“He’s great in both the business and culinary aspects.Plus, he’s always wanted to come back to Paris to be closer to family. He hadn’t found the right partner before.”
Tapping the table, he was already mentally laying out a game plan. He’d been eyeing a perfect property in the FirstArrondissementnot far from the Louvre.“Tell him I’ll call him. Of course, I’d need to run this by our friends.”
“I think they’d be happy to have The Paris Roommates Group expand—especially since it will make you happy. Consider this part of Operation Kyle. You like new challenges. I mean, how many restaurants did you have when you were part of your Austin restaurateur group? Ten?”
“Fourteen.”
She snorted. “You need a new restaurant stat. We’ll talk to our friends when we see them at dinner tomorrow. On that note…”
She did more typing on her phone before storing it back in the drawer. “Okay, we have the Romance Shrine for at least another week. I asked Brooke if she and Axel could host Sunday dinner. In fact, she thought spreading it around would be great so it wouldn’t always fall on our shoulders to host. I get points for sending a thumbs-up at that last part. I’m not used to the whole ‘us’ thing yet. But I’ll get there. I promise.”
Powerful emotion was coursing through him. Love and gratitude. She was making room for him and also looking after his needs professionally as much as personally. Because opening a new restaurant with a well-known chef like Fournier would kick ass.
“Major points.” He crossed to her and brought her to his chest. “I hadn’t thought of asking for a round robin hosting for Sunday dinner.”
She fingered the exposed skin at the V of his shirt. “I have good ideas too. Ah… Is it okay that I texted her? Am I supposed to run that kind of thing by you? God, I don’t know the rules here.”
“You did great, but sure, why not kiss me and whisper your suggestions in my ear?” He caressed her chin with a seductive smile. “I’ll do the same.”
“So joint decision-making. I run things by you. You run things by me. Kinda like we do with the restaurant. Like you getting the contractors in fast to start the upstairs renovation since we’re so booked up.”
“Exactly.” He ran his hand slowly up her spine. “Another brilliant outcome of others hosting is that we don’t have to pick up anything around the house. Including our clothing.”
“I love the sound of that,” she silkily agreed, opening a few of the buttons on his shirt and running her hand inside.
“Also…” Desire was pouring into him now. “We can be late.”
She gasped and followed up with a huge grin. “Like Dean and Jacqueline always are!”
“Theyalwayshave an excuse?—”
“But everyone knows the truth.” Madison ran her hands over his abs under his shirt now that she had it unbuttoned all the way. “I guess we’ll be following in Dean’s shoes. I’ll make some comment about not being able to find my coat?—”
“Or you couldn’t figure out what to wear,” he joked, tugging at her black shirt.
Her laughter paved the way for him to unsnap her jeans and slide her zipper down. “You’d better put Pierre in your office. Like Dean would say. Not in front of the kids.”
He kissed her hard before stepping back and heading toward Pierre. The parrot squawked as Kyle held out his arm. “Good job, Pierre. Now, step into my office for a second.”
When he returned, Madison was lying on her side on the kitchen island, completely al fresco, a wickedly tantalizing light dancing in her eyes.
Desire pooled in his belly. Thunderbolts struck his heart.
“I think we should celebrate.” She patted the counterplayfully. “We just made our first compromise, and you might be opening a restaurant with my mentor.”
He peeled off his shirt, thinking she wanted the new restaurant too. Stepping out of his pants, he slid her an amused glance. “I like these spontaneous celebrations.”
“What’s not to like?” She patted the marble again, his very own sybarite come to life. “Now get your gorgeous butt over here. I don’t have to be at the restaurant for a few more hours and I know how I want to spend them.”
He grinned. Their mornings were shaping up exactly as he’d hoped, filled with awakening together, making love, and showering before breakfast. He’d hoped she’d stick around the house for a while afterward. So far she had. Not rushing off to the restaurant hours early like she had before they’d begun this relationship. Better yet: her culinary prowess was at an all-time high.
Their relationship was growing, her career was thriving, and they werecompromising.
Now all he had to do was keep things going great.
Sunday dinner tomorrow was going to be their first big test.
They just had to get through it.
