Edible

2

“I’m late, I’m late! I know!” Rachel pushed through the back door of Exquisite and attempted to swiftly run by her brother’s office.

Unfortunately for her, Mason was quicker, and as she reached his office door, he appeared. Leaning his shoulder against the jamb, he ran a hand through his thick black hair.

“You’re not only late; you’re very late,” he told her, making a show out of looking at his watch.

Tugging on the end of her coat, Rachel arched a brow. “Am I? So, what are you going to do? Dock my pay? Do you know how hard it is to get here on time every night?”

Letting his arm fall back down by his side, Mason pushed off the door. “Okay, cool your jets. What happened? You miss your train?”

If only, Rachel thought as her mind flashed an image of a tall, serious-looking suit who also happened to be one giant pain every time she had seen him.

“No, I missed a stop, and the cab ride was longer than I expected. Did I miss much?”

“Nope. Pretty slow tonight.” Mason turned on his heel and moved back into his unorganized office.

Usually, she’d follow him in and see how his day had been. Tonight though, all Rachel could think about was the unsettling run-in she’d had earlier, and she didn’t want Mason and his all-knowing ways to figure it out. So, instead of chatting with her brother, she called out, “See ya,” and made her way down the back aisles to the humming kitchen.

It might not be a busy night at Exquisite, but that didn’t mean there was no activity. Quite the contrary, the kitchen was buzzing. The soft thump of music was playing, and she could see Wendy standing at the pass talking to Ryan, the new head chef Mason had brought in around two months ago.

They had decided to hire him when Mason had told her he wanted to be behind the scenes and only run the restaurant from now on. He no longer wanted to work in the kitchen or on the floor in any capacity.

That’s exactly what I need to do—hire someone for the flower shop, Rachel decided as she headed to the small office she shared with Wendy. Dumping her things on her very organized desk, she wrote a note on her calendar as a reminder to place a want ad tomorrow.

She tied her hair back, pulled a black ball cap off the peg from the back of the door, and stuffed the low ponytail through the hole in the back of the cap. Removing her blue coat, she put on the bright purple chef’s jacket she’d talked Mason into getting her. After fastening the two rows of black buttons, she looked down at her outfit, and she had to grin.

She loved that Mason hadn’t been strict when it came to what she wore in the kitchen. She happened to think her black leather pants looked pretty kick-ass with the purple smock. Mason’s indulgence didn’t surprise her though. He was just like their father had been. They both had always encouraged her to be herself even when it wasn’t quite the norm.

“I told you, I don’t want to talk about it.”

Mason pushed his hands into his khaki shorts as he walked into her bedroom and took a seat on the bed beside her.

“Come on, Rach. What did Lisa say to you?”

“Nothing.” Rachel pouted, crossing her arms under her newest annoyance, her breasts.

“She must have said something. You didn’t talk to her the whole way home, and I noticed you managed to throw her several death stares,” he pointed out, tugging on her bright pink braid.

Lisa Jennings, blonde-bimbo extraordinaire, was Josh’s latest girlfriend. She was the one girl who represented everything Rachel wanted to be. For a while, Rachel had done anything she could to emulate her idol. But that had all changed today when she’d walked into the girls’ restroom and heard Lisa laughing about Mason’s stupid pink-haired sister.

So, Rachel had moved Lisa from the really Cool Club to the She-Is-a-Total-Bitch Club. Currently, it only had one member, and Rachel wasn’t going to tell Mason it was Lisa. After all, his best friend was dating her.

Tugging her head away from him, Rachel looked up at her brother and wondered how he made everything seem so simple. He was never awkward, and no one considered him to be weird, but then again, he also didn’t have pink hair. At that thought, she giggled.

“There you are!” he declared, chuckling.

“Seriously, Mase, what does Josh even see in her?”

Stupid question, Rachel thought with a sigh. She knew he saw tanned legs, blonde hair, and the captain of the cheerleading team. Guys suck, and that was Rachel’s official sixteen-year-old opinion.

Mason bumped shoulders with her and grinned. “Maybe she’s really good at Scrabble?”

