One Night, White Lies

by Jessica Lemmon

  “She seems to be holding her own fine now. How do you know she’s not seeing someone?” Reid grumbled. “Does she tell you everything?”

  “She tells everyone everything about the guys she dates. Although after the way Mom gave her hell about the chef who dumped her, she might be keeping quiet. You were at her place, did you notice her texting someone a lot? Any phone calls? She’s been acting differently these past two weeks. She seems...happier.”

  “And you’re unhappy about that?” Reid asked his friend, trying not to gloat over Drew’s happiness. He liked knowing he’d brightened her world. She’d shined a spotlight on his, as well.

  “I’m not unhappy she’s happy, I’m wondering how long this one will last before it fizzles out and I have to go over there with Ben & Jerry’s dairy-free ice cream, or gelato and help her through another devastating breakup. I can’t bear to see her hurt again.” Gage let out a sigh, and Reid felt his friend’s concern for Drew in that gust of air. Gage loved his sister more than anyone. Reid knew what it was like to love a sibling that much. He could relate to feeling their pain like his own. Why should it be any different between Gage and Drew?

  “Worrying comes from my mother’s side, I guess. I should stop being such a pussy, yeah?” Gage tagged Reid’s arm. “Anyway. You and Christina make a good couple. She’s smart, and she’s adorable. She’s been fiercely loyal to Drew, which I appreciate. Did you know she moved in with Drew last year after the Devin Briggs debacle?”

  “No, she, ah, didn’t mention that.” Reid frowned in thought. He didn’t know much about Drew, actually. He didn’t usually know a lot about the women he dated. Knowing a lot about them opened up the conversation to them knowing a lot about him, and he tried to avoid that sort of depth if possible.

  Until Drew. She knew an awful lot about him. More than he’d meant for her to know. His time spent with her had dredged up his painful past and was making him face his biggest fears, but he could swear...it was ridiculous but it seemed as if...she was healing him.

  “You okay? You look, to use your term, completely knackered.” Gage grinned, proud of his Britishism for “tired.”

  “I am knackered,” Reid admitted.

  “Christina wild in the sack, is she?”

  “Keeps me on my toes,” Reid answered with a wily grin. This was territory he was comfortable with when it came to nattering away with his friends. Sex was fair game, and he often had tales of prowess to tell. Gage would expect no less.

  “She’s a firecracker. Multiple orgasms, right in a row.” He snapped his fingers. “Bam, bam, bam.”

  “Nice.” Gage nodded his approval, but Reid doubted he’d be nodding his approval if he knew they were talking about Drew.

  Drew had been right in the assessment of her brother. Gage loved her, but was overly protective of her. He believed she was bouncing about falling in love with any git who came to call, but Reid knew differently. He and Drew had made an agreement to end this affair—they’d even given it a time line.

  Drew wasn’t going to be sobbing into her ice cream when Reid walked away. He wouldn’t allow it. Besides, she’d already seen some of the bones in his closet and he doubted she wanted to see the rest of the skeleton.

  He’d take the gift of spending time with her and in turn make it the best of her life. And hopefully teach her a thing or two about how she should be treated by the next man who enters her life. He’d make sure she knew that no one less than Prince Charming was worthy of her, and he’d make sure she understood as much when they kissed goodbye for the final time.

  It was all in a day’s work, he lied to himself. No less than what you’d do for any other woman in your bed, he argued.

  What bothered him all the way down to his bollocks was that whenever he thought of saying good-bye to Drew, a bit of loss snuggled in next to the bit that resided in his chest. Drew, the perfect yin and to the yang of Wesley. He’d miss her. But he would let her go when it was time.

  “Anyway, sorry for pumping you for intel,” Gage said. “I just want Drew to find someone who treats her with respect.”

  And treats her to multiple orgasms, Reid thought with a smile.

  * * *

  Drew carefully folded the final French crepe and stacked it on top of the others.

