by Natalie Ann
“Sit down, Aiden,” Mason said, sharply. “If you go marching over there looking like that right now you’re only going to cause more issues.”
“Says who?”
“Come on, Aiden. You rarely get mad. Ever. And if you do now, if you show it, it will raise more eyebrows and cause more speculation.”
“I get mad,” Aiden said. His staff knew not to cross him.
“But you don’t show it. I remember the two times you did. Both had bad results. Let’s see…first time, Candy Sue Lane had been flirting with you for weeks. Come to find out she was only using you to get Tyler Snell jealous.”
Aiden laughed. “But that week of in-school suspension was so worth shoving Tyler in the locker and sending Candy Sue to let him out only to find he was in his tighty whities.”
Mason grinned. “Be honest. Brody and Cade helped you, didn’t they? No way you could have done that alone.”
“It was all me,” Aiden said proudly.
“Fine. The only other time you lost your temper was when Cade ate half the ingredients for the Mother’s Day brunch you were planning. You’d rammed him into the wall in the kitchen, leaving two body imprints.”
That still burned Aiden’s ass now that he thought about it. He’d planned that meal for weeks for his mother. “He got punished too.”
“Yep. You and Cade spent the day cleaning Dad’s boat. Cade spent more time puking after Dad took you guys both out fishing, then you had to clean up after him too.”
“He had it coming,” Aiden said. He was a neat freak and cleaning up after any of his siblings always annoyed him. Having to clean up puke was even worse. His mother was evil when handing out punishments.
Mason laughed. “My point is, nothing good ever comes out of you losing your temper. So tell me what’s going on.”
“Nothing, as far as I know. You’re the one who brought it up. What have you heard?”
“Just what I told you. Actually I overheard two of my staff talking. When I walked in they stopped.”
“Did you defend me?” Aiden asked.
“How can I defend something when I know nothing about it? I just heard it yesterday. I lifted my eyebrow and they both scurried away like buckshot exploded around their feet.”
Mason always had a way of getting his point across without saying much at all. “Tell me everything,” Aiden demanded.
“I just did. All I heard was that there was talk you were sampling more than food. That you’ve been spending a lot of time working one-on-one with Nic. End of story.”
Aiden sighed. “Great. Just what I need. Talk about a setback.”
“So you are,” Mason said, looking more than slightly shocked over that.
“No, I’m not,” Aiden said, fighting a flush from his face.
“But you want to,” Mason said back, grinning, settling back in his chair.
“No. I don’t know.”
“Which means yes,” Mason said. He got up and shut the door to his office. “You start talking now.”
“Not much to say. Less now that you’re telling me this. She’s been cold to me for a week. She wasn’t before.”
“My guess is this is why. She probably knows what’s being said. You know how fast things spread.”
“She hasn’t said anything to me about it,” Aiden said.
“Did you really think she would?”
“No,” Aiden said. Nic had her pride, he knew that. He’d seen all sorts of signs leading him to believe she’d just work through it with her head down.
“What are you going to do then?” Mason asked.
“I don’t know. I guess I better think about it. It’s probably not smart to even consider anything with a staff member. We’ve always stayed away from that. It never works out.” He couldn’t believe he was even having this conversation with Mason at all.
“It did for Brody,” Mason pointed out.
“Luck. It was nothing more than that. It’s more likely to be a huge disaster. We both know that.”
Mason paused, looked around the room at nothing, but was most likely just gathering his thoughts. He always took more time than the rest of them to say what he wanted to. “Do you ever wonder why he found love and we haven’t?”
“He dates more than us. He’s bound to find it,” Aiden said, pointing out what seemed reasonable in his mind.
“No. He was less likely to.” Mason was probably right, with the type of women Brody had dated.
“Are you looking for it?” Mason asked him, the brother he felt the most connection to. They were the most alike. Maybe it’d be nice to know he wasn’t alone.
“Maybe.” And that was the most Aiden was willing to say.
Something I Want
Sunday morning, Aiden pulled in front of Nic’s house. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to do this. To seek her out on her day off.
That was a lie. He knew, but he had to do something about what was going on. Her cold shoulder had eliminated any chance he might have of just carrying on a normal conversation with her.
There were four cars in the driveway of the two-story house. Looked multi-level to him. Her paperwork never said what floor.
He parked out front and walked up the steps, noticed the name Moretti on the mailbox next to the door on the right, and rang the bell.
When an older woman answered he wasn’t sure what to say. “Can I help you?” she asked, her accent thick.
She looked like any typical Italian grandmother he envisioned as a child. One that he saw plenty of in Italy that always made him smile. He never had any grandparents growing up, none close by, but he sure did love all those that took him under their wing during the few years he was traveling.
There was a flowered apron over her simple dress. On her feet were sturdy thick-soled brown shoes, knee-high stockings rolled down to her ankles. Her white hair looked like a helmet on her head, making him wonder if she’d just come from her weekly appointment at the salon.
“I’m looking for Nic,” he said.
