Hey Lovelies,

Thank you for reading Italian Coffee House.

I wonder how you feel about Ada & Nicky now.

List your first name and tell me what you like about their growth as a couple!

LET THE COMMENT SECTION EXPLODE!!

I have another request. Please give The Heart That Slayed Cupid [BWWM] a read. It's another book of mine written for #JustWriteIt #LoveLetter.

Here's the twenty-third installation.

Please

If yah can't stand the heat then you're in the wrong kitchen! Hahaha ;) XD

- Ang

"Nick"

Every now and again, I would give up the paperwork, giving into the overwhelming urge that gripped me to be in the heat of the kitchen along with my suis-chefs. Cooking may have started off as a means to an end but had quickly evolved into my passion and it would be insane of anyone to think that I would sit behind a desk and do paperwork for the rest of my life. I'd be damned if I even did it for an entire week, much less to the end of my existence. However, though I loved the culinary world that was besides the reason that I found myself in the kitchen preparing five hundred slices of Za'atar Chicken. I was edge about tonight, my nerves were in a bundle and keeping my hands busy was always the best form of distraction.

The Sunset Banquet, the most prestigious affair of the year, drew businessmen and women, bachelors and socialites, a few public figures and even an occasional prince or princess. The host, Marina Plumes, was the founder of a charity by the name of the Circle Foundation which was established to give members of the differently-abled community an equal chance to at life. The banquet was able to draw the many wealthy hands who wanted to have a part in the in like bees to honey if I may say so myself. It would be my seventh year attending the banquet but that didn't help. I may be a resturanteur but social gatherings weren't my forte as grotesque as that may sound to some and from my little experience, I wasn't missing much. There had always been women eager to get my attention, socialites and debutantes alike bent on catching my eye. The restaurant was a different arena, one where I provide a service to the public and I had no qualms about that. To top the cherry on the cake, my company would be providing refreshments for the event, fortunately I had the good sense to close the restaurant for the day because there was a lot to be done. I would also be sponsoring the affair.

"Niccolò?" A sweet voice caught my ear. "Nicky!"

I looked up from my task to be met with the sight of my gorgeous wife, noting the wary express that had dissolved her usually jubilant mood. The familiar clatter of the kitchen has all but seized and in it's place was a deafening silence. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Ada had referred to me intimately, maybe because I allowed her to but either way, it was no business of their's and I'd be damned if I allowed my staff to take an interest in my personal life. Besides, eight hundred horderves weren't going to make themselves were they? Fortunately, I'd been done to a few more chicken so I finished up at my station quickly before going to her. She looked as worried as I felt in that moment, maybe even more but regardless it didn't take anything from her beauty.

The sickening sound of silence still echoed in my ear, allowing me to count the beats per minute of my pulse also reminding me that we were still under a microscope. By then, my blood boiled and it was too late to stop it. "I believe that there are more important things to be done therefore you should not have the luxury to study my wife and I. This isn't a reality show. Get back to work."

When I finally looked at Ada she seemed a bit jumpy as I approached her and I neared groaned inwardly. Couldn't I do anything right today? It certainly didn't help that I was on edge either but the more I stared into the world's most beautiful deep brown eyes the more I found solace and the deeper I fell. I tentatively moved closer careful not to scare her, pressing my hand against her soft cheek. "What is it my love?"

Ada soon took my hand in hers leading me away from the kitchen and down the hall to my office. She closed the door behind us, gesturing for me to have a seat as conflicted emotions played across her face before she came to sit beside me. She was about to say something but she just stared at me a moment. "What's wrong baby?"

I sighed raking my hands through my hair before leaning against the soft sofa suddenly catching her by the arm pulling her to sit into my lap. Ada giggles evidently startled by my actions before she placed her head against my chest and for that one moment everything felt perfect in my world. It was three weeks since we'd been together as a couple and I didn't regret one second of it. If I had to do it all over again, I would ... or maybe, I would have pursued her as a proper suitor should. She was by far one of the best things to happen to me if not the best and she was everything I never looked for in a woman. My Ada was clumsy, sometimes she could be shy and other times her confidence was through the roof, she was terrible at telling jokes and would be consumed in a fit of laughter before she could even get anything out. Any which way, I always found myself attracted to her and why wouldn't I, she was the sexiest woman I'd ever seen. My hand circled around her waist hugging her closer to me before I kissed her head.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that," I said softly into her hair.

"Your burdens are mine, tell me what's troubling you." The vibrations of her words filled me chest causing me to groan inwardly all for a different reason. I exhaled deeply calming my insides.

"There is so much to be done, even if we have covered a lot of the things on the menu. How will be ready in time?" I inhaled deeply trying to keep the strain out of my voice.

"W-would you ..." Ada began before she fell silent against me.

"Would I what?" I asked curious as to what she was about to say.

"W-would you like to pray about it?" Ada asked and I could feel as she held her breathe in anticipation of my response. Her answer had taken me by surprise to be honest. I can't remember the last time I said a prayer about anything. It's sad but I'm being brutally honest, though I was well aware of the many blessings that had entered my life, most recently this woman who's head laid against my chest. I allowed myself to lace my fingers through hers bringing our joined hands to my lips in a kiss. There seemed to be something intimate about praying with my wife that was quite alluring.

