We are thrilled to be able to present to you the cover and blurb reveal for the fourth book in Beth Bolden's Kitchen Gods series, INDULGE ME!
We've all been excitedly anticipating Kian and Bastian's book...and this cover was certainly worth the wait!
INDULGE ME
by Beth Bolden
Kitchen Gods Series #4
Blurb
Throughout the restaurant industry, Chef Bastian Aquino is a notorious control freak. For two very long years, Kian Reynolds has worked for Bastian as his special assistant, doing whatever he and his restaurant needs. The toughest part isn’t even all the impossible tasks he expects Kian to complete flawlessly—it’s the hopeless, endless love he feels for his older boss.
Falling for someone so far above him might be agonizing, but at least his feelings aren’t unrequited. Bastian fell in love right alongside him, but at the very beginning, they made the choice to abstain for logical, smart, professional reasons.
But love isn’t logical, it isn’t smart, and it definitely isn’t professional. It defies containment, even by Bastian. While he watches Bastian struggle with their attraction, Kian finally comes to the conclusion that he’s done.
He’s done standing off the side, done not getting any of the credit, done letting Bastian define the boundaries of their relationship. Most of all, he’s done waiting.
Excerpt
On the last Sunday of every month, Bastian tested recipes, and from the very first time Kian joined him, it was something special they did together.
This wasn’t the first time or even the tenth, but somehow, the miracle of creation never failed to excite him. And sometimes, if Kian was very lucky, Bastian would let down his guard a little, and Kian would catch him staring at him, as he went about his tasks. Something that Bastian would never do when others were around, because Kian knew he was terrified of anyone finding out that the Bastard had feelings, even if they were primarily sexual feelings.
“What about the butter?” Kian asked, holding the buttery, lemon-dill reduction out towards where Chef was bent over a plate, tweezers out as he settled the garnishes onto the plate.
They were trying out a new langoustine recipe, and Chef had asked Kian to put together a butter sauce for drizzling. Except that instead of drizzling it, Bastian had moved right onto the garnishes.
“Oh, shit, yeah,” Bastian said, glancing up. “Maybe around the edge of the plate?”
When they’d first started working together on Sundays, Bastian definitely hadn’t asked Kian’s opinion. But slowly, as their time together progressed, he’d begun to ask a question here or there, until, in the last few months, the sessions had started to actually feel collaborative.
Kian looked at the plate Bastian had chosen, and knew the sauce ringing the edge of the plate would be a messy proposition at best.
“Let me taste it first,” Bastian demanded, and Kian passed over the pot. He dipped a spoon in, licked it clean, and let the flavor of the sauce linger on this palate. Chef tasted a hundred things, every single day, but the recurring thought of, that should be me, and the automatic denial was second nature to Kian by now.
“God damn that’s good,” Bastian said fervently. “The little spice on the end, that’s glorious.”
“Thank you, Chef,” Kian said formally, but he was smiling. Nothing ever felt better than a compliment from Bastian, mostly because compliments were so scarce, but also because you knew he meant them.
Unceremoniously he dumped the langoustine in the trash, sliding the plate down near the rest of their dirty dishes. Dishes Kian would probably end up washing, since Jorge wouldn’t be in until later, and he’d have his hands full.
“That sauce needs to be the focal. Which means, a new plate.” Bastian prowled over to shelving unit that held his plate selections, and picked one, then another, and then a third.
They clattered as he deposited them on the counter in front of Kian. “You pick,” he said.
This was new. Sometimes Bastian asked his opinion, but he’d never been given control of a decision before. And plate selection was huge. It determined plating and garnish and Bastian had told him a thousand times, those often determined the ultimate success of a dish.
Kian examined each one carefully, envisioning in his mind the langoustine, the French beans, the sauce, the garnishes. Only one stood to him as the perfect choice. He glanced up at Bastian, who was watching intently.
“Go on,” Bastian said, making a little shooing gesture with his hand, the other tucked up under his armpit. A fierce look of concentration fell over his face as he watched Kian plate the langoustine.
When Kian was finally done, and wiped the plate, Bastian spent a long time looking at it from every angle.
He’d poured the sauce into the bottom of the curved bowl, curled the langoustine in a loose spiral, nestled the beans upright, letting them fan out, and in a final touch, used the eyedropper to dot the surface of the yellowy cream sauce with basil oil.
“You’ve been paying attention,” Bastian said finally.
Kian was almost offended. Was there anyone who assumed he hadn’t been?
“All it needs,” Bastian continued, “is one final touch.” He abruptly turned on his heel and headed in the direction of the walk-in fridges. When he came back, he was holding something nestled in his hands. Carefully he leaned down and nestled one of the miniature Anaheim peppers they’d just got into one of the langoustine folds.
“Visually, it’s right,” Bastian said, but he gave a sigh of frustration. “But if any idiot eats that, it’ll overwhelm the shellfish and the sauce. What else do we have that’s red?”
“What about a single slice of radish?” Kian suggested. “It’s a nice vibrant red, but the flavor is fairly neutral.”
“Let’s try it,” Bastian said, and Kian went back to the walk-in, grabbed a radish, then his fish deboning knife, very sharp and very flexible and carved a single, nearly paper-thin slice. The edges were bright red, and the starkness of the white was a good contrast to the yellow and green base. He swapped it for the pepper, and knew it was right when Bastian sighed again, but this time in satisfaction.
He reached over and clapped a hand on Kian’s shoulder.
They didn’t always touch. It always felt a little like Russian Roulette, touching, especially in the sacred confines of the Terroir kitchens. But once in a while—Kian was never sure if it was because he’d done something good enough to be rewarded or if Bastian was so impressed he couldn’t help himself anymore—he’d reach out like this with a brief clasp of his shoulder.
This time, though, he lingered and Kian’s heartbeat accelerated. He couldn’t stop it and he couldn’t slow it down.
He looked up to see Bastian looking at him, intently. There were a thousand dangerous things brewing in that dark gaze, and Kian trembled.
“You are so . . .” Bastian broke off and dropped his hand, his earlier frustration magnified.
About the Author
A lifelong Oregonian, Beth Bolden has just recently moved to North Carolina with her supportive husband. She still believes in Keeping Portland Weird, and intends to start a chapter of Keeping Durham Weird.
Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn’t a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. She’s published eleven novels and four short stories, with Indulge Me, the last book of the Kitchen Gods series, releasing in spring 2019.
Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn’t a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. She’s published eleven novels and four short stories, with Indulge Me, the last book of the Kitchen Gods series, releasing in spring 2019.
Start the Series now to get ready for the release of INDULGE ME!
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