Fall In Love Again (Serendipitous Love Book 3) Page 4

  She cleared her throat, then finally tore her gaze from mine as she edged between me and the desk to get away. “Good to know,” she said, tugging at the hem of her coat to straighten it. “Now, I believe we have some prep to do for brunch service… we should probably get on it.”

  Chuckling, I ran a hand over my chin. “Whatever you say, Charlene. Lead the way.”

  Charlie rolled her eyes — at what I called her, or my instructions, or maybe both— and turned to head into the kitchen.

  Damn.

  Her chef’s coat was too long to see her ass as she walked away.

  — & —

  “Y’all have a good afternoon now, alright?”

  I held the door open for two pretty women as they left Pot Liquor with smiles on their faces after their meals. One of them turned to give me a last smile, along with a look that let me know if I was trying to get it… I could’ve had it.

  I made it a habit that at the end of each service, once the rush died down, I would go out and shake hands, talk to the customers, kiss babies, so on. I did it because I enjoyed it, but stuff like that was also good for business, and there wasn’t much that was more important to me. Pot Liquor was right behind Charlie’s thighs in the rankings of my affection.

  Anyway, because I was out in the crowd, and highly visible, it was only natural that a little bit of flirtation would happen when a beautiful woman crossed my path. Okay, maybe a lot of flirtation, but never anything too serious. Except that one time.

  I fucked that all the way up.

  But I was a single man now, and that had pretty much been the case since Charlie. Yeah, I dated, and had even gotten close enough to call a few people my girlfriend, but… it never quite worked out. I don’t exactly wanna say that nobody since Charlie really measured up, but…. yeah.

  And topping her?

  Forget about it.

  No chance.

  Not that I wasn’t looking. I mean… the girl went off and got married to some dude she’d only known a year, if that long. But… he offered her what she was longing for, so… what the hell was I supposed to do about that? She moved on, I moved on, everybody moved on… but why did I still feel a twinge of guilt, knowing that she could see and hear me flirting with a customer?

  When I turned back to the dining room, there Charlie was, her pretty face set into what, at first glance, seemed to be a nonchalant expression, but I knew her too well to for that. The slightly lifted chin, eyebrow damn near about to pop off her face because she was trying so hard not to raise it…. She was…. Was she jealous?

  Grinning, I sauntered over to where she stood observing the dining room. “Hey.”

  Her gaze flicked around in confusion. “… Hey.”

  “So… what’s up? You getting in some good analysis? See anything interesting?”

  “Oh I saw something interesting alright,” she chuckled, shaking her head.

  I leaned against the wall beside her perch at the kitchen door. “What’s wrong, Charlie? You’re not salty about me doing a little harmless flirting, right?”

  “What?” Charlie broke into a laugh. “Why would I feel any kind of way about that, Nix? I mean… other than it being a little unprofessional, I really don’t care. I hope you don’t think I’m jealous, Nix. I have a date tomorrow night.”

  Ouch.

  She looked so smug about telling me that, and I had to admit— hearing it set off a dull, irrational little anger headache at my temples. “A date?”

  “Yeah, a date,” she nodded, looking me right in the eyes as she smirked.

  “With who? You’ve been here two damned days, and you’re already going out with some stranger?”

  Charlie’s eyes went wide, then her smirk spread into a full-on smile. “Whoa… some stranger? You’re not… salty, are you Nix?”

  “Hell no. I’m just saying… you don’t think it’s a little fast?”

  “Not at all… he’s not a stranger. You remember Trent Ellis, don’t you?”

  That dull, irrational headache? Sharp and rational now.

  My my face screwed up into a scowl. “With the pimples and shit? And the thick glasses?”

  Charlie waved a hand. “Oh ho ho, the power of contacts lenses and a good dermatologist. Trent is fine now. Not just regular fine either. Capital F-A-H-N type fine. Ugly duckling to a swan type fine. Might give up the panties on the first night type fine. I may need to go stand in the cooler cause I’m getting so hot thinking about him type fine,” she said, with a big grin on her face.

