Page 25

Leo

With the lunch rush now over and the kitchen cleaned, I head over to Tony’s station where he hands me two bowls of the Mediterranean salad I asked him to prep because I know it’s one of Hannah’s favorites.

“Thanks,” I say with a smile. “Do you know where—”

“Your bae is outside,” he says, cutting me off.

“My what?” I ask with a laugh.

Tony turns to me, a smirk on his face as he replies, “Your bae.”

“Dude, I literally have no idea what you’re talking about. What the fuck is a bae?” I ask, shaking my head at him.

“Hannah, she’s outside,” he replies with a laugh, like it’s obvious I should know what he’s talking about.

“Okay,” I say, drawing out the word because I still have no clue what the fuck a bae is.

Grabbing some cutlery, I take the salads outside where I find Hannah sitting at one of the bench tables, making some notes. “Hey,” I say, sliding a bowl in front of her as I straddle the bench seat beside her.

“Hi,” she says, smiling as she glances up at me.

“Whatcha doing?” I ask, leaning in to press a kiss to her neck as I glance down at whatever it is she’s working on.

“Uh, nope, no way,” she quickly says, closing her notebook and pushing it to the side.

“Whoa,” I laugh, reaching over for it. “Come on, now you have to tell me. And when you do, please say that this is some kind of sex wish list or something?”

Hannah hits me with a look that has me laughing again. “What, you think I can’t just ask you for what I want in the bedroom?” she asks, like she hasn’t told me exactly what she wants me to do to her a hundred times already. Something which I seriously love too.

I lift my shoulder, smirking as I reply, “Well, yeah of course and I fucking love that, babe. But I don’t know, maybe you still have a list of stuff you wanna try.”

Smiling, she leans in to press a kiss to my lips. “Oh, I have a list,” she replies, her voice low as she nips at my bottom lip. “We’re about halfway through it.”

My eyes widen, my smile disappearing as my jaw drops. I slip an arm around her waist and pull her closer so she’s sitting between my legs. “Fuck, now I really wanna know about this list of yours.”

“You will,” she teases, pushing the notebook further to the side. “But that’s not in here. These are my menu ideas for when Somerville’s reopens.”

I pull back, narrowing my brow at her. “Okay, so why can’t I see them then?”

Hannah grins. “Well, aren’t you like the competition now that you’ve made me head chef over there? I can’t go revealing all my secrets to you, can I?”

For a second, I actually think she’s serious, like she honestly thinks she and I are competing now and we can’t talk about any of the shit we used to talk about with work.

All the food ideas, the roster, everything that made being together and working together so much fun.

That is, until she suddenly bursts out laughing, her head falling back.

“Oh god, I really got you then, didn’t I?” she laughs. “You should’ve seen your face, it was—”

I curl my hand around her neck, pulling her mouth to mine in a hard kiss. “You cheeky shit,” I murmur, my mouth against hers. “You’re lucky I love you.”

She smiles against my lips. “And I love you. And of course you can look at the menu ideas. I value your input, Leo. We’re a team.”

Now it’s me smiling. “Yeah, we are,” I tell her. “And this team is definitely talking more about this sex wish list of yours too. Actually, we’re going to be putting in some serious teamwork with it.”

“Sounds good,” she whispers before kissing me again.

“So, the rumors are true?”

Hannah and I pull apart to find Tommy and Penny standing on the other side of our table, holding their own lunches as they stand there watching us, a smirk on Tom’s face and a huge grin on Penny’s.

Laughing, I wave at hand at them to sit down, as I say, “Yeah, they’re true.

Where do you guys stand in the pool on us then? ”

Tom grins at me as he sits down. “What makes you think we were in on this? You know they had a pool going on us too.”

I hit him with a look that says that’s exactly what I think. “Yeah, we know. Just like we know you were in on this one,” I add.

Penny giggles, nudging Tom as she says, “We took a week either side of Lauren’s baby shower. Are we close?”

Beside me, Hannah laughs, her hand resting on my thigh as she says, “Not even.”

Grinning, I press another kiss to her neck, loving that this whole thing with us as a couple is now finally out in the open.

It feels so fucking good to be able to sit with her like this, to hang out with our friends and not hide the fact that we are together.

I don’t even give a shit about the bet they had going on us, especially as it’s obvious neither me nor Han are going to reveal the truth.

“Really?” Penny asks, sounding genuinely disappointed.

Laughing, I reply, “Really. But hey, do you know what a bae is?”

“A what?” Tom asks, sounding confused.

I glance at Hannah who just shrugs as if to say she has no clue either. When we turn to Penny though, she rolls her eyes. “Oh my god you guys, a bae is like your significant other. Did someone call you that? That’s so cute!”

Tommy, Hannah and I all look at her, still confused, still not getting it.

“So what, it’s short for babe or something?” Tommy asks. “I mean, why not just say babe?”

Pen giggles, resting her head on Tom’s shoulder. “I don’t know, it’s just something millennials use.”

“You’ve never used it,” Tom teases, throwing an arm around Penny as he presses a kiss to the top of her head. “And technically, aren’t you a millennial?”

“Yes, but I’m also an old soul,” she deadpans. “And I don’t use it, because it’s fucking stupid,” she adds, making us all laugh.

