Page 34

Leo

I’m sitting in my office waiting.

Waiting for Hannah to show up at work. Waiting for her to answer her phone.

Waiting for her to tell me what the fuck that damn note she left on the table meant.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it, but it doesn’t matter, because I still can’t make sense of her words or what the hell they mean.

She said she’d be back in time for work though, and I really want to believe her, but the more time that passes, the more I’m starting to wonder…and worry.

Where the fuck is she?

“Leo, you want me to prep the beef shin?” Tony asks.

I glance up and see him standing in the doorway, an expectant look on his face as he asks me about one of our signature dishes that’s been slow cooking for the past six hours.

It’s always a best seller and it’s the one dish I always take responsibility for.

Not because I don’t trust my staff to handle it, it’s just something I’ve always done.

“Yeah, sure, thanks,” I reply, giving him a quick nod before looking away again.

“Ah, okay great, no worries,” he says, rapping on the door frame, even though I know he’s surprised at my delegation. “Also, someone is here for you,” he adds, giving me a wink when I look back up to find Hannah now standing behind him.

I jump out of my chair, halfway to the door when she steps inside, a small smile on her face. “Hi.”

“Hi?” I question. “Hi? What? Where have you been? Why weren’t you answering your phone and what the hell was that note about? I thought we—”

The rest of my questions are cut off when Hannah closes the distance between us, presses up on her toes and kisses me hard, her arms wrapping around my neck and pulling me closer.

Groaning with relief, I slip mine around her waist, pulling her in so her body is flush with mine, not caring about answers now because her kiss is only the answer I need.

She smiles against my mouth, her hand curling around my neck. “I’m sorry I disappeared,” she whispers.

I pull back so I can see her, my hands slipping under her chef’s jacket, holding her close. “Where did you go?”

Hannah’s beautiful green eyes search my face, a small smile tugging at her mouth as she says, “I went to see your dad.”

My jaw drops. “What?”

“I went to see your dad,” she repeats.

“Why?” I stupidly ask, even though this is exactly what I wanted her to do. “I would’ve come with you. I thought we—”

She presses another kiss to my lips, silencing my words again. “I know you would have, but this was between him and me. I needed to go and see him alone.”

“And?” I prompt, my heart now pounding in my chest. “How’d it go?”

Hannah tips her head from side to side a little, still smiling.

“Okay, I think. I mean, we both said our bit and even though we will have to agree to disagree on how to run a kitchen, the one thing we did both agree on was that we could and should move past it. At the end of the day, we both love you, and neither of us wants to risk hurting you just because we couldn’t work together.

Or we can’t put what happened behind us. ”

I swallow hard, so fucking relieved that after everything, this might actually all be okay.

I mean I always believed my dad would be able to move past this, because as much as he’s an asshole in the kitchen, I have never doubted his love as a father.

But I didn’t know if Hannah would ever really be okay.

And I also didn’t blame her if she wasn’t either, not after I know what she went through with him.

“And you’re okay with it?” I ask. “With how everything went down?”

Hannah nods. “I’m okay with it,” she says.

“In fact, I’m more than okay. I know your dad loves you and I know he only wants what’s best for his family and his restaurant and even though I don’t agree with his methods on the restaurant side of things, I’m not going to lose the best thing that’s ever happened to me just because I couldn’t work with Roy. ”

“Fuck, I love you,” I say, kissing her hard as I walk us backward, slamming my office door shut as I back her up against it, my heart beating hard inside my chest as the weight I’ve been carrying all day finally lifts.

“What are you doing?” Hannah asks, a breathy laugh falling from her lips.

“I’m kissing the shit out of you and probably fucking you right here in my office,” I tell her, my mouth on her neck now as I lick and suck her skin. “Kinda prefer if the whole kitchen didn’t witness it.”

Hannah laughs again, her arms draped around my neck. “As good as that sounds,” she says, tilting her head as I kiss a path up her neck, “we do need to get to work.”

“Fuck work,” I growl, kissing my way to her lips. “I need you. Now.”

She places a finger against my lips, her eyes locking with mine. “You’ve got me, Leo, I promise. I’m sorry about how all this happened, about everything, but I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

Her words are like a balm for my soul, my heart, my everything and I want to scream to the world how much I love this woman. How much she means to me. Instead, I blurt out the words I’ve wanted to say to her ever since I told her that I loved her.

