Hometown Hope: A Small Town Romance Anthology

by Zoe York

  She should get active again. For too long she’d spent most of her time in kitchens, her only exercise racing from prep area to the walk-in fridge, and mindlessly chopping vegetables. She’d bet that the Blackberry River Trail where she and Ethan had stopped to kiss along the highway would be a nice place to get back into hiking.

  Her mind drifted, moving on to the unspent passion that still sizzled between her and Ethan when they let their guard down. There was something there. So why did Ethan continue to pull back? Was there actually something wrong with him? Because with him amping up his computer venture and her with her foodie stuff they were going to need to burn off some stress, and what better way than in a marriage with benefits?

  Not that she believed he wanted that, but there was definitely something worth exploring, if their kisses were any indicator.

  Ethan returned, a spare key on a plain loop held out for her. “Most people would say thank you,” he said as she accepted the key, her thoughts still on how she could get him to loosen up, give in to that something that sizzled just below the surface.

  “Thanks,” she dutifully replied.

  “If you download my home app I can set you up with remote access from your phone, too.”

  She followed him to his SUV, admiring the way his shoulders swayed as he ambled along, favoring one leg ever so slightly. The tightness she’d seen yesterday seemed to be almost gone and she wondered if he was more at home with their arrangement now. Either way, he didn’t seem like a man who needed to worry about having a power of attorney document on hand.

  She skipped through the cool mountain morning air to the car and popped into the passenger seat. The leather seats were cold and Ethan turned on her seat warmer as well as his own, giving her a quick look to see if the gesture was all right.

  “What was that phrase again? Oh, yes. Thank you,” she said with a smile.

  He let out a huff of amusement, catching her humored dig.

  He might be gruffer than he used to be, but under it all he was still the same great guy she’d had a crush on for all those years.

  Ethan pulled up behind his restaurant—Lily’s restaurant for all intents and purposes, even though his name was still on the deed and would be until they divorced.

  “I wouldn’t change the name anytime soon,” he said to Lily, pointing to the sign in the alley that said Benny’s Big Burger Deliveries Only.

  “I won’t.” She held her hand up as though taking a pledge, a bright grin lighting her face.

  She was wearing tight jeans and a loose sweatshirt, and had her mass of hair pulled up in a loose bun. Somehow she looked even sexier than when she was wearing her tempting business attire. It didn’t matter how many times he checked her out, the results were the same. Off the charts cute and sexy.

  And his.

  Sort of.

  Plus she smelled amazing. And that was going to be an issue, seeing as he was going to have to suffer through the olfactory reminders every day because her clothes were now hanging alongside his.

  Like they belonged there. Like the two of them belonged together. Like their twelve month commitment was something more.

  Ethan climbed the five steps to the restaurant’s back door. Five evil stairs that were easier today than they had been yesterday, his left leg loose again with the warmer weather. He turned off the alarm system, flipping on the overhead lights as he made it the few feet into the back hall, passing the new and slightly finicky walk-in fridge before entering the large kitchen just down and to the left.

  After twenty minutes of giving Lily a rundown on the essential points, he sat with her in the small staff room at the back of the restaurant, sipping coffee. A fridge stood in the middle of one wall for staff lunches, a small table and chairs near it, then a few old lockers from the high school, a whole lot of boxes and old dining room furniture.

  When they were back out at the new walk-in fridge he had to remember to tell Lily about its flaky power switch so she could document it if it turned off on its own again. The company he’d purchased it from and who had done the installation said it wasn’t actually faulty, but that someone was turning it off. Ethan couldn’t see any of his staff meddling in such a destructive way and had refused to pay the bill until he had a reliable, working fridge.

  “How long until staff arrive?” Lily asked, pulling Ethan from his thoughts.

  “About fifteen minutes.”

  “You know,” she said, eyeing the space, “if we rearranged a few things the staff would have more room back here.” Her phone buzzed with an incoming text and she flipped it over from its spot on the table to peek at it, gave the screen a disgusted look and marched the device over to a stack of boxes, leaving it there as though giving it a time-out.

  Ethan wanted to ask if it was Tanner, but figured if she didn’t mention it, it wasn’t his business. Or quite possibly, she wanted to mention it, but hadn’t enjoyed him acting like a possessive fool last time and bringing his fists into her conversations with Tanner.

  Even though Tanner had had it coming.

  “Be careful about changing things right away.” Like putting your clothes in my closet. What was he going to do if she needed an outfit and waltzed right into his room wearing nothing but a towel?

  His blood was pounding south just thinking about it.

  Lily reached over and gave a wobbly chair a shake. “If I fix up the room it’ll help me win them over. They deserve a nice break room.”

  “They might expect a raise.”

  She blew off his words as if they were a joke and stood, hands on her hips. Recognizing the determination in her gaze, he decided to go with it. He was feeling good today and could handle moving a few light items around to give the room more space, or whatever Lily had in mind.

  “What did you want to do?” he asked, cracking his knuckles.

  She turned to him with a smile so flashingly bright it took his breath away. He wanted to cross the room, gather her in his arms and kiss her senseless.

