Chapter 25
Luke
“I need to order a couple of things.” I look over at Mikaela as I do inventory, closing the produce fridge. The phone rings from my back pocket. Reaching around, I take it out and see that it’s Clarabella calling. My whole face fills with a smile, and I can’t help it.
Turning around, I walk out of the kitchen before I press the green button. “Hey, beautiful,” I greet softly, looking around to make sure no one hears me.
“Hi.” She sounds like she is rushing around, the sound of her heels clicking in the background.
“Um.”
“Um,” I repeat after laughing at how nervous her tone comes out. “Are you okay?”
“No,” she says, and my heart immediately stops in my chest. I feel the color draining from my face, and the only thing going through my mind is to get the fuck to her.
“What happened?” I ask, and I’m already walking to the back door. I cover the bottom of the phone and look over at Mikaela. “Mikaela, I have an emergency.” Her eyes go wide, and she nods at me so I know she’s going to handle this when I get into the truck. “Where are you?”
“I’m at the venue,” she says, and I can’t even control the way my heart is beating. I literally think I’m going to be sick as I peel out of the parking lot.
“I’ll be there in five minutes,” I say into the phone. The past three weeks have been a complete dream with her. There has never been any other time in my life when I have felt so settled and so fucking complete. There has never been any other time in my life when I felt like I deserved this before and put someone before me. Ever. I make sure that I schedule myself off when she has the days off. There has also never been any other time in my life when I smile more than anything. Every night I go to bed holding her and wake up next to her, and I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“I’m fine,” she assures me, her voice coming out soft. “It’s just…”
My hands grip the steering wheel so tight my knuckles turn white. “It’s just what, Clarabella?”
“I’m in a little bit of a predicament,” she says, her voice hushed, and I literally can’t get there fast enough. “Are you honestly on your way here?” she asks as soon as I pull into the parking lot of the venue.
“I’m at the back,” I say, and now I can hear her mumbling something to someone. The sound of her heels in the background lets me know she’s on her way to the kitchen. I hang up the phone, putting it back in my pocket as I walk up the steps to the kitchen, and I pull it open.
I look around, seeing things on the counter but no one in the kitchen, when the door swings open and Clarabella comes in. I smile when I see her wearing cream-colored pants that fit her tight with a bright cherry-red sleeveless silk top. The matching red shoes make my mouth water, and I can’t help but stare at her. My eyes meet hers, and I give her a once-over, making sure she is okay. I don’t even notice that her sisters are two steps behind her. “I’m so happy I came in early today,” Presley says, and I look at them confused.
“I’m just pissed that we can’t capture this on camera.” Shelby pouts, while my eyes go to her and then back to Clarabella.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask, relieved that she’s okay.
“Yes, Clarabella,” Presley urges, looking at her. “What the hell is going on?”
Clarabella glares at her as she wrings her hands in front of her, and I can tell that whatever she is going to tell me, she’s nervous about it. “Nothing is going on. It’s just I’m stuck.” I tilt my head to the side. “And I need your help.”
“Oh my God,” Shelby says, putting her hand to her mouth. “How the mighty have fallen.”
Clarabella’s head whips around as she looks at her. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”
“No,” Shelby states at the same time as Presley says, “I wouldn’t leave this room even if the room was on fire.”
“Okay.” I hold up my hands. With the three of them together, you can’t understand anything since they have this special bond. It’s like they know what the other is thinking just with their eyes. “I don’t know what is going on, but someone better tell me why the hell I rushed over here.”
“You rushed over here?” Presley says, clapping her hands. “So you have no idea why you are here? Brilliant.” She laughs and turns to Clarabella. “Clarabella, why don’t you tell Luke why you called him and why he rushed over here.”
“I hate you,” she mumbles to Presley and then takes a step toward me. I don’t know if she’s hoping that her sisters don’t follow her, but they move with her. “So the chef for today who was supposed to come in…” She avoids looking at me. “And well, he decided that he isn’t coming in.” I can tell that her face is filled with worry.
“And the event starts in three hours,” Shelby shares, and I get it now. I step closer to her now, and I can smell her lavender scent. I want nothing more than to kiss her lips.
“Hold on,” I say softly as I put my finger under her chin to lift her eyes to me. “Are you saying that you hired another chef to replace me?”
“That would be a yes,” Presley confirms, and Clarabella just takes a deep inhale.
“In my defense, it was six weeks ago.” Clarabella throws up her hand, and my hand falls from her face.
“So six weeks ago, you fired me?” I put my hands on my hips, enjoying that she is dying inside at this moment.
“I didn’t fire you,” Clarabella defends.
“Yeah, she didn’t fire you,” Shelby says. “She was weeding you out.”
