Just One Taste (Topped #2)(20)

“You spit out the wine?” Javi asked, horrified.

Sebastian shook his head as though they were all barbarians. “I can try up to a dozen vintages in one tasting. Yes, I spit it out. Otherwise my senses would be dead by the time I got to the later bottles. Deena had fun with it. And she flirted with the rep.”

“That’s great to know,” Eric said. She liked wine reps.

“So she talked to you after the tasting?” Macon seemed to be determined to get past Eric’s jealousy.

Thank god he had a sensible friend. He needed to shut that shit down or he would scare her off. “What did she talk about?”

“She’s a lightweight. She got flirtier after the fifth taste. She was drinking roughly a quarter of a glass each time. The funny thing was when he asked her out, she seemed horrified and apologized,” Sebastian said. “I drove her home. She talked about her ex-husband. They grew up together, dated in high school. She didn’t realize how much he was changing until he walked in one day and told her he’d grown out of the marriage. He’d had all these experiences that she’d made possible, but because she spent all her time on him, she’d stayed the same. His new girlfriend decided she didn’t want a husband with all that debt. She hired her father, who is one of the biggest bully divorce lawyers in town, and they gave Deena an ultimatum. She could agree to a simple fifty fifty division of their assets or they would tie her up in court for years and she would have to pay the attorney fees. And they managed to freeze their accounts. So Deena had nothing to fight with.”

He would love to meet her ex. “She should have been given a good portion of his earnings for the next several years. She gave up her own education to support him.”

“The state of Texas doesn’t acknowledge what she put into the marriage,” Sebastian said, putting his notebook down. “There are no provisions for alimony for a woman like Deena. She can support herself so the court wouldn’t have given her alimony. What they might have given her was a break. All the debt for his law school was secured with her name and her job. All their debt was joint. By taking the deal, she had to agree to pay off seventy thousand dollars worth of debt.”

“She sold everything she had and it still took her five years and two jobs to do it,” Macon said quietly.

“Damn, man, where I come from there’s a simple solution to that. It’s called life insurance. She should have killed him before he left her and collected,” Javi said with a sad shake of his head. “Seriously. I know a guy.”

Javier knew a lot of interesting people, but it was a bit late to collect on her ex’s policy. “Macon, you knew about this?”

“I knew she was paying off debt,” Macon replied, giving Sebastian a long look. “I didn’t think that was anyone else’s business.”

Sebastian frowned. “Well, I was trying to fit in. You told me I should do that. It seems to me that the men in the kitchen like to gossip. Besides, she also talked about Eric. I believe the word she used was hottie. I do not believe she was discussing your cooking.”

He knew she was attracted to him. That wasn’t enough. Not even close. Attraction wasn’t what he was looking for. “That doesn’t mean she wants me. I like this woman. I want more than a one-night stand with her.”

Sebastian looked thoughtful for a moment. “Having spoken with her that night, I think she wants you as well. She can try to say it’s all about sex, but I don’t think she’s the type. Men make moves on her all the time, but she brushes them off. Many of those men are very attractive by today’s standards. She’s not interested. She can giggle about men with Tiffany and Ally, but it never goes past that. Sometimes what a person wants and what they need are two different things. It’s like a perfectly paired wine. You make an excellent crab bisque, but I’ve noticed you ignore my pairing.”

“I prefer the Sauvignon Blanc. It’s what I usually drink with fish.” He wasn’t a major fan of sommeliers. He liked a couple of wines. He preferred to concentrate on the food.

“Try it. Take a good spoonful of the bisque and then take a drink of this wine.” Sebastian uncorked one of the bottles he was holding and poured a small amount of the rich looking gold wine.

He sighed. He did not need a lecture on wine pairings, but when he opened his own place, Sebastian had agreed to help with the wine list. He wouldn’t get a better offer so he wasn’t about to piss the man off. He knew what his damn crab bisque tasted like, but he took a spoonful anyway. The flavor coated his mouth, creamy and rich, with the buttery meat of the crab. He took the glass from Sebastian and swallowed a mouthful.

It complemented the crab, drawing out the flavor in a way the wine he would have used never could have. He stopped for a moment and savored the taste. Sometimes it was easy to forget why he’d started down this path. Food was a passion for him. It was something he loved, needed in his life. When had he stopped experimenting? He put down the glass and faced Sebastian. “That was perfect.”

“We get into comfortable places and forget to try new things,” Sebastian said quietly.

“I think what he’s trying to say is don’t get your panties in a wad and be patient,” Javi said with a nod. “Deena will come to you.”

“I never mentioned his panties.” Sebastian recorked the wine with a sad shake of his head. “Macon, I’ll be in the cellar. I need to check on how the new order was stocked. The last time I walked in there someone had put a Pinot Noir in the refrigerated section. Barbarians.”