Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Towering tall.
Sweet severity dripped from every inch of his flesh.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he grumbled, though there was a softness to it. “Thinking you have to comp my meal every time I come in.”
My head barely shook. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Something flashed through that gunmetal gaze.
Something stark.
Potent.
“We are like family,” I rushed to clarify, holding back the automatic response that I really wanted to give.
The truth that this restaurant wouldn’t exist without him.
But every time I brought up the money, he got angry and insisted it was mine.
A gift.
But there was no way I wasn’t paying him back. It just didn’t feel right. I was getting close to being able to.
He exhaled a short breath, and he angled in closer, his whispered words breezing across my face. “Yeah, we are. But that doesn’t mean you need to be tossing out what you have to offer for free. You worked hard for this place, and I want to support it.” He hesitated for a beat before he muttered, “I want to support you.”
Did he have any idea how much he’d already done that?
That I could never ask him for more?
“And maybe I just like feeding you.” Somehow my voice had gone choppy where I was pinned to my desk with an inch separating us, shallow as I stared at him as he gazed down at me.
His gaze drifted, landing on the metal box I kept on my desk. My nickname was etched on the lid, and I wondered if it made me pathetic that it was my most prized possession, every recipe I’d ever created tucked inside like a treasure.
“You’ve always liked feeding me, haven’t you? Taking care of me?”
“I thought that’s what we do for each other.” It came out a rasp.
A breath.
Air that stirred and danced.
An entrancing vapor that I’d gotten sucked into.
I screeched when another voice came from out of nowhere.
“Hey.”
Caught off guard, I fumbled and gasped, flustered as I tried to push out from under Ryder while angling far enough around him to find my brother standing in the doorway to my office.
Ryder peeled himself back, totally unaffected, so cool as he shifted to face my brother while I fidgeted as if I’d been caught doing something salacious.
But I was pretty sure mine and Ryder’s versions of salacious were entirely different.
Cody had both hands pressed to either side of the doorway and was leaning in. My brother was 6’2”, wide and thick, wearing worn jeans and work boots and a thin button-up flannel. His hair was short and the same color as mine, a full beard on his face.
“Hey, man. What’s up?” Ryder asked him, crossing his arms over his chest while I clung to the edge of my desk, worried my knees might not be strong enough to keep me upright if I let go.
Especially when my brother’s gaze jumped between us, narrowed and full of speculation.
I didn’t know what he thought he needed to be worried about.
Just because my mind kept dreaming it up didn’t mean there’d ever been anything going on between us.
Cody must have realized it, too, because he grinned at Ryder. “Was just grabbing a to-go order and wanted to say hi to my sister. Didn’t know you were here.”
“Yeah, had lunch with the cousins,” Ryder said. “I was telling Dakota goodbye before I head out.”
I finally gathered myself enough that I could pry myself from the desk. “Hey, Cody. How’s it going?”
A full smile climbed to his mouth. “You know how it’s going. Got word it was Monte Cristo Day, which we all know really means Best Day Ever, and I came running.”
I couldn’t stop the affection-filled giggle. “It means that much to you, huh?”
He shrugged, the man nothing but a burly brute. “Sure does. Because my baby sister loves me and knows her Monte Cristos are literally the sustenance of life. I was about to die, it’s been so long since I’ve had one.”
So yeah, I had a thing about making my family’s favorites.
It was the way I expressed how I truly felt about them.
The way I showed them my love.
I eased around Ryder, ignoring the buzz in the air, the vestiges of his close proximity still flickering across my flesh as I moved to my brother.
I popped up on my toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You know I only bring them back around for you.”
“That’s right.”
“Excuse me, I like me a good Monte Cristo, too.” Ryder’s playful voice hit me from behind.
Cody’s grin turned smug. “That’s because you don’t count, my friend. Hell, this place wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for me. Who was it that Dakota continually baked for when she was a little girl, testing her recipes out on? Who encouraged her to step out and take the chance and make it happen when she got older? Who tells her every damned day she’s the best baker who ever lived?”