Savor You (Fusion #5)(29)
“Yes!” She nods. “Exactly. I don’t know what’s wrong with people, but let me just say, very few people share our views on that. And when it happens in my kitchen, they get thrown out on their ass.”
“As it should be.”
“But I’ve been called so many hateful, hurtful, horrible things, Camden. All my life, really, but especially since I’ve been running this business. And I don’t get it. Why would anyone call me a cock-sucking cunt on their way out of my kitchen? They’ll never get a letter of recommendation from me for that. And the restaurant community is small. We talk. It’s career suicide to abuse a master chef that way.”
“Not to mention, it just makes them an asshole,” I say, so angry that I want to have just five minutes alone with any asshole who ever spoke to her this way. “You don’t deserve that, Mia. Ever.”
“No, I don’t. But it happens more than you think. So after the last one quit in the middle of his shift and told me that I could bend over and take his dick up my ass before he’d ever follow another order from me again, I decided to not fill the position. I’d rather work myself, eighty hours a week, than put up with that.”
“Honestly, I’d like a list of anyone who’s treated you like that.”
She sighs and wipes her cheeks. “And I can be warm and fuzzy. It just doesn’t belong in the kitchen.”
“Maybe if we’re alone in the kitchen you can be warm and fuzzy,” I suggest and the knot in my stomach loosens when I feel her chuckle against me.
“Maybe.”
“Are you okay?”
She takes a deep breath. “Yeah. It’s been a stressful week, and Mother Nature always makes me mean to people I like.” She whispers a lot under her breath.
“You mean, you have female things happening.”
“Yeah. It ruins everything.”
I hug her tightly and then pull back and smile down at her. “Let’s go to my place. It’s not far from here. I’ll take care of you.”
She blinks rapidly. “Camden, I don’t know if you’re aware what Mother Nature means, but all you have to do is feed me and tell me I’m pretty.”
“I know what it means. We’ll save earth-shattering sex for another day. Trust me.”
She wipes the last of her tears away. “I do. Let’s go.”
“You made me cupcakes,” she says, her eyes still heavy with sleep. She sits up and stares in wonder as I slip a plate of three cupcakes on her lap. “And let me nap.”
I grin and watch as she takes a big bite of the chocolate goodness, then sighs in happiness.
“Oh, these are good.”
“You’re pretty,” I reply and tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.
“You’re good at following directions,” she says and kisses my hand. “Food and compliments are really all I need on a day like today.”
“I’m happy to help. You didn’t sleep well last night.”
She tossed and turned, and when she finally did sleep, it was fitful.
“Neither did you. I think I kicked you at one point.”
“Nowhere important.” I watch her take another bite of her cake. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She shrugs one shoulder and then looks me in the eyes. “I really am okay. I have no complaints at all.”
“But?”
“But this is all a surprise.”
“The cupcakes?”
She laughs and shakes her head no. “You. This. I wasn’t expecting it.”
“What were you expecting?”
“Honestly?”
“Always.”
“Resentment, anger, attitude. All of those would have been normal, given our past. I didn’t expect you to want to start something new.”
“I felt all of those things for a while,” I admit, thinking back on those days just after I found her gone. How angry I was. How I couldn’t stand to live in that apartment after she moved out and I moved back in with Steph for a while. “But it’s been a long time, and we’ve talked a lot of it out. We’re not the same people we were, and I have to tell you, relearning who you are has been pretty great.”
“Were there a lot of women? After me?” Her cheeks flush in embarrassment, but she keeps her chin high. “Maybe I’m hormonal, but I’m curious.”
“There have been some,” I admit and shrug one shoulder, watching as she peels the paper off a cupcake. “Nothing serious. Maybe I compared them to you.”
“That’s not healthy.”
“I don’t think I did it consciously, but no one compared to you, Mia.”
“I think you’re pretty great,” she says, and leans in to kiss me. “I’m glad you’re here, and that Riley stood her ground. I wasn’t very excited when they told me who the celebrity chef was that they wanted me to work with.”
“I’m sure.”
“Mostly, I’d put it all squarely in the past, and I had never mentioned you to any of the girls or my family. Like I said before, I was embarrassed, and I’d moved on. But I think I still carried a lot of shame and anxiety over the way I handled things, and I feel lighter now.”
Kristen Proby's Books
- All the Way (Romancing Manhattan #1)
- Charming Hannah (Big Sky #1)
- Listen To Me (Fusion #1)
- Play with Me (With Me in Seattle, #3)
- Saving Grace (Love Under the Big Sky, #2.5)
- Under the Mistletoe with Me (With Me in Seattle, #1.5)
- Tied with Me (With Me in Seattle, #6)
- Safe with Me (With Me in Seattle, #5)
- Rock with Me (With Me in Seattle, #4)
- Forever with Me (With Me in Seattle, #8)