Page 54 of Sunshine

Sunshine blushed but looked pleased. “It doesn’t have to be all Asian-inspired.”

“But the concept of simple dishes done beautifully,” I said, grabbing some leeks, cheese, and pastry dough out of the refrigerator. “That’s seen across many culinary disciplines.”

“You can focus on flavors that are evocative,” Sunshine said, playing with her piece of bread. “If you wanted to do a seafood soup, you could still layer in the flavors without it being a massive bowl of food.”

“I love watching the two of you bounce ideas off each other,” Julian said with a grin. “It’s one part sport, one part flirting.”

Sunshine’s face turned red again and she shoved a bite of fettuccine in her mouth. I shot Julian a look.

“What? You never talk about food with anyone but me and Luca.” Julian looked pleased with himself. “I love this idea. It sounds like you’re going to be in the kitchen a lot, and this means I get leftovers.”

“Sunshine has a good feel for what a menu should look like,” I said finally. My voice sounded more gruff than I meant for it, but I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be flirting more.

“You’re the chef,” she said, still looking a bit red. “I just like throwing ideas at you.”

I nodded, and we spent the rest of the night trying and discarding ideas for dishes I could execute. I wanted each dish to stand on its own but also work with whatever we were serving in the room with it. Using the concept of kaiseki would help, because then I could focus on the five senses to make the menu cohesive. It would be too easy to make it a jumbled mess.

I promised to meet up with Sunshine the next day when we could work on the menu some more, and as I drove home with my pack, I couldn’t help but focus on the small whiffs of Sunshine’s linen and sky scent.

Once the three of us were in bed, Luca and I on either side of Julian, he pounced.

“Sunshine wants us,” Julian said.

Luca shifted his weight and rubbed his chin on our omega’s shoulder. “She does. But she doesn’t flirt back. We don’t want to push before she’s ready.”

“She might not know how. She never pushes us away when we flirt.” Julian sounded sure of himself. “She was perfectly comfortable when we snuggled on the couch together.”

“Maybe Julian’s right,” I started, not sure how to articulate my feelings.

Luca and Julian waited, neither of them pressing me. “She watches you two. She isn’t unaffected, but she doesn’t flirt back. But she trusts you, Julian.” I huffed, annoyed at my lack of ability to express myself. “She feels like pack.”

Luca and Julian both made noises of agreement.

“I’m going to flirt a little harder,” Julian said. “If you two are ready for the next step.”

“I am,” Luca said quietly. “I keep wanting to take her to dinner, to a show. But I’m too worried about making her uncomfortable.”

“I’m trying,” I said. “I don’t know what else to do, but I’ll try not to make things harder.”

Julian patted my shoulder. “You’re doing great. She loves hanging out with you.”

“I need more excuses to be alone with her,” Luca said, sounding put out. “Julian’s her buddy and she talks food with Logan.”

“Which makes me her coworker,” I grumbled.

Julian laughed. “Okay, okay. It’s settled. We will flirt and see if she’s open to the idea of dating.”

I didn’t think I was going to be particularly good at dating, but if it meant seeing Sunshine more, and being able to touch her when I wanted to, I was up for that.

I just had to focus on getting our menu together while Julian put whatever plan he had into motion.

Chapter 16

Luca

My shoes crunched on the gravel driveway as I walked up to the Villa Del Salerno. A secluded villa along the California coast, it had been most people’s Holy Grail to host an event. I’d parked off to the side and walked around to the courtyard.

Sunshine walked quickly across the patio, her strappy sandals clicking on the cobblestones. Her sister Stella walked past, carrying a massive potted plant.

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