“Hey, what’s so funny?” Dylan asks as he and Tessa now walk up and join us.

I feel Hannah stiffen against me, but I don’t move, my arm still wrapped around her waist as she sits between my legs in a way that clearly screams we are together .

I mean it doesn’t get more obvious than this and even though I haven’t had a chance to talk to Dylan yet, I’m assuming he still knows.

I mean he was in the pool on us, so he has to.

Not that I’m worried he’s going to be against us being a couple. I mean to be fair, we’re both adults so he can’t stop us. But I guess he might be annoyed that we hid from him.

“Someone called these two bae,” Penny says, waving a hand at us.

Dylan looks at us, a confused expression on his face. “Why?”

“Because they are bae,” Penny continues. “Only they aren’t hiding it anymore.”

Tessa smiles, clapping her hands together before she sits down, her hands moving to rest on her ever-expanding stomach. “Oh, thank god,” she exhales. “That was seriously starting to get exhausting trying to keep quiet about it all.”

Dylan is still standing by the table, that same confused look on his face as he turns to Tessa. “Wait, you knew about this?”

She rolls her eyes, turning to look up at him as she pats the seat beside her. “Um yeah, and so did you, remember? We had a pool going, I had some intel?”

“Ugh, I knew you told him,” Hannah mutters, rolling her eyes as she glances up at her brother. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Dylan shakes his head, that same confused expression still on his face as he finally sits down, glancing over at us before turning back to his fiancée. “I thought the pool was on when Lauren would have the babies?”

Tessa and Penny both laugh. “How the hell would I have intel on that?” Tessa asks.

Dylan slides a hand onto Tessa’s stomach. “Um, because you’re having a baby,” he states, making her laugh even harder.

“Oh my god, Dylan,” Hannah now says. “How are you this clueless?”

“What?” he asks, turning to his sister. “I mean just because I don’t go sticking my nose in everyone’s business like everyone else around here?”

“Oh please,” Tessa says, kissing him on the cheek. “You were in the pool, Dylan. You picked like two weeks after Hannah started. I assumed it was because I’d told you about them having serious chemistry and that they’d—”

“I thought you said you’d keep quiet!” Hannah shouts, a smile on her face as she points a finger at Tessa.

Tessa gives her a sheepish smile. “I tried,” she pleads. “It just kinda came out!”

“So what, he knew when I came over for dinner that time and we had to wait until he left to get the pizza before I could talk to you about it?”

“Wait, you were talking about me?” I cut in.

Hannah turns to me, a soft smile on her face as she says, “It sorta just slipped out after that first kiss,” she says quietly. “And you know, then we kept kissing and I really needed to talk about it.”

“Because…?”

She sighs. “Because I really liked you and I didn’t know how to deal with that and the fact you were my boss.”

Chuckling, I pull her in for a kiss. “Well, technically, I’m not your boss anymore, am I?”

Hannah’s eyes widen at the sudden realization that with her being the head chef at Somerville’s and me being the head chef at Apple Jacks, we are now on a much more even footing. “Oh shit,” she whispers. “You aren’t.”

I lean closer, my mouth at her ear as I whisper words only for her. “Well, I’ll still let you boss me around in the bedroom from time to time, though.”

She lets out a breathy giggle that seriously turns me on and I’m suddenly wishing all of our friends would disappear so I can suggest she and I head back to my place to fill the few hours we have between shifts between the sheets.

“Okay, so this is seriously gross,” Dylan groans.

Hannah pulls back, glancing at her brother. “What and you think me having to listen to you and Tessa have sex all the time was any better?” she asks, making me laugh and Tessa groan and cover her face in embarrassment.

Dylan smirks at his sister as he fires back with, “Maybe you learnt something? You’re welcome by the way.”

“Oh my god, Dylan,” Hannah shouts as Tessa smacks him on the chest.

He laughs, shrugging his shoulders as he turns to me. “So come on then, do I win the pool?”

I drop my arm around Hannah’s shoulders, as I watch her brother, who’s got a cheeky smile on his face because he knows he’s probably won it. “When did you say you had?” I ask, stalling a little.

“What was it, babe, two weeks after she started?” he asks, turning to Tessa for confirmation.

“Yeah,” she replies. “But considering you thought you were betting on something else, your pick clearly means you have no clue when it comes to pregnancy terms.”

“Or,” Dylan says, crossing his arms over his chest, “I know my sister better than anybody thinks I do.”

“Please,” Hannah deadpans, rolling her eyes at her brother. “Anyway, who says we’re going to tell you when this started.”

“Maybe I’ll split the winnings with you?” Dylan replies.

“How much?” Hannah and I both ask at the same time.

Tom shakes his head laughing as Dylan replies, “I think we were all in for a hundred right, which makes it, what, eight hundred bucks?”

Hannah turns to me, a smile tugging at her mouth, even as she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. I’m smiling back at her, my arm still wrapped around her shoulders. I feel her squeeze my thigh and without either of us saying anything, I already know what her answer is going to be.

“Nope,” she replies.

“No, what?” Dylan says. “No, you won’t split the pool or no that’s not when you two got together.”

Hannah just smiles, leaning into me as she says, “Both, little brother. Both.”