Until Mani

by Paige, Rochelle

“The rumor mill was already going strong?” Mani asked.

  I searched his eyes for a sign that what I’d told him so far had changed how he looked at me. When I didn’t find any, I let out a relieved sigh and smiled. “Yeah, and the gossip had reached Chris’s boss…and his wife.”

  Mani cringed. “Ouch.”

  “Yeah, at first I was sympathetic to what Susannah was going through. It has to suck to have so many people talking about how your husband is banging a young blonde who works for him. No matter how much he denied it, she wouldn’t believe him. Apparently, firing the guy who’d started it all only made Chris look guilty.”

  “Your looks probably played into her insecurities, too,” Mani suggested. “Just because the guy was married doesn’t mean he didn’t notice how hot you are.”

  I was flattered by Mani’s compliment, but I didn’t let it distract me from getting this done. I’d explained it all to Lyla, but telling Mani felt different. Like a weight was being lifted from my shoulders. “Maybe, but that doesn’t excuse how she handled the situation.”

  Mani drank the rest of his coffee and set his mug down. “She got you fired?”

  “She did a heck of a lot more than that. A couple of months ago, she confronted me. It was the first time I’d heard the rumor, and I was horrified. For all of us.” I remembered how it felt to have her scream at me with everyone at work looking on and shivered. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy and hoped nothing like it ever happened to me again. “She didn’t believe it when I told her nothing had ever happened between Chris and me. And apparently neither did the higher-ups because they didn’t want to risk a scandal and decided the best course of action was to let me go.”

  Mani flipped his hand over and squeezed mine. “Did it end there?”

  “Nope. Not even close,” I sighed. “Chris apologized to me for the whole thing and offered to write me a reference letter, but we both knew it was pointless. My professional reputation was in tatters. But that wasn’t enough for his wife. Susannah has been with Chris since college and had almost as many contacts in our industry as he did. She pulled every string she could to make sure nobody offered me a job. Sat hours outside my apartment building, staring at my windows. Showed up when I went out to dinner, the grocery store, the bank. Basically everywhere.”

  “She was stalking you?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, and she wasn’t subtle about it. I was getting hang-up calls in the middle of the night, so I changed my number. It only helped for a few days, and then they started up on the new number. I finally went to the cops with everything and was able to get a restraining order. The only thing it accomplished was pissing her off and making her more careful so she didn’t get caught messing with me. Last week when someone spray painted ‘whore’ on my apartment door, I finally had enough...and so did my landlord. I was evicted and called Lyla. She took pity on me, and here I am.”

  Now that I’d met Mani, I was actually happy about it. Maybe it was time to put the past—as bad as it was—behind me and focus on the future.

  Chapter 7

  Mani

  The shit Vivi had dealt with pissed me off. I wished I’d been there to protect her, but I couldn’t change the past. All I could do was make sure she was safe now that I’d found her. And to do that, I needed help. It was a good thing I knew people with the right connections to get that done.

  When we finished breakfast, Vivi came with me to Bryson’s. I introduced her to the employees who were already there, and I got a lot of raised brows and knowing grins for it because I’d never brought a woman around for my team to meet. After I got her set up on the computer in my office to look over my website and social media accounts, I headed back into the kitchen to speak with my head chef about an issue with that morning’s produce delivery. Then I checked in with the sous chefs while they prepped for dinner service and talked to Robert about the ingredients he’d need to add the three seasonal cocktails I’d decided on the night before to the menu.

  Once that was all done, I stepped outside with my cell to make a call. James Mayson had been a cop back in the day, but he was retired and already headed back to Florida with Susan. But he wasn’t the only Mayson to serve on the force. Nico had eventually followed in his footsteps, and so had one of his grandsons, Cobi.

  I knew both of them would be willing to wade in for Vivi, even if she wasn’t my boom. It was just the kind of men they were, cop or not. But I only had one of their numbers in my phone, so that was who I called.

  Nico picked up after two rings. “Mayson.”

