Page 5 of Mariah

Gritting his teeth, he forced a smile. “Sure. Not today though, we’re a little behind schedule.”

He heated the griddle and began to fry the bacon, already second guessing his decision to take this job. The menu was mundane, like cafeteria food, and he was a five-star Michelin chef. This part of the job was only temporary; he knew that. Once Utopia opened, he’d been promised his own restaurant with a prime location and top billing. In the meantime he was going to miss creating. Food to him was an art form, and he was an artiste.

“I’m done with the eggs!” Mariah exclaimed behind him.

“Oh. Great. Just… uh… watch the bacon while I mix the rest of the batter and then you can dip the bread and cut berries.”

“I get to use a knife?” Mariah gasped, and he looked up in horror.

“Um… yes? I can’t have a kitchen assistant who isn’t able to do their job. If you can’t be trusted with a knife, then this isn’t the job for you.” His heart skipped a beat and he held his breath, suddenly hopeful. This might be his out.

And then she grinned. A big shit-eating Cheshire cat grin. “I’m just kidding. I can use a knife and a hot stove and do anything you can do and anything you need me to do. It’s just when Baze and Luna were on their honeymoon, Knox was in charge and whenever I had kitchen duty with him, he would be all ‘Little girls shouldn’t touch sharp objects. Don’t touch the stove, it’s hot, blah blah blah’.” Her voice rose an octave as she mocked him.

“Oh. I see. So it was a… joke?” He tried to hide his disappointment.

“Yep. I grew up on a farm. Everybody pitched in. Not only do I know how to do everything in the kitchen, I can kill and pluck a chicken, gut a fish and shoot my own dinner. Funny how I couldn’t wait to grow up and get away from all that stuff but now my upbringing makes me proud, and I kind of miss it. Some parts at least.”

The hastily tacked on addendum was full of wistfulness and bitterness combined, and he instantly wished he knew where it was coming from. He could relate. A complicated relationship with one’s childhood was not exclusive to Littles. His own complicated relationship with his upbringing was the reason he’d been drawn to the Daddy-Dom lifestyle. Hearing Mariah talk, he suspected their past lives had a lot of similarities and they would relate to each other’s experiences.

While she talked, he added vanilla, cream, cinnamon, and kosher salt to the batter, saving his secret ingredient, orange zest, for last.

“Have you ever made your own whip cream?” he asked.

“Is there any other way to do it?” Mariah returned, her eyes lighting up.

Without being prompted, she grabbed a bowl, and poured whipping cream into it, then grabbed powdered sugar and vanilla extract from the pantry. “Anything else you want me to add?”

“That’ll do. Let’s keep it simple today. You got this?”

“Yep!”

She went to work and he finished the bacon before moving on to the French toast. Once she finished the whip cream, she started on the fresh berries, cleaning and cutting them.

“I used strawberries and blackberries, and I kept them separate because Margo is allergic to strawberries,” she told him when she finished. “I hope that’s okay. We had blueberries too, but I thought if we saved them we could do blueberry pancakes one day this week.” Her eyes were full of hope, as she stood there blinking up at him, looking for validation.

“That’s a good call. I make a blueberry pancake with blueberry compote that’ll knock your socks off.”

She looked so happy at his simple response so he had to follow it up with something gruff. “Good job today. Eat your breakfast, and then clean up the kitchen and we’ll get started on lunch.”

He winced when he realized he’d started off with more praise. So much for gruff and cold. Good lord, he was in trouble.

Mariah

“So… how was work?” Luna asked as soon as Mariah walked through the door. She’d stayed late enough to do a lot of the dinner prep so Chef Graham would have less to manage in the evening when he was cooking by himself. “Chef Graham is hot. My Daddy sure knows how to pick ‘em.”

“Right, cause I’m sure Baze totally takes hotness into account when hiring staff,” Mariah scoffed.

“Oh yeah? Then why are they all so hot? Knox, Beau, Dax, and now Chef Graham.” Luna ticked each person off on her fingers as if to prove her point. “I haven’t seen the new pastor yet, but I’m guessing he’s a hottie too.”

Mariah was sure Baze wasn’t taking looks into account, but Luna also wasn’t wrong.

“I think that Beau and Dax might be gay,” Ellie spoke up, softly.

“Well, first of all, gayness doesn’t exclude hotness. And they aren’t gay. They might be bi, I suppose, but they flirt with Jilly all the time!”

Six heads, including her own, swung around to gape at Jilly who was blushing. “They do not,” she whispered. “And they aren’t gay or bi, they are just best friends and business partners.”

“See, she even knows their sexual orientation. They totally flirt with her!”