Page 23 of Recipe for Romance

Chapter Eleven

~Aiden~

The buzz of activity inside Branch and Brew continued to grow as the afternoon slowly turned to evening. It had been a long day. Aiden’s tired mind begged for a reprieve from all things related to his fledgling business, but he wouldn’t allow himself the break. If he stopped moving, he would start to think about Nicole and how completely formal and stilted their interactions had been over the last few weeks. Aiden would never be described as a warm person like his brothers, or even as a secret teddy bear like the frequently nonverbal Travis, but he could be better than he had been since their trip to the orchard.

Aiden could have apologized for his comments about him teaching her only because he had to. It may have started that way, but he knew that it had evolved quickly from something hehadto do to something hewantedto do. Seeing Nicole’s eyes light up when she did something as mundane as pluck an apple, taking care of her when she’d hurt herself in the kitchen, and sharing the easy touches like a hand at the small of her back were all things that he missed sorely but was unsure how to get back. Nicole’s cooking skills hadn’t really improved either, and while some of that was simply more time needed for practice, the tension between them wasn’t exactly helping.

The road they were on wasn’t one they could travel on for much longer without both losing in the end. Two choices lay ahead of them: they could either continue as they were, Nicole’s skills not progressing and Aiden slowly getting more and more unbearable to interact with, or they could try to get back what they’d had those first few days. The easy report that had existed between them was something he wanted desperately to have again, even knowing that it would lead him down a road of temptation.

Hell, Aiden was already on that road and they were barely speaking more than they had to. Each time she walked into the room, his heart thumped in his chest and he had to ball up his hands to keep from reaching out to her, pulling her close so that he could feel her softness against his body. His fingers ached with the need to slip through Nic’s hair, tug her head back, and kiss her like he’d been wanting to since he first laid eyes on her.

Even now as he sat in a darkened corner of his brother’s brewery, papers filled with menu ideas scattered about his table, Aiden could hear the soothing yet invigorating sound of Nicole’s sweet voice over the din. The long hours must really be getting to him if he was hearing her there with him. He slid his reading glasses down and rubbed at his tired eyes. Aiden had met with contractors at the restaurant site, surprised that they’d given him both a reasonable estimate and timeline. Of course, that could always change as construction continued, but he was determined not to be his usual pessimistic self and hope for the best.

After that he’d paid calls to local restaurant owners to talk suppliers and staffing, trying to garner any support he could. The culinarians of Applewood didn’t disappoint, and Aiden now had good leads on everything from deals on ovens to where to advertise for servers. The day had been quite fruitful, but somehow it hadn’t been as satisfying as it would have been with Nicole there by his side. Her contributions were small, but important. Tiny suggestions about wall texture or comments about lighting had been helpful, but more than that, he found her company oddly soothing despite her tendency to chatter.

Maybe he should go home and see her. Aiden certainly wasn’t getting much accomplished sitting in the corner and almost constantly thinking about her instead of his menu. It was getting so bad that he was hearing her voice on repeat as people played trivia around him. Normally Aiden would have avoided trivia night like the plague. He may have a lot of knowledge of food and culinary history, but that didn’t mean he wanted to spend his evening surrounded by strangers when he could be at home being productive instead.

Aiden loved the chaos of the kitchen, but that was about the only time he tolerated crowds. His brother’s had tried to drag him into the trivia fray several times since he’d moved home, but he always refused. Presently, he could hear Beckett’s voice calling baseball stats to win a point for him and his fiancé. Aiden was happy that his brother had found happiness with someone, but as the oldest, he couldn’t help feeling that it should have been him to reach that milestone first.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join the family table?” His brother Felix looked at him sympathetically as he gathered the glass of cider Aiden had emptied ages ago. He wasn’t a big drinker, but the alcohol had been a necessary part of his trying to relax after a long day. “They’re having a great time.”

Shaking his head, Aiden gathered up his papers and shoved them into his messenger bag. “I think I might head home actually. I should probably talk to Nicole about her cooking lessons.” It was a thin excuse to leave and see her, but Felix didn’t need to know the extent of his inner turmoil in regards to the beautiful woman. Aiden stood, his brow furrowing when he saw the impish look on his brother’s face. “What?” he nagged.

Felix’s smile grew into a shit-eating grin. “Nothing.” He shrugged. “It’s just that if you wanted to talk to your girlfriend, you should probably head that way.” Felix hooked a thumb behind him, Aiden following the gesture until he spotted the very woman he was thinking about all evening sitting at a table with his brothers.

Nicole sat next to Autumn, the two of them huddling together and laughing loudly before Nicole shared whatever story she’d been telling with the rest of the table. Everyone else there broke out in laughter as well with even Travis’s face lighting up behind his thick beard. Nicole’s smile was bright as she continued to chatter with the group, her arm slung around Autumn as she bumped fists with Nate. She looked absolutely gorgeous and happier than she had in a while. Shame and envy tore through him. He’d been the one making her miserable, and yet he was jealous that he hadn’t been the one to put that joyful expression on her face. Aiden should be the one sharing in her laughter, the one making her smile brighter than the sun.

