Page 16 of Love Over Easy

We’ve stolen a few handsy kisses in passing, but word’s been getting out that the Gray sisters haven’t run the local diner into the ground. I’ve also overheard some compliments on the food. Hell, I caught June Ashburn in the cereal aisle of the grocery store two days ago raving about the burgers. It’s been busier than ever this week.

In the middle of chopping bell peppers for tomorrow’s prep, now that my potatoes are in the oven, my phone buzzes against the counter. One glance at the screen makes my entire body tense.

Cassius.

I ignore the call and continue preparing dinner.

“Something smells good in here,” Kinley’s voice has a sing-song quality to it. I’ve been dying to give her another orgasm, though she seems to still be floating on the euphoria of the first. The thought makes me grin like a damn fool.

“You’re not supposed to be in here yet,” I say. “You’ll spoil the surprise.”

“It smellsso good.You trying to seduce me, Rowan?” The way she purrs my name nearly causes me to slice my fucking thumb off. Luckily the sharp blade misses by a fraction of an inch and slams into the cutting board. “Because it might be working.”

Looking over my shoulder, I drop a kiss to her lips. Deepening it as a promise for later. We have one more day of diner madness to survive before another day off, and I want to make sure she remembers my promise even if it gets crazy. Just one more day, I swear to myself, inhaling her scent as I pull away from her.

And you’ll be mine, my heart vows to hers.I’ll prove it to you.I plan to use every minute of that day to explore her body, inch by delicious inch, with multiple body parts.

“Now, scoot,” I order, clearing my throat in an effort to get myself together. I am in a kitchen after all. With an open flame. And knives. “No more peeking. It’s going to be at least thirty more minutes.”

My phone buzzes again.

“Cas is calling you?” Kinley’s confusion is warranted. My brother and I have never really gotten along outside of brief moments of toleration. Even before he turned his back on Caribou Creek and disappeared to live off the grid, he wasn’t the type to call his only brother and check in or shoot the breeze. He hardly acknowledged my existence.

“Probably about work.” In his absence, I helped implement some changes and improve several inefficiencies in the company. A couple of them are probably driving him mad. He never was much for change. I can’t help but smirk at the image of him slamming his rolling chair into the desk, pissed off that the invoicing software is new and he’s already locked himself out of the system. Adding salt to the wound that his little brother won’t take his call and help him out.

“Is he really back for good?” Kinley asks, her question gentle. Cautious. She rests her head against the doorjamb, waiting for an answer.

“That’s what I heard.”

“You haven’t seen him yet?”

“No reason to.”

“Maybe with him back, you could pursue…other things.”

I stiffen, afraid this was going to happen. Kinley means well, but she just doesn’t get it with my family. She and her sisters bicker and fight. But at the end of the day, they always figure things out. My family holds grudges until the end of fucking time. “I’m only here until your grandma gets back.”

“You’re really trying to tell me that you’d rather work for you dad than be in a kitchen?”

“Yep.”

“Liar.”

Our gaze locks again, making me feel unsettled. I’ve always had an interest in cooking, baking, grilling. Hell anything that involved food. But I’ve kept my passion for it a secret. Only Grandma Dottie has any idea how much I enjoy it. The rest of my family would never understand. They’d disown me if I left the family business to cook. “I don’t believe for a second that Cas won’t just up and leave again. And when he does, I’ll be there to pick up the pieces once again. To prove to my dad that I’m the one who’s reliable.”

“You shouldn’t have to prove what you’ve already shown all these years, Rowan.” She rests her hand on my bicep. Her touch is like a soothing balm. I feel my pulse calm and the tension in my shoulders let up. This is one of the many reasons I’m in love with Kinley. She’s the only one who has this effect on me.

“I’m not quitting the logging business to…what?”

“Get a food truck,” she suggests. “Open your own restaurant. Move to Anchorage with me and run a kitchen.”

My phone vibrates again. The only reason I swipe it from the counter is because Kinley had to fucking bring up Anchorage. Any free moments we’ve had these past few days have been spent lip-locked with groping hands inside clothes. Every intention I had of talking to her about staying—about moving home—has been forgotten the second she’s in my arms.

“I better head outside and take this before he calls Garrett and requests a fucking police search to hunt me down,” I grumble.

“I hope everything’s okay.” The gentle concern in her tone touches a place inside that’s been dormant and dark since the day she chose her asshole ex and left. It makes me all the more determined to figure this out. I’m not losing her again. Not now. Not ever.

CHAPTER13

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