Second Encounter

Will you formally promise that?

Lucas woke up and smiled at the memory of his dream. It was highly fitting that he had experienced that dream again. The dream that was merely a memory of something that had happened in the past.

Today, he had a chance to meet Flynn after many years.

The past five years of his life had been spent between France and Belgium learning how to bake and create culinary masterpieces to the highest level. Now his training was over and he was ready to put all of his practised skills to the test to impress Flynn.

He had originally been planning to spend the first few weeks back in England settling down and exploring familiar places before trying to make contact with Flynn, but something very opportune had occurred a week ago.

Flynn was the CEO of his family's chocolate company, Chadwick's Creations and that company had put out a recruitment notice for a chocolatier. Of course, Lucas had signed up immediately. The notice hadn’t given much information about where he would be located or the precise position of the job within the company. Given his willingness to be anywhere near Flynn, he hadn't minded.

His business knowledge led him to guess that it was for a secret project. Flynn had been the CEO for a few years so it had to be something he was planning. The company wasn't large enough for him not to have some sort of involvement in a project.

If Flynn was in charge of the project it increased the chances of them meeting each other.

Lucas still had a few things to do before leaving the apartment and he busied himself decorating the cake and chocolates he was taking to the interview. He didn’t want to ruin his efforts by putting them in the fridge overnight and letting condensation ruin the surface of the chocolates.

His mind started to wander onto familiar tracks as he started piping. A lot of tasks involved with baking were second nature to him now so his mind was less focused on the actions.

What did Flynn look like now?

Despite being the person running Chadwick’s Creations, Flynn’s identity was a complete mystery and he hadn’t been able to find any images of him. The public face of the company was his cousin, a female called Sarah Chadwick-Brooks.

He would be 23 now like he was. That was all Lucas really knew.

It had only been a couple of weeks since he had arrived back from Paris and he felt he was used to living in England again. The tube had taken him an embarrassingly long time to work out, but other than that he had settled in well.

His parent’s company Albury’s Confections was still thriving and they had offered him a position in the company if he wanted it.

Lucas was determined to get into Chadwick’s Creations first. There was no way he could get to Flynn’s heart if he worked for his rival company.

Albury’s Confections was the direct rival to Chadwick’s Creations. The media always compared them and a lot of the products were similar. Their images and marketing were different, but that wasn't always noticed by consumers.

A sudden thought paused Lucas’ piping.

His surname was Albury.

It would be obvious who his parents were. Flynn wouldn’t want anything to do with him when he saw his surname. Albury wasn’t a common surname either.

He hadn’t considered that before, he had been too hasty in applying for the job. What could he do?

Lucas sighed and continued piping. He would just have to try his best at the interview. His surname might never be called into question.

At least he would get to see Flynn again.

***

Flynn Chadwick walked through the car park of the company building with a downcast heart. Today was the second attempt at interviews for the chocolatier position. There hadn’t been anyone suitable in the first line up and he didn’t have high expectations for the second match.

There had been plenty of people with good qualifications in the first batch and had brought very professional samples of their handmade chocolates. Despite all of that he had found himself unable to choose someone and had decided to put the job advert out again and after a month’s wait, the interviews were today.

He checked he had packed indigestion tablets in his bag and walked into the reception area. The company building was a fancy building with glass walls, a marbled floor and lots of chandeliers. His father had been someone who had liked spending money to impress visitors.

He nodded at the staff members he passed and didn’t speak. Socialising was still not his forte and he relied on his cousin for anything of that sort. Sarah was his second in command and took care of public relations and socialising for him.

Flynn’s biggest socialising fear was that people would notice he was gay.

He had to keep it all a secret.

He couldn’t run the family company that had been left to him if people found out he was gay. All the investors would pull out and people would stop buying the products. Then the company would collapse. His mind followed a familiar path and he tried to pull himself out of the black mood that he could feel was coming on.

At the reception desk was a man holding two boxes. Something about his back felt familiar and Flynn’s mind was pulled out of its depressing spiral and his attention was completely focused on the man. All he could tell was that he was blond and judging by the boxes and the visit to the reception desk, was someone coming to interview.

The man accepted the visitor pass that had been handed over by the receptionist and turned around. Flynn saw his face and he scented trouble on the horizon. 

The man was extremely good looking and in a few minutes, he was going to be interviewing the chocolatier candidates. The mysterious man caught sight of him and smiled at him.

That smile was lethal.

All Flynn could do was nod and carry on walking to the stairs.

He settled himself into his office and looked over the CVs that were waiting on his desk. His secretary knocked on his open door a moment later.

“The candidates are waiting in the next room. Let me know when you want me to send the first one in,” she paused. “There’s some really good looking ones...”

Flynn sucked in a breath. Meredith had been his secretary since he had taken over the company and she had her good points. It just wasn’t fair that she could openly admire male members of staff and talk about them with him whilst he had to keep his opinions quiet and pretend that he didn’t care.

