Page 13 of Recipe for Romance (Applewood #2)

Nicole’s smile widened. “Why didn’t you?

” she asked. His look was thunderous and she held up her hands, wondering if she should just keep them there any time she spoke with him.

“Sorry. I got stopped by Mrs. Howard on my way up to my room. She wanted to know if she could set me up with her son, and I told her that while I was flattered by the offer, I should probably focus on my training.” Nicole kept the fact that the number one reason she turned the woman down was currently staring daggers at her to herself.

Given the intense look in Aiden’s eyes, she was right to do so.

His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel. “This isn’t going to work,” he huffed, exiting the vehicle.

Nicole watched his door shut, scrambling out of her own side to follow him as he stomped toward the motel entrance.

“Wait!” she screamed in a panic. She couldn’t lose this opportunity already.

She knew her tendency to turn even the simplest task into a complicated mess would come back to bite her, but she thought she would at least make it past day one.

“I won’t take too long again, I promise. ”

“Where’s your room?” His blue eyes were a bizarre mixture of confusion and frustration.

Ignoring that as best she could, she pointed silently to a door just off the main hallway.

When Aiden nodded at the door, she pulled out her card and scanned the lock.

Nicole’s mind whirred with all the ways she could beg and plead for another shot, but he looked so resolute that she wasn’t sure he would even entertain the words at this point. “Pack your things.”

Nicole plodded over to her bags and started shoving her clothes inside, stopping when the anger at being dismissed so easily rose up and boiled over.

Tossing her shirt to the side, she stomped back over to him.

She had to crane her head back, way back , to look him in the eye, but when she did she tried to express all the frustration she was feeling.

Poking him in the chest, Nicole tried to ignore not only the swirl of emotions inside her, but also the confirmation that the muscles beneath his shirt were as firm as she thought they would be.

“You told me you were a perfectionist. I knew you had a reputation for being impossible to work for, but I didn’t think you’d be this big of an asshole.

I can’t believe you’re giving up on me already. ”

The fury that burned in his eyes turned to shock as his head reared back.

“Giving up?” he huffed. Wiping her finger away with his hand and closing the mere inches that lay between them, Aiden leaned down, his eyes boring into hers.

“I don’t give up so easily, but I also can’t do my jobs, training you and opening my restaurant, if I’m constantly woken up too early and waiting on you to finish your conversations with Mrs. Henry. ”

“Howard,” Nicole corrected. Aiden closed his eyes and his lips moved lightly, probably praying for patience or deliverance from her brand of evil annoyance. Whatever he was saying was lost on her because all she could focus on was the pair of lips she wanted to taste.

“Fine, Howard,” he bit out. Stepping aside, he picked up the shirt she’d tossed and handed it to her.

“If this has any chance of working, you’re staying at my place.

” Nicole’s jaw dropped open, but before she could make a sound, Aiden shook his head.

“It’s the only way this is happening. Take it or leave it. ”

Silly man. He thought she was going to protest living with him?

If anything, he’d just made this whole adventure a lot more fun.

Was it wise for her to move in with the object of her affection, especially knowing how cantankerous he was when she was around?

Doubtful. Did she care? Not one bit. Still, she couldn’t leave him holding all the cards.

“Fine,” she agreed. “But you have to give me lessons daily and take me with you to do all your restaurant stuff.”

He narrowed his eyes but his head bobbed curtly. “Deal. Now get your stuff. I’ll go settle up at the front desk and then we’re hitting the restaurant.”

“Great,” Nicole beamed. “I can’t wait to see it.

” Fifteen minutes later, she was almost wishing she could reel the words she’d uttered earlier back into her mouth.

They had pulled up to a large building that looked like a charred marshmallow and she couldn’t imagine that anyone would want to drive past it let alone eat inside of it.

When Aiden opened his car door, Nicole stared at him bug-eyed. “ This is your restaurant?”

Aiden’s brow furrowed as he exited the vehicle.

Like the lost little puppy she seemed to be around him, Nicole quickly followed despite his merely glaring at her in response.

He gazed at her over his shoulder. “Right now it’s little more than a burnt out shell of a building, but when I’m done with it, it will be. ”

Nicole eyed the building dubiously but followed him inside. “Are you sure it’s safe to be in here?” It looked like one stiff breeze could collapse the whole thing, and while she was always up for an adventure, dying young wasn’t one of them.

Aiden shrugged, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

“Not really.” He snapped a few pictures of a second floor that lined the walls of the outside and opened up onto the first, giving a clear view of the cross beams on the raised ceiling.

“My brother Beckett said that the building wouldn’t fall down, but don’t go throwing any rocks at the walls just in case. ”

The corner of his mouth ticked as he snapped another picture and Nicole chuckled.

“Was that a joke?” He glared at her but the corner of his mouth lifted higher.

The difference was miniscule, probably unnoticeable to anyone who wasn’t currently staring at him and mapping the topography of his face like she was, but it was definitely there.

“Oh my God. I didn’t know you had a sense of humor.

Will wonders never cease?” His glare intensified slightly so Nicole decided to stop teasing.

Aiden continued to explore the main floor, snapping pictures every now and then.

She wasn’t sure what he saw in the different areas because it all looked like charcoal to her, but she could kind of imagine what he might be thinking.

Her mind’s eye tried to put together images of a restaurant and as she started to picture tables and chairs, mixed textures to give depth to the space, something else popped into her head.

“A bar would look good in the middle here. Not a big one, but enough to maybe be a focal point. It would be easily accessible for the wait staff too.” Nicole immediately pinched her lips together, wondering if she’d spoken out of turn.

When she peered over at Aiden, he simply stared for a long moment before nodding thoughtfully and walking toward a smaller room.

That was as good a feedback as he seemed to want to give, but Nicole wasn’t deterred by his lack of communication.

Following him inside, Nicole saw nothing but more charred wood and peeling paint, but Aiden’s expression was knowing as he considered the space.

Eventually, he pointed to one side of the room.

“Will you stand over there?” He turned and his lips twisted into the smallest smirk imaginable. “I need some scale for the kitchen and, wouldn’t you know it, I’m fresh out of bananas.”

Nicole followed his gaze and stood where he indicated. “You keep joking like that and I might have to start spreading rumors that you’re not as big a grump as you claim to be.”

A saddened look came over his face just before the shutter clicked. “At least it would be more positive than the ones going around at the moment.”

Feeling bad for bringing up his current troubles, Nicole stepped back over to him and touched his arm lightly. His skin was hot to the touch and she wondered if it was residual heat from whatever fire had burned the building or if it was all him. “Sorry.”

Aiden nodded, lightly patting the hand that rested on him before stepping back.

She missed the heat pouring off his body and the way the air seemed to move around him immediately, but voicing that would be completely inappropriate and she was having a hard enough time controlling her motormouth ways around him as it was.

“Nothing to do now but prove everybody wrong.”

Nicole smiled. She knew a thing or two about wanting to prove people wrong. “I look forward to helping you do that.” Hopefully as she did, she’d prove a little something to her dad as well, though the longer she was around Aiden, the less her dad’s opinion of her seemed to matter.