Dangerous Desire The CEO’s Hidden Woman

Scarlett said, as she took off the apron and threw it on the cooking table.

Eve held her shoulders and said, “Calm down! We are just getting started, aren’t we? We just need to find someone who can train under you for long enough, and then you don’t have to be the head chef anymore. What do you say? Listen, it’s not going to be so bad. I promise.”

Scarlett felt like Eve wasn’t taking her feelings seriously enough, so she just wanted to quit and get out of the situation as quickly as she could.

“Look, Scarlett, just stick with me on this one. It’s a promising project, don’t you think? If we play our cards right, we can definitely go big. And soon! Just have some faith in me, okay? I just need you to have some patience.”

“I’m very busy. I still have two papers to write, so I really have no time for this, Eve.” Scarlett said sharply.

After that, Scarlett walked towards the door when she suddenly heard a loud noise coming from behind. She turned around to see that Eve had fallen down the stairs.Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

“Wow, way to go, klutz! Look at you just tripping on flat surfaces… amazing.” Scarlett said sarcastically as she rushed to help Eve stand up and regain her balance.

“Don’t touch me! The pain is killing me!” Eve said.

“Come on. We gotta go see a doctor, like, soon.” Scarlett said.

“Don’t pull me up! I can’t stand up.” Eve shouted.

Scarlett instantly took out her phone and called Glen. She knew that she couldn’t take Eve to the hospital all by herself.

“Glen, where are you right now? I need your help! It’s an emergency.” Scarlett said on the phone.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Glen came along. He carried Eve on his back and hoisted her into the car as carefully as he could. After that, Scarlett started the engine, and the three of them hurtled towards the hospital at top speeds.

Thankfully, when they got to the hospital, there wasn’t much of a rush. They were able to get Eve to see a doctor within minutes of their arrival. Eve’s injury turned out to be quite minor– just a simple sprain. Scarlett wondered if Eve was just messing around and trying to get Scarlett to feel sympathy for her. That way, Scarlett would be forced to stay and help Eve out with her grand designs for the restaurant. It was just the kind of thing that Eve would dream up within seconds in order to get people around her to do what she wanted.

Once they wrapped everything up at the emergency room, the three of them returned to Scarlett’s apartment. Scarlett decided to make some soup for Eve, figuring that it might help Eve feel better even though her injury was fairly minor.

As Scarlett served the soup on the table, Eve jokingly chimed in, “See, you are still my chef.”

Scarlett just felt defeated. She said, “Don’t push your luck.”

Eve took her hand and said, “Scarlett, please trust me, I’m not gonna screw this up for us, okay? This is a really good opportunity for us. Please back me up, and I promise you that we can go fifty-fifty on the shares of the restaurant.”

“But I’m not a good cook, and there are many restaurants around my school. The competition will be fierce. We won’t make it. Do you know how precarious the restaurant industry is, don’t you, Eve? People with more training and planning than we do fail in this business. It’s tricky…” Scarlett said.

“Don’t worry! Our restaurant concept is unique. It’s not like any of the other restaurants around your college, alright? It’s different. It’s going to be upscale but still affordable. I mean, our target demographic is students, so it’s not like they’re rolling in money. They’re fucking broke, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t wanna eat a nice meal, right?”

“Why are we focusing on the university district anyway, Eve? Why don’t we just open the restaurant up downtown? We’d get way more customers there… and we wouldn’t have to worry about how we’re going to feed broke-ass students either sustainably.”

“Are you kidding me? Do you know how expensive the rent will be if we open it up there? We can’t afford the rent even if we spend all our startup money. ” Eve explained.

After a second thought, Scarlett said, “Are you sure that my cooking will do? I mean, I just have experience cooking for myself and for friends and stuff… not, like, as a real chef or whatever. That’s different, isn’t it? I don’t have formal training, I didn’t go to culinary school or anything like that…”

“Scarlett, it’s no biggie. Plenty of the best chefs in the world never went to culinary school. I know you can pull it off. You just gotta stay focused and not let your impostor syndrome get in the way. We can make it together, okay? We got this.” Eve smiled confidently. She oozed self-esteem, even as Scarlett remained mired in doubt.

After thinking deeply, Scarlett gave in. Maybe Eve really did have this all figured out. She decided to back her up this time and see how things panned out.

As for why Eve wanted to ask Scarlett to be the chef, it was that Scarlett’s cooking was better than Scarlett believed. Even a senior chef who had worked on catering for some of Francis’s office events had praised her food, deeming it delicately balanced and thoughtful. Scarlett was definitely qualified for the job– even a Michelin starred chef thought so. The next problem for them to worry about was funding. How were they going to acquire the necessary startup capital? Both Scarlett and Eve knew it wasn’t going to be cheap, and location might end up being an issue too.

Since Glen was pretty well-connected in the area, Scarlett thought that Glen would be able to help them raise the necessary money and attract guests there.

Eve was responsible for décor, while Glen took on marketing. Scarlett started planning the progressive menu out, thinking deeply about the target market and the missing local restaurant scene. The menu had to be unique enough to sustain people’s interest, but not too far out that the unfamiliarity would turn people off. In the end, it was all about attracting and pleasing customers.