by Kait Nolan
His beard wasn’t enough to hide the blush that worked its way up to his ears. “It was just a story that came out one night when we were cooking and drinking.”
Highly entertained by the blush, Athena crossed her arms. “There was a metric ton of absinthe involved, as I recall.”
“So. Much. Absinthe.” Sean pressed a hand to his heart. “Athena, I want to introduce you to my girlfriend, Amber King. Amber, this is Athena Reynolds, one of the most talented chefs to come out of Le Cordon Bleu in the past decade. She was both friend and nemesis during my stint there.”
“I think we basically kept trading the top spot the whole time.”
“I’ll have you know, this woman makes the best pork and prawn dumplings known to man.”
Athena’s lips twitched. “Yours don’t suck.”
“High praise, high praise.” His gaze went unerringly back to Amber, who automatically leaned into him as if pulled by his gravity.
So this was the girl who’d snagged Sean’s heart so long ago, without even knowing it. Athena knew from their correspondence that he’d finally snagged her back, but there was something about seeing the two of them together, all goofy grins and unhidden delight that set up an ache in her chest. Was that…envy? Not wanting to analyze that too closely, Athena moved on to a more relevant question. “Not that it isn’t great to see you, but what are you’d doing here, Sean?”
He dragged his attention back to her. “We’re on vacation.”
“Here?”
“Yeah! It’s been on my radar since you emailed me about the opening last year. You know my siblings and I opened a resort. I figured we could compare notes.”
It seemed plausible and wasn’t the first time they’d discussed the possibility. And yet… “Did you know I’d be here?”
“Educated guess.” There was no guile or pity in his expression, just good cheer. “I can’t wait to catch up.”
Athena went stiff again. Catching up meant going over all the crap she didn’t want to talk about.
“Is their room ready?” Kennedy asked.
“Yeah. Ari and I just finished.”
“Excellent. I’ll just be helpin’ with the luggage then,” Flynn said.
As he and Amber headed out to the car, Sean hung back. “Since you’re here, I need your help with something.”
Athena cast him a wary glance. “What?”
He looked back at the door and lowered his voice. “I need you to help me pull off the perfect proposal.”
Ari, eavesdropping as usual, squealed. “Ohmigosh!”
Athena wrapped a hand over her mouth. “Shut it, Cupid.” To Sean she said, “This is my niece Ari, our resident romantic.”
Ari peeled away her hand. “I want in on helping.”
“Let’s let them get settled in and then we’ll find time to talk about it.”
Sean offered up his fist for a bump. “I’m so pumped I get to make you a part of this.”
As he headed out the door himself, Athena basked in the sensation of having an ally from her world and decided this would make for a fun distraction.
Chapter 8
The sight of Athena’s little sedan rolling down his gravel drive had Logan straightening from the tractor with a smile. She hadn’t called or texted since their dinner, which he’d wondered about. But he understood she needed space to process stuff. She’d opened up more to him that night than she’d probably been comfortable with. So he’d been waiting her out, waiting until she was ready to come to him—and he hadn’t expected it to be this soon. He hoped that meant she was getting more comfortable with him and the farm and not that there was more bad news. Either way, he had a proposal he hoped would intrigue her and help mitigate all the career crap she’d been dealing with.
Perhaps more than any of it, he hoped he could get his mouth on her again. He’d been thinking about that kiss, about the way she’d gone so soft and pliant in his arms, and how she’d tasted like everything that had been missing in his life. Part of him regretted stopping because he well remembered how combustible they were, how he could lose himself in the fantasy of her body. But it would be more next time, and he knew, deep down, it was the right move to wait. Nothing good could be rushed, and Logan was starting to think that whatever was brewing between them had the potential to be very, very good.
