Sweet and spicy. Just like her.
Immediately, he wanted more.
“You ate three? I can do that.” Brett snatched one and greedily ate it. He closed his eyes and pounded the table. “I think that one cleared my sinuses, but damn if that isn’t good.”
“Who brought all this?” Dan Clark asked as he picked up a handful of pretzels.
“Gabriella,” Kyle managed to answer around the mouthful of brownies before his co-worker had the chance.
Brett’s forehead furrowed. “Dammit, Cavasos. I was going to tell them.”
“Who’s Gabriella?” Gavin Clark asked after snatching another piece of what looked like banana nut bread. “Did she put cashews in this? Holy shit. This is delicious.”
Brett wagged his eyebrows as he leaned against the wall. He held up a homemade card. “The new girl in town. Bought the diner from Paige.”
Kyle’s muscles tensed as he snatched the card away. On the front was a pencil sketch of Harry’s House. Trinity really does have a creative eye for the world. “She and her daughter moved in next door to me. Yesterday. Her daughter probably drew this.”
“I hear they’re from Texas. Lotta good-looking women from Texas.”
“Yee-haw.” Gavin laughed as he stuffed a couple of the pretzels in his mouth.
Kyle didn’t like where this conversation was headed. Instead, he’d think of some easy distraction. “Plenty of good women from Texas: Beyoncé. Summer Glau, Eva Longoria, Angie Harmon, Jennifer Garner.”
“Jennifer Garner’s not from Texas,” Brett scoffed as he broke off part of a sugar cookie and gave it to Duke. The dog inhaled it without chewing. “She’s from the East Coast.”
“Born in Houston. Her parents moved to Charleston with her and her sisters when she was a kid.” The only reason Kyle knew this was because of the conversation he had with the lovely actress during one of his mother’s movie premieres.
“What, she tell you that?”
Kyle bit his tongue before the confession came out. Of course, none of these guys would believe him if he said yes, so what difference did it make? “Yeah, Adams. She told me when we were walking the red carpet at a movie event. Right afterward, Ben Affleck challenged me to see how many push-ups we could do.”
I won by a landslide.
“You’re so full of shit, Cavasos.” Brett grabbed another sweet.
“Doesn’t matter where she’s from, this Texan lives here now and I’d expect all of us to be kind and welcoming and respectful,” Jonah added. He gave Kyle a sideways glance.
“What? Why are you looking at me when you say that?” Brett snapped. “I can be respectful.”
“You can be.” Todd smirked.
“And you will be. Especially since she’s here with her daughter,” Kyle growled. The words came out sharper than he anticipated, but hearing Brett talk about Gabriella sounded like nails on a chalkboard. She’s way out of your league, dude.
Brushing his hands off on his jeans, Brett smirked the way he always did when he knew he’d gotten under Kyle’s skin. “What’s her name again?”
“Which one?” Kyle claimed the last of the brownies. “The mother or the daughter?”
“Both.”
Not that Kyle wanted to tell that jerk anything. Despite him being in charge of the K9 group and a reliable part of the first responders, his personal track record was less desirable. Brett had bragged on more than one occasion about being a love ’em and leave ’em type. Something Kyle guessed Gabriella wanted no part of or needed, especially since her ex’s nickname was Peter the Cheater.
Glad my sisters don’t live here. I’d refuse to let them date this guy.
“Cavasos. You gonna answer me or what?”
“The daughter’s name is Trinity. The mother, Gabriella.”
“Gabrrrrrriella.” Brett smirked as he crossed his feet at the ankles. “She’s a looker for sure.”
“Yep, she is.” Back off, buddy. Not that Kyle thought he had cornered the market when it came to his new neighbor, but the idea of Brett’s hands all over Gabriella’s café au lait colored skin caused Kyle’s frustration to simmer under the surface.
Gabriella didn’t need that kind of heartbreak.
Lyle jumped in. “She bought the diner. I wondered what Paige was planning to do with it.”
“If she cooks anything else half as good as this stuff, I’m gonna be over there a whole lot more.” Jonah blissed out on the last sugar cookie.
