AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can cover salaries for three months, including yours. Plus, we’ll need all hands-on deck to help with the renovations. They’ll still be working in some capacity.”
“That wasn’t a part of the plan. I’m sure they’ll love the paid vacation, but I don’t want you taking care of me.” She lamented. “I never wanted to ask for help because when money is involved, a voice follows. This is my restaurant. I gave up my job as an executive at a Fortune 500 company to buy this restaurant five years ago. I’ve worked damn hard to get here, and now you’re proposing that I not cook for three months?”
“Cook for me if you get restless or bored,” I suggested. “I could use a private chef.”
Spirit waved her hand and rolled her eyes to the heavens, and I curved my hands around her nape, reached across the table, and kissed her. She tasted like strawberries. I lifted my head to gaze into her stunned eyes and couldn’t resist pressing my lips against hers again. “That’s what’s going to happen when you roll your eyes in my presence.”
Dazed, Spirit stared back at me, and when I lowered my head to kiss her again, she slapped the shit out of me. “And that’s what’s going to happen if you ever fucking try to kiss me again.” She rose. “This meeting is done. I’ll see you tonight with everyone else. See yourself out.”
I held my stinging jaw. All that hit did was turn me on more. My desire for her still smoldered after all these years. Spirit struck me because she hated that she felt the same spark I did when our lips touched. That girl loved me since she was eight, staring out at me as I moved in next door. I even knew back then she was special. Too special for a bad boy like me. But now, we were two grown-ass people. Two people who wanted each other. I looked down at my erection and chuckled. “Yeah, we fucking.”
Chapter 2
Spirit
Istayed in the kitchen until I heard Jace drive off. I gripped the counter, trying to regain control of my senses. I’ve waited thirty-three years for his kiss, and when it happens, it’s so unexpected, simple, and hot that I slap him. Damn him. How in the hell would we work together for the next three months? His private chef at night and all day here at the restaurant because something told me he would be hands-on with the renovations. It wouldn’t work. I would be in his bed like the thirstiest woman, and that could never be me.
I grabbed my cell off the counter, marched through my restaurant, locked it, and jumped into my Tesla. As soon as I sped off, I called Trinity, glad she was off from the hospital. “You’ll never guess what just happened?”
“I won’t, so please tell me.” My sister meant what she said. She didn’t have much time for nonsense between her demanding job as Director of Nursing at a busy hospital, her needy husband, and her two activity-involved teenagers.
“Jace Legend just kissed me at the Café.” I touched my lips, still in disbelief. His lips were soft, moisturized with a touch of bitterness like coffee.
My sister screamed.
“I sure hope you’re alone. Have Brother Law think something happened to you.”
She tsked. “He makes me sound like that at least twice a week. He’ll just think he has some competition.”
I wrinkled my nose. “How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t need to hear about your sex life?”
She drawled, “I keep hoping it will inspire you to get back out there.”
“We all can’t be blessed to find hubby material in college.” My sister still lived in Jackson and celebrated her twentieth anniversary two months ago. They were just as happy as the day they married. “After a while, you get tired of the bullshit and the lies. The hope and the disappointment of a new man sometimes happen within the same hour. I’d rather try a new recipe, read a book, and drink my Cabernet Sauvignon. Please and thank you.”
“Before you give a dissertation on the merits of being happily single, how did you end up kissing Jace Legend? I need every delicious detail. That boy was always fine.”
“He didn’t become fine to you until he was drafted into the NFL.” I pointed out.
“No, no, no...he was always fine. I just know trouble when I see it. Let’s not forget that you claimed him so young that I wasn’t allowed to see him as fine.”
I giggled. “Girl, I was so obsessed it was ridiculous. Hoping he would pay attention to me. Standing me up for the prom and me leaving for Paris right after his graduation was the best thing that could’ve happened to me. Can you imagine if I was his girlfriend back then and how he blew up in college? The way he was with girls, he would’ve driven me positively insane. I would’ve been a regular at the state hospital.”
“Ooh, child. I was so glad when you finally fell in love during your freshman year of college.”
“Yeah.” I had fond thoughts of Curtis, my first boyfriend, whom I dated until my senior year in college when we realized we wanted different things. “Maybe I should’ve stayed with Curtis. If I’d known that dating would’ve been so crazy after him, I would’ve figured it out with him.”
“And be a divorced woman out here. It wouldn’t have lasted. You two lost that spark, and you got to have that for a lasting relationship.”
“At least I could’ve said that I’ve been married.” I turned down my street, full of condos and apartments in the trendy Midtown area five minutes from downtown Houston and ten minutes from my restaurant. “I didn’t tell you the crazy part that really has my head spinning. Are you ready for this?”
“I’m hanging up because this is the longest explanation of how you kissed Jace Legend.”
“Alright. Alright. Jace is my silent investor. That’s why we were alone at the restaurant.”
Trinity exclaimed, “Get the fuck out of here. He saved your place?”
I nodded as I pulled into the parking garage of my complex. “Jace said he saw my name, which made him invest.”