“She’s in her room right now. Come on in,” the older woman said. “What’s your name, young man? Aren’t you a treat for my eyes on a Sunday morning.”
He blushed. He knew he did. There was no way around it. “Aiden Fierce.”
“Nicolette’s boss. Please, do come in. Vinnie. Vinnie, wake up. Nic’s got a gentleman caller.” Aiden choked on those words, but didn’t give any indication that he thought it was funny. “I’m Theresa Moretti, and my husband, Vinnie, is over there taking his morning nap.”
Vinnie was slowly waking up from his Sunday morning snooze. Black pants and socks, checkered short-sleeve button-down shirt. His hand was resting on his belly, no doubt emphasizing he enjoyed many nice meals prepared in the house. He didn’t have white hair like his wife; then again, he didn’t have much hair at all, but rather a nice shiny dome.
“No need to get up,” Aiden said when Vinnie looked to be struggling to push the recliner back in place.
“Not a problem,” Nic’s grandfather said, his accent evident too. “Chair is uglier than sin and hard as heck to get in place, but once I get comfortable I just fall right to sleep.”
“Grandma,” he heard and turned to see Nic standing in the doorway. She had on a pair of very tiny tan shorts and a blue T-shirt, her hair hanging loose around her face. “Oh. Aiden, what are you doing here?”
That hot air balloon sinking to the ground was his ego. “I came to talk to you.”
“Is there a problem?” she asked, her eyes darting back and forth to her grandmother, who was grinning fondly, and her grandfather, who was still rubbing sleep from his eyes.
“Is there somewhere we can talk?” he asked. He wanted privacy for this conversation.
“Sure. Let’s go out back. Follow me,” she said, then turned and left him there to follow along or stay and be gawked at by Theresa.
The minute they got outside, she turned and said, “Am I in trouble? Did I do something wrong?”
He hated that
she thought that. That she was worried over it, and was wringing her hands and looking upset. “No, nothing that you did. Probably more of what I did. Or what people think.”
She stopped twisting her hands and held his stare. Big brown eyes, cautious for sure, but knowledge behind them. She knew what he was about to say, but wasn’t going to bring it up herself, he was guessing. “Then what?”
“I know you aren’t used to working in a kitchen the size of Fierce’s, but like I told you the other day, there is a lot of jealousy. I’ve been hearing rumors and I want to apologize that you seem to be caught up in them.”
The nod of her head was all that she seemed to be willing to give as acknowledgement. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not. Is that why you’ve been cooler than normal to me?”
He had to know. He had to know if he’d imagined the spark between them before, or if she was just gun shy at this point.
All she did was shrug and it just pushed his buttons. Buttons that very rarely got pushed in his life, least of all around a woman. “Let’s go for a ride,” he said briskly.
This time she straightened her shoulders and lifted an eyebrow. He’d hit a nerve with his tone and had to remind himself he wasn’t in his kitchen instructing and demanding respect, but was on her turf and she could easily tell him to go pound salt.
“For what?” she asked. At least she wasn’t telling him to scram.
“I want to show you something. Something I haven’t shown another employee before. Do you trust me enough to go for a ride?” He wasn’t going to beg, but he did soften his tone a touch. The Fierce cockiness had to take a backseat right now.
“I guess,” she said. “It’s not like I’ve got anything else to do today.”
“Gee, thanks,” he mumbled, but all she did was laugh. He’d take it though.
***
Nic sat in the passenger seat of Aiden’s SUV. She had no clue what was going on today, other than it was like a day out of Oz. Aiden didn’t just show up at her house, did he? Being looked over by her grandmother, who was flirting with him? Nah, she had to be dreaming…maybe.
All she knew was she woke up with a headache because she’d lain in bed all night thinking about work. About the looks she was getting in the kitchen from some. Speculation, curiosity, and plenty of animosity. She was on the receiving end of it all in one form or another this whole week.
Not everyone was like that; most were nice and talked to her. Tried to help her. Others were just nosy. Either way, it was turning into a much more stressful environment than she’d thought it’d be. That she’d bargained for.
She didn’t sign up for this. She never even wanted to be in a kitchen working like this as it was, but it seemed all her dreams and aspirations were gone. She had no means to follow her heart now. Nor would she just walk away from her grandparents. They needed her and she had to pay back all they’d done for her in life.
“Where are we going?” she asked him after ten minutes of silence.
“My house.”
She turned her head sharply. “Why?” Definitely had to be a dream.
“I told you to trust me,” he said.
He turned his eyes back to the road. It wasn’t a command like when he said “let’s go for a ride” but it wasn’t laid back either. Still, they weren’t on the clock and she wasn’t obligated to sit there and take orders.
But he wasn’t giving them to her. And she did go with him voluntarily. She just wished she knew why they were going to his house.
“I know you’ve got a lot of questions,” he said. “I’ll answer them all when we get there. Just another five minutes.”
So she sat there in more silence. She really didn’t know where they were at this point in Charlotte. No place she’d been before. Some development on the outskirts of the city. The houses were all huge, at least to her, though she was guessing not nearly as massive as other areas.
