I hadn’t, so I did. Hudson had to check his schedule, but he promised to let me know when he could come to the club. I gave him the link to fill out the paperwork to come as a guest because everyone had to be screened as well as sign an NDA and some other things. No, I probably shouldn’t have already had him inside, but my guilt had sent me to find Gatlin the night before and admit what I’d done. He said it was, but to please check in first next time, no matter what my wolf wanted me to do.
How did he know?
When I hadn’t heard back for a couple of days, I figured he was busy and forced myself not to message him to ask if he’d figured out when he was coming. I’d enjoyed his company a great deal at breakfast and hoped he’d felt the same. But while waiting, I had to do something more than just my ordinary job, and as a chef, I had a preferred way to show my feelings.
Food.
My wolf was demanding I feed the omega again, specifically with our own creations. As soon as my staff was well into prep work for the day, I settled down to come up with a new item for our menu designed especially for this omega. It was a little tricky since we had only shared one meal, but he had enjoyed the breakfast foods we’d shared, and I thought maybe something with crepes might be a nice addition to the menu. And, of course, that Hudson might like it too.
Sitting at my desk in the corner of the kitchen, taking advantage of the temporary peace before opening, I grabbed my iPad and brought up the recipe software a friend had developed for me. It helped to keep track of all the ones I’d come up withover the years and had all sorts of great features like tracking ingredients and basically everything the bigger apps could do, but tailored to how I liked to work.
My basic crepe recipe was pretty classic, and therefore flexible. Most of the appetizers on our menu were savory, and I’d been wanting to have a few more sweets. Our members often came after dinner, and a few had mentioned that they would enjoy having something for dessert.
Running over the inventory, I noticed we had a couple of cases of mixed berries in the freezer. Pistachio cream. We could make some salted caramel. It sounded pretty delicious to me. Maybe make the crepes buckwheat? Jumping up, I caught the eye of one of the chefs, and she hurried over. “Yes, boss?”
“I have a crepe recipe I want to play with. Can you find me a few feet of kitchen real estate for that?”
Jenna hurried away, and momentary chaos took place before she waved me over. “Right here. You’ll want a blender?”
“Yes.” I cast the tentative recipe onto an overhead screen. “If you can help me gather the ingredients, we can get started.” Jenna had her own duties, but she’d reassign them for the next little while. If the crepes worked out, she’d be the one making them with her background in French cookery. She also had a good hand with pastry. “Jenna, what do think about having something like a Napoleon or maybe mini choux pastries?”
“I thought you’d never ask. All that training in Paris going to waste!” I didn’t forget—she never let me. “I have so many ideas.”
“Great, and as soon as we get this one down, we’ll work on them. Now…we’re going to need some of those berries from the freezer. I’m not sure what we bought them for, but I’m glad we did.”
Jenna assembled the ingredients and I made three different batters. The classic, the buckwheat, and one with a small amount of cocoa, and we set to work on fillings. A little more of this andless of that. I liked the idea of having some sweet treats, but I also wanted them to be more grown-up, so not teeth-achingly sweet.
I was experimenting with folding them when my phone chimed. As head chef, I was one of the few allowed to have my phone with me. “I’ll be right back.” Perhaps it would be Hudson letting me know what night he’d be coming.
See you tonight!
I’ll be busy, but please come anyway. I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Oh no. My wolf was thrilled. I was thrilled, but it was also going to be one of the busiest nights of the week. I had already stolen time both from my own schedule and Jenna’s, but I’d done it before the doors opened. Once they did, there would be no stopping until they closed again. Some sort of a member event where they were encouraged to bring a guest. While the club was doing well, it would do better with the full number of members we could accommodate. So…Gatlin came up with this idea.
“Jenna, we’re out of time, if you could set up a tasting with the various options, I have to take care of something.” Because there was no way I’d tell the omega not to come, and maybe I had an idea. “We have a taste tester arriving soon.”
Chapter Eight
Hudson
Disappointed didn’t cover how I was feeling tonight, but everyone had to work and pay bills.
Evander, according to his reply to my text, would be at the club, but wouldn’t be able to join me. In anticipation, I’d gone on the internet to research clubs of this kind. The protocols. The unspoken rules.
What to expect.
I’d taken a tour with the alpha, but there were no people around. No exhibits on display. I had a feeling when there were people there, the place took on a whole other vibe. Evander said when it was packed, it took on its own soul.
I couldn’t wait to experience that.
Evander helped me shop for club attire, although I wasn’t ready to purchase more than one or two things. I didn’t have the budget for more, and who knew what would happen? I might not even like the club.
And the forms I had to fill in online just to be vetted as a guest made me a little nervous.
The alpha walked me through the whole process. Check in at the front door. Get my wristband, marking me as a guest, and then the rest was up to me. There would be monitors in the public areas, people who watched to make sure the rules were followed and no one was hurt, any more than they wanted to be.
“Welcome to Crowned,” the young woman at the front desk said. “Hudson Davis?”
