Page 39 of Go Cook Yourself

“Thank you.” She pushes her boots off with the heels of her feet. They bang on the floor, drawing a cluck from the nurse at the desk. Ruby tucks her feet beneath her curvy bum. I open my arm so she can get closer, and she rests her head against my chest. My hand presses against her back to hold her steady, but the whole time, I can’t get her fruity scent out of my mind.

“You’re cosy and warm,” she murmurs in a sleepy voice that makes my pulse climb. She’s so sexy in this position but cute as hell, too.

I bite the inside of my mouth.Be a proper friend, Garett, for fucks sake. You’re a pillow to her.

“And thanks for earlier,” she says in a tired, sultry voice as she scoots closer. Her hand holds my hip as she snuggles against me. I count my breaths in and out to slow my heart rate.

“Earlier?” I ask before adding a forced sigh. There’s no chance I’m going to sleep with her on my chest.

“With Neil. My ex-boyfriend.”

“Oh yeah. No worries. He’s an ass.”

She chuckles, and it’s like a vibration against my heart. Her laughter is so damn adorable. “He used to be my world, but he wasn’t good enough to be my anything. You know?”

“Yeah.” Although I don’t. I’ve never had a partner, let alone one who I’d say is my world. My voice is possessed by a gruff beast when I say, “He was wrong about a lot of things, by the way. You’re sexy as hell. I’m certain he said that because he can’t deal with the fact that he lost someone as incredible as you.”

She’s silent. Hopefully, it’s because she’s asleep and not because I offended her. I hold my breath. I shouldn’t have said she was sexy. This was a heart-to-heart, not me cracking on.

“I haven’t felt sexy for a long time, and I don’t consider myself anything close to incredible, more like painfully average. So thanks. I promise I won’t tell Kath, though.”

I hide my grin. “You said before that he cheated. You don’t have to tell me, especially if you need to sleep.”

I want to keep chatting to her all night.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m back home and my business is over.” I can relate to it, but this isn’t about me. “The relationship was dead a long time ago. We were two eighteen-year-olds who got caught up in sex.” I grit my teeth. I shouldn’t be jealous of some prick who probably couldn’t even make a cheese toastie. “But also in having someone for you that cares about you. I moved to where he went to university and gave up my dreams, which I was happy to do because I loved him.”

“And you’re not happy about that now?”

“It was that obvious?”

“I’ve had my regrets on past decisions.” I kick myself for making her struggles about my life.

“I regret leaving my family and missing out on a lot, including the last years of my grandparents’ life. I haven’t spoken to my parents since I returned. I regret staying so long in a deteriorating relationship with Neil when I no longer loved him. We grew up, and what should have been our first relationship before learning about ourselves and moving on became this daily drudgery of existence.”

“Shit.”

Her laugh is empty. “It was. I stayed to save face. I didn’t want to be proved wrong. Not that my parents are like that, but I guess my pride kept me there.”

Maybe that was some of what happened between me and Clive. I didn’t want all I’d put into the business to be a mistake.

“And now you’re back.”

“Yeah. I came home because Amber needed me and because I caught Neil screwing my business partner on my countertop. They smashed my favourite bowl, too.”

“The bowl-smashing bastards.”

She looks at me, smiling, but it’s a sleepy smile that makes my heart echo with her name.

“Exactly.” She drops her head against my chest again. “But catching them cheating was the best thing that could’ve happened. I’m glad I can be here for Amber, and I’m enjoying running the cookery school.”

“I presume that’s because you get to work with me. I am awesome.”

She chuckles against my chest, and it takes all my control not to push it out with pride. “Obviously that.”

“So now what?” I can’t get my hopes up that she’ll stay. I have no intention of still working there in a few months, but my breath catches in my mouth.

“I’ll stay in the area for as long as I can. My family and the cookery school are here.” I bite my lip to stop my grin. “And there’s Clive’s competition, too. If I can win that, I get to stay. I’ll help at the cookery school and maybe one day start my own business again, but this time, it will just be me.”

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