Page 51 of Miss Understanding

“Okay. What do we have?”

He looked torn, so I reassured him. “It’s okay. I have plenty of time for the cooking later.”

“I want to make sure I pay you for it. Whatever we were paying the caterer.”

It was a generous offer considering it was near a thousand dollars, but I wouldn’t take it. Hell, he’d paid for all of the food already. “We can discuss it later.”

It was ten o’clock before we were done working. It was the disadvantage of being on the East Coast while most of our clients were in the LA time zone. It made me wish I’d picked up a Red Bull. Coffee would have to do.

“Shit,” he cursed, reading his email. “They’re asking if I can do a call with Hong Kong in ten minutes, but I wanted to help you with the food.”

“It’s okay.” I’d probably do it faster without him in the kitchen distracting me with sexy forearms.

Two hours later at the stroke of midnight, I’d hit a wall. I’d done meatballs, mini quiche, and prepared two trays of mini sandwiches cut in triangles. There was a veggie tray to go with that. But I still had four more dishes to make plus desserts. I decided I needed a nap, so I cleaned up what I had done so far and went to lie down for ninety minutes. It sounded like Liam was still on the phone, so I didn’t bother to tell him.

* * *

At one thirty in the morning, I dragged myself out of bed and started to prepare my next dishes. A fruit salad, stuffed mushrooms, French piped potatoes, and salmon croquettes. By the time the sun was coming up, I was taking the last of the chocolate-chip cookies out of the oven to join the fudge brownies, snickerdoodles, and blondies.

The kitchen was a mess, with pots and pans in the sink and crumbs all over the counter. I was sure I looked worse.

“You’re up already?” came Liam’s voice as he walked down the stairs.

“Yeah. I think I’m finished.” I rattled off the menu and watched his mouth gape.

“You stayed up all night, didn’t you? I came down to check on you and didn’t see you. I thought you’d gone to bed.”

“I took a power nap. It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. You’re exhausted. Come on. You need to sleep.”

My eyes were heavy and my head muddled. It felt as though I’d had more than my fair share of alcohol instead of staying up all night. “I need to clean up the kitchen. I don’t like dirty dishes.”

“I’ll do it.”

“No, no. I’ll get my second wind. You have the funeral today.”

“That’s not until eleven, and it’s only seven now. My sister is driving my mom while we bring the food to the church.”

“’Kay.” My mind was already shutting down. Man, I really didn’t do well without sleep.

“Go to bed, Kendall.”

“Uh-huh. I will. Just need a little rest first.” I intended to sit on the couch for a minute. But instead, strong arms lifted me up.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Liam

She was dead on her feet. If I’d known she would be up all night, I wouldn’t have gone to bed. I would’ve helped. Now, seeing her sit on the sofa as if she was too tired to make it into the bedroom, I did the only thing I could. I picked her up.

She was so small. So warm. So snuggling into my chest. I had to take a deep breath to calm my rapid heartbeat, but breathing in her scent had been a mistake. Strawberry lip gloss tickled my nose.

“This isn’t the way I imagined you taking me to bed,” she murmured once I got into her room.

My breath caught at her admission.

I set her down gently, pulling the covers up over her to effectively tuck her in. “How did you picture it?” Despite realizing we were in dangerous territory, I had to know.