Rachel busted out laughing as she tried to picture Lisa or Josh playing that game.

“You think she can even spell Scrabble?” she asked slyly, arching a brow at her brother.

“Dunno, but you know what she can’t do?”

Rachel shook her head as Mason wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a hug.

“She can’t pull off bright pink hair and make it look so cool that at least six other girls do it the next day.”

Rachel felt tears well in her eyes. That was Mason—always there with the perfect answer. He was about to say something else, but her bedroom door swung open, interrupting their conversation.

Their father stuck his head in. “You two ready for dinner?”

Reaching up, she wiped a tear away.

Almost immediately, their father was through the door, glaring at Mason. “What did you do to her?” he asked as he moved to sit beside Rachel on the bed.

“Nothing,” Mason replied with a laugh, holding up his hands. He stood and walked toward the door. Just as he reached it, Mason turned back, looking at her and their father. “Someone said something about her hair.”

Rachel felt her dad pull away from her. He reached over to wipe away a tear from her face, but she turned away, so she could glower at her brother.

“And what could they possibly say about hair that looks so…” He paused as though he was trying to think of the right word. “Sweet?”

“Sweet?” Rachel squeaked.

Mason couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah.” Their father nodded. “Like…like cotton candy.”

“Oh, Dad.” Rachel finally laughed as she hugged him. “Thank you, but that doesn’t really help.”

“Well, you’re laughing,” he pointed out before looking back and forth between the both of them. “Never let someone make you feel like you are not the best version of yourself. You hear me?”

“Yes, Dad,” Rachel mumbled.

“And you,” he said as he stood and moved over to Mason, “always look after your little sister. Come on now, let’s have dinner.”

Thinking of that night with her father, Rachel shook her head with a small smile. He had been running through her mind a lot lately, and she couldn’t seem to pinpoint why.

Well, I’ll have time to think about that later, she thought as she made her way to the walk-in fridge to pull out the pears that had been chilling all day. Tonight’s dessert special was cider-poached pears in a puff pastry shell with a warm caramel sauce.

Sarah, Exquisite’s other pastry chef, had spent the morning coring the pears and making the puff pastry in preparation for this evening. Rachel returned from the fridge with two large containers of pears and placed them down on the stainless steel prep table.

Smiling at Sarah, Rachel wiped her hands on her apron. “So, did you manage to get the pumpkin spice? I can’t believe I forgot to order that the other day. It really does make the difference.”

Sarah moved to the other side of the table. “Yeah, it came in this morning, so I made a small sample of the sauce, just to make sure you really want to add it.”

Sarah had started working with Rachel around six months ago when Mason had decided someone needed to come in during the morning hours to help her prepare for the evening. This worked out perfectly since she was down at Precious Petals during the day; before they had hired Sarah, Rachel had come in at four in the morning to do all the prep work herself. Now, when Rachel arrived for the evening, Sarah would go home. It turned out to be a match made in heaven.

“Give me one second. Keep in mind that it’s not finished yet,” Sarah told her as she stirred the warm dark concoction of cider, brown sugar, pumpkin spice, and Calvados brandy.

Rachel couldn’t help but joke with her coworker as she nodded toward the mixture. “Oh good, I was starting to think you forgot to add the butter and vanilla.”

Sarah looked over at her from under her blunt brown bangs and sighed dramatically. “You don’t really mean that. I know this because you told me you trusted me.” With a saucy wink, she held up a spoon toward Rachel. “This is just the base. Would you like a taste?”

Rachel held back a groan. Why is everyone asking me that today?

“No, I trust you.” For the second time tonight, she denied herself a taste of something she really wanted.

Although Cole had been running substantially late, he’d actually arrived at the meeting before the other parties. Now, three and a half hours later, he stepped into the elevator that would take him up to his condo.

God, that was one mind-numbing meeting, he thought as he unbuttoned his coat.

Pressing the number twenty-six, he moved to the back of the elevator and leaned up against the wood-paneled wall, crossing his legs at the ankle and stuffing his hands into his pockets. When his fingers brushed over the square of wax paper, he reflected on the unexpected run-in from earlier.

