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“I admire that entrepreneurial spirit. I don’t even have the courage to open my own practice, let alone start a company from scratch.”
Kyle furrowed his brow. “You’re too hard on yourself, Laney. You have plenty of courage. You’ve moved to how many new places, all on your own?”
“It’s not the same thing.” She shook her head. “I’m talking about taking big risks, laying it all on the line. It’s just not in me to do that.”
A timer dinged in the kitchen, and Kyle stood up, but before he walked away he pinned her with a hard look. “It’s not such a big risk when you know it’s the real deal.”
Was he still talking about the winery? Her stomach clenched, and she didn’t know if she wanted him to be talking about her or not. Not. She pushed her hand flat against her abdomen and gave herself a mental shake.
“I’ve worked at the winery every summer since they bought the place, and never once did I doubt it would be a success.” Kyle continued talking as he moved around the kitchen, pulling a covered casserole dish from the oven and setting out plates and cutlery. “At one point they couldn’t make their mortgage payments, and helping them out was a dead easy decision.”
So he was still talking about the winery. Laney turned around on the couch to better watch Kyle. He was mashing potatoes now, his light blue dress shirt rolled up to his elbows. She watched the muscles in his forearm flex and release as he worked butter and green onions into the mix in a stainless steel bowl. “You gave them a loan?”
“More like, I made a small investment in the company. I own two percent of the winery. So even if the wine wasn’t any good, I’d still buy it.” He winked at her, and her insides quivered again.
“You continue to surprise me.”
“Mmmm? How else have I surprised you?” He tasted the potatoes, and reached for the pepper.
She pressed her lips together, not sure what to say. “You’re still you, but…complicated isn’t the right word. Busy, I guess. You’re much busier than I would have thought. Helping neighbours, investing in a business, renovating your own place. The Kyle I knew would have wanted to spend his summers at the beach and his evenings watching TV or playing video games.”
He put down the bowl of potatoes and leaned against the island. His face had that carefully neutral teacher facade in place. Her heart sank as she saw right past it. Some things about him hadn't changed, and a jaw twitch would make an appearance in three, two, one—
“That Kyle was twenty-two. He was an idiotic kid. I should hope that I’m a somewhat improved model. I’m a man. I don’t shy away from hard work and I like to keep busy.” He turned away from her and filled a small pot with water. “I have goals in life, Laney. I’m not sitting around.”
She leapt to her feet, her heart in her throat. “I didn’t mean…Kyle, you had goals back then. Big goals. I’m sorry. I’ve offended you.”
He shook his head. “Now my goals are for myself.”
She moved around the island, closing the gap between them, and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her face fit neatly between his shoulder blades. While it was an unusual way to assess vital signs, the doctor in her couldn’t help but notice that while his respiration rate was normal, his heart rate was elevated. “I get it. I really do. I said something quite similar to my mom this morning, about me, I mean.”
Kyle twisted to look at her and Laney eased her grip, allowing him to turn completely in her arms. His gaze was dark and searching, and she apologized again for ruining the mood. He shook his head and traced over her lips with his thumb.
“You didn’t ruin anything. This isn’t a date, not really. There’s a lot of shit between us, Delaney, and we shouldn’t pretend that there isn’t. I don’t need tonight to be light and breezy, I just need it to be real.” He lowered his mouth to brush hers, soft and light at first, then hard and demanding, but with restraint. He dragged at her lower lip with his teeth, then smoothed over the swollen crest with the tip of his tongue before pulling back. “I have to put the beans on, can you refill our glasses?”
She nodded, too stunned to speak, and went to fetch the bottle from the living room.
Dinner was an unexpected delight. Braised thick pork chops in an orange and balsamic sauce with chunks of apples and onions, extra-buttery mashed potatoes and green beans on the side. Laney dug in, pausing every few bites to extol the awesomeness of his cooking and butter in general.
“I took a guess that you’d probably had enough quinoa and tofu over at the farm,” Kyle chuckled as she swallowed more potatoes with a happy groan. “You haven’t turned into a health food nut, have you?”
Laney shook her head. “I eat salad regularly and I try not to be a glutton, but I couldn’t live like my sister does. I’m happy with my padding.”
Kyle couldn’t see any extra weight, but he knew better than to say anything. He’d seen Evie in her workout clothes, and he knew what Laney meant. They were both slim, but Laney had a softness to her curves while her sister’s beauty was more about strength and definition—she looked like a professional dancer. Laney was more like the classic portrait of a ballerina, delicate and ethereal.
“Where did you learn to cook like that?” She set her fork and knife on her empty plate and turned toward Kyle. “That was amazing.”
“Took lessons, watched the Food Network, practiced a lot.” He shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”
“Uh, yes, it is. I live on takeout and leftovers brought in by my secretary. I wish I could cook like this. Where did you take lessons? I need to look into something like that.”
“It was something through the city recreation catalogue.” That Crystal had signed them up for. “I’m sure there would be a lot of options in Chicago.”
Laney tilted her head to the side, as if she was trying to figure something out. “Ohhhhh. I get it. You took them with a girl.” She nodded, like that made sense, which he didn’t understand. Why wouldn’t he take cooking classes on his own? “You’ve never liked the city rec programs. You always said they were—”
“—social, not educational. I can’t believe you remember.” That went back to his coaching days. He’d said the same thing to Crystal, but she just wanted to do something couple-y, she didn’t care about how in-depth the course might be. “I was a bit harsh. It wasn’t a bad class.”
“I’ll say, if it taught you how to cook like that. So, who did you go with? The ex?”