“Move in with me.”

“What?”

“Move in with me.”

“Leo, are you—”

“Move. In. With. Me,” I repeat, emphasizing every word. “I love you, Han and I want you in my life, in my house, in my bed, always. Say yes, Hannah, please say—”

“Yes,” she says, a huge smile on her face now.

“Yes?” I repeat.

Laughing, she leans in and kisses me again. “Yes, I’ll move in with you, Leo.”

“Fuck,” I groan, kissing her again, deeper this time. “Screw work, let’s just go home now.”

Hannah laughs again. “We can’t just ditch work.”

“Yeah, we can,” I say, my mouth on her neck again. “I’m the fucking boss. We can do whatever we want.”

She pulls her arms from around my neck, her hands cupping my face as she looks up at me. “I love you. Yes, I’ll move in with you, but no, we cannot ditch work.”

I narrow my eyes at her, which only makes her laugh again and as much I do want to take her home and fuck her senseless, I also know she’s right. We can’t just walk out of here, the restaurant is fully booked tonight.

“Okay, fine,” I concede, letting out a dramatic sigh. “We’ll stay and work, but I swear, the second the kitchen is clear, we’re going home, no staff drinks.”

“You’re being awfully bossy and impatient tonight,” she whispers, brushing her lips against mine.

I nip her bottom lip. “That’s because I need to fuck you. Now.”

Hannah gives me a sexy as hell smile as one hand falls from my face and I hear the click of the door locking. “Think you can be quick?”

I raise a brow that only makes her laugh again. “You think I want to be?”

“No,” she says, chuckling as she shakes her head. “But we’ve literally got five minutes.”

I groan, dropping my head so my forehead rests against hers. “Not nearly enough,” I tell her. “But if that’s all you’re gonna give me right now…”

“It is,” she whispers. “For now…”

“Fuck,” I murmur, my hands moving to her pants. “I really fucking love you.”

A few weeks later, Hannah and I walk down the stairs of my loft, well our loft now that we are living here together.

I literally packed up her stuff and moved her in the morning after I asked her, and even though it’s been a few weeks now, a lot of her boxes are still sitting unpacked around the place.

It’s not a huge place and it’s literally next door to where we work, but fuck I love having her live with me.

One day maybe we’ll get something bigger or ask Tessa to design us a place to build somewhere, but for now, neither of us cares too much about the limited space.

As long as we have a kitchen and a bedroom, we’re good.

“You nervous?” I ask, squeezing her hand as we make our way over to Somerville’s.

She looks up at me, a smile on her face. “A little,” she admits. “But I’m also excited.”

I tug her closer, throwing my arm around her shoulder as I drop a kiss to the top of her head. “It’s going to be amazing, babe. Your menu is excellent, and you’ve got this in the kitchen.”

She nods. “I’m going to miss cooking with you, though,” she adds, elbowing me in the side.

Chuckling, I give her another kiss. “Me too, but we still can from time to time.”

“As long as you remember when it’s at Somerville’s, I’m the boss,” she says, a teasing tone to her voice.

Stopping outside the staff entrance to the restaurant, I wrap my arms around her and pull her close. “Babe, you should know, you’re always the boss.”

“Pretty sure you were the one being bossy last night,” she whispers, her hand slipping down to squeeze my ass.

Grinning, I lean down to kiss her. “I love you,” I murmur against her lips. “You’ve got this tonight, okay? It’s going to be perfect.”

“Yep,” she says, giving me a nod.

At eight o’clock, I head into my office to change before making my way back over to Somerville’s. Everyone is already seated at the table we’ve reserved, and I slip into the last remaining seat next to Dylan.

“You seen her yet?” I ask after saying hello to everyone, knowing that Hannah has no clue we’ve all come in for dinner tonight.

“Nope,” Dylan says, shaking his head as he drops an arm around the back of Tessa’s chair, his parents, who I’ve now met on the other side of her. “We told Michelle not to tell her we were all here,” he says, tipping his head in the direction of the head server.

“Good,” I reply with a nod.

It’s not that any of us want to keep this a secret, it’s more that none of us wants to make her nervous or have her thinking about the fact we are all out here eating on the opening night of Somerville’s. The night she starts as head chef in her own restaurant.

“Hey, Leo,” Michelle says as she walks over. “You guys ready to order?”

