The Single Dad's Family Recipe

by Rachael Johns

  Lachlan grinned down at her, then covered her mouth with his, silencing her as he kissed her hard once again. Afterward, they lay there, so still, so quiet, she could feel his heart pumping against her own chest.

  What the hell have I just done?

  But with him still deliciously inside her, she found she couldn’t summon one iota of remorse. A little guilt perhaps that she could feel so wonderful, so alive, but with the aftershocks of pleasure still doing their stuff, definitely no remorse. Sex that good could never have been regretted, no matter what came next.

  After what felt like ages but was probably only a minute or so, he pushed up again and looked down at her. “I’m going to go deal with the condom,” he said and then slid out of bed. “Back in a sec.”

  She admired his cute butt as he walked naked to the en suite and then stretched out in bed wondering if that was his only condom. She’d stopped taking the Pill months ago when it became obvious that sex with her husband wasn’t on the agenda anymore, but she wouldn’t mind if more sex was on tonight’s agenda. Now that she’d broken her pact with herself not to get involved with anyone, it seemed silly not to indulge herself with such a willing partner.

  As she rolled over, her heart halted in her chest as she came face-to-face with the photo frame with her little boy’s smiling face sitting next to her on the bedside table. She sat up so quickly, her head spun as she snatched up the frame, then yanked open the bedside drawer and shoved it inside.

  The lightness that had filled her body vanished as she realized how close she’d come to Lachlan seeing it. What on earth had she been thinking, sleeping with her boss of all people? The last thing she wanted was for him to start asking questions she didn’t want to answer and now that they’d slept together, he might think he had the right to pry further into her personal life.

  What else would he expect? Would he hope tonight was a prelude to something more? Fear turned her heart to ice at the thought. If she’d needed sex, she could have gone to a bar and picked up some stranger or joined that silly app that Sophie and Annabel were obsessed with.

  But her boss? Oh, Eliza, you stupid, stupid girl.

  She heard the toilet flush and then the door clicked open and Lachlan stood there, still in all his naked glory. She froze like a deer in headlights.

  He took a step back into the bedroom and then paused, frowning as he met her gaze. “Are you okay?” He sounded uncertain. That would make two of them. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  She rubbed her lips together. “What did we just do?”

  His brows furrowed a little more. “We just had incredible sex. At least I thought we did.”

  Incredible didn’t even come close to describing what they’d just done. Her cheeks flushed at his directness and she quickly pulled the blankets over her, feeling suddenly self-conscious. “But you’re my boss.”

  His lips flicked up at the edges and he took a step closer to the bed. “I could be your boss with benefits.”

  As he peeled the covers back and lay down next to her again, heat ripped through Eliza’s body at his suggestive tone.

  Yes, please, shouted her hormones. Boss with benefits? How freaking fantastic did that sound? Forever was a long time to go without sex simply because she didn’t want the intimacy and commitment she’d always thought went hand in hand with making love. She thought of Grammy Louise’s advice that sex didn’t always have to be serious and hope flared in her heart.

  She smiled up at him. “Are you serious? You’d be happy with that kind of arrangement?”

  * * *

  Lachlan blinked, his hands pausing on their way to her body. When he’d suggested “benefits,” he’d been joking. For one, he didn’t think Eliza was that kind of girl; two, he respected her too much to use her for her body; and three, he also liked her, which meant for the first time in a long while, he wanted more than just sex from a woman. But the smile on her face and the tone of her voice gave him pause.

  It sounded almost as if she liked his indecent proposition.

  “Um...I... What do you want?” he asked, looking directly up into her dark eyes.

  “Well.” She rubbed her lips together and her chest rose and fell with a heavy breath. “I really like you, Lachlan. You’re the first guy I’ve slept with since my marriage ended and it was amazing. I’ve really loved spending time with you these last few weeks—during the day and especially at night. Your passion for food is contagious and thanks to you, I’ve smiled more in the last few weeks than I have in the last year. But I’m still incredibly hurt and raw from my separation, my divorce isn’t even final yet and my head isn’t in the right place to start another relationship.”

  “I see. Of course.” He nodded fast and summoned a smile, trying to cover over his shock and disappointment. Wasn’t it usually the guy quoting such lines? And since when had he wanted a relationship anyway? His kids came first and considering Linda’s rejection of Hamish, he’d never allowed himself to dream about finding a woman who might want him and his children.

  Still, he couldn’t help being curious about Eliza’s reticence. “Do you think there’s a chance you and your ex might get back together?”

  His heart squeezed at the prospect and he couldn’t help the rush of relief as she shook her head. “No. I loved him with all my heart but he hurt me too badly to ever recover from that.”

  “He abused you?” His own feelings forgotten, Lachlan clenched his fists as he harbored violent thoughts about a man he’d never met.

  “Oh, no, nothing like that. He didn’t hurt me physically. Tyler...” She sighed deeply and paused as if considering how much to tell him.

  Was she holding back because she didn’t want him to think badly of her ex? Obviously she still had feelings for the guy, no matter how much she professed otherwise, and Lachlan couldn’t help feeling a tad jealous.

