The end of the tour led them into an all-you-can-eat chocolate extravaganza with a huge selection of different chocolates.
‘Willy Wonka eat your heart out,’ murmured Mina, watching the delight on two children’s faces as they double-checked with their parents that they really could eat the chocolate. The company had done a great job in designing the tasting room, and she studied the various stations which had been arranged to display both the chocolates and their ingredients. She nodded with approval, already thinking about the chocolate shop she’d been to in Zurich and how she would set things up. There was plenty of room here, which was probably just as well, as there were a lot of excitable children zipping about, unable to believe their luck, but it lacked the style of the shop. Although, much as she’d liked it, it had been a bittoostylish, making you feel a little self-conscious about tasting there, whereas here there was absolutely no concept of self-restraint. If it were up to her, she’d come up with a happy medium. Something a lot more cosy, perhaps small, beautifully decorated, round tables with room around them for people to gather, but with plenty of other things on display to draw the eye.
Mina shook her head and winced as a little girl careered past, holding a chocolate in either sticky hand, her eyes alight with happiness, calling to her mother. ‘And the trick is not too eat too much,’ she said to herself, her mind still buzzing with ideas.
Uta and Kristian had already tucked in, while Bernhardt was wandering around each station, his hands behind his back, perusing each carefully as if working out his tasting strategy.
It look far too restrained for Mina. She wanted to try everything.
She turned to Luke, who’d caught up with her having been caught in conversation with one of a group of women from their coach. She hadn’t missed how their eyes lit up when they’d seen him the first time they boarded the coach.
‘Funny,’ she said to him, ‘that this is the most famous brand in Switzerland, and the oldest, and yet in the UK we’ve never heard of it.’
‘The Swiss like to keep the good stuff for themselves,’ said Luke. ‘Where shall we start?’
‘At the beginning, of course,’ said Mina primly. ‘We have to do this properly.’
‘Is there a proper way to taste chocolate?’ teased Luke, following her to the first station, where cone-shaped swirls of glossy brown chocolate were arranged in uniform rows, like a small battalion of sweetness. He picked one up and popped it straight into his mouth. ‘Mmm.’ With dancing eyes he signalled that it was good as he savoured the chocolate.
‘Philistine,’ said Mina picking one up and delicately holding it under her nose. ‘You should smell it first; it heightens the experience.’ She inhaled the delicious scent, closing her eyes. It smelled of comfort, of warm kitchens, heaven. When she opened her eyes, Luke was watching her, a smile playing around his mouth.
‘What?’ she asked, feeling her breath catch just a little at the expression on his face.
‘You just make me smile, Mina. You have such a passion for life.’
He continued to watch as she carefully put the chocolate in her mouth and bit through the crisp hard shell, which gave way to silken praline inside, flavoured with hazelnuts, which made her squirm with pleasure. She savoured the smooth texture in her mouth, feeling the sensual pleasure which was heightened under Luke’s steady gaze.
‘Good?’ he asked.
‘Very.’
‘Here,’ Luke picked up the little cup-shaped chocolate and held it up to her nose, the rest of his fingers lightly grazing her chin with a tiny touch that sent a frisson racing across her skin in hair-raising ripples.
‘Caramel,’ she murmured, as he lifted the chocolate to her mouth. Their eyes locked as she took it from his fingers and put it into her mouth. The intensity of his gaze as she tasted the rich sweetness of sugar made her pulse hiccough.
‘Here.’ She picked up one of the chocolates and with clumsy fingers shoved it towards him, without an ounce of finesse, but he was making her feel a touch jittery as well as hot and definitely bothered.
He opened his mouth expectantly and she stared at his lips, feeling a ridiculously ill-placed spark of lust shoot through her. Hastily she popped the chocolate in with the urgency of a basketball player shooting a hoop in the dying seconds of a game. Feeling a flush racing along her cheeks, she moved along without waiting for him. She busied herself, studying the case of ingredients rather than picking up one of the rounds of chocolate with a coffee bean on the top, waiting for her heart to stop playing silly buggers and return to an acceptable rate. Did Luke have any idea of the effect he was having on her? She prayed she wasn’t giving herself away.
‘Want to try a piece of this?’ she asked, moving on to a display of white chocolate in large bars, even though she wasn’t a fan. She always found that it had a cloying texture and left a greasy mouthfeel. She preferred milk chocolate to any other.
Luke shook his head. ‘That’s not proper chocolate. It sticks to the roof of your mouth.’
‘I think we might be twins separated at birth,’ she said with a laugh. ‘That’s exactly how I feel about it. Largely decorative.’
The next station was much more appealing: tiny rounds of dark chocolate flavoured with orange. They both nodded in shared appreciation.
‘That’s good. The best yet,’ said Luke, his hand already reaching for a second piece.
‘You missed a bit.’ Without thinking she reached up to away the smear left just below his lip, and as soon as she did, a big klaxon went off in her head – a few seconds too late, because the damage was done. At the same moment his tongue slipped out to lick away the streak of chocolate and touched her fingertip. A thousand volts rocketed through her at the unexpected intimate contact and she gave a startled gasp at the same time as Luke’s eyes widened.
‘Sorry,’ she said hurriedly.
‘I’m not,’ said Luke, holding her gaze and smiling down at her with a look in his eyes that was hard to resist. It held sincerity and tenderness rather than cocky confidence, and it made her yearn for things that she had no business yearning for in a busy tasting room.
Unable to help herself, she smiled back up at him. She couldn’t fight off the pent-up longing, and when he lowered his head, she lifted hers…
‘What’s your favourite?’ asked Bernhardt, suddenly appearing behind her with Kristian and Uta in tow. ‘Uta likes the pralines best. Kristian can’t make up his mind. What’s this one? Chocolate and orange?’
