Page 46 of Whisking It All

“Your turn, Jamie,” Natalia said, gesturing him over to where she’d hung the wardrobe bag from a pot rack. As Aster Bay’s most fashionable resident—and one of the only people who’d volunteered to help with this marketing experiment—Natalia had been appointed the photoshoot’s impromptu stylist and she was taking the role very seriously.

Jamie let Natalia fuss over the precise rolling of the sleeves of his chef’s jacket, muttering something about forearms as she did, but he didn’t take his eyes off Tessa. Instead of a chef’s coat, she wore a navy-blue sweater, the weave shot through with sparkling silver threads that caught the light, and a deep V-neck revealing the high, firm swell of her breasts. Dark jeans hugged her hips and ass and disappeared into calf-high, camel-colored boots, the heels clacking against the tile floor of the kitchen with every step she took. Tessa was always gorgeous, but standing there in front of the lights, laughing with Kyla as she affected exaggerated poses for the lighting tests, she looked like an honest-to-God model. He wanted to peel the expensive clothing from her piece by piece until he found the girl he knew underneath, the one who hardly wore makeup and preferred novelty tees to the kind of overtly sexy clothing Natalia had put her in.

“She’s pretty, right?” Natalia said with a too-knowing smirk as she adjusted the lapels of his coat.

“She didn’t need the makeup or the clothes for that,” he said.

“No, she didn’t.”

“She looks great,” he said. “She just doesn’t look like her.”

Natalia hummed, as though he’d said much more than he’d meant to. Before he could ask what that sound meant, though, Gavin was calling him over to review the plan with Tessa and Kyla.

“We’re just going to have fun with it,” Kyla said, fidgeting with the camera in her hands. “The more it looks like you don’t know you’re being photographed, the better. We want it to look authentic.”

“Like I always happen to wear heels and a push-up-bra in the kitchen?” Tessa asked.

Kyla laughed. “Exactly. Brodie, can you kill the overheads?” she called.

Brodie flipped a switch, turning off the overhead lights and leaving them under the bright beams of the spotlights Kyla had placed throughout the kitchen. Suddenly his kitchen looked more like a movie set than the heart of his restaurant.

“When you told me you took photos, I had no idea you meant like this,” Tessa marveled, gesturing to the extensive set-up. “It’s so professional.”

“My girl takes all kinds of photos,” Brodie said with a chortle. Kyla’s face turned bright red.

“Brodie,” Gavin barked, scowling.

Jamie pinned the kid with a withering glare. “Where’s that mise?”

“On it,” Brodie grumbled as he disappeared into the walk-in for the prepared cutting board of diced and julienned ingredients for Jamie and Tessa to pose with.

“It’s not a big deal,” Kyla said, not meeting their eyes. “It’s just a hobby.”

“She’s being modest,” Gavin said gently, but he let it drop. “We really appreciate you doing this, Kyla. Really.”

Kyla blushed. “Let’s start with the wine,” she said, taking her camera and boosting herself up to sit on the edge of the workstation opposite them.

As Gavin and Natalia looked on, Jamie fumbled with the wine opener, finally succeeding in opening the bottle of Nuthatch’s cabernet sauvignon and pouring he and Tessa each a glass. He tried to ignore the clicking of the camera as they each raised their glass and took a sip.

“Scoot closer,” Kyla directed. They each took half a step towards each other. “Look at each other,” she called. They locked eyes over the top of their wine glasses and took another sip, their eyes unnaturally focused on each other.

The clicking stopped and Kyla lowered the camera while Brodie set the cutting board down on the edge of the workstation nearest Jamie and Tessa. Kyla glanced around the room, chewing her lip.

“What is it?” Tessa asked her.

Kyla thought for a minute, then shook her head. “Nothing. Let’s try again. Pretend we’re not here.”

Three more times they tried to take her direction and three more times they succeeded only in looking like some kind of deranged automatons.

“Jesus. Wouldn’t think it’d be so hard to take a good picture,” Brodie grumbled.

“Okay, this isn’t working,” Kyla said. She set her camera down and slid off the workstation. “Everyone out.” Jamie took a step towards the door and Kyla spun on him. “Not you two. Everyone else out.” Kyla ushered their protesting friends out of the kitchen and into the dining room. She turned back to them with a determined set to her jaw. “New plan.”

Thirty minutes and a glass and a half of wine later, Jamie and Tessa were much more relaxed. Tessa and Kyla had set up the Bluetooth speakers in his kitchen to blare that awful pop music Tessa liked, and Tessa was delighting in tormenting Jamie with each new song.

“You can’t rhyme ‘love’ with ‘love!’” Jamie said. “That’s just lazy songwriting.”

“What else should they have rhymed it with?” Tessa asked, refilling their glasses.

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