  “Hey, it’s Mani.” I didn’t bother with the usual back and forth bullshit. With Vivi in my office, I figured it was best to get straight to the point so I could get back to her sooner rather than later. “I think I might need some help.”

  “Anything for the guy who gave my parents the perfect anniversary party. My mom couldn’t stop talking about that cake. I’m going to have to remember what you can do when my next big anniversary rolls around. Sophie would fucking love something like that.” I was about to interrupt him, but as soon as the noise in the background dimmed it wasn’t necessary. Nico ditched the small talk. “What’s going on?”

  “There’s this woman, Vivi.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “She had some trouble recently. I know it’s not my area of expertise, but something in my gut is telling me that it might not all be behind her.”

  Nico got real serious, real quickly. “She run from an abusive ex?”

  “Fuck no. If it’d been that kind of trouble, you wouldn’t be the only person I reached out to for help.” My next call would’ve been to Harlen. A scary biker with a soft spot a mile wide for the woman in his life would come in handy if you were crossing state lines to go kick somebody’s ass for messing with your woman.

  “Why do I have the feeling I know exactly who you’d call?”

  “Probably because you do.” Nico was an observant guy. It’d served him well as a bounty hunter, cop, and father.

  He’d also known me for a long time, so he knew how out of character threats of violence were for me. “What in the fuck is going on, Mani?”

  “My woman came running here after a vengeful bitch who refuses to listen to reason destroyed her life. Took her job from her. Her friends. Her apartment. Her car. Every damn thing.” Just thinking about what Vivi went through made me want to punch something. But hitting the brick wall in front of me would only leave me with a broken hand, so I reined in my temper.

  Nico’s next question helped because it got me focused on the bright side of the shit storm Vivi had endured. It brought her to me. “She’s your boom?”

  My fists unclenched, and I nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Then I’ll do some digging, and we’ll prepare for the worst.”

  “The worst?” I echoed, tensing up again.

  “Yeah, because meeting your boom tends to test a man in ways you never expected. Shit usually gets fucked up before it gets better, and crazy bitches can cause the worst kinds of trouble.” Considering the stories I’d heard about the crap Jax’s mom had pulled when Cash and Lilly had gotten together, that was a major understatement.

  “Fuck,” I groaned, dropping my head back to stare up at the sky. I was tempted to grab Vivi and get out of town, but I had a restaurant to think about and she’d already run from her troubles. If that woman decided to follow Vivi to Tennessee, then there wasn’t anything stopping her from hunting us down wherever we went. At least if we stayed in town, we had a fuck ton of people who’d take our backs. A support network who wouldn’t let you down was something I could give Vivi that she hadn’t had back in Florida, but it wasn’t much comfort. “I really hope my instincts are wrong here.”

  “I know it’s easier said than done, but try not to let this drive you crazy,” Nico advised. “You already got through the hardest part, finding her. Now you just need to hold on tight and don’t let go until you’re in the clear and living a life more beautiful than you’ve ever imagined.”

&nb
sp; “No worries there. She’s mine, and she’s going to stay that way.” I just had to convince her of it and keep her safe along the way.

  With that in mind, I headed back into the restaurant in search of Vivi. I found her right where I’d left her, sitting in my chair and staring at my computer monitor. Her pretty blue eyes were narrowed, and she was tapping on her chin with a finger. Her thoughtful pose was sexy as fuck, and I looked forward to seeing a lot more of it.

  I dropped down on the chair across from her. “Is it that bad?”

  She’d been concentrating so hard; she hadn’t heard me come in. Her head jerked up, and she smiled. “Well, let’s just say it could be better.”

  “This, I already knew.” I turned the monitor in my direction so we both could see it. She was on the menu page of Bryson’s website. “I think that’s the only section I’ve kept up to date in the past few years.”

  She clicked a link and pointed at the seasonal menu that was going to change in a couple of weeks. “You’ve been replacing this every few months?”

