Page 44 of The Hidden Daughter (The Lost Daughters #7)

Charlotte blinked back at him at the same time as a crisis unfolded behind her.

She heard something drop and one of the chefs curse, which usually she would have reprimanded any of the kitchen staff for when they had a guest at the chef’s table, but this time she wasn’t capable of reprimanding anyone.

Her gaze was trained on Harrison, and the only words she wanted to hear were the ones coming out of his mouth.

‘You came to the restaurant to see me, or—’ She needed to hear him say it, to make sure she understood what he was trying to tell her, that she wasn’t imagining a hidden meaning.

‘I came to Oslo to see you,’ he said, his expression so earnest it threatened to break her heart all over again. ‘And then I booked the chef’s table because I didn’t know whether you’d even take my calls. It seemed like the only way to guarantee that—’

‘Chef!’ someone called, interrupting him.

‘This is my place of work,’ Charlotte said, keeping her voice even, not wanting to get emotional or react in anything other than a professional way in front of her staff or Harrison. ‘I can’t do this here, I can’t—’

‘After your shift,’ Harrison said, his eyes pleading with her. ‘Please. Just give me an hour. Half an hour, even. If you don’t want to see me ever again after that, then I promise I’ll leave you alone and never come back.’

‘The hotel bar. Meet me there once the kitchen closes,’ she said, hurrying back into the kitchen and wondering how she was going to concentrate throughout the entire service with Harrison sitting there watching her.

But he was right; she wouldn’t have taken his calls, no matter how much she might have wanted to, because he’d already broken her heart once.

She’d opened up to him and he’d left her, and it had been months since they’d last seen each other.

Harrison had shattered her trust. All the walls she’d previously built around herself were very much in place again, and she’d had no intention of ever taking them down.

‘Chef? Everything okay?’

‘Of course,’ she said with a smile, not about to let anyone she worked with sense how rattled she was.

Charlotte had a reputation for always staying calm in the kitchen and dealing with any crisis that came her way, so she wasn’t about to change that tonight.

‘Now let me taste that sauce before it goes out.’

‘Do you want me on chef’s table?’ asked her head chef from across the kitchen.

‘No,’ she said. ‘I’ll remain in charge of that table tonight. Thank you.’

Harrison might have hurt her beyond words, but she had every intention of impressing him, regardless. He was a guest of the hotel, and an important one at that, and she was determined to show him just how talented she was, and that she’d continued to thrive even after he’d walked away.

And so Charlotte did what she always did when she was nervous or upset—she began to cook as if her very existence depended on it, pouring all her heartache and hope into the most incredible food she could create.

If nothing else, she was going to ensure that Harrison never forgot his culinary experience.

Charlotte had often worked under highly stressful conditions.

She’d cooked for celebrities and chefs she admired, in the very best kitchens throughout London, but nothing had ever felt as stressful as tonight.

With Harrison’s eyes on her, she walked over to give him his first plate, placing it in front of him with a curt nod.

Then she’d done it again and again, until now she was finally presenting him with dessert.

The night was a blur of furiously fast plating and curious glances in his direction.

Each time the server had cleared his table, she’d given Charlotte the highest compliments from him, but this time, now that the kitchen was slowing down for the night, Charlotte told the server that she would take over from there.

And so she took two plates of dessert and placed one in front of Harrison, sitting down across from him with her own very large slice of cake.

Somehow, it felt like one of the bravest things she’d ever done.

‘I remember this, it was called…’ His voice trailed away as he seemed to search for the name.

‘Kvaefjord cake,’ she said. ‘It’s not usually something we’d serve to the chef’s table, but I remembered how much you liked it. I’m sure the other chefs think I’ve gone mad for serving it to you.’

‘It was the best cake I’d ever eaten,’ he said, taking a forkful and groaning. ‘I’d almost forgotten how good it was.’

Charlotte reached over and took his glass of wine, taking a long sip before passing it back to him. He responded by nudging it back across to her, clearly realising that she needed it more than he did.

‘Harrison, why did you come back?’ she asked. ‘What are you really doing here?’

‘I came back because I realised what a fool I’d been,’ he said. ‘I realised that I had a chance at being happy again, and instead of being open to it, I ran away.’

She took another sip of his wine, then realised that it wasn’t wine she wanted.

She wanted Harrison—she wanted his arms around her and his words against her skin—and now that he was sitting right in front of her, all she could think about was how much she’d missed him.

She’d missed him as if they’d known each other for years, not months, and a huge part of her wished he’d never come back, because it only hurt seeing him again.

‘I’m not going to lie, you broke my heart when you left the way you did,’ she told him, blinking away the familiar prickle of tears as she stared into his eyes. ‘I honestly never thought I’d ever see you again, after the way we left things.’

‘If you want me to leave, Charlotte, I’ll leave,’ he said. ‘But if there is even the smallest chance that you’ll let me back into your life…’

She stared at him across the table. ‘I don’t want you to leave.’

‘Good, because I don’t want to leave, either. I don’t think I ever really wanted to, but I didn’t know how to stay.’

Charlotte felt a lightness inside of her that had been missing for months.

She’d tried to pretend that she was fine, that she had everything she needed in her life, but she’d only been fooling herself.