  “I’m ridiculously excited to eat.” Reid rubbed his hands together, all but drooling at the sight of the tower of fluffy, thin crepes.

  “I love feeding people. Because of that ravenous look right there.”

  He snagged her waist and pulled her onto his lap. She nearly upended it onto her own lap before resting it safely on the table. “Careful!”

  “Never,” he proclaimed before sliding her hair aside and kissing her neck. He wrapped his hands around her front and cradled her breasts, fingering her nipples through her thin T-shirt. After they’d had sex on the sofa, he’d complained he was “famished,” and she offered to cook for him. When she went to get dressed he argued that he didn’t want her to put clothes on. She’d explained the dangers of cooking naked, and he’d allowed the clothes, but only if “you sleep next to me without them.”

  It wasn’t a hard-fought argument. She’d agreed immediately.

  “Now what?” he asked as she slid from his lap to sit in the chair at the table next to him.

  “Now you fill them with berries.” She demonstrated by lifting a delicate crepe onto her plate, filling it with a line of macerated strawberries and blueberries and rolling it up like a skinny burrito. “And then...” She reached for a can of spray whipped cream and wrinkled her nose. “This is sacrilege but since you have no cream to whip, we’ll have to make do.” She squirted a dollop of whipped cream onto her crepe and then held the can between them. “Do I want to know why you have this in your refrigerator?”

  “Probably not.”

  “Ugh.”

  She reached for her fork, but Reid caught her hand. “I’m joking. I have it because I like it on my ice cream sundaes.”

  “Oh.”

  “Sounds like your filthy mind had a better idea.”

  She felt her cheeks warm, and she smiled at her plate. “Maybe.”

  “I promise to save some for later.” He cocked an eyebrow and then filled his crepe, topping it with whipped cream and digging in. She stopped eating to watch him eat. Watching the way he closed his eyes, moaned in appreciation and sagged in his chair like he’d been overcome. “Why are you planning restaurant openings when you should clearly be head chef at one?” He forked another bite into his mouth and caught her staring. “Something wrong?”

  “No. Not at all. It’s just...I’ve never told anyone this but lately I’ve been writing recipes, designing menus. Instead of fussing over schedules like an underpaid party planner, I’d much rather be wooing people’s taste buds with my creations.”

  “Well, you should,” he said simply, and then pulled another crepe onto his plate to assemble. “These are incredible.”

  She watched his long, blunt fingers as they rolled the crepe. He had such a sure and strong way about him. Talk about confidence. She couldn’t imagine there was ever a time he didn’t have it. But that time had existed, hadn’t it? Only in leaving London and finding friends in Seattle had he escaped the oppressive atmosphere of living with parents who mourned his twin brother.

  “Why don’t you do it?” he asked.

  “Do what?”

  “Open a restaurant.”

  She chuckled. “Most restaurants fail, Reid.”

  “Fig & Truffle restaurants seem to do okay.”

  “They’re a huge corporate conglomerate. They have a safety net wider than the Pacific Coast.”

  “So open a restaurant with them. Like Soo-She or whatever. You can call it, I don’t know, Drew’s Diner.”

  “I don’t want a diner. I want a fancy eatery where every morsel is more mouthwatering than any you�
�ve tasted before.”

  He held her gaze for a protracted moment before finally saying, “Sounds like you.”

  She blushed again. She’d never get over this gorgeous, godlike man flattering her.

  “You know during the ride home, Gage mentioned that he thought you were seeing someone. He was worried it’d be another wanker like Devin Briggs. Or the guy before him.”

  “Ronnie.”

  “Whoever.” Reid dismissed the topic with a wave of his fork before digging into his second crepe. “Your brother worries about you settling. You shouldn’t do that.”

  Reid regarded her sincerely. Kind of like when he confessed about Wesley, there was no cover-up, no cocksure tilt to his mouth.

  “I don’t do that.”

  “Do you want a family, Drew?”

