Page 35 of A Sudden Romance

Now if her heart could stop racing, she might be able to sing along.

Oh mercy, she was in a lot of trouble. But church was a good place for troubled people to be. If she wanted guidance and clarity, she better start asking God.

Was Sabastian the real deal, or was this her silly infatuation? She’d blame Julia for commenting about Iris being too picky with men. Now, she was crushing over a man who’d never been her type. Just what was her type, anyway?

CHAPTER 9

Midafternoon light streamed through the kitchen window as Sabastian gripped the black granite counter three days later, his heart tightening like the hard-crusted snow covering the ground. “Silent Night” played from the main room’s portable speaker, but the calm the lyrics promised didn’t break through his mind to relax his scattered thoughts.

He had a bad feeling about Grey. The way his gaze lingered on Iris the moment she appeared made him almost sick. Grey was a nice guy, but right now, he didn’t seem like it. Hearing his deep laughter break through the music tampered with Sabastian’s mind.

The man’s laugh was one thing, but Iris laughing at whatever Grey said was another thing. Wasn’t the other taster, Fox, in the dining room? Why couldn’t Sabastian hear his voice? Was he just letting Grey dominate the conversation? No doubt, the guy knew his boss wanted to please Iris.

Sabastian sucked in a breath and fought the urge to march through the main room to see what was happening.

Iris was becoming hard to understand, a lot harder than he’d expected.

He’d thought they were getting closer, especially on Sunday when she’d let him hold her hand in church. Getting through the four songs had been pure torture with his hand entwined in her soft one—the sweet kind of torture that sent his blood rushing through his veins. Then he’d had a brief moment with her later that day while they waited in the car for her parents to finish chatting with their friends. With the heat between them intense, he’d feared talking about anything but food. So he’d asked what she suggested he prepare for Grey and Fox’s visit.

“Chicken piccata with lemon-garlic-herb rice and broccoli is simple enough.” Her eyes were radiant as she’d waved her hands. “Make your lemon-butter sauce with capers.” She put her fingertips to her mouth and flicked a kiss the way Italians were often portrayed to do over food, then sang out, “Bellissima. Make it a lemon theme and serve a lemon meringue for dessert.”

For the salad, she’d suggested spinach and strawberry salad with citrus dressing.

“Everything you make is good. I don’t even know why you’re nervous.” Her words had gotten him through the days he’d barely talked to her.

Sunday afternoon she’d spent time with her parents, mostly her dad as they watched the home improvement shows.

Then on Monday, Kyle worked from home and joined Sabastian and Iris to cut the Christmas trees. While Sabastian strung lights on the fresh trees that evening, Iris and her parents put up the two artificial trees. One in the second floor’s lounge area and the second one on the balcony. Sabastian looked up at the glittering tree sparkly with silver, gold, and red ornaments.

Perhaps Kyle had sensed Sabastian’s interest in his daughter and wanted to put an end to it. Why else would he have chopped the trees with them? Kyle never came before. He and Regina must have put some sense into Iris and warned her to stay away. That made sense with the way she avoided him yesterday too. He’d worked up the nerve to ask her to go to the market with him. But she’d said she had a virtual meeting with her assistant and wanted to wrap the Christmas presents she’d ordered online and had delivered to The Peak.

He’d expected her to work online or check in with her job as she did whenever she came home, but he hadn’t expected a major letdown from her for an entire day.

Today, as he prepped the lunch for Grey and Fox, Iris had stayed out of his way, only wishing him luck that morning after they’d shared oatmeal with her parents.

After watching several TV shows and videos regarding the time frame between serving courses, Sabastian checked the stove clock—12:12. In three minutes, it would have been ten minutes.

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