"I would like that very much," I replied sincerely. She hugged my hands closer and we prayed about it then and there, and though nothing may have changed instantly on the outside, I felt ten times lighter. "Grazie."

Ada finally met my gaze with a smile on her lips that complimented her before gazing into my eyes. She played with the hair at my temple smoothing it back with her fingertips then she leant her forehead against mine. I feel myself falling deeper into the rabbit hole, at every interaction becoming a slave to these feelings that betrayed me at her mercy, falling in love with her over and over and over again. It was the inescapable truth and there was nothing I could do about it. She leaned in to kiss me, a chaste kiss but intimate in a way that some couples weren't. I held her in place, kissing her back with the passion I felt and she eagerly responded to me one of her hands coming up to cup my cheek. I pulled away reluctantly resting my forehead against hers again knowing that if I continued things would take a different path.

"Teach me," She said only a breath away from my lips, catching me completely off guard and confusing me a bit.

"Scusi?"(Sorry) was all I could manage at the moment. I was beyond confused as to what she meant in the moment.

"I want to help lift your work load teach me!" She smiled up at me playing with the hair at my temple again.

"Are you sure about this?" Ada was unlike any woman I'd ever met and she seemed to genuinely care about me. There wasn't another woman on the planet that I could say the same of beside, of course, my sister and the feeling caused my heart to contract.

"We are married in more ways than one Nicky. I want to help you." She replied pulling away a bit to stare into my eyes.

"Once you go down this path, there's no going back. You were be under my training," My eyes searched her face for any traces of reluctance giving Ada her last chance to op out because once she became my apprentice, she would be suggested to training as any other of my staff.

"I'm tougher than I look baby," She replied as though reading my mind with a smile gracing her pretty lips as Ada tilted her head to the left to get a better view of my eyes.

"You're too sweet Bella(Beauty)," I sighed in exasperation, pulling her in for a kiss one more time before I sprang off the sofa with my lovely wife in my arms before lowering her to the ground. I inhaled deeply as her sensual body glided against mine. "If you are going to be my apprentice, you would have to wear these."

I made a move for the cupboard creating some distance between us because it was difficult enough standing before my wife without so much as kissing her. Opening the single door of my cupboard, which was positioned to the left of my desk, I fetched Ada a chef jacket which has the company logo and a pair of plain black cotton pants. Both draped neatly on a hanger, already out of any packaging it would stored if brand new because they were initially belonged to be. I'd kept it in my office as a reminder of how far I'd come, how much I'd grown and how much Krysta and I had overcome together by ourselves. Also, it was there so that whenever I felt like wearing it, I could. However, it would be hers temporarily until I could get around to having one custom-made for Ada. I returned to her side giving her, my uniform, noting the excitement that swept over her features.

I chuckled at her obvious anticipation at the prospect of learning my profession but my laughter soon died as she began to strip down, in front of me, just her underwear. I couldn't deny my eyes the chance to roam over the exposed curves of her radiant chocolate skin damn near becoming undone with just the breathtaking sight of her. In her excitement, she didn't seem to notice but I turned away to give her some privacy, struggling to keep my composure. I had to mentally slap myself out of it, reciting that there was still too much work to be done for me to be at her mercy in this instant. It would prove a task in itself but I was getting my head wrapped around the idea. I'm convinced God made that woman just for me.

"These don't fit," Ada sighed in exasperation.

"That's because they were mine." I spun on my heel absentmindedly near groaning in frustration at the tempting sight. The chef jacket that ususlly fit me well ended mid-thigh for her thick legs, the sheer size of pants unable to secure itself on her petit waist gathering on the carpeted floors of my office near her ankles. Unknowingly, I'd closed the distance between us unable to stay away too taken with the scene before me. It was quite the dilemma not to leave her like that because by far she'd have to be the sexiest chef I'd ever laid eyes on and the pout of her soft lips weren't helping my case either.

Suddenly, my hands were roaming the back of her thighs while I hoisted her petit form against my large frame leaning in for the kiss. Fireworks erupted in my body as she wrapped her gorgeous legs around my waist in an attempt to pull herself closer to me. With little effort, I carried her to my polished desk shoving the paperwork away from us and across the length of the table. Ada's soft hands gripped against my shirt pulling me closer to her in a passionate kiss before she paused reluctantly inching away from my lips. I was saddened by the loss of contact she gazed up into my eyes and though the lights from the ceiling slipped into her cocoa brown depths, I thought I saw something like joy, euphoria, fear?

"As much as I would love to finish what we've started, we are going back out into that kitchen, you are going to teach me about the culinary arts and we have a banquet to attend," Ada's hands played with my hair while mine held her waist frozen in time as we stared into each others eyes.

"Only God knows how much I love my Ada," I placed a soft kiss on my wife's bare shoulder causing her to giggle. "Now let's see about fixing this uniform before you drive me insane."

*END of Chapter Twenty-three*