  “It’s all right,” he said encouragingly, trying to ignore his own discomfort. “You can tell me anything, but if you don’t want to...I understand.”

  “Tyler had a drug problem,” she said after another few long moments. “When he was young, he dabbled in recreational stuff, but he swore he’d stopped by the time we started going out. I believed him but eighteen months ago, he started up again. Instead of turning to me when...when things got tough, he turned to drugs and his usage quickly started affecting his work. Eventually, with the assistance of his family, I convinced him to get some help. He sought counseling and it appeared to be doing him good. So good it turns out that he decided he liked his counselor more than he liked me.”

  Eliza sniffed and a tear slid down her cheek. She brushed it away as if embarrassed by it and went on. “Three months ago, he told me he’d been sleeping with her and asked me to move out of our apartment. That’s when I moved in with my grandmother again.”

  His heart went out to this gorgeous woman lying beside him and he stupidly blurted, “Isn’t sleeping with a patient breaking some kind of professional rule?”

  Something between a scoff and a laugh escaped her lips as she met his eyes. “I think adultery goes against the rules of marriage, too, but you know as well as I do that rules don’t always hinder people.”

  “That’s true.” He put his hand over hers and squeezed it in a show of support. “But it still sucks. And for what it’s worth, I think your ex-husband must be a damn fool, choosing someone else over you.”

  In fact, Tyler had to be stupid and blind because right now, Lachlan couldn’t imagine another woman that could give Eliza a run for her money on any level. She was pretty close to perfect.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, linking her fingers through his and staring down at their joined hands. “That means a lot.”

  Part of him wanted to hunt this Tyler dude down but another part of him wanted to thank the asshole because while Eliza might not be ready for another relationship right now, at lea
st she was a free agent. Their chemistry was impossible to deny, so perhaps in time, if he was patient, if he played his cards right, he might stand a chance for more than just sex with her.

  There hadn’t been a woman he wanted to stand a chance with in a very long time.

  “I mean it,” he said, “and if you ever want to talk about any of it, then I’m all ears. It might have been a while ago, but when Linda cheated on me, she taught me a few important life lessons and I’ve come out the other side relatively unscathed. I believe you will, too.”

  “Let’s hope so,” she said with a slow smile. “I feel like moving here, getting away from my past and helping you open the restaurant is a very good step in the right direction. I should probably have mentioned this in my interview, but my last job was working in Tyler’s family restaurant. I changed my name back to my maiden name so the connection wouldn’t be obvious on my résumé, but when our relationship exploded, I basically lost my job, as well.”

  Lachlan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “They fired you for his indiscretions?” He thought back to the call he’d made to her last employer for a reference—they’d been over-the-top gushy but now he wondered if that wasn’t simply because she was good at her job, but also because they didn’t want her to cause a fuss about being let go.

  “Oh, no, not exactly. His parents were very upset by his behavior and they didn’t actually fire me, but I couldn’t be comfortable continuing to work there after everything that had gone down. I’ve had firsthand experience with how dangerous mixing business with pleasure can be and that’s why this—” she bit her lip and pointed her finger back and forth between them “—scares me. I like being in Jewell Rock. I like my new apartment, living next to your sisters. I like working with you. I didn’t want to mess all that up for...”

  Her voice trailed off and he finished the sentence for her. “For a bit of fun between the sheets?”

  Her lips twisted and her cheeks flushed that beautiful pink color again. Her long dark lashes fluttered as she looked down, not meeting his eyes when she said, “Exactly. But perhaps that’s too late. If things are going to be awkward now that we’ve slept together and you’d rather I quit, then...I understand.”

  “Quit?” His heart shuddered. The thought of Eliza handing in her notice made his insides turn almost as much as the thought of never being inside her again. “Don’t talk such blasphemy,” he said, turning and finally pulling her into his arms again. “I do not want you to quit. I do not want to talk about your ex-husband. But I do want to kiss you again.”

  And then, before she could say another word, he did exactly that, taking her beautiful face once again between his hands and claiming her mouth with his. Man, she tasted good, no food could ever possibly compare. And if sex was all she was offering, then he’d be an idiot to turn her down. It wasn’t like he had a lot of time for anything more right now either.

  A moan slipped from her mouth into his, their bodies smashing together as her silky smooth legs entwined with his. They kissed like a couple of crazed teens, their hands wandering, exploring and driving each other to distraction.

  Eventually, Eliza tore her lips from his and rolled over so that she was straddling him. Her hair swished from side to side as she smiled seductively down at him with her hips rocking torturously against his growing erection.

  “Do you have another condom?” she panted as her hand once again closed around his penis.

  Every muscle in his body tensed at her touch. “No. Hot damn. That was my only one. I don’t suppose you have any?”

  She shook her head.

  He groaned. “I’ll take a trip to the drugstore tomorrow and stock up.”

  “Yes. You do that,” she said, “but in the meantime...”

  And then she smiled suggestively, wriggled down his body and dropped her head to his groin. Seconds later, she had him in her mouth. And a minute later, he’d lost the ability to think straight.

  A boss with benefits? Yeah, maybe he could get used to that title.

