CHAPTER
THIRTY-EIGHT
Kyle wanted to drag Madison into his arms and never let her go. But he recognized that determined glint in her eye. She was going to meet him toe-to-toe now.
Her hand clenched around the brick. “I’m afraid I won’t be anything unless I win the star. Whenever anyone has said I am nothing, I’ve always told myself, well, I’ll show them. One day I’ll be a Michelin-starred chef. Until you—and our friends—I didn’t want anything else out of life.”
She hesitated, but he could tell she wasn’t done. She was about to share another important facet of her life with him, and he was going to listen.
“You told me something hard, so I’m going to do the same.” She sucked in a huge breath. “I fell in love when I was seventeen. He was in college, and he treated me like I was special. I was crazy about him.”
Her angry shake of the brick had him struggling to leash his own ferocity since he suspected he knew what she’d say next.
“God, I was so stupid. When he finally invited me over to his apartment, I baked adulce de lechecake and had my firsttime with him. But it wasn’t this great romantic moment I’d hoped for, and after that, it was like that girl inside me had dried up. I’d grown up tough, and after falling for that asshole, I got tougher. I hated the naïve girl I’d been. I can tell you, but I got to thinking about who I was back then. I saw her looking at me in the mirror after we kissed on New Year’s Eve.”
He let his finger graze her cheek, his heart pulsing with hurt.
“She wasn’t gone.” She tugged on his suit jacket, as if needing an anchor. “Falling in love with you brought her back… That’s been the biggest shock of all, because I’d told myself I didn’t do love.”
“I’m glad she wasn’t gone—because I really love how you look at me,” he said huskily. “With your whole heart.”
“I know, and it’s pathetic.” She gave a strangled laugh. “Kyle, you’ve made me want every mushy thing out there, although I still don’t always want to admit it. But I love our Romance Shrine and our Dirty Dancing club. I love your bed—something I found out last night when I slept on the cot in the kitchen—and I even love a parrot and now a dog.”
Her hand cupped his jaw, and he finally drew her against him with a sigh of relief. “I like where this is headed.”
“You should.” She laid her hand over his heart, her golden eyes turning warm and soft, like they did when she let her feelings show. “But most of all, I love you. I hate this brick, and I hate the thought of losing you and messing up our family, and Ihatebeing afraid of another bully who’s trying to keep me from having what I want. So look out. I’m gonna break it into a million pieces and show you how it’s done.”
She stepped away, lifted her arm, and slammed the brick into the ground, cracking it successfully into little, uneven rocks.
The door flew open, and Nanine’s chandelier gave a spicyjingle. Rico stopped short, gesturing grandly to the floor. “Mon dieu!What are you two doing back here? Destroying the restaurant? I know things are dire, but surely we must hold the line at outright demolition.”
Kyle cracked his neck. Of all the people to interrupt them…
“Oh shit!” Madison lurched forward. “I forgot you were coming.”
“It’s no wonder,” the other chef exclaimed with a pointed inflection in the air. “Surely you have lost your mind if you are throwing bricks around. I suppose I should be relieved you did not fatally wound yourself like the French celebrity chef Bernard Loiseau after he received a private note from the Michelin Guide’s chief that his three-star establishment might lose a star if he didn’t step up his cooking game.”
“We haven’t lost our minds,” Madison protested, stepping over the pile of rubble. “We’ve been deciding things. In our own way.”
Kyle took a deep breath. He thought he knew, but some things were worth confirming. “Mad, can I ask why Rico is here?”
The chef only gave a smirk, striking a pose. “Because I am magnificence personified. Why else?”
Madison swatted him. “Shut up, will you? Kyle, Rico heard what happened and was swinging by. Rico, make it quick. Kyle and I need to get home.”
Home.
There, she’d said it. He stepped behind her and felt his heart explode when she reached back for his hand. She’d always shied away from public displays, and here she was, doing it in front of a colleague. He grinned. When she broke something, she broke it for good. God, he was feeling terrific now.
“I will make it quick, then.” Rico reached into his jacketand pulled out a piece of paper. “An anonymous person left this message addressed to me at the restaurant on an empty table after lunch service. You’re going to want to read what’s inside. I assume they knew I would give it to you even though your name was not specifically mentioned. I feel like I’ve stepped into a cloak-and-dagger film.”
Madison took the paper and opened the note. Kyle peered over her shoulder, his mouth dropping open as he read.
The Michelin people will make their announcement on Nanine’s. Please tell your friend.
Kyle clutched her shoulders as she let out a shriek.
“Oh my God!” she yelled, turning and flinging herself into his arms. “Everything was shit, and now we get a note like this?”