He was in one hell of a predicament. He couldn’t get that woman off his mind. She had denied him at every opportunity. Well, isn’t that the most intriguing part of all? Instead of accepting her decision, he found the challenge of changing her mind a total fucking turn-on.

Rachel Langley. She was Josh Daniel’s friend and his good friend’s little sister. It wasn’t the smartest idea he’d had, that was for sure, but it was the most intriguing one he’d had in a long time.

Rachel Langley. Yes, he even liked the sound of her name as it rolled through his mind, and there was no way he was changing course now. He wanted her, and he was going to have her.

Ever since that first moment in the club, he had become intensely fascinated by her. Add tequila in with that exchange, and he had been hooked. He had even gone back several nights after that, always looking for her but never finding her. Imagine his delight when Josh had invited him to Mason’s Halloween party, and he’d walked in to see her dressed like some kind of ninja. And again, she had run from him.

Well, not anymore. The time for running was over—unless, of course, she was running straight to his bed. The only way he thought he could remove this fixation with her was to satiate his curiosity.

As the elevator came to a stop on his floor, it made the usual loud ding. He made his way out and turned left, passing by the closed doors of his unknown neighbors and several mass-produced floral prints on the walls of the cream-colored hallway. When he reached his corner condo, Cole pulled out his keys from his pocket, unlocked the door, and pushed it open.

Stepping into the small foyer, he dumped the keys on the wooden table at the entryway. He shrugged out of his coat and black suit jacket and then hung them both on the six-foot cherry wood coatrack situated in the opposite corner.

Rolling his shoulders, he stretched his neck from side to side, trying to ease some of the tension knotted up between his shoulder blades and the top of his spine. Making his way across dark hardwood floors into his kitchen, he opened a cabinet and grabbed one of his crystal tumblers. He reached up to loosen his tie as he walked over to where he kept his liquor. At the opposite end of the kitchen, he’d had a wine fridge installed on the bottom half of a separate cabinet, and above it was where he kept his old friend, a bottle of twenty-five-year-old Macallan.

Moving over to the sink with the bottle and tumbler, he uncorked the scotch. He turned on the tap, got his fingers wet, and then proceeded to pour himself a single neat before he flicked a couple drops of water into the liquor.

Lifting it to just under his nose, he inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. In the complete silence, he thought about the unobtainable for a moment—the one thing he currently desired more than anything, even more than the drink he now had in his hand.

How long has it been since I was so focused on a woman? A damn long time, he thought, moving around the kitchen counter. He walked toward the French doors that opened onto his balcony. The night was dark, and the lake was too, he mused as he stepped outside. He finally brought the glass to his lips and took a slow sip, the fiery liquid warming a path down his throat to his belly. He reached down to where his crisp white shirt was tucked into his black tailored pants and pulled it from its confines. Lifting the glass again, he took another sip as he started to undo the bottom buttons.

How can I find her again? That was the main question that was currently bothering him. He knew he could go down to Exquisite, but he also knew he would have to get past her brother. While the thought of dealing with Josh’s friend Mason didn’t bother him at all, Cole wanted his next meeting with Rachel to be private. He wanted to get her alone, and he wanted it to happen soon.

Downing the rest of the scotch with a deep swallow, Cole walked back inside and placed the empty tumbler on his coffee table. First, he needed to relax. Unbuttoning his shirt, he made his way down the hallway, passing his office and library, through to his bedroom. When he reached the top three buttons, he stopped, pulled the tie over his head, and threw it on the end of his bed.

Opening a drawer in his large bureau, he pulled out his swimwear, and then he grabbed a towel from the linen closet before he headed to the pool upstairs. It was time to decompress. Only then would he be able to really focus and work out a plan—a plan that involved Rachel and himself in a room together, alone.

Rachel pushed through her apartment door at approximately one in the morning. After kicking it shut behind her, she threw her bag on the floor, toed her black flats off, and walked barefoot down the hall to her kitchen. Opening the small fridge with a yawn, she pulled out the almost empty jug of milk, poured herself a glass, and then threw the container in the trash.

