Page 49 of Sing with Me

He felt compelled to run over there to shield Skye, but at the same time he didn’t want to look stupid.

He glanced over, and saw that Jared and Skye were walking away from the bar. Jared’s hand was on the small of her back. Fortunately, there was fabric there. To Skye’s credit, her long dress was modest.

“Excuse me.” In a huff, Diehl placed his napkin on the table, got out of his chair, and was off to rescue the lady from the villain.

He called her name even before he reached them. He liked hearing himself call her name.

Skye stopped and looked in his direction. “Diehl.”

“Diehl,” Jared said. “Man, haven’t seen you in a while.”

He let go of Skye and shook Diehl’s hand.

The entire time, Diehl’s eyes were on Skye. “You look lovely tonight.”

“Nice jacket,” Skye said. “Are you here with your family?”

Diehl nodded. “It was between Saffron and The Priory. We let the kids choose, and Elisa wanted to eat here tonight.”

“I’d love to meet your kids.” Skye smiled. “If I had known you’d be here tonight, I would have saved the chef’s table for you.”

Jared cleared his throat. “We’re heading upstairs for a business meeting.”

“On a Friday night?” Diehl raised an eyebrow.

“I work all the time. It will be a good meeting. I just bought half of Talia’s shares, so that makes me a co-owner of this fine establishment.”

Oh. It gets worse, doesn’t it?

Diehl’s mom had said earlier that Talia owned fifty-one percent of Saffron. With the split, it meant Skye was now the majority owner of the restaurant. No wonder she was smiling broadly. She must have just received the news very recently.

“Jared, we have time. Let Talia sleep for a few more minutes over there in London. Let’s go meet the kids first.” Skye asked Diehl to lead the way.

Awkward.

Diehl realized his mistake now. He had been rash. He had forgotten that his parents were with him tonight. That meant Mom would talk about Skye endlessly the next several weeks, at least—as soon as Mom found out that Skye was also his personal chef.

How did Skye handle the two businesses without burning out? What strength did she have that he didn’t?

“Rose, Ned. Nice to see you again.” Skye waved even before she reached their table.

Walking alongside her, Diehl smelled a faint floral perfume of some sort. It was very light, but very…

Enticing?

He tried to keep his cool, but he knew that his heart was falling hard for her.

Now, to keep Jared and Hayden and Matt away from her while Diehl sorted out his messy life. How long did he need? How much time would Skye give him?

While Skye and his parents chatted, Diehl found nothing to say to Jared. Back in the days when they had both been young and wild and carefree, they had always been rivals.

Born to wealthy families had its drawbacks. The stakes kept getting higher and higher, until none of them was sustainable. Who bought a more expensive car than the other? Who snagged the better woman? Who went to a better ivy league school? Who got his MBA first?

It was endless.

As the years wore on, the fellow classmates called a truce.

And now they were standing on both sides of the same woman—who hadn’t expressed her feelings either way.

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