Clarabella slaps her hands together. “Okay, everyone out,” she orders, turning to look at her sister. “You and you.” She points at her sisters. “Go do something else.”
“Ugh, fine,” Shelby says, turning and walking out.
“The damage is done anyway,” Presley declares. “Luke, thank you for the entertainment as always.” She smirks. “I’m just happy you aren’t naked this time.” She turns and walks out.
“I will never live that down.” I look up at the ceiling, then look back down at Clarabella, but this time, I walk closer to her and wrap my arm around her waist. “So you were weeding me out?” I say, my heart suddenly calmer now that I have her in my arms. She puts her hand on the arm around her. “Isn’t that interesting?”
“I was not weeding you out,” she lies, and I can tell she’s lying because her chest gets blotchy when she does. “It was complicated.”
“I don’t think it’s as complicated as you say it is.” I bend and kiss her lips, not waiting another minute. “You didn’t want to work with me.”
“No,” she answers. She wraps her arms around my neck and closes the gap between us. “I did not want to work with you.”
“Why?” I ask, bending my head and kissing her again. This time, the kiss lingers for a second longer than it did before. “I had no trouble working with you.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to work with you,” she answers, looking at me. “I was mad, and I became petty.”
“And you hired another chef,” I point out. “And how is that working out for you right now?”
“Well, considering I’m about to swallow my pride and beg you for a favor.” She rolls her eyes. “Not great.”
“Well, what terms are we discussing?” I ask.
“How about a blow job twice a day?” she offers, and I roll my eyes at her.
“I already get that,” I joke with her, and now it’s her turn to roll her eyes at me. “Let me see what I need to do, and then we can talk terms.” I kiss her lips, walking over to the folder on the table. I see the list of food that needs to be prepared and how many people it’s going to be for. “This should be okay,” I say. “But it will cost you.”
“She’ll pay double.” I hear Shelby from behind the closed door.
“Are they really out there?” I whisper, pointing at the door as she just nods her head. “Were they out there the whole time?”
“Probably.” She shrugs.
“They heard what we said.” I close my eyes.
“I think they know we have sex.” She laughs. “They caught you plowing into me.” I close my eyes and put my hands on my face. “Now get to work,” she says, and I can see that she is back to her relaxed self.
I shake my head, walking over and washing my hands before starting to prepare the food. The waitstaff arrives, and then Clarabella comes in. “How is it going?” she asks, and I see that her red heels are changed to black flats.
“I’m almost done,” I reply, looking at the clock. “I’m going to get ready to plate in five minutes.” She turns and grabs the stack of plates and comes over, placing them down for me. She makes sure that all plates are taken out as soon as they are plated. She rushes back and forth to make sure that everything is okay. The second service is pretty much the same as the first.
She directs the staff perfectly, and a plate never sits for longer than five seconds. The staff all respect and listen to her. I take a second between courses to see her pull a couple of waitresses aside as she explains things to them. Each time, she does it quietly and respectfully, and I’m in awe of the way she handles things. Three hours later, I’m wiping down my area when the three of them come into the kitchen.
“Well,” Shelby says. “I’m going to say that I think that is the smoothest service that we’ve ever done.”
“Hands down one of the easiest,” Presley agrees. “There wasn’t one complaint that we had.”
“Do you usually have complaints?” I ask them as I walk over to the sink to wash off the rag before tossing it into the dirty linens basket.
“No,” Clarabella replies. “My sisters are just trying to butter you up so you don’t fire us.”
“With that,” Shelby says. “I’m out.” Presley salutes me before turning around and walking out with Shelby.
“Are you done?” Clarabella asks, and I look around at the busboys loading another round into the dishwasher.
“I’m done,” I say, and she smirks at me. “Come with me.” She motions with her head, and I follow her out into the venue place. I look around the room, seeing the empty tables as she walks to the bar area in the corner. She walks around the counter, grabs something from behind the bar, and then comes back to my side. I sit on the stool, and she sits on the stool beside me, putting down two glasses she was holding in her hand. She fills the glasses with scotch, then puts the bottle down and picks up one glass in each hand, handing me one.
“To teamwork.” She holds her glass up.
“Teamwork makes the dream work,” I joke with her and click her glass with mine. She’s about to bring the glass to her lips before I say something. “Oh and to paying off debts.” I wink at her, and she just looks at me without taking a sip of her drink. “I hope you saved your energy. I plan on making you pay for trying to weed me out,” I tease, taking the shot of scotch and placing the glass down on the bar. “So, Clarabella…” I say her name, leaning into her. My cock is hard as fuck, and I can see that her eyes turn a darker blue. “The only thing you get to decide tonight is your place or mine?”