By the time she rolled to a stop in front of the barn, he’d washed the worst of the grime from his hands. Athena climbed out from the driver’s side first, and at the sight of her his heart gave a quick buck in his chest. But Logan’s ready smile faded when the passenger door opened and a guy stepped out. A big, muscled guy Logan had never seen before. The two of them were laughing, and Athena circled the front of the car to loop her arm through the stranger’s, her head tipping to his shoulder. Everything in their body language made it clear there was some kind of intimacy between them.
A spurt of jealousy flashed through him, bright and hot. Who the hell was this guy? On the heels of that thought, he realized he didn’t have a right to be jealous. He and Athena had no understanding, no formal relationship. He’d been the one to stop things from going further the other night. But none of his rationalizations did a damned thing to minimize the urge to curl his hands to fists and plow them into the other guy’s face as he grinned down at Athena. Her answering grin had the heat of jealousy icing over with suspicion. Was this the infamous ex? Had he come to his senses and flown to Tennessee to grovel? Was that why she hadn’t been in contact? Surely Athena wouldn’t take him back. Not after what’d he’d done. And even if she did, what reason would she have to bring him out here?
“There’s my favorite farmer! Logan, I’d like you to meet Sean Bracelyn. Sean, this is Logan Maxwell.”
Logan crossed his arms before Sean could offer his hand for a shake.
If Athena noticed the deliberate snub, she didn’t show it. “We need a favor.”
He didn’t miss the plural or the fact that she didn’t release her companion. Two minutes ago he’d have been willing to give her just about anything. Now he wanted some answers first. “Yeah? What’s that?”
“We need free access to your green house.”
“For?”
“We come on a mission to find ingredients. I knew you’d be just the man to help us.”
Sean shot her a look that couldn’t be described as anything but fond. “I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to cooking with you again.”
“Same goes.” Her smile flashed, quick and easy. Happy. Happier than he’d seen her since she got back to the Ridge. She turned her attention back to Logan. “I know it’s no notice, but can we look around?”
He wanted to say no. He wanted an explanation. He wanted to shake her and demand to know what the fuck she was thinking taking the son of a bitch back. Acting like nothing happened.
But he did none of those things. Because Maxwells didn’t make scenes. Such behavior was unseemly, and Logan prided himself on having a level head. Besides, he couldn’t think of a reason to say no that wouldn’t involve him proving that, when sufficiently riled, his temper was every bit a match for Athena’s.
“Sure.” He jerked a head toward the greenhouse. “Come on.”
The two of them trailed a little bit behind him.
“So what are you thinking?” Athena asked.
“I want to hit up all the aphrodisiacs.”
Logan couldn’t stop his hands from balling into fists as Sean continued.
“I was talking with Meg Delaney—”
“The TV chef?”
“Yeah, I met her through my mother. She’s the one who wrote that aphrodisiac cookbook, The Food You Love. Anyway, she had a lot of great suggestions. I’m dying to try the blood-orange roasted asparagus with blackened Anaheim peppers and pine nuts.”
“I know Logan’s got fabulous asparagus.”
“Chocolate and strawberries for dessert, obviously. Maybe a chocolate soufflé.”
“For the main, you could do roasted
game hens in a fennel cream sauce,” Athena added.
“Yeah, yeah, that’d be good. And pair it with a tomato, basil, and arugula salad. Basil’s great for circulation and arugula has phytochemicals and antioxidants that block libido-zapping toxins.”
“Oh, that’s perfect.” She practically purred it in a tone redolent of the one she’d used to say his name when he’d last been inside her.
Logan rounded on her. “What the hell are you doing, Athena?”
She stumbled to a halt, her eyes peeling wide. “Excuse me?”
“How the fuck can you take this asshole back after everything he did to you?” Logan didn’t even look at Sean. “I know you regret walking away from Olympus, but is getting it back really worth being dragged back into a life that made you miserable? With a guy who treated you without a shred of respect? You’re worth more than that.” Didn’t she understand that? Couldn’t she see what he saw in her? And if she didn’t, he sure as hell wanted to show her.