He pulled into the driveway of a two-story brick home. It looked relatively new to her, but she was living with her grandparents, whose house was close to fifty years old when they bought it sixty years ago, so what did she know about the age of a house?
When he shut the vehicle off in his garage, she got out and followed him through a door into a mudroom. He slipped his sneakers off, so she did the same. She just noticed that for the first time he wasn’t in a uniform, but rather shorts, a T-shirt and sneakers. His build was pretty darn magnificent. Maybe her grandmother had the right idea staring at him and grinning.
He still wasn’t saying much, so she followed along like a stray, waiting to find out why he might be dangling a carrot in front of her like this. If he started going upstairs or anywhere near a bedroom, she was running for the hills. Well, maybe not the hills, but now she was wondering why she’d agreed to come along with him to begin with.
Until they stepped into the kitchen.
“Wow,” she said. “This is amazing.” This was a dream. No, it was winning the lotto.
She’d never seen anything like it. It was a kitchen straight out of a magazine. It was massive. Probably half the size of the downstairs of his house alone. Everything was light and bright. Immaculate. Not a thing out of place. And all those appliances and tools at Fierce were also here in his kitchen.
“Why are you showing me this?” she asked, more confused than ever.
“Because you’ve got something I want. Something I need you to show me and this is the only place we can do it without more wandering eyes. Without more whispering and wondering. Privacy for the two of us.”
“What could I possibly show you that you don’t already know?”
She wasn’t just talking about food either and wondered if he’d catch the underlying meaning. As much as she didn’t want to listen to gossip, she’d heard about the women Aiden supposedly dated, if he ever found the time to, because she’d heard that too. That he wasn’t interested in anything but work.
“There is a passion you’ve got for cooking. Not just that, but the fact that you can taste something and just know it’s not right. Know that it needs more. It’s in your blood. I’m going to show you how to hone that skill with other flavors. More than Italian, since you keep telling me you are more than that.”
“Why?” she asked. She shouldn’t be questioning this. She should be thrilled that he was bestowing this much attention on her. “Have you done this with other employees before?” There had to be an underlying meaning and she wanted it out in the open.
“Not like this,” he said, shaking his head. “Never in my home. You’re a first.”
“Why?” she asked again, feeling like an idiot that she couldn’t form more than a few words at once. Now he probably thought she was stupid on top of everything else.
“Like I said, I see something in you. But you’re backing away from me because of other people’s opinions and thoughts. You’re backing away when I wish you’d move closer.”
“Meaning?” She felt tingles on her arms now, and it had nothing to do with the air conditioning and everything to do with the heat in his eyes. At that point she was positive he’d gotten her double meaning all along.
“I think you know.”
All in the Kiss
Aiden wondered if he was losing his mind.
He knew for sure he was about to lose his cool.
He couldn’t remember the last time he second-guessed himself like he was now. But he got her to agree to trust him and go for a ride and he was going to use this time wisely.
The fact that he brought her to his house, his domain—where he spent all his free time perfecting his creations—should have meant something to him. What, he wasn’t sure, but was willing to explore.
“I want you to explain it all to me nice and clear,” she said. She was getting a backbone now and he found that extremely appealing.
“I brought you here to share something with you I haven’t with another person. Not another employee. This is where I create. This is where I live. It’s where I
breathe. Deep down, I know you understand that. Understand what I’m saying.”
“I do. The kitchen is the heart of the home,” she said. “It’s where it all begins.”
“Exactly.” She got it. “It’s where I want to begin. Where I want us to begin.” Wow, he hadn’t meant to drop it like that, but needed to go with it since she wasn’t looking for an escape.
He reached out and placed her hand in his, holding her stare. There was attraction, desire, and a lot of arousal in her gaze. Her pupils were dilated, her hand was a little sweaty, but there was a sizzle in her gaze that was mirroring his own.
“What exactly are you looking to begin?” she asked, her voice cracking.
“Your grandmother called me a gentleman caller. How about we start there?”
“Oh my God,” she said, pulling her hand out of his and taking a few steps back. Her face was flame red, matching the color of the shirts they wore at Fierce. “She didn’t say that, did she?”
“Yep,” he said, smiling at her and finding some of the confidence that he’d been missing lately with her. Whenever he was ready to take on the challenge of a woman, he never hesitated at all. Nic made him feel like a first-time driver trying to learn a stick shift. Starting and stopping, bucking and bouncing and pretty much getting nowhere.
“That’s so embarrassing,” she said, still holding his stare, but not blushing as much, almost like she was waiting for him to make a move.
“I thought it was nice and played right into part of the reason for my visit.”
“Part of?” she asked.
“Yeah. I want to mentor you. I want to teach you and I want you to teach me. Work with me on things that just come naturally to you. Things I’d never learn in a school, that only get handed down from generation to generation.”
“What’s the other part?”
“I want to spend some time with you outside of the kitchen and explore something else. Something with us alone.”
“This looks like a kitchen to me,” she said, her eyes moving around, her lips twitching.