  Chapter Ten

  Eliza’s phone rang as she was getting herself ready for Sunday lunch and her heart kicked up a notch. Could it be Lachlan? Her body buzzed in anticipation at the thought of seeing him again. But more likely, the caller would be one of three people—Grammy Louise, Lilly or Dad. Sometimes she wondered if they’d set up some kind of roster among them because hardly a day went by when at least one of them didn’t call her.

  As much as she loved all three, she didn’t always feel like talking to them. It was draining to have to reassure them that she wasn’t about to jump off a cliff or drown herself in a lake.

  But today, still on a high from Friday night, she wouldn’t have to put on too much of an act. She scooped up the phone and swiped to answer. “Hi, Grammy.”

  “Hel-lo, my gorgeous girl. Happy Sunday.”

  “You sound out of breath,” Eliza said. She carried the phone back into the bathroom, put her phone on the vanity and her grandmother on speaker so she could continue her hair and makeup as she listened to her grandmother talk about her new beau.

  “I’m actually going out to lunch in a moment,” Eliza said. She knew for a fact this would make Grammy very happy. “Nora McKinnel, my boss’s mom, asked me over for Sunday lunch with their family.”

  “Ooh, that’s lovely. It’s so kind of his mom to try to make you feel welcome.”

  “It’s not just Nora,” Eliza admitted. “All of the McKinnels have been very friendly and welcoming. I think you’d like them.”

  “If they are looking after my girl, I already adore them,” Grammy said.

  “Oh, they are.” Eliza blushed, thinking of exactly how well Lachlan had looked after her on Friday night. “In fact, Lachlan’s sisters, Sophie and Annabel, will be arriving any minute to give me a lift to the distillery because my bike was stolen.”

  “What?” Grammy sounded horrified. “Are you okay? What happened to your old one? You’d barely had it five minutes.”

  “I didn’t lock it up properly on Friday night and someone stole it.”

  “That would never happen in New York, but it’s not like you to be so careless either. What happened?”

  While smirking at the New York comment, Eliza wondered if she should tell her that she’d been in such a haste to go inside after Lachlan kissed her so they could rip each other’s clothes off that she hadn’t been thinking straight. Grammy would probably rejoice at such news but something stopped her from being forthright. She worried if she told her grandmother, Louise might make more of it than it actually was.

  “Eliza? Are you still there?”

  “Sorry, Grammy. Yes, I was just tired the other night, I think, and I forgot about securing the bike.”

  “Lachlan’s not working you too hard, is he?” There was a hint of if-he-is-I’ll-give-him-what-for to her tone.

  Eliza bit her lip. Being with Lachlan never felt like work at all. “No, Grammy. I’m loving getting ready for the opening of the restaurant and I’m actually learning to cook a little, as well.”

  This news was met by silence on the other end of the line. Eliza could not recall another moment in her life where Grammy had been stunned silent.

  “I think my hearing’s failing me, sweetheart,” she said after a few long moments. “I thought you just said you were learning to cook?”

  “I am,” Eliza replied, pride zapping through her. “Not anything too complicated, but Lachlan has taught me to make pancakes, mac’n’cheese and how to grill a steak.”

  “My Lord, wonders never cease. This new boss of yours must be some kind of miracle worker.”

  Eliza thought of the way he listened when she told him her woes, of the way his fingers played her body like she was a violin and him a member of the symphony orchestra. “I think he might be,” she said.

  “Have you told your father?” Grammy asked.<
br />
  “What? About me learning to cook?”

  Before her grandmother could reply, the intercom buzzed. “Sorry,” Eliza said, “but my ride’s here. I’m gonna have to go.”

  “That’s okay. Jonathon and I are heading out for an early dinner and then a Broadway show. You have a lovely lunch.”

  “I will. You, too, Grammy, but don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she teased.

  The older woman chuckled. “That, my dear, would make for a very boring date.” And then she disconnected.

  “You ready?” Sophie’s voice sounded through the front door—or was it Annabel’s? Eliza couldn’t tell the difference unless she saw them in the flesh. And even then it wasn’t easy.

  “Yes,” she shouted so her voice would carry out of her bedroom and down the hallway as she grabbed her purse and the box of chocolates she’d bought for Nora.

  A few moments later, she opened the door to find both Sophie and Annabel standing there.

  “Hi,” she said chirpily.

  “Wow, you look lovely,” the twins said in unison by way of a greeting.

  They were both in jeans and casual T-shirts, whereas Eliza had gone for a floral jumpsuit and strappy, heeled sandals. She’d also spent a ridiculously long time blow-drying and straightening her hair.

  “Thanks,” she said, feeling her cheeks flush. She suddenly felt vastly overdressed and hoped the twins couldn’t guess that she’d gone to all this effort for their brother. Although this was a family lunch at his mom’s and there wouldn’t be any opportunity for shenanigans, her body buzzed in anticipation of seeing him again and she couldn’t help wanting to look good for him. She wanted him to be thinking about having sex with her, even if he wasn’t able to. Her cheeks heated even more at the thought and she wondered what kind of person she’d become. That familiar tug of guilt pulled at her heart.