  “What kind of question is that?” She busied herself taking another bite while she decided how to answer. “Not now. Right now I want a career I love. I want a relationship with someone who understands I have to work to make my dreams happen. I want—” She cut herself off when she knew the end of that sentence. I want to be with someone who encourages me to pursue those dreams. Reid had just plainly told her that she should be creating menus and cooking for a living and that she should go for it.

  “Of course not right now, but eventually, I can see you with a family man. The trick is to find a man who fits that bill at the right time. Someone who loves and respects you and wants to put down roots.”

  She chewed a strawberry thoughtfully before asking, “Do you want a family?”

  “Never.” There wasn’t a second’s hesitation in his answer.

  “How can you say never?”

  “Easy. I watched mine turn to dust. It’s not a pretty sight. The only family I need is the one I have in Gage and Flynn and Sabrina.” He opened his mouth and shut it again, like he decided not to say more. She wondered if he was going to include her in that “family” label but had changed his mind. Because they were sleeping together? Or because soon they wouldn’t be, and friends was too big an ask after all they’d done together?

  “You’re worthy of your dreams, Drew. Don’t let anyone talk you out of them, whether it’s a chef who wants to pigeonhole you, or a guy who’s obviously not cut out to be who you’ll need him to be in the future.” Reid rested his hand on hers, his expression one bordering on regret. Like maybe the second guy he mentioned was himself.

  “Thanks, Reid.” She squeezed his hand and smiled.

  “You’re welcome.”

  They went back to eating their late-night snack, and she thought about how Reid was wrong about who he was, if that’s who he’d been referring to. He was capable of being who she needed in the future.

  He was who she needed right now.

  Nineteen

  Using the key entrusted to her from Fig & Truffle, Drew unlocked the Market location of the elegant restaurant. It was a standalone building just off the pier, facing the water with an amazing view of the sunset.

  Inside, the restaurant was polished to perfection, deep red-brown woods and pale cream-in-coffee painted walls. The floors were charcoal gray, the chairs a tasteful blend of neutral colors. The soft opening for this location of Fig & Truffle was soon, so Drew considered herself lucky that her boss agreed to let her borrow it.

  She held the door open for Christina, who followed with a cup of strong coffee they’d picked up on their walk to the pier. It was the ungodly hour of 7:00 a.m., hours before the management team came in here to train the myriad servers, cooks and other staff who would have this place humming like a well-oiled machine on opening day.

  “It’s beautiful.” Christina ran her hand along one of the smooth vinyl booths. “This is my surprise? I thought it was this.” She held up her coffee cup.

  “Well, the coffee was a bribe to coax you out here with me.” Drew walked to a darkened corner of the restaurant and flipped on the lights. Soft orange-yellow bulbs spotlighted the tables. “I’m borrowing it.” Christina had slid into one of the empty booths across from the bar, her eyes on the neat rows of liquor bottles lining the wall. Until Drew added, “For Reid’s birthday.”

  “Excuse me?” Chris pegged her with a stern glare.

  “I talked to my boss, and his boss and a few other bosses, and then I begged a little and they agreed to lend me the restaurant, a chef, a server and a bartender for Reid’s birthday dinner. I’m thinking gold and black streamers here.” Drew pointed to the bar. Then she gestured to the table where Christina sat. “Candlelight, black place mats and gold chargers, and Fig & Truffle’s signature square white plates and bowls. Reid and I will have the entire place to ourselves.”

  “Drew, honey.” Christina’s face was a mask of concern.

  Drew could guess what was coming. She’d already shared with her roommate that Reid didn’t celebrate birthdays, which, to Drew, was a crime. Sure, he had a good reason for not celebrating, which she hadn’t shared with her friend, but she couldn’t bear the idea of another birthday passing him by without creating a new, happier memory.

  “It’s just the two of us,” Drew reiterated in her own defense. “I’m not going to invite a hundred people or anything.”

  “Yes, but is this your place? I mean, even though you two are...” Chris waved a hand. “Whatever you are to each other.”

  “We’re together...for now. That’s what matters.”