  She pointed to the extra fold-up chairs piled in the middle of the room where someone had left them after Mary Alice’s annual birthday celebration last April. “Put those along the wall.” He complied as she slowly did a full turn of the room, finger tapping against her chin. She picked up one side of the table they’d been sitting at moments ago. “Help me with this.”

  He stepped over, testing its weight. It was still within the doctor’s orders of not overdoing things.

  “Where do you want it?”

  Moving in tandem, they carried it to the other side of the room. Ethan set his end down in the commanded spot, pleased he hadn’t felt any noteworthy twinges in his joints or muscles. This was actually a little bit fun.

  Lily smiled at him, her enthusiasm contagious and sexy. He found himself returning her smile.

  “What’s next, boss?”

  She gave him a smart look and bent to flip open a few boxes of supplies sitting in a cluster in the middle of the room. He liked her in jeans. The way the soft, pale denim hugged her hips. He found his coffee, taking a sip to mask the way his mouth was salivating. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to find himself jonesing it big time for his wife. A wife he couldn’t touch.

  “These should go in a storage room,” she said.

  “This is it.”

  Her expression darkened with disappointment.

  “Maybe we could stack them out of the way,” he suggested.

  “Good idea. I’ll keep an eye out for a used shelving unit, and in the meantime…” She shoved a few boxes into a corner. “…we can create a nice open area in the middle for sitting and mingling.”

  He nodded, liking the overall effect already. She kept shoving boxes his way and he stacked them against the wall, careful to lift with his legs. So far, so good. He got to the last one, which was larger and heavier than the rest, causing his left shoulder to protest about the awkward angle he had to assume in order to lift. He’d pushed a wheelchair for years and had some serious arms
and shoulders, but this big, unwieldy carton reminded him that his upper body bulk didn’t give him license to do something foolish. He shoved the box into the corner and turned to try and dissuade Lily from moving anything bigger.

  “Leif, your chef, will be here soon.”

  “Great. What do you think?” She was tapping her chin again. “Should I repaint the walls white or go with a pale yellow?”

  “Your call.”

  She nodded and moved to the fridge, placing her palms flat against its white side. “Let’s shove this over a few feet.”

  “There probably isn’t enough cord.”

  “Pull it out a few inches and see.”

  “I don’t think moving the fridge is a good idea.” He was pretty sure, due to its size and weight, that it was firmly on the “no” list the doctors had given him.

  Lily sent him a curious look and began rocking the heavy appliance, trying to get it to move. Ethan found himself nudging her out of the away, fearing she was going to pull the thing over on herself.

  The fridge’s feet screeched across the tile as he put physics to work, edging it away from the wall. His shoulder throbbed, reminding him that he was now overdoing it. He needed to stop.

  Lily crowed in triumph and bounced over to squeeze his arms in excitement. “There’s enough cord! Shove it over about four feet, Mr. Man. I’ll let you know when you’re out of cord.”

  “We need help.” He needed help.

  “Why? We’ve totally got this.” Her eyes were sparkling despite her confusion and she gave his biceps a squeeze. She was studying his physique, trying to find the reason for his hesitation. He knew he looked strong enough, and he understood her lack of understanding at him pulling back. This was where he should tell her he wasn’t supposed to do these kinds of things anymore. That pins and rods might break the tentative bone reconstruction, causing it to give way if torqued with enough force. It probably wouldn’t happen moving a fridge, but he still had to be wise and play it safe.

  She moved to the appliance again. “Come on, sweetie.” She gave him a challenging pout that was so full of sexuality he felt his heart and breath stutter. His baby sister’s BFF was not supposed to be hot. Not supposed to be sultry. Was not supposed to tempt him into doing stupid things or send his blood pressure sky-high with come-hither looks or ego patting. And definitely not with a sexy, full-lipped pout that made him think of frilly negligees and soft breasts ready to be revealed for his waiting hands.

  Telling her about his limitations would surely end her flirtatiousness and result in that familiar, haunting twinge of pity he’d seen flash through the eyes of so many others. He couldn’t bear to have his status fall with Lily, to have her subtly change the way she treated him.

  He knew he had to tell her, but even more so, he wanted for a little while longer to be the man she saw, even if it was a lie.

  Lily stood in the break room, frozen with disappointment. They’d been moving stuff, smiling. Having fun. Even flirting a bit. Ethan was seriously buff, but he’d acted like he couldn’t move the fridge, which meant something was wrong. Something he didn’t trust her enough to tell her. Instead, he’d slipped from the room with a flimsy excuse about setting up the dining room for introductions.

  She needed to find out what was wrong with him. Why he was shying away from pushing a fridge. Why he wanted that power of attorney.

  And as for the fridge, she was moving that thing. Being small, she knew how to use her weight and the strength of her legs to make large objects succumb to the laws of physics.

  She squatted at the base of the fridge again, pushing her shoulder into its side and straining to tip it enough that she could shimmy its feet over a small hump in the titles. She groaned and sagged to the floor. She couldn’t do it alone. Not both tip and pull.

  She pushed a hand through her bangs, standing in time to see her husband reenter the room with a large, older man in tow. Not that Ethan was small, but this man carried himself like a marine or something. And his perceptive stare matched that assessment.