She headed into the living room and flopped down onto her old, comfy leather couch. Unbuttoning her coat, she pulled her feet up under her as she looked around the sparse living space. God, when did my life become so lonely? she thought, moving her head back and forth against the couch.

When her phone rang, she wasn’t surprised. She pulled it out of her coat pocket and then grinned as she looked at the caller ID. Casanova.

“I’m here, and I’m alive. No one mugged me on the way home.”

“You’re home then?”

“Yes, Mase, I’m here, safe and sound.” She sighed before she quickly added, “Thanks for checking on me.”

Her brother chuckled. “I don’t know why I feel the need to check on you. I mean, with your kickboxing moves, you could probably fight off a mugger better than I could.”

Rachel laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. See you tomorrow, brother.”

“Night, Rach,” he said before she ended the call.

Placing her phone down beside her, she closed her eyes, trying not to feel sorry for herself. Letting pity and self-doubt creep into her mind was becoming a nasty habit of hers whenever she was alone at night, and that was why she had finally decided to venture out to Whipped several months ago. It was the place where she had unintentionally caught the eye of a man who reminded her of things she’d thought she had buried the day her father had been laid to rest.

Cole. That was the only name she knew him by. To avoid the possibility of being set up, she hadn’t bothered to ask Josh anything else. After the Halloween party, Josh had dropped the case—thank God—and she hadn’t seen or heard from Cole since. That is, until today, nearly two months later, and holy mother of God, did I see him and every last inch of his tall frame.

Just thinking about the uptight, perfectly tailored suit made her palms itch. As her skin started to heat, she found herself sitting up and shrugging out of her coat. Throwing it beside her on the couch, she leaned back and closed her eyes, picturing Cole’s short blond hair, his scorching hazel eyes that were so focused and so intent, and that damn mouth that had licked and sucked that stupid piece of candy. Apparently, it also totally destroyed my brain cells, she thought as she opened her eyes and sat up on the couch.

Standing, she stretched her arms above her head. She removed the elastic from her ponytail and shook her hair out, causing several blue tips to fall over her shoulder. Yeah, I’m sure I’m exactly who his mother wants him to bring home. Then again, I can’t imagine a man like him giving a shit about what anyone thought.

Either way, it didn’t matter. The likelihood of her seeing him again was not very high. Even if they were to run in to one another at the club, they had similar tastes, which meant one thing. They were certainly not compatible for each other. That was exactly the point she had been trying to stress each time they had met. He just wasn’t listening, Rachel thought as she walked into her bedroom.

She pulled down the zipper from the back of her black leather pants and then peeled them off her body. After removing her shirt, she looked herself over in the full-length mirror in the corner of her room.

The blue-and-black demi cup bra had cost her a little over a hundred dollars. When she’d added in the matching strip of blue lace that had been sold as a thong—but looks more like a small piece of string—the cost had jumped to one-fifty.

Placing her hands on her waist as she cocked her left hip, Rachel decided that the money spent had been worth it. If there was one thing she indulged in, it was her lingerie. She loved the feel of lace and silk against her skin. She also loved how the boutique sets made her feel sexy. It was like she had her own little secret under her clothes. Well, it’s one of many.

As her long black hair draped over her shoulders, she could feel the blue tips tickling the upper curve of her breasts. She gazed in appreciation at the new silver navel ring she had bought yesterday. As it winked back at her, she could see the edge of the script writing she had tattooed down her ribs on the right side of her body.

Rachel knew she was outside of the box. She was okay with that; she had people in her life that loved her because of that. Mason, Josh, Wendy, and now Lena and Shelly all loved her just the way she was, but when she was alone in bed late at night, she found that it wasn’t enough anymore.

As she made her way past the small dresser, she looked at the framed photo of her parents who were both gone now, and she felt that same stab of loneliness deep inside her heart. Everyone is moving on. Mason had moved on with Lena, and now, Josh was moving on with Shelly.

Crawling between the covers, Rachel closed her eyes and pictured a tall, blond-haired man sucking on a piece of candy. She almost laughed at the absurdity. God, I really am lonely if I’m dreaming about him. Rolling over, she tried to let go of the heaviness that had recently started to weigh on her heart.