Claiming the Chef: A Single Dad, Workplace Romance

He runs the hottest kitchen on the coast. I'm hired to sweeten the menu—not the man who burns everything he touches.

Pastry chef Emery Blake steps into Salt & Ember with a whisk, a spine of steel, and everything to prove. Beckett Vale—widower, single dad, and ruthless head chef—rules this restaurant like a warlord: no mistakes, no distractions, and absolutely no dating the boss. Sparks fly the second Emery talks back. Late nights become loaded silences; a storm turns forced shelter into a kiss that tastes like trouble.

Beckett protects two things with equal ferocity—his kitchen and his little girl—and Emery threatens both. She refuses to be a secret or another scar he hides behind his apron. Gossip hisses through the line, old wounds resurface, and one wrong move could cost Emery her dream job and Beckett the only stability his daughter knows.

Grumpy/sunshine. Single dad. Forbidden, high-heat workplace romance. When desire boils over, they'll have to choose: play it safe—or put love on the menu and risk the burn.