Page 5 of Lost in You (The Monroes 3)

So why was Liam in such a pissy mood lately? Part of him hated that he’d been technically forced to move back to the town he loathed. Okay, “loathed” might have been too strong a word, but he’d rather live anywhere than in the place where people knew his backstory and thought they could relate.

Unless you had your mother die when you were twelve, you had been abused at your foster homes, and you had a tragic accident leaving you scarred in every single way, there was no way you could relate.

And the pity party he was mentally throwing himself had to cease. Just being back in Haven put his mind in an uneasy state. He’d overcome that time in his life, or at least tried to move past it. He’d literally run from everything and started fresh.

Of course he’d lost his job when he’d asked for time off to help his brothers get the resort started. But his skills were unlike any others’ and he knew he could find a job in another prestigious restaurant.

He vowed one day to have his own. The ultimate objective of any chef, he figured, but he had his sights set high and he didn’t plan on stopping until he reached his goal.

After Liam got the bread ready, with just the right amount of spices coating what would be the crusty top, he popped the pans into the oven and sent off a quick text to Sophie and Cora. No doubt the ladies would be eager to see him in the morning once he arriv

ed with fresh bread and dipping sauce, which he still needed to make.

His phone buzzed, but instead of a reply text he saw the message was from one of his old coworkers. Liam didn’t make many friends, but John was the closest thing to one in Savannah.

As he read through the lengthy text, Liam became increasingly intrigued and a bit hopeful. The place where he used to work was rumored to be going up for sale. Liam and the owner hadn’t parted on the best of terms, even though Liam had been a loyal worker for ten years. When push came to shove, Liam had had to walk away from his dream job in order to come home and Mark Pritchard hadn’t even tried to keep him.

Liam didn’t reply to the text. What could he say? There were too many questions. Why was it for sale? What did John want Liam to do? It’s not like Liam had funds to purchase another business. At the moment, all of his savings were tied up in Bella Vous.

But having his own restaurant was the top contender on his bucket list. Buying Magnolias would be a smart move for anyone. The business was already established, the location was perfect, and no doubt all the employees would want to stay on. Getting a loan shouldn’t be a problem.

If Magnolias was actually going up for sale, Liam wanted it. He had to at least try; the opportunity was everything he’d been hoping for. The timing sucked, but everything in life worth having usually came with some type of risk. The dream his mother had was now a potential reality for him.

He needed to put his pride aside, and the sting of being let go, and talk to Mark to see if they could settle on a price. Then the hard part would come and Liam would actually have to talk to Zach and Braxton.

Blowing out a breath, Liam checked on his bread. Within minutes the apartment filled with familiar, comforting smells. His phone vibrated several more times with excited messages from Sophie and Cora. Women were so easy to please, especially with food. Wait until they tried the macaroons he’d have on hand for the next Wind Down with Wine event.

Liam wondered what pleased Macy, but quickly shoved that thought aside. He didn’t need to know what pleased her. He didn’t need to know any more about her than necessary.

Macy wasn’t like most women he knew. She was simple, her clothes, her style. She was breathtaking without an ounce of makeup, her hair pulled back, and her flannels and jeans. The T-shirt and jeans were equally as sexy. A tall woman with curves in all the right places was enough to attract any man, and Liam figured that was why she dated so much. She could have any man she wanted and he was a fool for spending so much time thinking about her.

He should have been a little more grateful for her help, for her giving him a place to stay so he didn’t have to intrude on his brothers and their new love lives. Still, something about Macy made him edgy, irritable. He knew what that “something” was, but he didn’t want to admit anything, even to himself.

From now on, he needed to keep his distance from Macy whenever possible. He wasn’t looking for anything, much less an unwanted attraction. The last thing he needed was to make more ties here. He was working on a way to get out of this town, keep supporting his sister’s dream, and live his own life . . . away from Haven. Away from Macy.

Chapter Two

“Marry me.”

Liam laughed at Sophie as he piped frosting through the center of the cream horns for breakfast the next morning. He absolutely loved working in this kitchen. Because of his profession, his brothers had given him all the authority to pick and choose how this room should be set up. At the time, Liam had no idea he’d be the one benefitting from the double wall ovens, the six burner gas stove, and the dual commercial size refrigerators.

The large quartz top island was any chef’s dream. The storage beneath held so many of his baking needs well within reach, the far side he’d requested would have six bar stools so they could eat in here comfortably while the guests used the formal dining room.

The bright window over the sink looked out onto the pond. There was no way he could be in this room and not be in a good mood. As much as he wanted his own restaurant, for now this wasn’t a bad gig.

“If I was looking for a wife, you’d be a perfect contender,” he told Sophie.

“If you flirt with my fiancée again, I’ll kick your ass.”

Liam glanced up as Zach strode into the renovated kitchen, a brown sack beneath his arm. Sophie tore off another hunk of bread and dipped it into the creamy sauce he’d made the night before. If her moans, sighs, and marriage proposal were any indication, he’d say the new recipe was a hit.

“She proposed to me,” Liam defended. “Maybe she has a thing for a man who can cook and owns something besides denim and flannel.”

“Like those tight-ass T-shirts you wear?” Zach grunted as he kissed Sophie on the cheek and took a bite from the bread she held. “Damn, Liam. I’ll marry you for that. What did you do to that bread?”

The unexpected compliment took Liam by surprise. It was no secret the two of them didn’t always mesh. At one time there was pure hatred, but over the past year they’d grown closer. Chelsea would’ve loved to have seen this, and perhaps because of her untimely death and the dream she’d envisioned, Liam and Zach were actually repairing their damaged past.

Even before the accident, the two would butt heads. Their type A personalities seemed to clash on a daily basis. They had been in the midst of an epic argument when the accident happened. They’d been circling each other for months, griping at each other about anything and everything. Their egos were constantly clashing. They’d both attempted to date the same girl, and that had turned out about as well as it sounded.

---