  I nodded. “Our specials change with the seasons because I like to use locally sourced ingredients whenever I can.”

  “Do you happen to have any of the old ones I could look at?” Of course I did. I quirked a brow at her, making her laugh. “Okay, that was a silly question. What I should’ve asked was can I see some of the old menus?”

  “Sure.” They were saved on my computer and I could’ve told her where to pull them up, but then I would’ve wasted a golden opportunity to get in her space. I got up and circled the desk, stopping behind her. I leaned over her shoulder, one hand braced on the chair arm on the left side of her body. My right bicep brushed against her tit, making me groan when I spotted the goosebumps that broke out across her skin. My voice was low as I rasped, “You can find them all in this folder.”

  She opened the first few and tilted her head back so I could see her eye-roll. “Yeah, these could definitely use some updating. How long have you used the same layout?”

  We spent the next hour talking about refreshing the menu design along with the website. It was the kind of stuff I normally avoided because I found it boring as hell, but not when I was basically wrapped around Vivi. I had a feeling that hiring her on as a marketing consultant was going to turn out to be the smartest decision I’d made in a long time...and not because of what she could do for the restaurant. For the first time since I opened Bryson’s, my professional life was going to take a back seat to the personal. Vivi was my new priority.

  Chapter 8

  Vivian

  Working with Mani over the past week had been amazing. And it wasn’t just because it felt nice to get back to work. What I liked most about our arrangement was that it allowed me to spend plenty of time with him each day. He worked crazy hours at Bryson’s, just like he’d warned me. We got into the habit of me taking over his office while he was busy elsewhere—which was basically all of the time.

  I gained a whole new appreciation for how difficult his job was. I’d always kind of thought that owning a business meant you could set your own schedule, but I was totally wrong. Even with Jayce managing the dining room and bar staff, Mani’s daily to-do list seemed to be a mile long. He handled all of the kitchen staff, ordering, and finances. Then there was the seasonal menu planning, ensuring compliance with health code guidelines, and handling customer complaints.

  But even with all of that, he still made time for me—a lot of which involved food. It was turning into kind of our thing. Breakfasts at the diner. Lunch in his office. Dinner in the bar. And tonight apparently...dessert at Mani’s house. “Are we close?”

  He flashed me an amused grin before making a right turn into a super-nice neighborhood. “Is that the grown-up version of ‘are we there yet?’”

  “Probably.” I squirmed on the passenger seat of his car, feeling a little nervous. Unlike the time we’ve spent together at the restaurant, we were going to be completely alone at his place. No chefs asking questions about one of Mani’s recipes. No customers needing to be charmed. Nobody at all to interrupt whatever it was we ended up doing and all the time in the world to do it. Bryson’s was closed on Mondays, and we didn’t have anything planned for our day off.

  We had nowhere we needed to be for the next thirty-six hours, and an entire house to ourselves. And what a house it was. “Holy crap, is this where you live?”

  Mani pulled into the driveway of a two-story brick house with a white picket fence and wrap-around porch. It looked like it belonged on a television show or something. It was the perfect family home in a nice established neighborhood. It wasn’t even close to what I was expecting. Nothing about it screamed bachelor pad of a thirty-five-year-old guy. But that’s exactly what it was because he nodded. Then the garage door went up when he pressed the button on his visor. “Yeah, I bought it a couple of years ago. I was looking for something smaller, but I couldn’t pass the house up. It was too good of a deal.”

  My car had been the most expensive thing I’d ever owned, but I’d only been able to afford it because I bought it used and got a loan. And then I couldn’t even keep it because I got fired. No matter how good of a deal Mani had gotten on his home, it still had to have cost like twenty or thirty times as much as my car. The number of zeroes involved boggled my mind. “Was it a foreclosure or something?”

  “No, just a very motivated buyer.” He climbed out of the car and came around to open my door for me. “I’m probably going to lose major cool points here, but I bought it from my parents when they decided to move to Florida. They have friends who retired down there and after hearing all their stories for years, they figured it was about time for them to make a change. Only I wasn’t ready to let go of the house I grew up in so I bought it from them.”

