Page 24 of To Love and Protect
Remedie squealed. Nico did a double take at her. She actually squealed in delight.Fuck kinda shit is this?Nico thought.
“I did a stage there when I was in culinary school.” She gushed.
“What’s a stage?” Gramps asked, and Nico could tell he was doing his best to keep up with the conversation.
“It’s basically an interview for chefs. You do a normal interview, and then you go in for a stage and work for a day at the restaurant to see if it would be a good fit. Ember Sinclair is theowner, and she’s so sweet. I almost took the job there, but I got offered a higher position elsewhere.”
“That’s so dope you worked there. We should go there sometime. I heard they have a new fall menu that’s to die for?—”
“How ’bout we go there?” Nico asked, quickly cutting off the bonding moment she and Tyree were having. No shade to his brother, but he needed to secure Remedie’s heart first, and then she and Tyree could bond.
Remedie looked at him with her brows damn near to her hairline. “Really? You want to go there?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Always wanted to check it out,” he lied. He’d never even heard of the place. “We can go tonight. Since it’s my last night before training starts again, we can indulge. It’ll give you the night off too.”
Remedie and Tyree glanced at each other like they knew something he didn’t, which instantly made his ass itch.
“Bro, you can’t just walk into Prime & Ember. It’s booked out for months,” Tyree said with a snicker.
Nico kept looking at Remedie with a tight smile on his face while he subtly swung his fist backward and connected with Tyree’s knee for cock-blocking. Tyree yelped. Nico’s tight smile relaxed into a genuine one. “Leave the reservations up to me. What do you say, future wifey?”
Remedie rolled her eyes up to the ceiling, but he could tell she was excited by the idea of going to the restaurant. The corners of her pretty ass lips begged to turn up into a smile, and finally, she gave in. His heart felt like it was trying to jump out of his chest and snuggle into hers.
“Alright, but it’s only because it’ll give me the night off.”
Nico felt like he’d just won the lottery. A win was a win, and if she wanted to play it off like she was only going for a night off, then he would let her.
“Okay, let’s go over this schedule and your focused menu for the next few weeks, champ,” Gramps said, leaning over to grab his briefcase where he kept his notepad and pen. He was so damn old-school.
Nico couldn’t focus though. While they thought he was tuned into the meeting and taking notes or some shit, he was tapping away on his phone, trying to figure out how the hell he was going to get a reservation for that night to this Prime & Ember spot.
CHAPTER TEN
One thing about Remedie, she was a good girl. His future baby mama waited patiently in the car while he walked around it to open her door. When he opened it, he held his hand out for her to grab. He breathed in her flowery scent while his eyes traveled down the length of her body. She wore this cute little black dress that hugged all her curves. Outside of the night he met her, he’d only seen her in comfortable clothes, like leggings, biker shorts, sweats, and oversized T-shirts. Tonight was something entirely different, though, and he loved the switch up.
“I can’t believe you were able to get us reservations on such short notice,” Remedie said as Nico tossed his keys to valet and tipped them generously.
“It wasn’t nothin’, baby,” Nico lied.
It had actually been a whole lot of something. The manager of the place wasn’t trying to free up a table for him for nothing. Trying to get up in there was like trying to get up in Fort Knox—damn near impossible, but he made it happen. His pockets took a big hit, and when it was all said and done, he took the rest of the afternoon and evening to think about his idiotic decision. He was sure Remedie would have been more than happy to go somewhere else for dinner, but that wasn’t good enough for him.He wanted to impress her. He wanted to prove to her that he would move heaven and hell for her.
Nico’s hand skimmed her lower back as they walked into the restaurant. The first thing he noticed was the elegance of the place. The high ceilings were decorated with crystal chandeliers. The cream floors were shiny. The black decor looked chic. But the fountain in the middle of the space with a goddess spouting out water took the cake.
Nico whistled. “This place is nice as hell.”
“Right?” Remedie cheesed up at him, and that right there made his damaged pockets forgive him just a little bit.
The hostess greeted them and then walked them to their table. Nico enjoyed the sound of Remedie’s heels clicking against the sparkling floors. It was such a feminine sound to him. And, okay, he wouldn’t be him if he didn’t also enjoy the way her ass jiggled in the dress she wore as she sashayed through the room.
He peeped a few men glancing her way and disrespecting their dates. A week ago, Nico would have dapped them up on the sly. He loved when he had the finest shit in the room. It fed his ego. Tonight, though, he found himself inconspicuously flipping them off for looking at his woman. Yeah, he was that childish and petty. Apparently, he was that possessive too.
He pulled her chair out for her and then sat across from her. The grin on his face wouldn’t go away as he looked at her. She squirmed a bit, and there went that blush, before she asked, “What?”
“Nothing.” Really, he was pleased with himself. He’d never been the romantic type before, but he kind of liked it. The payoff of seeing this beautiful woman blushing across from him did something to him. She made him want to be like this every day of the week. “So, what’s good here, cookie?”
Nico thought she was thankful for something to do because she picked up the menu with a quickness and used it to shieldthe lower half of her face. He chuckled. He’d let her live. For now.
“The steak, obviously. I’ve only ever eaten here the one time when I had my stage, and that’s what I had with the buttery mashed potatoes and asparagus, but I don’t think you can go wrong. Oh, and they bring out the best skillet cornbread you’ve ever had. It’s infused with sage. It’s so good.” He watched as she rambled. He loved that he made her so nervous.