Aiden jolted when he felt a hand patting his shoulder. “It’s okay, big guy,” Felix told him, a smirk on his face. “I’m sure she only has eyes for you.”

Shooting his brother a baleful look, Aiden shrugged his hand away, grabbed his things, and marched over to the table where Nicole was at. Seeing the easy comradery she had with everyone there only worsened his mood. Declining their invitations had always been by choice, but Aiden sometimes wondered if they had only ever asked him out of familial obligation. Seeing how effortlessly Nicole fit in made him feel like even more of an outsider than he already had.

Tired and irritated, he looked down at Nicole, ignoring the happiness in her eyes at seeing him. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be studying the books I gave you,” he barked.

Whatever good will had been in her expression before his little outburst vanished quickly. Instead, she smiled at everyone at the table. “Excuse us for a moment,” she said. Grabbing his hand, Nicole dragged him into the hallway near the restrooms. No one ever dared drag him around like that, but he was too lost in the feel of her fingers wrapped around his to really care at that moment.

Once they were alone, she spun around to face him, her expression thunderous as she poked his chest. “One, you don’t own me and you’re not my boss. If I’ve been doing everything you’ve asked for the last month, it’s because Iwantedto do it, not because you have any kind of control over me.” Nicole paced back and forth in front of him for a minute as he stood mesmerized by the molten look in her eyes. “And two, you’ve barely been speaking to me, and I needed a little fun. Just because you’re some kind of emotionless robot doesn’t mean the rest of us are. I need human interaction, and since I wasn’t getting it from you, I found it elsewhere.”

Aiden fumed as she chastised him, but only at himself. He knew that every word she spoke was the truth. Nicole didn’t owe him anything, especially when he wasn’t really giving her much in return. All he’d provided for her was a place to crash and a few easy cooking lessons that were mostly him going through the motions before leaving her presence as soon as he could, too tempted to kiss her every time he saw her. Even as Nicole stared daggers at him while she continued her tirade, Aiden couldn’t stop watching her lips as she tore into him, wanting to lean down and taste her like he’d been longing to.

“I’m sorry.” He grunted the apology more than said it, but he rarely apologized and he needed her to know how badly he felt about his behavior. “I’m sorry that I’ve been an asshole and I wish I could promise it won’t happen again, but I can’t. It happens a lot, and I know I should be ashamed of that, but I mostly don’t care. Not with anyone else, anyway, but you,” he said, brushing her hair over her shoulder. “I actually care what you think of me.”

Nicole’s eyes were the size of buffet platters and her jaw was nearly on the floor. “You do?” Aiden nodded, taking another step closer and crowding her against the wall. Nicole’s eyes flashed to his lips as she licked her own. “What,” she started. Nicole’s voice trailed off when their chests bumped together, her eyes fluttering closed as she swallowed thickly. “What are you doing?” Her voice was no longer filled with anger, but was sultry and smooth, a soft whisper that felt like a sweet caress on his skin.

His hands reached up and cupped her face, his thumbs running along her cheeks before he tilted her head back to better open her up for him. “Kissing you,” Aiden confessed. Her eyes shot open, her pupils wide. “If you’ll let me.”

Aiden studied her face, wondering if she would push him away, call him out on his being presumptuous, or God forbid, leave and never come back. He would be a little broken if she did, but he couldn’t take the not knowing any more. Not knowing whether she wanted him as much as he did her, or whether she tasted as sweet as he imagined. When Nicole’s hands slid up to his wrists and gripped them tightly, he had his answer.

“Please,” she whimpered.

The word traveled breathlessly over her lips and reached his ears, ringing out like the Hallelujah chorus. Finally giving into the desire that had been building, Aiden leaned down, stopping mere inches from her just to get one last look at her face before everything changed between them. With a small smile on his lips, he moved in and captured her mouth with his. He had meant the kiss to be chaste, a small taste like an amuse bouche before the meal, but good intentions were nothing in the face of how beautifully she kissed him back. The whimper she’d let out turned into a moan as her warm tongue slipped out and licked his lower lip.

Groaning, he slid his into her mouth, reveling in the bright citrus taste of her. Bursts of apple, lemon, and orange kissed by the sun danced on his tongue as it mingled and twisted with hers, Aiden’s hands tilting her head to the side to deepen the kiss. It was everything he knew it would be and so much more, his heart swelling nearly as much as his dick. Nicole’s fingers danced up his arms until she was gripping his shoulders, trying to pull him even closer to her. He resisted, not wanting to press the obvious evidence of his arousal against her and possibly scare her off, and at the same time wanting to do exactly that. If she could feel how badly he wanted to bed her, to make her his in the most primal way, maybe she would run and he could be free of the madness that seemed to overtake him where she was concerned.

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