Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 52100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 261(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
“Oh my God.”
“I only know about it because she kept using my accountant for her money after the divorce. But it doesn’t affect me and the kids, so I don’t really care.”
“She wants you back, doesn’t she?”
I pulled up to a red light and looked over at her, taking her hand. “I’d never even consider getting back with her. Never. We’ve been over for a long time.”
“I like you, too. You know I do. But didn’t we decide we can’t date?”
I shook my head, a war raging inside of me. How was staying away from her the right thing when she made me feel so damn good?
“I know we talked about it, but”
“Keller offered me a job.”
I glanced at her and then back at the road, my pulse kicking up. I didn’t like the indecisive tone in her voice. It sounded like she was equating the job offer with our feelings for each other somehow.
“That’s why I was with him at 3Bs,” she said.
“A job as his personal chef? The one you’ve already turned him down for?”
“Yeah.”
I parked at Taco Train, processing what she’d just told me as I walked around to open her door. She’d already stepped out when I got there.
“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know...maybe?”
We walked into the restaurant, Shea nodding and waving at people she knew. It wasn’t possible to continue our conversation until we were seated at a booth, a basket of chips and a bowl of salsa between us.
“What would that mean?” I asked her. “You’d work in his home all the time?”
“Don’t tell anyone about this, okay? You’re the only one I’ve told.”
“I won’t.”
She nodded. “He wants me to travel with him, but he says he’d give me time off to make up for all the travel.”
This couldn’t happen. Whether we were together or not, I couldn’t stand the thought of Shea being gone for weeks or months at a time. Off on Keller Strauss’s yacht, serving him gourmet meals every time he snapped his fingers. She was better than that.
“I don’t get why he’s so hung up on you being his chef. Doesn’t he already have one? Is he going to fire that person if you take the job?”
She looked away. “I don’t know.”
Fuck. Why had it taken me so long to put the pieces together? Panic coursed through me as I realized Keller’s ulterior motive, followed swiftly by anger.
“He wants you in his kitchen and his bedroom,” I said bitterly. “That smug bastard.”
“I haven’t given him an answer.”
“No,” I said, my possessiveness taking over. “The answer is no.”
Our server approached with a grin. “Our special tonight is three steak tacos with a side of tots.”
“I’ll take that with a water,” Shea said.
“I’ll take the special with a Modelo,” I said.
Once the server was gone, Shea met my gaze across the table.
“I thought I was proving something by working seven days a week,” she said. “It became a competition with myself, finding a way to oversee every meal, every recipe, every special booking. But why? I’m missing out on...everything. If I take a day off, it turns into a huge drama with Caden. I love cooking and I’ll never stop doing it, but I need a change.”
I sank against the back of the booth, having a hard time thinking about anything but punching Keller Strauss in the face.
“Yeah, I mean...he’s a billionaire. And he doesn’t have kids, so I guess he can give you more than I can.”
Just saying it made my chest ache. No matter how hard I was falling for Shea, my kids had to come first.
“I don’t care about his money. And I adore your kids. This isn’t about that. It’s about my job and how much I need to make a change. I didn’t even realize how much I needed it until I had an entire weekend off. That weekend was...” Our eyes locked. “It was amazing. For me.”
“For me, too.”
“Did you tell the kids about their mom coming here?”
I exhaled hard, taking a sip from my beer that had been delivered. “No. The kids both saw counselors after she left and the three of us also did family therapy. All the therapists told me my kids need predictability and consistency. I didn’t want them to think she might be moving here or something, and I can’t have her telling them she wants to get back with me.”
I stared out the window, facing the hard truth: my life was a hot mess. Shea was an incredible woman with no baggage, and she deserved better than what I had to give her right now.
“That sounds like the right call.”
“Don’t let Keller put you under his thumb,” I said, aggravated. “Your job shouldn’t be tied to being anyone’s girlfriend.”
“I’m thinking about my job situation in baby steps. Step one is whether or not I can bring myself to leave The Moose. It’s a big part of who I am.”