“Might have to go visit the diner more myself.” Brett wagged his eyebrows as Duke nudged his owner’s arm, apparently wanting more sweets.
Anger still simmered under the surface. “She’s not your type.” The harsh words escaped him. For whatever reason, Brett always did have a knack for annoying Kyle.
The jovial mood between the men vanished.
Brett stood, his hands on his hips. “What’s my type, Cavasos?”
“You mean more than breathing, Adams?” Kurt leaned against the bare stud of the former wall.
A collective chuckle from the rest of the crew, but all watched the men’s exchange with cautious looks.
Despite the devil-may-care attitude, the muscles in Brett’s jaw clenched. “More than breathing.”
Kyle didn’t answer. It wasn’t worth getting into a fight with the meathead. Besides, why make things complicated when family obligations might pull Kyle out of Marietta anyway?
His stomach twisted at that possibility. He didn’t want to be pulled back into that drama.
“You got something to say to me, Cavasos?”
Before anger got the better of him, Kyle pointed at his watch. “We’ve got work to do.”
All the men reluctantly agreed and Kyle rattled off each of their instructions for the latter half of the day.
He sent Brett off with Lyle to start putting up the drywall in the upstairs rooms.
Before each got back to it, every single one of them grabbed a final sweet.
“Don’t let him get to you.” Jonah patted his friend on the back after helping him unload supplies. “Even though you got it bad.”
Chapter Ten
“Vanilla, flour, sugar, cinnamon…” Gabriella called out the diner kitchen’s inventory as Trinity checked things off the carefully created list.
Her daughter tapped the iPad screen with each ingredient. “Got it. Got it. Got it. Pepper?”
“Yes, seasoned salt. Lemon pepper?” Reaching around a large container of salt, Gabriella found an almost empty bottle of one of her favorite spices. “Here it is. We’ll need more.”
“Got it.”
“There’s six fifty-pound bags of flour, seven thirty-pound bags of sugar, five bags of baking soda…”
As the lunch rush began to die down, Gabriella continued to go through her binder of instructions Paige had given her about the diner, as she watched the crew out of the corner of her eye.
“Why are we up here, Gabby?” Trinity yawned. “You don’t even start until Monday.”
“Because I want to see what is here and what we need. Plus it helped us get the food done for the guys faster than if we’d baked at home. The ovens are bigger here.” Checking the date on a bottle of vanilla, she continued. “And I get to see the flow of the staff, work the breakfast rush, and meet the regular customers. It’s been a productive morning.”
She planned to come in and watch things as a customer, but after Kyle introduced her last night, it was impossible to watch as an unknown observer.
Because she’d spent most of the night having erotic dreams about her neighbor, she’d gotten little sleep and it kept her restless for most of the morning. A hard days work would certainly help quell that flutter of excitement when hearing his name.
If he’s half as good in my dreams as he is in real life, I’m in so much trouble. Her body tingled at the replay of her stripping off his shirt, before he unbuttoned his jeans, allowing them to slowly slide to the floor and… And I’m more than happy to be in that kind of trouble.
“Come on. Let’s walk around the town. Or let’s go to Bozeman. Get some art supplies.” A heavy sigh from Trinity yanked Gabriella out of her daydreams.
“Sweetie, let me get this done and hopefully we can go later today.” Gabriella shivered at the remaining images of her saucy thoughts.
Running her fingers through her hair, she pursed her lips. “Do you think it’ll be better here? I mean, do you think I’ll get bullied…again?”
Her daughter’s worry-soaked words stopped Gabriella in her tracks. She put down the binder and pulled her child into her arms. “I think it’s going to be amazingly better for so many reasons.”
“Marietta is a great place to live, sweetheart,” Flo chimed in. “Plus, if someone’s bullying you, they can’t keep it a secret. Everyone’s gonna know and we’ve got a lot of good kids here.”
Trinity sniffed. “I’m scared, Gabby.”
She’s still calling me Gabby. What did her aunt say to her? “Change can be scary, but think of the new adventures here. There are plenty of places to hike, plus you get to learn to ski, snowboard.”