“You can send the first one in now,” he announced and ignored her comment. “I will let you know when I’m ready to have the next person.”

The first few candidates were passable with good qualifications and decent chocolates. Flynn put their CVs in a possible pile. He had to stop being so picky about who he hired this time.

Chadwick’s Creations had to move with the times to stay in the market. He had come up with a business plan to draw in different people and revitalise the company.

His idea was to open a combined chocolaterie and patisserie. It would hit a completely different market to their normal chocolates that were sold in shops. It would all have a personal touch that consumers had shown themselves to be interested in.

Cakes were not normally something the company was interested in, but Flynn wanted to expand a little in a new direction. He also liked cake a lot and so did most people. The cake market was still huge and had room for even more growth.

It had to work.

He needed to keep the company thriving or else he had failed his parents.

His mother and father had passed away in a fire when he was 10 and his life had never been the same since. If his parents were still alive, he probably would be a completely normal adult with no niggling fears and insecurities. It wasn't fair.

“Next candidate,” he called out before he could think about his parents too much.

The morning passed like that and finally the last candidate was shown in by a heavily blushing Meredith.

It was the man he had seen earlier.

The man stepped forward and sat down opposite him. Flynn was able to analyse his appearance closely. He had a friendly open face accompanied by a charismatic set of hazel eyes and neatly arranged blond curly hair.

Flynn’s attention diverted to the two boxes he had brought with him. He was supposed to be interviewing him for the chocolatier job, not staring at him.

“My name is Lucas,” the man introduced himself. “I brought the requested selection of chocolates and a cake as well. I think everyone likes cake and I wanted to brighten your day.”

That line made Flynn’s mouth twitch into a reluctant smile. He had been craving cake. Lucas was attractive and caring.

“That is kind of you,” he said. “What type of cake is it?”

“Chocolate,” Lucas replied and opened both of the boxes.

Flynn’s attention was completely diverted to the cake and the chocolates only got a one second glance. The chocolate cake was a lavish looking cake with two layers decorated with what had to be swiss meringue frosting piped into rosettes accompanied with marbled chocolate shards. 

It was a beautiful cake.

He steeled himself and looked at the chocolates again. The chocolates were the best looking he had seen from anyone with smooth surfaces, neat piping and a thoughtful colour arrangement in the box.

He took a plate from his pile for the interview and a clean knife to start his taste tasting. He cut open the one that was decorated with freeze dried raspberries to evaluate the texture. It had everything he wanted to see and he put one half in his mouth.

It was perfect.

Flynn ate the rest of it and steadily made his way through the selection.

Lucas stayed politely silent and didn’t interrupt him until he had finished.

“Do you have space for the cake?” he asked. “It’s fine if you don’t, you can have it another day. You must have tasted a lot of chocolate today.”

“I’ve still got space,” Flynn answered immediately.

He couldn’t pass on an opportunity to eat that cake. He picked up a clean knife from the pile and cut himself a slice. The knife came out cleanly with no crumbs and the cake didn’t even wobble which made Flynn sigh in satisfaction. He glanced over at Lucas to see he was smiling.

"How is the taste?” Lucas enquired.

Flynn ate a mouthful and analysed the flavours. In a few weeks time they would be interviewing for a patissier so he thought over everything carefully. The middle of the cake was blackberry jam which was a little unexpected. The sharp taste helped to offset the sweetness of the cake and frosting. He finished off the slice quickly and wanted more.

It was a shame that he was interviewing Lucas for the chocolatier position and not for the patissier. Lucas was perfect for both roles.

The interview followed a more predictable format after that point. Flynn was nothing short of impressed with Lucas’ credentials and experience. It turned out that he had just returned from studying in Paris and had missed the first set of interviews.

Then the time came to close the interview and Flynn made an impulsive decision. Lucas was everything he could want for the project and he had to grab hold of the opportunity whilst it was still there.

“I was set on running another round of interviews for a patissier position, but I think you are the perfect person for that. Would you be willing to take on both roles?”

Lucas answered in a heartbeat.

“Of course I am willing. I would do anything to work at Chadwick’s Creations.”

Flynn was delighted to hear that and then he remembered how attractive Lucas was. He would have to be careful about how he spoke and looked at him. He couldn’t afford to blush at all.

“I will speak to you again soon about when the job starts and further arrangements,” he said formally.

Lucas flashed him a heartstopping smile and Flynn’s stomach turned over. He had hired someone who was the cake baker and chocolatier of his dreams, but he was also an attractive problem in the wrong sense.

“Ah, I have something to admit to,” Lucas paused. “My parents run Albury’s Confections. Is that going to be a problem?”

He flashed him another dazzling smile.

Flynn looked down at the CV that was lying on the corner of the desk and saw his name properly for the first time.

Lucas Albury.

He had hired the child of his biggest rivals and he was deathly attractive.

Lucas was nothing short of being two problems combined into one.