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Cole moved the money from the envelope into his money clip. “Gabe,” he called before looking up.
His brother paused in the doorway.
“Would it bother you if Monica was still best friends with her ex-husband?” he asked, alluding to his doubts for the first time aloud.
“Ouch,” Gabe said before wincing. “Um, I’m a good man, but I’m not a perfect man, so I don’t know how I would feel,butI’m happy as hell that I don’t have to worry about that.Also, I do believe that if it’s bothering you, you might need to admit what you feel for Jillian.”
Gabe locked eyes with his brother. “I care about her,” he confessed.
“I know,” Gabe said with a smile before tapping the door frame and walking away.
The sounds of Beyonce’s “All Night Long” echoed against the walls of Cole’s condo as Jillian paused to do body rolls before checking on the baked macaroni and cheese in the stylish navy-blue Viking oven. In a great mood, she wanted to reward herself and Cole with a down-home Southern meal. The kind her grandmother Ionie taught her to cook before her entry into culinary school to excel at French cuisine. Baked turkey wings smothered in brown gravy with onion and peppers, chicken pilau rice, cabbage cooked down with fried pork jowls, the mac and cheese with five kinds of cheese, candied yams, and cornbread.
A Southern feast.
She paused, wondering if Cole had ever had a traditional Southern meal. She certainly had never prepared any for the Cress family when she’d been their chef. And it was well known that all of the Cress chefs favored French cuisine.
“Well, he’s getting fed some tonight,” she said, using silicone mats to remove the glass dish from the oven to set on a large trivet on the counter.
“Some what?”
Jillian looked up in surprise to find Cole walking into the dining room from the hall leading from his in-unit parking space. He held his suit jacket and house keys in hand. “Soul food,” she said. “That ‘down below the Mason-Dixon line’ comfort food.”
He crossed the spacious kitchen to press a kiss to her temple as he looked at the bevy of serving dishes on the countertops. “Looks good,” he said.
“You ever had a spread like this?” she asked, bumping her bottom back against him as she removed lids to show off her skills.
“No...and good thing because I would have looked more like Lucas growing up,” he said before opening his mouth as she offered him a spoonful of her candied yams.
“Your brother Lucas was chubby?” she asked in surprise. “Sure doesn’t look it now.”
Cole playfully swatted her bottom. “How does he look now?” he asked.
Jillian cut her eyes up to him as she sucked the rest of the yams from the spoon, playfully wiggling her shaped brows at him.
He laughed and picked her up by the waist to sit her atop the island before standing between her open legs.
“Don’t worry, I have the Cress brother I want,” Jillian reassured him. “Lucas who?”
All of the Cress men—including their father—were good-looking, but it was only Cole who had drawn her appreciative eye. From the moment she’d looked past his mother during her interview for the chef position and seen him standing there watching her, she had been caught up in the man’s web. Trapped by his looks. Enticed by his flirtation. And hooked by his sex.
Cole kissed her mouth and squeezed the top of her thighs. “Why the big meal?” he asked, still tasting the sweetness of the yam’s brown sugar, cinnamon and butter glaze on her lips.
“Good news. My grandmother finally got into the rehab facility we wanted...” Jillian began as she undid his tie and loosened the top buttons of his shirt.
“Excellent,” Cole said, truly looking pleased with the next step in her grandmother’s recovery.
“And I got a new personal chef position,” she said.
“Congratulations, beautiful,” he said with enthusiasm.
“For Warren,” she added, leaning toward him to press kisses to his neck.
Cole leaned back. A scowl lined his handsome face.
Jillian was shocked. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
He turned and strode over to the Bose sound dock on the glass table behind the sofa. Soon the sound of Beyonce stopped mid-falsetto-note abruptly. He began to pace back and forth in front of the fireplace.