“And ice-skate.”
“Ice-skate. Really?” That made the girl sit up and take notice. “Where?”
“Over on Miracle Lake. It’s cold, but it’s fun.” Tapping her chin, the waitress cocked her head. “If I recall correctly, Freddie is pretty good on skates. I think he likes hockey.”
“Hockey’s…good.”
Drying her daughter’s tears with her thumbs, Gabriella coaxed, “It’s gonna be good here.”
The sadness in Trinity’s big brown eyes was a kick in the gut. All because of one shitty boss.
Despite presenting a strong front, Riley Fitzgerald’s wicked smirk only drove Gabriella’s frustration higher. How dare he let his daughter terrorize mine because I wouldn’t keep my mouth shut about what he’d done.
Last night when Kyle asked why she hadn’t reported Riley’s actions to upper management, Gabriella wanted to confess it all, but she stopped herself.
Not even Trinity knew the entire story. As stressed as her daughter had been over the last few weeks, the last thing she wanted was to upset her more. “We’re good?”
“We’re good.” Trinity tapped the iPad. “Butter. Eggs. Napkins?”
Flo leaned against the wall next to the shelves. Her hot pink dice earrings swayed by her cheeks. “Lunch rush is about over. Need help with anything?”
If the woman hadn’t been so kind from the get-go, Gabriella would have assumed it was all an act, but Flo was the real deal. “I have a question for you, Flo. These are the standard spices y’all use?”
The corner of Flo’s mouth curled down. “What do you mean standard?”
“Basic stock. Staples.”
“Pretty much. Why?”
“Just asking, really. Wondering about adding a few things to the menu.”
She pursed her lips. “What kind of things?”
Careful, Gabby. She knows this place like the back of her hand. “Not sure yet. Anything you’d like to see?”
Her eyes went wide. “Oh, I’d have to think about it.”
“What about local farmers? I see a few jars of honey on the shelves. Are those from a local farm?” Trinity pointed.
“Yes, Austin and Melinda Sweet bought a place here a while back. Make organic honey. I bought a few jars not too long ago to serve here. They grow some vegetables. Have chickens.”
“Chickens? Can we buy our eggs from them?” Gabriella grabbed the binder off the counter. Flipping through it, she finally found the page she needed. “Yes, Austin and Melinda Sweet. Paige wrote it down.”
“You wanna buy from locals?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
A wide smile spread across her hot pink lips. “They won’t have enough to keep us fully stocked, but it’s more than they can eat for sure.”
“I like that. Would you be willing to introduce me to them? Since you know everybody, seems you would be a great person to be in charge of this.” Gabriella’s heart pounded ninety-to-nothing, hoping the olive branch she’d extended would be enough to lessen the loyal employee’s worry.
“I’ll see what I can do, but I’m sure they’d love to feed the masses.”
“And I’d be glad to design a sign saying we’re using their eggs.” Trinity snapped her fingers.
Mentally patting herself on the back, Gabriella added, “Thank you, Flo. Bringing in local businesses, ranchers, farmers, is a brilliant move.”
A flash of pink appeared on Flo’s pretty cheeks. “Hear that, Griffin? I’m brilliant.”
“Already knew that,” the cook called out from the kitchen. Today, they’d had the pleasure of meeting the second cook, Griffin.
He and his brother Merlin were very similar in size, but where Merlin had darker hair, Griffin’s was lighter. Both appeared to like eighties’ rock and both had been loyal employees.
Gabriella thanked her lucky stars that they’d stayed on and been nothing but friendly.
Trinity snapped her fingers as if she’d remembered something. “Speaking of using local farmers. Back home, I mean, back in Texas, we have this big grocery store chain called HEB and they work directly with farmers, ranchers, fishermen. It’s made a huge difference in community partnerships.”
“How so?” Flo asked as she wiped down a few salt and pepper shakers.
Trinity added, giving Gabriella a quick wink, “People are more likely to shop at HEB if they know the company supports local businesses.”