  “I hear you have a fridge you want moved?” he stated. He was studying Lily as though he could tell exactly why the For Sale sign was suddenly gone from the restaurant’s window and why Ethan was married.

  “It’s stuck on some uneven tiles or I’d slide it over myself.” There was definitely something wrong with Ethan if he was asking a man old enough to have grandkids to do the lifting.

  “This is Leif Moreau, your new chef,” Ethan said, referring to the bald man wearing entirely too much cologne, which Lily found surprising for a chef.

  Leif gave Ethan a look, eyebrows raised. “Her new chef?”

  He turned to Leif. “This is my wife, Lily Harper.”

  Lily perked up. “This is so exciting! Pleased to meet you. I went to ITHQ. Where did you go to culinary school?” The Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec didn’t sound like much by its name, but she’d been able to do two of the stages required for her degree in Michelin-starred restaurants, as well as one in a luxury hotel in Spain. Not bad for a kid from Blueberry Springs.

  “Self-taught.” The man had his arms crossed, sizing her up. “You speak French?”

  “Enough to figure out studying in Québec, Canada.”

  “Bienvenue, madame.” His accent had a slight Cajun accent as he welcomed her.

  She knew her accent had more of a French-Canadian flare due to her time studying in Montreal.

  “Bonjour. How long have you worked here?” she asked him conversationally.

  “Since you were both kids.” He tipped back on his heels as though daring her to fire him. “Career change. Still have lots of good years left in me.”

  “Leif used to be a police officer,” Ethan said. “Anytime you have a problem customer, he’ll take care of them.”

  She immediately thought of Tanner and looked away, worried how things would seem if her chef had to turf her ex.

  “There haven’t been many,” Leif assured her.

  No doubt. The way he was sizing her up would deter most dine-and-dashers, she was certain. Lily felt as though the man could see every page of her life before him like a movie.

  She tried for a smile.

  “Think you can help with this?” She leaned against the white fridge, ignoring Ethan. “I’m hoping to make the break room more pleasant.”

  “Nobody takes breaks in here anymore.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Too cluttered,” he said with a laugh.

  She gave Ethan a smug look. “Well, let’s see if we can fix that, shall we? How about you lift while I—” She didn’t bother finishing her sentence, as her chef shoved the fridge into the spot she wanted in a matter of seconds, easy as cutting into Jell-O with a machete. “Well, that’s perfect. Thank you.”

  He’d be a handy one to have around.

  He smiled and crossed his arms over his barrel chest once again, his biceps looking extra beefy, to the point that all she could think of was how easily he could lift a stockpot full to the brim without spilling a drop. Again, handy to have around.

  “Will I be looking at retirement since you’re ITHQ trained?” Leif was watching her, not Ethan.

  Wow. No beating around the bush with Leif. But what was she supposed to say? That a small-town restaurant had plenty of room for two chefs? That she wouldn’t nudge him aside to make room for herself, the boss? Then again, she wasn’t sure how she’d find the courage to do that when he’d been here since the dawn of time.

  Ethan left the room, saying, “I’ll let you work out the arrangements.”

  Leif raised his brows. “I don’t want to come between the two of you.”

  “Oh, you won’t come between us,” she assured him. Ethan was doing a fine job of putting a wedge in there all on his own.

  Ethan paced his home office, feeling edgy. He’d introduced Lily to the staff, then hoofed it out of there like his life depended upon it. He felt bad for ditching her, but judging from her questions sh
e’d be fine. The restaurant needed him for only a few hours a day, after all.

  But the way she’d looked at him when they’d been moving the fridge…all flirty.

  There’d been a hint of curiosity, too, though. Like she was starting to realize that he might be hiding something from her. She was too smart to fool and he was going to have to admit his limitations soon.

  But that flirtatious look. The hint of desire when she’d squeezed his biceps... He felt himself flexing automatically as he hobbled around his office, trying to stretch out the aches that had settled in.

  He didn’t want to lose the power to impress her. He wanted to be the strong, virile man she saw. He wanted to build on that, not watch it dissolve before his eyes.

  Even if her admiration was based on a fake perception.

  Knowing he wouldn’t be able to code the complicated website structure that was next on his to-do list―thanks to Lily and that pouty look she’d given him earlier—he began phoning his restaurant suppliers, letting them know he was authorizing her to send in orders on his behalf for both businesses. Because the sooner things were in place for them to move on, the better.

  Chapter 7

  Lily had been working in the restaurant for a week, Ethan taking care of the catering end of things until she had her feet solidly under her. There was so much to learn about the quirks of the old place, such as the fact that the knobs on the grill didn’t line up with the right burners. Just little things, as well as adjusting to being the boss and having everyone defer to her, sidestep her with uncertainty. She was exhausted, but loving every second of it.

  The restaurant was already starting to feel like hers. She’d been making small changes her staff had requested, from more breaks—they loved what she’d done with the break room—to better scheduling. Even now, while she and Leif sweated over the stoves, him on breakfast duty and her creating the soup of the day, she could hear two of the waitresses laughing together down the hall as they took a quick break together.