  “Whatever Charlene, you’re selling this dude way too hard. Must be another one of those boring pretty boys you used to like.”

  “Are you including yourself in that crowd?” she asked, poking a finger into my chest.

  Grabbing the hand she’d used to poke me, I scoffed. “Come on, now. I’m not pretty or boring.”

  She opened her mouth to deliver a comeback, but I eased her toward the wall, then stood in front of her not saying anything — just looking, until she began to squirm under my gaze.

  Mission accomplished.

  “Nix, what?”

  “Nothing. I’m just looking at you.”

  “For what?”

  Her breath hitched as I lifted a hand to her face, grazing her cheek. “No reason, really. I just… missed you. You’re so damned beautiful.” I cupped her chin, tipping her head back as I closed the space between us, to the point that her chest pressed against mine. “And… I still remember,” I murmured, lowering my mouth until my lips were nearly brushing hers, “that you taste so good.”

  “Nix,” she whispered, biting her lip as she met my eyes. “You do realize we’re in full view of the customers, right?”

  I chuckled. “I’ve never been shy about public displays of affection, you know that.”

  “Is that what this is?”

  Her expression was calm, tone measured, but the way her heart was racing — that was something she couldn’t hide.

  “What… you think I’ve lost my fondness for you, Charlie?”

  She shrugged, then averted her eyes. “How should I know?”

  “You never should’ve doubted.”

  That got her attention back. Her gaze shot back to mine for a fleeting moment, then she pushed me back, so she could walk away.

  Shit.

  I caught up to her just on the other side of the kitchen doors. Gently grabbing her arm, I tried to get her to look at me, but she aimed her sight anywhere except on me.

  “Charlie… baby, I—“

  “Don’t call me that.”

  “It’s a habit, I’m sorry.”

  “I haven’t been your baby in five years, Nix. You’re not sorry.”

  Releasing my grip on her, I ran a hand over my head, then scrubbed my face. “You know what… nope. I’m not. We were together for six years, Charlie. It’s gonna take at least that long to not still think of you like that, especially when I didn’t even want—“

  “Save it, okay?” She held up a hand, self-consciously glancing around the kitchen for listening ears. “I don’t need a history lesson. Let’s just… can we be professional? Just coworkers, business partners… nothing more?”

  Wow… it’s like that?

  Nothing more…like a double shot to the gut.

  Wow.

  I ran my tongue over my teeth as I inclined my head, processing her words. “Uh… I guess I just didn’t realize our relationship had devolved that much. But, yeah. If that’s what you wanna do… yeah.” I paused, to wait for her response, but she had this wide-eyed look, as if she was shocked I wasn’t giving her any push back. Hell, I was shocked I wasn’t forcing the issue, but… what was I supposed to do about it if my chances with her were looking as likely as snow in the summer?

  When she was still wearing that same deer-in-headlights expression a few beats later, I continued, “So… with that said, we should probably get started on the prep for dinner service. It should go faster since we’ve got you back now, but I like to make su
re it’s done in plenty of time in case anything goes wrong.”

  Without waiting for a reply this time, I turned and headed for the walk-in fridge to start pulling the vegetable and herbs for our mise en place. Charlie was close behind me to help, and soon, between the two of us plus Jordan and Amina, we had everything for the dinner plate options cut, prepared, and ready to cook.

  When the kitchen was clean and restored to order, I sent everybody home. There was a three hour window between lunch and dinner service, so I liked to give our small staff that time to be off of their feet, take a nap, whatever, so they could be fresh for the chaos of the dinner rush.

  I rarely left. Instead, I used the time for the other side of the business. Accounting, inventory, maintaining the website, marketing, — all of it needed to get done, and whenever I could, I avoided staying up late at night to do it.

