Page 13 of Recipe for Romance

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.

Chapter Seven

~Aiden~

The morning blended into afternoon more seamlessly than Aiden had expected, though truthfully, he hadn’t known exactlywhatto expect when it came to Nicole. She was a puzzling woman. Her skills as a chef were more than a little rough around the edges and her organizational skills were nonexistent, but he could see that she had a fire in her belly, the same fire he’d once had and hoped to regain now that he was back home.

Deep down, Aiden always knew he would end up back in Applewood, he just hadn’t expected it to happen so soon or for it to have been the result of a hiccup in his career. Still, he was happy to be home. Even though he hadn’t thought he would have a companion on his journey toward opening his own place, the experience hadn’t beencompletelyhorrible. In fact, it had actually been kind of okay so far, not that he would admit that to anyone but himself. It was bad enough that Aiden had moved Nicole in the house with him. He didn’t need to go advertising that he was warming up to her more than he should.

Aiden wasn’t sure what he had been thinking when they stopped by the motel this morning and he announced she was going to live at his house, and while he could rationalize all he wanted about it being a logistical decision, deep down he knew better. Sure it would make things more convenient for them to be sharing a space, they would have more time to work on her skills, his restaurant, and additional early morning wake-ups could be avoided, but as much as those reasons made sense, they hadn’t been what prompted him to do it.

Hearing that the hotel owner wanted to set Nic up with her son had jealousy slicing through his chest like a hot knife through butter. And since when did he start thinking of her as Nic? Pet names were for family, friends, and lovers, and she was none of those things. Their relationship was strictly professional, bordering on friendly, but anything beyond that would be dangerous. His career was already on life support, no need to add the complication of trying to navigate a relationship on top of that. Romance had never been his thing. Aiden didn’t see the point in starting to change that now, even if the woman who was currently taking a hot bath upstairs was all he seemed to be able to think about.

When Aiden had shown Nicole to the spare room next to his, she’d gotten a peek at the garden tub that was in his master bath through the open door of his room. She sighed and aimed her umber eyes up at him, practically begging without words for a soak in the cavernous basin. As someone who spent nearly all day on his feet, Aiden understood the appeal of a relaxing bath and relented. When Nicole practically squealed with joy, it had done funny things to his heart. And his dick.

The damn thing twitched, thinking that joining her would be the best idea ever, but Aiden dismissed it immediately. Not only would his coming onto her be totally inappropriate, but she hadn’t given him any indication that she was evenremotelyinterested. She remembered his food, so any interest in her eyes when she gazed at him was likely hero worship of some kind. He was nine years older than her too. She was in the prime of her life and he was heading closer to forty than he felt comfortable with. There was no way someone like her would want someone like him.

---