The Chef's Choice

By Susan D. Peters

When Riley Willis, a 29-year-old Financial Services professional is humiliated by the wife of a married man playing single, she vows never to be “played” again. Determined to survive the holidays without a “Cuddle Buddy”, she vows to honor the memory of her beloved Grandma Ella, by preparing the ultimate family Thanksgiving feast. The problem is, Riley cannot cook. Aiming to debut her culinary skills by Thanksgiving, Riley takes a Learn to Cook class, where Chef Lex Mason, aware of Riley’s aggressive goal and tight timeline, agrees to provide in-home-lessons for Riley. Instant chemistry develops between the pair until Riley finds that Lex is also deceiving her. She goes on defense and casts Lex out of her life. Lex, smitten by the lovely Riley realizes that to secure her love, he must share the part of himself that he has kept skillfully hidden.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sunrise Consulting
• Release date: Nov 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9780982712580

Susan D. Peters

Susan Peters, a native of Chicago’s south side, is a graduate of DuSable High School and DePaul University. Always adventurous, Susan’s curiosity lured her to Liberia, West Africa for eleven years. Her family’s escape during the Liberian Civil War is the spellbinding account of her first book, a memoir, Sweet Liberia, Lessons from the Coal Pot. Sweet Liberia, received the 2010 Black Excellence Award for Non-Fiction by the African American Alliance of Chicago and in 2011 the book was awarded a prize for Non-Fiction from the Illinois Press Women’s Association. A lifelong author of poetry, inspirational essays, short stories, and plays her writings will be featured in the IPWA’s 2014 anthology, a collection of the works of twenty-three women writers. Broken Dolls, Susan’s second book, represents her foray into the mystery market and is the first of a series featuring Detective Joi Sommers as its heroine. Her latest, “The Chef’s Choice,” is a light-hearted romantic novella. Susan produces a weekly talk radio program for an academic medical center. She has raised five children and is a proud grandmother.

Book preview

SUSAN D. PETERS

Choice

CHEF’S

the

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living, dead, or somewhere in between, is entirely coincidental

Sunrise Consulting

www.susandpeters.com

The Chef’s Choice copyright 2021 by Susan D. Peters

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-0-9827125-9-7

e-book ISBN: 978-0-9827125-8-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means including electronic, mechanical or photocopying or stored in a retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages to be included in a review.

Cover designed by: Navi’ Robins www.nsgraphicsstudio.com

Interior design by: Navi Robins

Other Books by Susan D. Peters

Sweet Liberia, Lessons from the Coal Pot (memoir)

Broken Dolls (Joi Sommers Mystery)

The Iron Color (Joi Sommers Mystery)

Slay the Dragon (Joi Sommers Mystery)

Stolen Rainbow (novella)

Anthology Contributions

Baring It All, the Ins and Outs of Publishing

Signed, Sealed, Delivered … I’m Yours

The Anthology of the Illinois Women’s Press Association

& Pleasures & Treasures (boxed set)

Visit Susan D. Peters on the web

www.susandpeters.com

and social media

DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I dedicate this book to my parents. My father, George W. Peters, with whom I never spent a single holiday, but through whose DNA I inherited my creativity and a gift for words. And to my mother Sarah, who infused in me the discipline to set my words to paper and to persevere through the tedium that is the hardest part of writing. As the by- product of the melding of two diverse talents; but for them, there would be no me.

To my stepfather John and my uncle Pete who were the ever-present Santa Clauses of my life. For that, and so much more, I am grateful. Happy Holidays.

Chapter One

Riley Willis left her car with the valet and proceeded into the hotel lobby. Her sleeveless brown sheath clung to her slender body in all the right places. She checked the front of her dress to make sure she hadn’t picked up any cat hair from her two feline companions, Dexter and Spice, that shared her life. A recent pedicure and the melon orange lacquer on her toes made the four-inch beige strappy sandals look even more flattering. The small brown Gucci weekender completed her understated sexy look. She’d pulled her sun-streaked hair back behind her ears.

His choice of hotel she found to be to her liking. The Swiss Hotel was lovely. Riley headed inside for the Palm Bar where she was set to meet her flame, Damien, for drinks before venturing upstairs for their weekend staycation. As her heels clicked onto the dark stone tiled floor she was anxious to slide onto one of the black leather swivel chairs. Their plan had been to rendezvous at the hotel and spend the entire weekend in bed, leaving only for listening to the jazz quartet downstairs in the hotel bar. Or to keep their Saturday night dinner date at a restaurant Damien insisted upon keeping secret. She should dress in her sexiest cocktail dress and that they had a private salon at the restaurant.

Damien Booker was everything she’d dreamed of in a man. A little taller than her at five-eleven and one hundred sixty-five pounds, he was a.hunk of muscle and sinew. What made him most attractive was he was fourteen years older than her twenty-nine years. Past doing the dumb stuff, she had said to Shantel. An established financial services representative at one of the larger Chicago firms, Damien was a high-income guy whose earnings exceeded her own as an up-and-coming certified public accountant with Deloitte. She was not a threat to him as she had been to more than a few other men she’d dated.

Their courtship had been oddly happenstance. Mainly because she was always so darn busy. She honestly was career driven and rarely saw him except for Friday nights and the occasional Sunday afternoon. It was Damien who made the first moves on insisting she make time for him. That’s how she liked it. Momma had always said, let the man do the chasing. Having the dashing Damien Booker blowing up her phone and her responding when she got good and ready suited her just fine.

Damien had mentioned the "L word first, and it struck her he was much more to her than a regular hook-up. She had not stopped to consider that he might love her but then Shantel, her bestie since eighth grade, had told her she always sold herself short. That she was a catch for any of the men. Girl, why do you always pick the damaged fruit?" she had said about her last couple of boyfriends. She and Shantel shared everything, and it had been Shantel who assured her that the weekend at the hotel was when Damien was going to ask her to marry him.

Riley, if you want to get married, you are going to have to change the way you do some things, make time for a relationship to blossom.

I can make time for the right man, and I think Damien might just be the person. But I don’t just want to be the Mrs. to a powerhouse, I want to generate my own power. No matter who I marry, I am going to stay invested in my own career.

Shantel had rolled her thickly lashed brown eyes and returned to the chocolate mint ice cream she was consuming directly from the pint carton and leaving Riley to her thoughts.

Satisfied that he was pressing for commitment made her smile, and she did love the way they looked together. The way he continually referenced her as his baby and the endearing messages he left on her phone when she was too busy to take his calls.

Yes, he had mentioned the L word out of nowhere during lovemaking as he whispered quietly in her ear, Riley, I love you, baby. Marry me. She had stopped him mid stroke and looked deeply into his eyes before responding, I love you too, as they resumed and escalated their passionate lovemaking.

That was the plan, but he had yet to, as Beyonce had sung in her hit song Single Ladies, put a ring on it. The butterflies in her stomach might mean this was the weekend that would change her life.

***

On a Friday, at three o’clock, the sparsely-populated bar held folks like her, who had left their loop offices to begin the weekend early. Her week had been extra busy, and she looked forward to a relaxing, joy-filled time with the man she loved. As she pressed her back onto the leather of the barstool backrest she drew a deep sigh, waiting to meet the man who was going to formally ask her to become his wife. His power partner.

The bartender approached Riley, wearing a white collarless shirt over a black vest. What can I get you?

I’ll have a dirty martini with a blue cheese stuffed olive.

Coming right up.

Riley found herself suddenly warmed by a warm touch on the back of her neck, followed by