Read HEAT Vol. 2 (Master Chefs: HEAT Series #2) for Free Online

it were, I fought and struggled to get
free.  “You let go of me this minute.”
    “You’ve
said yourpiece, now listen to mine.”
    “No.”
    “Your
work at the institute would have come to an abrupt stop and I never would have
had the chance to go on with my studies.  Don’t you see?  I did all that for
us.  I did all that to ensure we didn’t get kicked out of the institute for
good.”
    I
eyed him and grimaced at the very thought of what he’d done.  “You're telling
me that you dated all those girls to protect me?  Really, Bobby.  You couldn’t
come up with anything better than that?  I mean, all you had to do was tell me
this secret plan of yours and we would have kept our distances… simple as
that.”
    “Really?
 Simple as that?  No, what would have been simple was for us to bump into one
another, get all heated up, and before you know it, we’re all hot and heavy
together.  My way, whenever we bumped into one another, you hated me so much,
there was no chance we’d hook up, you know what I’m saying?”
    He
had a point, but it hardly mattered.  He could have taken a hundred other
routes to ensure we didn’t get kicked out of the institute.  “Admit it.  You
chose to do this because you could have fun with it.  I mean, how many of those
girls did you fu…  How many did you sleep with?  Huh?”
    “None
of them.  I told you.  It was all for show.  In fact, the reason I dated a
string of girls was so that none of them would get emotionally attached to me. 
You know, it was all light… just a movie here, a ride home there, maybe a
little dinner once in a while.”
    “I
don’t believe you.”
    “Remember
when we met at the market?”
    “Perfect. 
I’m glad you brought it up.  We were far, far away from the institute and you
still brushed me off.”
    “Exactly. 
Guess who was coming up behind you at that moment.”
    I
drew a blank.
    “Your
replacement for the basic science class, Gaetan.  Even there, I didn’t want to
risk him going back to the institute to tell Monsieur Franchines that we’d been
together.  But believe me, it was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.  I
wanted so badly to be with you.”
    I
stared at him, wanting to believe him.
    He
cupped my cheeks and pulled me to him.  “Believe me, Lilly.” His eyes turned
dark and he kissed me, not with the passion of a few moments ago, but
tenderness, so much tenderness, it blew me away.  I melted.
    Still
drunk on his kiss, I leaned into him when he pulled back. “Bobby, I’m about to
take my vows.  This is very serious.  I’ve already ruined the whole chastity
thing.  I don’t want to…”
    “Don’t
you see, Lilly?  Now that your work at the institute is complete, we can be
together, openly.  You haven’t taken your vows yet.  I made it here just in
time.  Don’t you think that means something?”
    I
looked away from him.  He looked so good, so enticing, it was impossible to
think straight while looking at him.
    “Tell
me you don’t love me,” he whispered into my ear.  “Tell me you don’t want to be
with me.”
    “What
I want and my life calling are two different things.”
    He
stepped back and pulled in a long, deep breath.  My heart raced for an eternal
minute as he just stood there.  “I love you, Lilly, and I want to be with you. 
I’ve thought of you constantly these past months, and I thought I was doing the
right thing by ensuring both our futures were secured, at least where the
institute was concerned.  I don’t know what more I can tell you, but…”
    The
wind was knocked out of me as he took another step away from me.
    “If
you really believe that we’re not meant to be together…”  He looked around the
dimly lit, quiet room.  “I don’t want to be the one responsible for stealing
you away from what you want.”
    A
dense lump of hurt collected in my throat and heavy, burning tears filled me
eyes.  What was he saying?
    He
said nothing more for a long