Her eyes turned suspiciously bright before she lowered her head against the doorframe. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”
His throat closed. “Like what?”
“Upset. Closed down. I’ve got nothing right now.”
His heart started beating faster as his alarm grew. “Did someone hurt you? On the way home?—”
“No, not like that.” She rubbed her forehead into the doorframe as the onion scent turned even more sour. “That Iwould know how to handle. I’d fight with everything I’ve got. But this… There’s no fighting this.”
Fuck it. He was not letting her step back. He pushed Spike at her, and she took him reflexively. The puppy barked and nuzzled her while he pushed his way in and put his arms around her. “I’m not leaving you alone like this, dammit. I love you. I can’t stand seeing you upset this way.”
She couldn’t shove him away with Spike in her arms, but he could feel how tense her body was. She was so tight she could shatter.
“Dammit, just leave me alone.” She lifted her strained face, her voice breaking. “Spike is getting upset, and it took me forever to settle Pierre down.Please, Kyle.I’ll be able to tell you in the morning.”
He gripped her tighter, Spike yipping and struggling between them. “Tell me now, dammit. Get it out.”
Her gold eyes turned angry, and she lifted her chin. “Fine. We’re not getting the star. Dassault has found a way to screw Nanine over again. Rico told me tonight. I’m not getting my star.”
She might as well have poured cold water over his head. “I can’t believe that. I’ve got A-listers calling right and left. William Silver?—”
“None of that matters.” Spike gave a frightened bark, and she ran a soothing hand over his back. “See! I told you I was too upset. Now I’m scaring the puppy.”
“You’re scaring me too.” He cupped her face. “The past is not repeating itself.”
“Yes, it is.” Her desolate eyes raked his face. “Rico heard it from the horse’s mouth. He checked it out before he told me. Nanine’s is still going to be blackballed because of what happened between them over thirty years ago.”
His mind was spinning. “I won’t let him do this again, Mad. There are?—”
“Kyle, I know everything works out for you, and thatyou’re the Golden Boy and all that, but not this time.” She drilled him with a look, her energy charged with hurt and anger. “We are not going to win a star, and it doesn’t matter what you do! This is how it works for people like me—and Nanine. She made one mistake, one that wasn’t even her fault since that asshole lied to her about leaving his wife, and he got her blackballed. Kyle, he nearly made sure she never worked in this town.”
He had to be calm as she continued to rant. They couldn’t both fall into negative thinking. “She did, though,” he insisted, “and she made Nanine’s great.”
“But she never won a star.” She held Spike out to him and stalked away when he settled the trembling puppy against his chest. “Everyone knew why. Now it’s happening again. William Silver even hinted at the past when we spoke table-side.”
“I don’t care what anyone is thinking or saying, Mad.” He stalked forward, cradling a trembling Spike against his body and putting his hand on her shoulder. “This time will be different. The praise for Nanine’s has been out of this world. Youwillwin your star. If we have to fight this asshole, then we will. But don’t give up on me. Please.”
She gripped the bottom of his shirt, anguish filling her gaze. “Give up? Kyle, I’ll keep cooking, the same as I did today. Because that’s what I do. But don’t tell me to keep believing we’ll win a star when everything is stacked against us. This asshole basically runs the culinary system here in France. He advises presidents. There’s no fighting his influence.”
He pulled her to his chest, his heart ripping in two. The star had been her dream, and now it felt totally out of reach. No wonder she was so upset. But he was not going to let her dream turn to ashes. No way in hell. “Do you still trust me?”
“You know I do,” she said, her voice hoarse, “but you’re not a miracle worker, Kyle. You’ve never run into a wall likethis one. You don’t even recognize it. I do. People like me have been running into this wall forever. Welcome to your new reality.”
He refused to believe that, but he bit his tongue to keep from fighting back. That wasn’t going to help anything. Right now, she was hurting. He was hurting. They needed each other. Tomorrow, he would figure out a plan.
Because hewasthe Golden Boy, dammit, and this kind of shit didn’t happen on his watch. He would show her. Her faith would be restored, and the happy, hopeful Madison he’d loved seeing emerge would continue to blossom.
“Your new reality is that I love you.” He kissed the top of her wet head fiercely as Spike gave a high-pitched bark. “So does this little guy. We have a surprise for you. Will you come and see?”
She raised her head, and his throat tightened at the desolation in her eyes. All her spark seemed gone. Well, dammit, he wasn’t allowing that either.
“It will only take a minute,” he pressed.
He didn’t like pressuring her, but if he let her go to bed right now, then that bastard Dassault would have won. He would have ripped all hope and goodness from her life.
She finally nodded, rubbing the back of her neck. “Fine. But then I’m going to bed.”
He made sure to hand her Spike since the little guy had his own ways of teasing out Madison’s mushy side. She followed him quietly as he led the way to their little club, but when they reached the doorway, she went completely still.