Color rode high in her cheeks and those usually cool gray eyes sparked with something a whole lot brighter. Logan braced himself for the storm.
Her laugh caught him like a sucker punch. It began as a chuckle that built into big, whooping guffaws that had her bending almost double.
What the actual hell?
Tears streamed down her cheeks and she fanned her face, as if that would help her regain some control over her mirth.
“I don’t consider this a laughing matter.” Was that his father’s stiff-necked, superior voice coming out of his mouth?
She straightened, wiping at the tears. “Sean is not my ex. My ex is Jayson Straker, and if you ever see me in his company again without a weapon in my hand, feel free to call out the National Guard because I’ve been drugged and kidnapped. No, Sean is one of my classmates from cooking school. He’s here with his girlfriend on vacation, and he asked me to help him prepare the perfect proposal dinner.”
“Not your ex.” The blast of relief hit Logan so hard, he nearly took a step back.
Athena shook her head. “No. We never dated. We’d have killed each other.”
“True story,” Sean agreed.
No romantic history at all. Which meant Logan had just made a jealous ass of himself. Awesome. He finally looked at Sean. “Seems I owe you an apology.”
The other man shrugged, never losing that easy cheer. “Hey, I’m glad she’s got someone else watching her back. And you showed a helluva lot more restraint than I would if I got my hands on her ex.”
“You don’t even know the details,” Athena protested.
“Don’t need them.”
Her expression softened. “You’re a good friend, Sean.”
“Damned straight. That’s why you’re going to help me wow my woman.”
“I’ve seen the way she looks at you. I’m pretty sure you do that all on your own.”
Finding his own equilibrium again, Logan opened the door and led them into the greenhouse. “Let’s see what I can do to help with that.”
Showing chefs his produce turned out to be a hugely gratifying endeavor. Their oohs and ahhhs told him they fully appreciated what he’d accomplished here in a way that everyday folks did not.
Athena looked up from some peppers she appeared to be having indecent thoughts about. “I can’t believe what all you managed to cram in here. I mean, you told me some when you gave me the grand tour, but I had no idea.”
“This is my laboratory, for all intents and purposes. I’ve spent the last couple of years experimenting, figuring out what I can grow here, when. Taking notes on how long the growth cycles are, the produce itself. The goal is to expand eventually.”
“You absolutely should. Because this—” Athena gestured around them, arms wide. “—this is a chef’s playground.”
Maybe that was as good an entré as any. He hadn’t planned to get into this with an audience, but hell, with Sean in town, who knew when she’d get back over here. Might as well put the bug in her ear.
“I’ve been giving some thought to that. It was something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.”
“Yeah? Do tell.”
“Ari mentioned how you’ve been teaching her to cook since you’ve been here, and it got me thinking after you left the other day. I know it’s not the haute cuisine you were trained for, but you’re amazing at the whole farm-to-table cooking thing. I was thinking you could do a series of cooking classes around that theme, in conjunction with the farm.”
“Me? Teach?” Athena stared at him as if the idea were ludicrous.
God, he hoped he hadn’t just insulted her. “You have the time, at the moment, and you could do as many or as few as you want. Celeste Keeling—she’s the head of the chamber of commerce—was really into the idea when I mentioned it to her and is full of ideas for how to promote something like that. It could be a win-win for us both.”
She frowned. “The inn’s kitchen isn’t big enough to teach classes in.”
He’d anticipated that. “No, but Crystal Blue has offered up the diner after hours as a location for the class.” He’d been congratulating himself on working out all the details in advance, proving viability of concept, but as her brows drew together, Logan worried he’d overstepped his bounds by not asking her first.
“Crystal would let me back in her kitchen?”
“Back?”
“I worked there all through high school.”