  Charlie disappeared with the rest of the staff, so I was surprised when she approached me in the large walk-in pantry, an hour after I’d sent everyone home. I felt her presence before I saw her, but I didn’t turn around until she reached for me, placing a hand against my arm.

  The first thing I noticed was that her nose and eyes were slightly red, as if she’d been crying. Immediately, any little animosity I felt melted away.

  “Not nothing more,” she said, meeting my gaze.

  I lifted an eyebrow. “What?”

  “Sorry.” She shook her head. “I… I’m all mixed up, but… what you said earlier, about not realizing that our relationship had devolved to a place where we couldn’t even be friends… you’re right. It hasn’t. We’ve known each other for what… more than twenty years? And we were intimate for six of those. I mean, yeah, that part didn’t work out, but the other times, we were the best of friends, and… I’m at a place right now where I can use every friend I have. I mean… we’ve been apart long enough that we should be able to go back to that… right? Back to being friends?”

  “Ah…” I scratched my eyebrow. “Um… yeah. Yeah. I’m cool with that, Charlie… I thought we had been getting along pretty well the last few years.”

  She tipped her head to the side. “You… did?”

  “Yeah,” I chuckled. “I’m guessing your perception has been different?”

  Charlie laughed, sending a wash of warmth through me. “Uh, yeah. Nixon, we’re constantly going back and forth, always trading jabs… the first thing you did yesterday was tease me about my locked up husband. You thought that was friendly banter?”

  Shrugging, I leaned into the pantry table. “Yeah, I did. I don’t know…. Maybe I’ve just gotten so used to it that it felt natural to mess with you. And it’s a definite improvement over…”

  “When we first broke up.” She dropped her gaze for a moment before she nodded, then looked at me again. “Yes, it’s better than that, for sure.”

  “Right. So… what’s up? We’re homies, or nah?”

  Charlie let out a big puff of air, then propped a finger against her chin. She looked up at the ceiling with her lips pursed. “Well… let me think… um…” She gave a shriek of laughter when I wrapped her in my arms, lifting her off the floor as I pulled her into a hug. She giggled until I put her down, then draped her arms around my waist to return the embrace.

  If we were gonna talk about what felt natural… this felt natural. So I squeezed her a little tighter. Having Charlie in my arms was like… the default setting. Everything else was a subpar modification that I’d just been living with for the last few years.

  Several seconds past “friendly”, I dropped a kiss on her forehead that was quick enough to pass off as innocent, then loosened my hold on her. A moment later, she released me as well, stepping back with a little smile and some unspoken, unintelligible emotion in her eyes.

  Neither of us said anything.

  We ended our communication with nods as she left, and I tried to focus again on the task of the weekly inventory, to no avail. The only thing my brain seemed to want to process was the fact that when it was time to end that hug… Charlie wasn’t the one who let go first.

  five.

  charlie.

  Trent was generous with that sexy crooked smile.

  He smelled good enough to lick, and he was dressed as if he’d just stepped out of a magazine shoot. He was funny, and smart, and easy to talk to, and flirted just hard enough to make me blush, without crossing the line of impropriety. He was a perfect date.

  I, on the other hand, was not.

  I was uncomfortable in my borrowed dress, self-conscious of the fact that it hugged a little too tight in certain places. Viv insisted that I looked good in it, and she wasn’t one to tell me that kind of lie, so I went with it, but still… I spent the night feeling as if I might pop like a can of biscuits at any second.

  If my friggin’ boxes had come that Wednesday morning, like they were supposed to, this wouldn’t be a problem. It was Friday night, and I was still without my personal things. That only added to the stress keeping me from enjoying Trent’s company. And that wasn’t even including the fact that Adrian had called, again.

  Stupidly, perhaps, the thought of ignoring him made me feel guilty, so I subjected myself to ten long minutes of him promising his innocence, swearing that he would make it up to me when he was released, and… refusing to sign the divorce papers. Who knew he could do that from prison? Not me.