I give a nod, as Jack tells Michelle which wines to bring to the table while I scan the menu quickly, even though I already know everything that’s on it and what I’m going to order for everyone.

We spend the next couple of hours enjoying the food, everyone gushing at how amazing everything looks and tastes and how great the menu that Hannah has put together is.

I feel so unbelievably happy and proud of her and when we finally finish our desserts, I ask Michelle if she could please go and get Hannah for us.

I keep an eye on the kitchen doors, waiting for the moment when she walks through and the second she does, I stand from my chair.

Hannah’s eyes widen when she sees me, her mouth falling open as her eyes scan the table, taking in Dylan and Tessa, her parents, Tommy and Penny, Will and Ellen, and of course Jack and Lauren.

Tipping my head, I watch as she slowly walks over to us. “What…what are you doing here?” she whispers as she stops in front of me.

Grinning, I reach over and curl my hand around the back of her neck, pulling her to me. “You really think I was going to miss this?” I ask, before kissing her right in the middle of the restaurant in front of everyone. “I’m so fucking proud of you, Han. Everything was beyond perfect.”

Hannah’s eyes shine with happiness as she looks up at me, taking in my words. I hold her close, kissing her again as Lauren also stands from her chair.

“Thank you, Hannah,” she says, smiling. “This is more than I could have ever hoped for. Everything was delicious and the whole restaurant is perfect.”

Jack stands too, his arm around his wife.

“I agree,” he says, grinning. “Think you probably give this guy a run for his money, too,” he adds with a wink.

“Although I cannot believe I didn’t have a hand in this part or that I didn’t win the pool.

” He waves a finger between the two of us, making Hannah and I laugh.

“No, Jack,” I tell him, as I pull Hannah close and press a kiss to her temple. “This part is all us.”

He grins as he gives us both a thumbs up before he and Lauren sit back down. Everyone else offers their congratulations, Dylan and Tessa and her parents all coming over to give Hannah their congratulations and a hug.

“There’s someone else who’s impressed,” I whisper, my mouth at her ear as I finally turn her around to the two people sitting behind me.

The second Hannah sees my parents, her smile vanishes, her jaw dropping in genuine surprise.

“Leo, shit,” she whispers, her arm around my waist squeezing tight.

It’s not the first time she’s seen them again since the whole thing in my kitchen and then her going to talk to my dad.

We’d all caught up for a meal in San Fran together a week ago.

Something casual to help smooth the path to Hannah and my dad getting used to seeing each other again.

It had gone well, and I know that both of them were relieved that after everything, they really were able to move past it.

Still, as much as I know she’s surprised by me being here in the restaurant tonight, seeing my dad here has truly knocked her on her ass.

Dad stands, making his way over to us, a warm smile on his face. “Hannah,” he says, reaching for her hand and holding it in both of his. “This meal, the food, all of it. It was exceptional,” he says, his gaze locked with hers. “Truly exceptional.”

I watch as her eyes fill with tears, as she bites down on her bottom lip. I know she’s completely overwhelmed right now and trying really hard not to cry, but I also know I would not trade this moment for anything. This is everything she needed to hear.

Pressing a soft kiss to her temple, I say, “You know he’s never said that about my cooking. Ever.”

My dad’s brows lift, as he smiles at Hannah and gives a quick nod. “He’s right, I haven’t,” he says with a wink.

Hannah lets out a laugh, shaking her head a little as she says, “Thank you, Roy. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

Dad squeezes her hand before letting it go. “You are an incredibly talented chef, Hannah. Somerville’s is lucky to have you,” he says, giving her another smile before moving back to his chair.

“Oh my god,” she whispers, as I pull her close and wrap my arms around her. “I cannot believe this just happened.”

“Believe it, babe,” I whisper, my mouth at her ear. “You are amazing and incredible and fuck I so want to take you home right now and show you just how much I mean that.”

Hannah laughs as she buries her face against my neck. “God, I love you so much,” she whispers. “And yes, I—”

A yelp cuts off her words, Hannah and I both pulling back and turning to the table.

“What, babe, what’s happened?” Dylan says as he reaches for Tessa, his eyes wide and a look of genuine concern on his face.

Tessa lets out a nervous laugh as she turns to him. “I think my water just broke.”

As the whole table erupts, I let out a chuckle, pressing another kiss to Hannah’s cheek. “Guess I’m not the only one whose food sends our friends into labor, huh?”