Bob gave a nod of greeting to Rafe. “All yours,” he told the other bodyguard. “I’ll be back in an hour.” He inclined his head to Ishmael. “Sir.”
Kris gave Ishmael a puzzled look as they went through the doors. “He isn’t going to have lunch with us?”
“No,” Rafe answered. “When we’re on duty, we never allow our focus to be split. We don’t want to have to apologise because something happened while we were looking at our plate.”
“Oh, makes sense,” Kris said.
“Mr Lux, a pleasure to see you and your companion,” the host said. “Your table is ready. I’ll notify the kitchen so they’ll bring out your meal. The wine is already chilling on the table.”
“Thank you. We can seat ourselves,” Ishmael told him, leading Kris to his private table.
“Very good, sir,” the host replied.
Kris stiffened as people turned to stare and the whispers began.
“Just ignore them, darling,” he told him. “They’re just curious to see who is lucky enough to be on my arm.”
“And a bit star struck,” Rafe added.
“Yeah, okay,” Kris said, the tension not leaving his body.
They reached their table and Ishmael released Kris’ arm to pull his chair out for him. Kris looked down at the table as he took his seat, offering Ishmael a shy smile as he peered up through his lashes at him as he took the chair across from him.
There it is. He’s beginning to feel an attachment.
“I ordered us the seafood risotto,” he informed him.
“Risotto?” Kris looked unsure of what that was.
“It’s a rice dish.”
Kris’ face brightened. “Oh. I like rice. At home, we always ate rice more often than potatoes. Rice and noodles.” He gave Ishmael another shy smile. “Mom cooked some American food sometimes, but mostly we ate a lot of Filipino food and stuff if she was cooking.”
Ishmael didn’t miss the nuance to what Kris had just revealed. He uncorked the wine and reached for Kris’ glass, filling it halfway. “Oh? You father also cooked?”
“Yeah, a couple times a week, mostly on the weekend, he likes to barbecue, especially.”
Ishmael placed Kris’ glass back down before him, then poured his own glass, filling it. “And do you cook?”
Kris flushed. “A little. I can do some basic stuff. Rice in a rice cooker, some stir fries, and I can grill a mean burger or hot dog.” He nervously twirled his fingers about the stem of his wine glass. “I liked it. I wish I had learned more. Not fancy stuff. Just how to cook my mom’s dishes and stuff. I can follow a recipe and sometimes I used to follow a Youtube video showing how to make something. I made homemade wonton soup that way once. I even made the wonton pastry myself.”
“So, is this something you’d be interested in?”
“Cooking? Not professionally, no. Cooking for me, yes.”
Then you shall have it. One more way to bind you to me. They always did say food was the way to a man’s heart.
“Kris! I thought that was you. We’ve really missed you these past few days.” Lorraine appeared at their table.
Ishmael mentally rolled his eyes. It had only been two days, and Kris had been a recent subordinate hire to boot.
“Oh, ah, yes,” Kris floundered.
“He wasn’t expecting a new job to suddenly fall into his lap, and I’m afraid that as my PA, he’s had to jump in at the deep end,” Ishmael supplied smoothly.
“Your personal assistant, right.“ Lorraine gave a sniff. “You came down the private elevator from what I could see and is it usual to have bodyguards follow your staff as if they are, well, family?” she pursed her lips and looked at Kris pointedly. “You know, no one would have cared if you’d said you were gay. But using me to get a promotion so you could sleep your way into a position, well, I’m disappointed in you.”
Cold anger suffused Ishmael. “I beg your pardon? Are you insinuating that I would let a pretty face climb into my bed and reward them with a job handling my personal affairs?”