  By the time we made it to my front door, I was beyond ready for the date to be over. It had nothing to do with Trent’s company, everything to do with my own bullshit. Trent’s hand enveloped mine, and he gave it a little squeeze.

  “Hey… did you have a good time?” he asked. “You seem a little… quieter than I expected.”

  I appreciated that there was no whine in his voice. It was just a question, and one he was completely justified in asking. He’d taken me to Ivory, a nice little upscale piano bar downtown, a few doors down from Honeybee. It was a beautiful place, decorated in black and white, with just enough romance to make it perfect for a first date… and I was zoned out for most of it.

  I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile, then nodded. “Yes, I had a great time. I’m just…” I took a deep breath. “The circumstances that brought me back here weren’t exactly ideal. I’m honestly still processing everything, because it’s so fresh, and it’s like the most random things just kind of… take me off into la-la-land. I am so sorry… it’s really not fair to you, at all.”

  Trent shrugged, then brought my hand up to his mouth to kiss my fingers. “No worries, Beautiful. I completely understand… I’m actually divorced as well, so I know what it’s like when it first happens. You’re just… kind of in a daze, wondering how the hell your life changed so much with the signing of a document. Wondering if you’re making a mistake… if it’s really over. I get it.”

  “Thank you,” I nodded, then shifted in my heels as Trent took a step closer.

  “So… how about in about a week, we try this again? Grab some pizza or something... maybe something casual will be more comfortable for you.”

  I smiled. “Yeah… I would like that a lot.”

  “Good.”

  Gently, Trent grabbed me at the elbow, then leaned forward. My breath hitched in my chest as he pressed his lips to mine, grazing the corner of my mouth. An almost full-on kiss, which left behind a tiny little buzz of warmth where his lips touched. He drew me into a hug, giving me a last opportunity to breathe in his delicious-smelling cologne before he pulled away.

  “Well… goodnight Charlie,” he said, straightening his jacket. “We’ll talk about our date for next week later.”

  “Sure, just… text me, or call me, and we’ll set it up.”

  “Will do.”

  I pushed my key into the door, then turned to give him a little wave. “Goodnight.” With a returned wave, and a parting smile, Trent headed down the stairs as I went into Viv’s — my— apartment, kicking off my heels before I was even through the door.

  The news about Trent being div
orced as well was… interesting. Maybe that explained why every time I had paid him any attention on our date, he was rubbing at his bare left ring finger. Mental note: make sure his ass is really divorced.

  “Daaamn!”

  My head shot up, and I immediately went for the mace on my keys in response to… Nixon.

  I blew out a heavy sigh, and propped a hand on my hip as he approached me, lip pulled between his teeth as he surveyed my body in the fitted black dress. The way he was looking at me… have mercy. I probably should have felt a twinge of guilt or something about the way my nipples sprang to attention under his heated gaze, considering that not even a full minute ago, Trent had been kissing me goodnight.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  I crossed my arms, more to hide my arousal than to show annoyance, even though I was irritated about Nixon’s presence. I hadn’t even had time for a glass of wine and over-analysis of my date. Yet, here he was.

  He took a moment before he answered to circle me, getting a full view before he stopped in front of me. “You went on a date looking like that, and Trent got you back home this early? I’m… not shocked. Knew he wasn’t about shit.”

  Nixon chuckled, shaking his head as his eyes swept my body with another sweat-inducing gaze.

  “Well, when you’re a gentleman, you get a girl home from a first date at a respectable time of night.”

  Nixon tilted his head back and laughed. “Right, right… but just yesterday, you were talking about how you might give him, uh… a little taste on the first date. I’m guessing that didn’t happen, did it?”

  Running my tongue over my teeth, I searched my mind for a response, but only came up with, “And how would you know?”

  “Because you’re back at goddamned ten o’clock.” Shaking his head, Nixon moved closer. “If he’d gotten anywhere near that pretty little pussy of yours, he’d still be lost in it right now.” He reached out to cup my chin, meeting my eyes with his sultry browns. “I would.”