How To Serve Up Love by Dani Elias

BREAKING: ONE REVIEW. ONE TOMATO SAUCE. AND A SPARK NEITHER OF THEM EXPECTED.

Carlisle prides itself on being quietly respectable. Unfortunately for everyone involved, a food critic and a chef have just made that impossible.

Chloe
Speed dating has been a masterclass in lowered expectations, and my tolerance for nonsense is at an all-time low. So yes, my latest column was sharp. The tomato sauce deserved it. What I did not anticipate was the furious chef turning up at the Carlisle Gazette, review in hand, pride wounded, smelling like fresh herbs and righteous indignation. He’s intense, infuriating, and far too attractive for someone who insists this is just an argument.

Tom
That sauce is my grandmother’s recipe. It’s not a trend, not a shortcut, and not up for debate. When Chloe dismisses it in print, I go looking for accountability. What I find is a woman who’s clever, unapologetic, and entirely unimpressed by my temper. This is not flirting. This is a professional disagreement. A serious one. Except the arguments don’t stop. They deepen. They linger. And suddenly I’m thinking about her far too often for someone who insists this is purely about food.

Late nights turn heated. Boundaries blur. And when care creeps in where it doesn’t belong, it becomes uncomfortably clear that this isn’t just about a review anymore.
Because in a small city where reputations are fragile, careers are political, and women pay the price for being human, wanting each other might cost more than either of them is prepared to lose. And walking away might cost just as much.

Fair warning: there’s a cheeky dose of adult content inside. Set in England and written in British English.