But she couldn’t just forgive him, could she?

Because what if he did the same thing again to her in a week or a month or a year?

‘Let me get changed and I’ll meet you at the bar.’

‘It’s really good to see you again, Charlotte.’

Charlotte stood and looked down at Harrison. ‘It’s really good to see you again, too,’ she said back. Because it was. As much as she’d wanted to hate him when he’d left, it was an impossible task.

Harrison caught her hand, and she held on to him for a long moment, wishing her heart wasn’t such a traitor.

By the time Charlotte slid into the seat across from Harrison, her heart was thundering. He’d chosen a table tucked into the corner of the bar, and she shivered despite the fire that was casting heat from nearby.

‘So, how’s London?’ she asked, grateful when the server arrived with two glasses of wine that Harrison must have ordered before she joined him.

‘It’s…’ He shrugged. ‘I actually don’t know how to answer that, because I haven’t exactly been social.’

‘Work is good, though?’

‘Work seems to be my one consistent, although I’m between projects again at the moment. It felt like the right time to take a short break.’ His eyes met hers. ‘I figured there were more important things in life than just working all the time.’

She sipped her wine, her eyes widening as he leaned across the table and covered one of her hands with his.

‘I want you to know that I’m sorry, Charlotte. I was a coward, and if I could take back that morning, the way I left, I would.’

She caught her lower lip beneath her teeth, her breath catching in her throat. ‘What you did, Harrison, it hurt. It hurt more than I want to admit, and I can’t open myself up to that kind of pain again.’

She could see tears shining in his eyes, the visible lump in his throat as he swallowed.

‘I don’t want to lose you,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if I’m ready for this, or if I’ll ever be ready, but if you give me a second chance—’

‘You don’t have to hide your past from me, Harrison, but you do need to promise that you won’t leave me like that again,’ she whispered. ‘I can’t do it again, so if we’re going to try this, if we’re really going to make this something, you have to promise me.’

‘I promise,’ he said. ‘The way I left, the way things ended, there was nothing about that that was okay. I’m sorry.’

Her breath was shaky when she exhaled. ‘‘So if we’re going to do this, I need to know what this is.’

His fingers looped into hers, and he squeezed. ‘I’d very much like to take things slowly and find our way, but what I do know is that I want to be with you. If you’ll have me.’

That was all Charlotte needed to hear, because it had been the very worst ending, and one that had haunted her for months. Maybe she should have made him wait, maybe she shouldn’t have let him back in, but her heart and her mind were both telling her that she loved him too much not to.

‘Will you give me a second chance?’

She sighed as warmth spread through her, as happiness settled over her body at her decision. ‘I will.’

Harrison’s eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled, his forehead touching hers as he leaned in across the small table.

‘I won’t waste this second chance. I promise,’ he said. ‘Also, Louisa told me that if I came home and hadn’t made up with you, she would never speak to me again. It seems that you made quite an impression on her.’

Charlotte kissed him, drawing him closer, smiling against his lips and then laughing when her stomach rumbled loudly.

‘Have you eaten tonight?’ he murmured.

‘Well, to start with, I was too busy cooking for a guest at the chef’s table to think about myself, and then there was the other part where this gorgeous man kept staring at me all night and made me forget about almost everything else.’

‘Can we still order cake as room service?’

She nodded.

‘Then come with me to my room and we can lie in bed and eat it.’

When Harrison stood and held out his hand to her, he didn’t have to ask twice.

By the time Charlotte had showered and wrapped herself in the fluffy hotel robe, Harrison was sitting on the bed, waiting with the room service he’d ordered.

‘Sit and let me feed you,’ he ordered.

Charlotte obeyed, laughing when Harrison held out a forkful of cake.

She opened her mouth and willingly took it, swallowing and then opening her mouth for another until every last piece was gone.

She couldn’t remember anyone caring enough about her to actually feed her, and she certainly wasn’t complaining—it was nice to be pampered.

‘You have a little piece of cream just there,’ he said, reaching towards the corner of her mouth.

She flicked her tongue out and felt nothing. ‘Liar,’ she whispered, but as she did so she slipped an arm around his neck to keep him from moving away.

Harrison deftly moved the cake box out of the way as she drew him down on top of her, smiling against his lips as he gently kissed her. His mouth was warm, and his hands were soft as he rolled slightly to the side, so they were staring at each other.

‘I’ve missed you so much,’ she whispered, as he stroked his thumb across her cheek with so much tenderness it made her want to cry. I thought I was never going to see you again.

‘I’ve missed you too,’ he murmured back. ‘More than I could ever tell you.’

They stared at each other a long moment, until Charlotte wrapped her arms around him, holding him close, needing his body against hers; to listen to his heartbeat, to breathe in the scent of him, still barely able to believe that he’d come back.

Part of her wanted to go slow, to remind herself how much it had hurt the first time he’d left, but another part of her wanted to trust in his promise and surrender to whatever this turned out to be.

If Harrison said she could trust him, then she was inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt; she was just hoping he didn’t want to go too slow.

‘Stay here with me tonight?’ he asked.

She smiled against his lips, her arms looped around his neck. ‘There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.’