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“Listen, it’s a tried-and-true trope for a reason. You’ll see.”
I sighed. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate Annabelle’s positivity. It just felt… too little to go off of. I mean, yeah, Lucian rocked my world with just his fingers and mouth, but I had to be real: I knew next to nothing about this guy except that he absolutely loved my food, took his job seriously, and that he came from the freaking underworld.
And that he had been so attentive, and sweet, and surprisingly gentle with me despite his obvious size and strength…
A sudden blush warmed my cheeks, and tingles started spreading all over. Christ, I had to get a hold of myself.
Annabelle leaned forward, blinking. “Uh. You gonna come back to planet Earth soon, or…?”
My eyes widened. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. I’m here, just zoned out for a moment.”
“Daydreaming about Captain Studmuffin, I bet.”
I groaned inwardly, not willing to admit that she had guessed correctly. “Just going over my recipe in my head.”
Annabelle gave me a look of disbelief, then nearly jumped when Pico started barking and growling at something behind me.
I turned, half expecting to see Lucian.
Instead, it was my ex.
“Wow!” Jacob said, feigning surprise as he looked me over discerningly. “You’re still at it with the whole food truck thing, huh?”
My mood immediately soured, and I frowned, turning fully to face him as I planted a defiant palm on my hip. “Here to steal some more recipes, dickwad?”
Jacob scoffed and tossed his hands up, like I’d accused him of something heinous. “Oh, come on. Recipes are to be shared. Anyway, I just finished up my training in France. It was…” He put his fingers to his lips and kissed them. “Magnifico.”
“That’s Italian, dumbass. But I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the scholarship you won with my grandma’s recipe.”
He waved me off. “Oh, don’t worry, Zoe-bear. I’ve picked up much better ones to use in this competition instead.”
I cringed at hearing him use his old pet-name for me. Then I cringed even harder.
He was in this competition too?
I scoffed in shock and disgust. “Seriously? You don’t have anything better to do than crash some local competition?”
Jacob grinned like a wolf facing down a lamb. “Hey, you know I love a good challenge, and the teachers always said you were the best. Steel sharpens steel, am I right?”
I let out a scoff, choosing not to humor him with a response. I couldn’t believe how ridiculously competitive this bastard was, and how much it got under his skin that I got slightly better grades than him when we first got together in culinary school.
It had never been like I was trying to show him up. But the second he thought I was, he turned into the vindictive little bastard I knew today.
I turned to Annabelle, paying Jacob no further mind. “I need to start prepping. Thank you for coming.”
She smiled at me, said, “Of course!” then sent Jacob a look that could murder. Pico helped from Annabelle’s arms, growling at Jacob as if the dog could sense the pure evil emanating off him.
Jacob sighed, seeing that he had no more drama to squeeze out of this interaction. He fortunately decided to say nothing more as he headed toward the back of the contestant tent to set up his station.
“I can’t believe him,” Annabelle seethed once we were alone. “How dare he come after you like that?”
“Eh,” was the only response I could muster. As long as I stopped taking his bait, he’d have to get bored eventually. I then took a moment to scan the crowd, looking for any particularly tall, dark, and handsome attendees.
There were a few large men among the crowd, likely monsters in disguise, as the glamours couldn’t hide height. But none of them had Lucian’s confident swagger, nor his intense gaze that burned through my very core.
Had something come up and he wouldn’t be able to make it?
I quickly pushed down a spark of disappointment, figuring I would rather see him another time instead, when I wasn’t all shaken up by my stupid ex’s reappearance.