Well, that was yet another piece of her history he hadn’t known. Logan didn’t know if it was a pro or a con. Had they parted on bad terms? Crystal hadn’t said anything to that effect. Too late to back out now. “Either way, it’d be good publicity for the farm and the inn as sponsor. And I think maybe you’d enjoy it,” he finished, feeling lame. “It’s just an idea. Nothing’s set in stone. I just thought I’d put it out there as something for you to consider.” Why hadn’t he waited until they were alone to bring this up?
“I’ll think about it.” Her words were slow, reluctant.
Logan didn’t know her well enough to be certain whether that meant no, yes, or if he should take the statement at face value. But at this point, he’d pushed his luck as much as he dared. “No rush.”
He was used to feeling confident with Athena. Of knowing the right way to handle her. But in the span of half an hour, he’d proved he didn’t know her anywhere near as well as he’d thought. He hadn’t been able to tell old friend from ex. He hadn’t known about her history with Crystal. And he didn’t know how to read her reaction to his idea. Talk about a reality check. But he wanted to know all those things. He wanted to know everything about her, and his own impatience surprised him.
Squashing his frustration, he stepped past them both and gestured toward the back corner of the greenhouse. “I don’t have any blood oranges, but I do have these dwarf oranges.”
“Okay, we’re alone. Are we gonna talk about the elephant in the kitchen?” Sean asked.
I’d rather cook the elephant. Athena unpacked the bounty they’d scored at Logan’s farm. “You’re a Bracelyn. I thought your family’s whole schtick was pretending stuff didn’t happen.”
“Only if you’re another Bracelyn. Which you’re not, so spill, woman.”
She grimaced. But Sean had once been one of her closest friends. If she couldn’t discuss this with him, who could she talk to? “It’s mortifying.”
“Why?”
“I secretly dated my boss, who then turned around and slept with my sous chef. During service. Is there some variation on this that isn’t mortifying?”
His mouth fell open, his good humor fading. “Damn. That’s why you went after Jayson with a knife? I knew there was more to the whole thing than what’s circulating.”
Athena winced. “Do I even want to know what’s circulating?”
“Nothing that won’t be replaced by the next big scandal.”
Yeah, who knew when or what that would be or what damage her reputation would sustain in the meantime. “I know you mean tha
t to be comforting. But I’m seriously worried, Sean. Why would anyone want to take a chance on me after all that?”
“Because you’re a damned fine chef. One very publicized emotional outburst doesn’t change that. You’re hardly the first chef to lose her shit in the kitchen. We’re a passionate breed. Hell, Gordon Ramsay’s made a freaking career out of having temper tantrums on camera.”
“And he can get away with it because he’s a guy. Female chefs get crucified all the time for the exact same shit that male chefs get away with constantly.”
“Okay, I won’t deny there’s a double standard. I just don’t think this is as big a deal to the rest of the world as it feels to you being in the middle of it. But anyway, I wasn’t asking about what happened with your ex. I was talking about the sparks shooting between you and Logan. Dude was ready to grind my bones to make his bread because he thought I’d hurt you. What’s going on there?”
Oh, that. Suddenly, discussing life’s worst and most embarrassing moment seemed more appealing than discussing attractive farmers. “I don’t know.”
He leveled her with some serious side eye.
“No really, I don’t know.” And she’d love some clarification. “We had a…thing at Kennedy’s wedding last year.”
“I love things at weddings. That’s where Amber and I finally got together. There were some exploding chafing dishes at the reception and meatball carnage, and we had to try to save her dress…” Catching Athena’s smirk, he cleared his throat. “Anyway. You had a thing at Kennedy’s wedding. Was it good?”
She went brows up. “Falling in love has turned you into a girl.”
“It is my God-given right as your friend to give you shit. Besides, I’m not asking for all the details, just in general.”
“What do you want me to say?” she demanded. “The earth moved? I saw stars?” All true. Chemistry most certainly wasn’t a problem between them.
“Given the way your hackles are up, I’m gonna guess that’s accurate. What happened between last summer and now?”
