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“The onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms—can you handle that, or would you rather brown the meat?”
“Onions? Are you trying to ruin me?” She blinked several times as though the onions were already burning her eyes. “I’m kidding. I’ll gladly take one for the team.”
She wouldn’t have to do that after dinner. Once we finished this meal, the night was going to be all about her pussy.
I kissed her softly. Slowly. Tasting what was mine before I pulled away to pick up the packages of meat that Klark had left. There were two kinds—ground beef and pork—and I combined them in a cast-iron pan on low heat and began to break up the chunks.
“Something fucking wild happened at work today,” I said over my shoulder.
“How wild?”
“I went out to lunch with Ridge and Rhett.” I continued to turn around to catch her expression, which showed she was as surprised as I’d thought she’d be. “There was alcohol involved, which was probably why the three of us survived the outing. But still, the three of us returned to the office alive.” I left the meat and grabbed a pot from the cabinet, filled it with enough water, and set it on the stovetop to boil. “Honestly, that’s a goddamn miracle.”
“What prompted the lunch?”
I had to chuckle. “They wanted to pick my brain on how I was revamping the payroll department and how I’d done the same for our check-in and checkout process. They wouldn’t say it, but I think they’re impressed with my work.” I gave the meat a quick stir. “Ridge is looking to spearhead a whole new app design for our company, so they wanted to hear my process.”
“You’re really letting him redo the app? That sounds like something you’d do, not him.”
I sighed. “He’s a single dad. He can’t do a lot of traveling to open new hotels or remodel our current inventory. Although he’s going to be doing an overhaul of our Malibu property and some updates to Beverly Hills, he’s limited to only taking jobs around LA since he doesn’t want to be away from his kid.”
“Understandable.” She sliced through the bell pepper. “Still, I’m a little blown away that they came to you. I’m happy they did. I’m just shocked.”
“No one is more fucking shocked than me.”
She brought over the cutting board with the chopped bell peppers and dumped them in with the meat. “Was I supposed to do that?” she asked after the last piece hit the pan.
I laughed. “I have no idea. Let’s go with … yes.”
She returned to the island and got to work on the mushrooms. “Do you think this is the start of a whole new relationship for you guys?”
I whistled out a mouthful of air. “I don’t know, but it would be a hell of a lot easier if we had a relationship. There’s so much tension. Not as much as when we merged, but enough. When I start Edinburgh, I don’t need my time in LA to be fucking muddy because of them. It’s going to be stressful as it is, balancing the payroll rollout with the Scotland remodel. If they add to that stress”—a short growl came from my throat—“they’re going to like me even less.”
“But lunch went well?”
I thought about the couple of hours we’d spent together. I knew Rhett had tagged along because Ridge had asked him to. A strength-in-numbers kind of thing. But there hadn’t been any yelling. I hadn’t even snapped.
“It was productive,” I replied. “That’s probably the biggest compliment I’ve ever been able to give to them.”
She returned to the stovetop to add in the mushrooms. “And they say women bring the drama.”
I stared at her profile as the mushrooms fell off the cutting board into the sizzling meat. “I know you’re not calling me dramatic.”
She winked when she looked at me. “I’m calling them dramatic.” She returned to the island again. “One day, I bet the three of you are going to be friends. You’re going to walk around the office with Ridge’s daughter on your shoulders, and you’re going to take Rhett to a hockey game with you.”
“Did you hit a joint without me knowing?”
She laughed. “Mark my words. It’s going to happen.” She was peeling the onion, holding her face as far away from it as she could. “You didn’t think you were ever going to settle down, and now, look at you. Cooking spaghetti and talking to me about work like any normal boyfriend would.”
I dumped the noodles into the boiling water and faced her. “And I fucking love it.”
“Me too.”
“Your turn. Tell me about work.”
A topic I’d avoided since we’d returned from Dallas a couple of days ago. I didn’t want to push. I didn’t want to rush her. When she made her decision, it would be on her time, and I’d be all right with whatever she chose.
But I thought about it all the time.