  I let him tug me up the steps and through the door into the house. It opened into a mud room with a huge sink next to a washer and dryer. Clean clothes were folded and stacked on the counter in color-coordinated piles, which wasn’t a surprise since I’d already figured out that Mani was a bit of a neat freak, which served him well in the restaurant business. “This is where you grew up?”

  “Yeah, and I’ve been looking forward to having you in my space.” He led me through the hallway and into a gourmet kitchen.

  It had gleaming stainless steel, professional grade appliances, and granite countertops. It looked like a kitchen a chef would love. “I can definitely picture you in here.”

  Mani grinned, walking over to the fridge as he explained, “It’s the only major change I made to the house, and I haven’t heard the end of it from my dad. My mom wanted to update the kitchen for years, and he kept putting her off. When she saw what I’d done to the place, she gave him hell.”

  I climbed onto one of the stools and watched as he pulled out ingredients. “Your dad decided to pass that hell along to you?”

  “Yeah, but that’s par for the course for us. My mom babies me but gives him a hard time, and he caters to her every whim and gives me hell whenever I do anything to upset her even a tiny bit.” He removed the lid from one of the containers and slid it across the counter to me.

  I peered inside and almost drooled on the chocolate covered strawberries I found. “That story is almost as sweet as these delicious beauties.”

  “I made them for you this morning.” He reached up to grab a saucepan from the hanging rack above his head and turned to set it on the stovetop. “I thought you might want one while I’m whipping up my five-minute version of pots de crème.”

  I swallowed the bite of strawberry I’d already taken before asking, “What’s that?”

  “Sinfully rich chocolate mixed with cream and egg yolks.” His hand moved wicked fast as he chopped up a dark chocolate bar and dropped the pieces into a blender. “They combine together into a dessert that’s so delicious it’s almost scandalous.”

  There went my panties because they were totally drenched. Listening to Mani talk about one of my favorite things—chocolate—while h
e worked with such confidence was insanely sexy. I never realized that the hottest thing in the kitchen wasn’t always the stove. The flames were going strong on the burner, but Mani was the one igniting a need deep inside me. And it wasn’t for chocolate...unless he was going to let me lick it off his body.

  Mani paused in his whisking of the heavy cream, egg yolk, sugar, and salt mixture in the saucepan to ask, “What’s got you blushing over there?”

  I wasn’t ready to share my chocolate body paint suggestion with him quite yet, so I shoved another strawberry in my mouth and pointed at it to mime that I couldn’t talk at the moment. He gave me a knowing look but went back to his stirring. I appreciated that he didn’t push too hard because it gave me the time I needed to decide how far I wanted things to go between us tonight.

  We’d moved from innocent touches when we brushed up against each other while working—which I suspected weren’t quite so accidental on his part—to holding hands and kissing over the past week. Then last night, our goodbye kiss had gotten more than a little hot and heavy when he dropped me off at Lyla’s place. There was no denying the chemistry between us, not when a single look from his dark eyes turned me into a puddle of need. We both knew where this was eventually headed. Straight to his bed. Most likely tonight, if he kept being so darn perfect.

  He turned to pour the hot cream and egg mixture over the chocolate in the blender, and I stared at his butt. When he glanced over his shoulder at me, I didn’t jerk my gaze back up quick enough and he totally busted me for it too. “Like what you see?”

  I didn’t bother glancing at the dessert he was finishing up before I answered, “Yeah, I really do.”

  He kept his eyes locked on mine as he replied, “So do I, sweetheart. I need just a minute to finish this up, and then I’ll show you exactly how much.”

  It felt like the temperature in the kitchen ratcheted up a million degrees while he poured the chocolate mixture into ramekins and set them in the fridge. When he was done, Mani ran two of his fingers along the side of the blender. Some of the chocolate mixture dripped from them when he lifted them up and asked, “Wanna lick?”