Glad to know when it comes down to it, my daughter’s still on my side. Gabriella wondered how long that would last. Would Trinity go through her rebellious teen years like her own mother had?
Flo looked back and forth between the two women. “Well, that does make sense. I’m sure come spring, the Sweets would be more than happy to sell some of their fresh vegetables too. You might also want to talk to Chad Anders. He helped the Sweets get their farm up and running.”
“Great idea.” Gabriella considered this a supervisor’s victory. Her phone chimed, signaling the last loaf of cinnamon bread was ready. “Oh good. We can get this done and get home.”
“Might as well get this place put back together since the lunch crowd’s gone.” Flo grabbed a broom and danced out to the dining room.
“She’s fun.” Trinity smirked. “I bet she’s got great stories.”
“I have no doubt. Paige said Flo’s been here for years. Knows the place backwards and forwards.”
“I wonder why she didn’t try and sell the diner to Flo.”
“Hard to say.” Gabriella placed the bread on a cooling rack and slid the entire thing into the freezer. “What do you say, orange glaze?”
Trinity jumped up and headed for the pantry. “I get to lick the spoon.”
Setting the timer, Gabriella pulled a small bowl off the shelf as Trinity brought the powdered sugar, an orange, and vanilla.
“You want to make it this time?”
A slow smile spread across Trinity’s face. “Really?”
“Go for it.”
“Order from the teachers at the high school, Griffin,” Casey handed the slip through the kitchen window to the cook. “Said they’d be by in about ten to pick it up.”
“Got it.” He spun the order wheel and grabbed the slip as it whipped by. The radio on the upper shelf played eighties’ rock and the first bars of Def Leppard’s Animal came on.
As the cook threw some bread on the grill, his head bounced along with the beat of the music.
Gabriella smiled at the man’s perpetual good mood.
“Gabby, is this right? A cup of powdered sugar, a few drips of vanilla, and to start, a teaspoon of fresh-squeezed orange juice.”
“Exactly.”
As they’d done since Trinity was able to walk, the two stood side by side while creating something amazing.
Trinity mumbled instructions as she worked. Little by little, she blended the orange juice in until the glaze looked
like a white, silky river.
Within minutes, the fresh smell of citrus-laced sugar drifted about the room, making Gabriella’s mouth water. She dipped a small spoon in and tasted. “Perfect.”
Her daughter’s face lit up. “Really?”
The timer pinged. “I’ll get the bread.” Gabriella pulled the loaf from the freezer and placed it on the counter. Resting her hand on the bread, Gabriella nodded. “Perfectly chilled. You want to do the icing or do you want me to do it?”
“Me!” Drizzling the icing over the bread, Trinity created intricate long strings of a sugar design. By the time she was done, the bread looked like someone had decorated it with glistening white lace. Motioning to Trinity, Gabriella took the dessert. “You get to lick the spoon.”
“Orange icing, yummy,” her daughter practically squealed.
Slicing the dessert into small cubes, Gabriella placed the bite-size bits into mini cupcake paper cups.
The swinging doors flew open as Flo entered carrying a few dishes and the broom. She inhaled. “Goodness, something smells wonderful.”
“I thought we could have samples of things we might add to the menu. No point in making something that no one will eat.”
Casey came in backward, pushing the double doors with her back. As she turned around, she held a large bin, overflowing with dirty dishes. “Thanks for holding the door for me, Flo.”
Trinity jumped up and offered to help carry the bin, which Casey immediately accepted. “Something smells good.”
“It’s cinnamon bread with orange glaze,” Trinity replied as the slam of the heavy bin echoed from the sink.
“Thank you for helping, T.” With Flo hovering next to her, Gabriella’s heart rate skyrocketed.
The bread would be the first thing she’d ask the staff to try.
Please be good. “I’m trying to see what people like, don’t like. Make smaller portions and hand out free samples.”
“Free samples?” Flo knowingly nodded. “If you’re gonna hand out free stuff, I’m sure plenty of people will be more than happy to eat it.”
“Exactly, Flo. Hopefully, this will be good enough to make them come back.”
Burning with Desire Page 10
