One More Taste (One and Only Texas #2)(37)

Carina shook Emily’s arm. “Uh-oh. Look. Your muse is headed this way.”

Emily bolted upright and followed Carina’s line of sight. Sure enough, Knox was striding over the resort grounds in their direction with Haylie in tow and Granny June pacing them on her motorized scooter.

As always, every inch of Knox oozed with millionaire cowboy sensuality, from his perfectly tailored suit and confident stride to his ink-black Stetson and the lightly stubbled cheeks that gave him just the perfect amount of rakish charm. He was looking right at Emily, and when she returned his gaze, one side of his lips kicked up in a grin. Then a lock of his hair slipped from beneath his hat and fell over his forehead like he was friggin’ Clark Kent.

Emily’s body shimmered with heat and need.

Nope. That’s not misplaced passion for cooking. That’s lust, girl. Plain and simple.

She tore her gaze away from him. “Son of a bitch.”

Carina’s faint chuckle let Emily know she’d done a piss-poor job masking her true feelings from her best friend.

“Enjoying yourself?” Emily said through gritted teeth.

“Immensely, thank you.”

“Oh, good.”

“Haylie’s with him,” Carina said. “Has he said anything about how she’s doing as his secretary? She hasn’t been returning my texts lately, so I have no idea.”

An unexpected tug of loyalty to Haylie had Emily holding her tongue about Haylie’s shaky first day. “I’m sure she’s doing fine. She’s a lot more capable than she looks.”

“Agreed. But not very many people see her potential other than you and me.”

Haylie had only been seventeen when Emily came to work at the resort. At the time, Haylie and Carina didn’t get along. Though Emily would never admit it outright, she resented Haylie’s lack of ambition. Here she was, with the world handed to her on a silver platter, with a loving family and every possible opportunity, and all she’d done was squander her gifts while Emily had been scraping her way through life with no money or support system. In truth, it’d taken Emily a long time to grow into loving Haylie as part of her honorary family. But she had, and now Emily’s life was all the richer for having Haylie in it.

Emily took another look at Haylie as she got nearer to the arena. Her collarbones were visible, her arms thin, her face showing the strains of her home life. Emily ground her molars together, swallowing her outrage lest it trigger memories of her own screwed up childhood. She had to believe that Haylie’s job working for Knox was the first step to getting her confidence up to leave Wendell. From now on, Emily was going to bring Haylie breakfast when she brought Knox his. Not just Knox’s leftovers, as she’d done today, but dishes tailor-made for her. What kind of food helped a woman find her power? What would nourish Haylie the most?

Chocolate. Definitely.

Emily caught herself holding her breath as Knox and his entourage drew closer, and so she stood, shaking off her sudden bout of nerves.

“Is this your first time seeing your man—I mean, your muse—today?” Carina teased.

Emily refused to acknowledge the ridiculous question as anything beyond the literal. “I stopped by his office earlier with breakfast, but he wasn’t interested. He never eats breakfast beyond a protein shake, but that’s only because he doesn’t yet understand how determined I am to change his mindset. I was here at the crack of dawn stuffing sausage casings, so sooner or later, he’s getting my sausages.”

“Wait, what?” Decker said.

Carina hammed it up with a wink. “Just like you gave him your peaches?”

“Tried to give him my peaches. Also, FYI, you’re driving me crazy turning everything I say into a double entendre.”

“I can’t help it! You’re the master of them,” Carina said. “Food and sex have so much in common. Both are decadent, when done right. A feast for the senses. People hunger for both on an elemental level.”

“You tell her, babe.”

Carina had no idea how close to home that observation hit. But there was just one problem. “You keep attempting to elevate sex to the level of fine cuisine, when the reality is that they’re totally incomparable.” That was her story and she was sticking to it.

“Have to agree with you on that. Totally incomparable.” Carina hoisted herself up and leaned over the rail to plant a big ol’ kiss on Decker.

Decker tugged her shirt collar, pulling her to him for a second kiss. “You’re a sex-crazed pregnant woman, Mrs. Decker. And I love it.”

Emily mustered a groan, though she secretly loved seeing Carina so happy. Her dating history was just as fraught with losers and disaster dates as Emily’s, if not worse.

Granny June raced ahead of the group on her scooter, horn blaring as she hollered, “Slap my ass and call me Sally! Lookie here, it’s three of my favorite people in one place!”

“Have I ever told you how much I love your grandma?” Decker said. “Little scared of her, too, but that’s okay.”

“Same here,” Carina said. Emily helped her find her step down from the bleachers just as Knox and Haylie arrived behind Granny June’s scooter.

Granny June snagged Knox’s arm and stood, five-foot-nothing of proud, beaming grandma. “Haylie and I were just giving Knox a tour of the place and introducing him around.”