  The month of August had flown by in a blur of happiness. She and Reid saw each other every night during the weekends and two to three nights during the week—whenever she didn’t have to work in the evening. She’d mostly stayed at his place, toting her laptop with her. She’d spent her mornings off lounging on his fantastic L-shaped sofa and drinking espresso from the machine on his counter that was even more expensive than the one she’d splurged on for herself.

  She cared about him. Deeply. And knowing that his birthday was a source of pain for him, she wanted to do something for him no one else had done. His family might not believe it was important to celebrate the day of his birth, but Drew did.

  She knew from their many conversations that Reid wasn’t ever in a relationship for long, yet he’d been with her almost two months. They’d agreed to end things this month, but she couldn’t let him go without showing him how much better things could be. He’d suffered cut-to-the-bone pain when he’d lost his twin brother, but the future didn’t have to be so bleak.

  She wanted to help him. And while she knew throwing him an intimate birthday dinner wouldn’t heal him completely, she thought it would be a good start.

  “Isn’t he going to be upset with you for doing this?” Christina’s brow dented with concern.

  “He doesn’t know what it’s like to be celebrated, Chris. Everyone deserves that. He spends so much of his time telling me I’m worthy and capable. It’s past time someone did that for him.”

  Her friend smiled. “You’re a great person, Drew.”

  “So are you. Because you’re going to help me decide on a menu.” Drew hustled to the hostess station and grabbed a leather-bound menu. Back at the booth where Christina sat sipping her coffee, Drew slid into the other side and pushed the menu across the table. “Steak, fish, or should I go out of the box and choose something like lamb or pasta? Chicken seems too pedestrian.”

  Reid’s birthday was two days away and she was very aware that this little dinner celebration was close to their farewell. Neither of them had talked about it lately. She wondered if he’d changed his mind about “getting in deep” with her. She already knew she was in over her head.

  “Why are you asking me instead of a chef?” The pained look in Christina’s eyes suggested she already knew.

  Drew sighed in defeat. “Because the chef can’t advise me how to tell Reid I’m in love with him. And I was hoping you could.”

  Christina reached over the menu to grasp Drew’s ha
nd. “I thought you were breaking up soon.”

  “This month, though we didn’t set a specific date.”

  “I guess... I don’t know why you’re doing this.”

  “Reid deserves an amazing birthday celebration. I can’t say why, but I can tell you it hasn’t been a happy occasion for him for most of his life. If I can give him the gift of a happy memory when he turns thirty-two, I know he’ll appreciate it more than he’ll ever be able to say.”

  “It’s sweet, Drew. It’s amazing.” Christina shook her head sadly. “That’s why I’m friends with you. Because you’re sweet and amazing and you do these incredible acts of kindness for those you love.”

  “I’m sensing a ‘but.’”

  “But.” Christina smiled softly. “If you’re not sure that Reid loves you, too, you’re taking a really big risk. You know things are ending soon, and since he’s a man it’s not hard to guess that he’s taking whatever you’re telling him at face value. He thinks you’re all in for the good time you’re having. Without strings.”

  “I am.” Drew tugged her hand away. “I absolutely am. But that’s the point. I’m in love with him and I suspect that under the playboy facade—that’s not even the right word for him—he cares for me a lot. Why would we call this quits if it’s working so well?”

  “This plan isn’t only about his birthday, is it?”

  Drew pressed her lips together, debating how to answer that question. If she said no it would be as honest as she’d been with herself while she was planning the entire thing.

  “It’s mostly about his birthday,” Drew said. “It’s also about showing him what could be possible if we leaned in a smidge more.” She measured out half an inch between her index finger and thumb and held it in front of her face, watching Christina though the gap.

  Drew couldn’t help how she felt, and she couldn’t deny she wanted more. She wanted more nights in Reid’s bed. She wanted more snuggling on the couch. She wanted more Sunday mornings making him scrambled eggs and cups of espresso. She wanted to tell everyone that he was hers.