Gwen’s pulse skipped over itself. “He went out on the floor,” she said, nodding out the service window.
“Why would he do that?” Teagan’s hands flew as he garnished a plate of pancakes with powdered sugar and set them in the window. Lilly didn’t move to take the order out, instead still smiling at Teagan. “He’s on the egg station this morning.”
“I can do it,” Gwen said. “And Lilly, you might as well give up. Teagan doesn’t date.”
Lilly’s mouth rounded, she grabbed the plate of pancakes, and walked off. Satisfied, Gwen turned to the egg station. No, she hadn’t made a poached egg for a while, but she certainly knew how. Her expensive New York City culinary education had taught her that much.
“I date,” Teagan barked.
“You do?” Gwen laughed. “Since when?”
“You don’t know what I do after I leave here,” he said.
“Yes, I do,” Gwen said. “Same as me. You drag yourself home after cooking for twelve hours and you collapse onto a couch somewhere, eating whatever you can find easily.” She met his sea green eyes, almost daring him to contradict her. Or maybe she just wanted to swim around in those pretty eyes. She wasn’t sure which.
He didn’t argue with her, which meant she’d spoken true.
“You’ve been going out a lot lately,” he said coolly.
Gwen blinked, because she wasn’t sure what to do with what he’d said. He’d noticed? “Who have you been out with lately?” she asked, treading on very dangerous ground now. The last woman Teagan had been out with had earned herself a new stalker—at least for a few hours while Gwen searched and read everything the woman had ever posted on social media.
That hadn’t ended well. In fact, Gwen distinctly remembered the stomachache she’d had after eating an entire carton of double chocolate fudge ice cream during the search.
She didn’t mean her question to be a challenge, but Teagan’s chin lifted, his way of saying, Challenge accepted.
Everything between the two of them was a challenge, and Gwen was tired of that too.
He didn’t answer the question, instead saying, “Eggs Benedict,” again.
“Yes, chef,” she recited back to him, tearing her gaze from his. She hadn’t asked him who he’d dated since her, but she already knew that answer: No one. In fact, in the five years Gwen had known the dark, mysterious, handsome Teagan Hatch, he’d only been out with the woman Gwen had looked up. Just her.
And then Gwen.
No one else.
As she poached the eggs, she couldn’t help remembering those few months. They’d been amazing, filled with wonder and excitement as she learned more about the man who could put out a plate of delicious food better than anyone she’d ever met. She’d seen his soft side, and his funny side, and his adventurous side, and she’d liked them all.
Too bad he’d broken up with her out of the blue, with absolutely no explanation at all. And the man was a vault when he wanted to be. He could shut down faster than a convenience store at closing time, and Gwen hadn’t been able to crack his stoic exterior since.
Her only comfort was that no one else had either—not even the giggly, voluptuous Lilly. In her chef’s jacket, Gwen looked more like a man than a woman, which had become a reason to keep her hair as long as possible. Oh, and she wore oversized earrings everyday too. That helped her feel and look more feminine.
“Eggs Benedict,” she said, placing the dish in the window, her body getting dangerously close to Teagan’s.
He cut a look at her out of the corner of his eye, and Gwen pulled in a breath and held it. Time slowed, and when it came roaring back to full speed, she stumbled.
“Whoa,” she said, her head spinning. She grabbed onto Teagan’s arm, and unfortunately, he’d reached for her plate of eggs in the window.
The next thing she knew, they were both on the floor, covered in hollandaise sauce and runny egg yolks.
I can’t wait to see what happens when Teagan and Gwen get themselves cleaned up!
SHE LOVES HIM…NOT is available in Kindle Unlimited.
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About Elana
Elana Johnson is the USA Today bestselling author of dozens of novels, from YA contemporary romance to adult beach romances. Check out her sweet romances in the Hawthorne Harbor Romance series, the Clean Beach Club Billionaire Romance series, the Beaches & Brides Romance series, the Forbidden Lake Romance Series, the Stranded in Paradise Romance Series, and the Carter’s Cove Beach Romance Series.
Find her on Facebook, BookBub, and her blog. Tap here to see all her books.
She also writes under the pen name Liz Isaacson, who is the USA Today bestselling author and Kindle All-Star Author of the Three Rivers Ranch Romance series, the #1 bestselling Horseshoe Home Ranch Romance series, the Brush Creek Brides series, the Steeple Ridge Romance series (Buttars Brothers novels), and the Grape Seed Falls Romance series, the Christmas in Coral Canyon Romance series, the Quinn Valley Ranch Romance series, and the Last Chance Ranch Romance series.
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NOT HER REAL FIANCÉ
Book Four, Carter’s Cove Sweet Beach Romance series
by Elana Johnson
Copyright © 2019 by AEJ Creative Works Inc, Elana Johnson
All Rights Reserved
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Cover and interior design by AEJ Creative Works Inc.
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