furrowed her brow, and continued reading. If we're not there in time, we can consider ourselves unemployed, and make our way back home to 'wallow in our own obscurity'. O'Brien's words.

Her partner groaned. I hate celebrities.

Adonia snorted in agreement, then turned to her partner and touched her arm. The woman met her gaze, and Adonia saw the moisture on the rims of her dark eyes. She knew the look. She was new to the game, and while she had skills, this was probably a more competitive situation than she was used to. If Adonia didn't watch herself, she would be smitten with the ingenue.

Don't worry, she said softly. We've got this. Let me get this in a bowl, and I'll help you finish plating the veggies.

They made quick work of slicing and plating the rest of the vegetable spread, and Adonia ringed the colorful crudité with rounds of crusty bread. They wrapped the whole platter with plastic, changed from aprons to presentation gear, and hurried to the company car left for them to take.

I hope we make it in time, the woman said, snapping her seat belt.

Adonia grinned and revved the engine, the white scars on her fingers gleaming from the stick shift. I hope Dame O'Bitch is okay with speeding tickets.

Her partner gasped, then grinned. You're going to be a terrible influence, aren't you?

Adonia pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street, then accelerated to double the speed limit in a few seconds. She grinned over at the woman opposite her as her booted foot pressed down on the pedal. I have been known to be. She let go with one hand and held it out to her passenger to shake. I'm Adonia, by the way.

That's pretty. Is it French?

Adonia shook her head, her eyes back on the road that swam past them like muted watercolors dripped over a dark canvas. Greek. She signaled, then got onto the highway via ramp. A car horn blared, and she switched driving hands to stick her left out the window and give the other driver the finger.

The woman beside her rolled with laughter. Oh my God, you're a terrible driver, Adonia.

I'll get us there in one piece, Adonia said, then glanced over. And you are?

Hialeah. But you can call me Leah; everyone does.

Adonia tilted her head. I've never heard a name like that. Why wouldn't you use it?

Leah sneered. Grade school. Imagine growing up in the Midwest, looking like me, with a name like Hialeah. They all called me Hiawatha. It was awful.

Adonia wrinkled her nose as if she smelled something bad. I can see where the nickname came in handy.

Leah pointed at an exit just in time for Adonia to swoop out to it, cutting off another driver. The horn blared, and Adonia answered it with another bird. They made their way in record time to the venue, where a tall, silver-haired crone stood in the parking lot, glowering.

Where have you been? the old woman squawked as Adonia and Leah exited the car. Ms. Clement is waiting for all her hors d'oeuvres so that she can start her after party.

Adonia held up the tray and gave her an insincere smile. Leah patted her partner on the arm, and whispered, Get those in there. Leah turned to the thin-shouldered old woman and gave her a saccharine smile, and Adonia heard her speak as she walked away. Dame O'Brien, we are so sorry it took us so long to get here. Traffic was a nightmare.

Adonia grinned and walked inside. The event room was already packed, but servers were milling through with flutes of expensive champagne to keep the guests' hands and mouths busy while the catering crew handled finishing touches on the buffet-style food tables before the ropes were removed to allow the guests in. She swooped in, chose a place that would fit her trays of hors d'ouvres, and was out of the way just in time for the ropes to come down.

2

The after party lasted three hours. By the end, their whole crew was sweaty and weak. Adonia, even with her strong back and thick muscles, was wilting like a cut flower days in a vase, but willowy Leah stood strong. Adonia watched her, the stiff, straight back, her chin held high, calmly surveying the scene.

While the other girls from their crew had mostly retired