Page 2 of Always Be My Baby

“Or…” she started. “We could finish up this scrumptious food and commence other activities because I can’t do happy this early, but I can always doyou.”

I showed her my agreement to her idea by shoving an overly large bite into my mouth. She laughed that throaty laugh she used when she found something funny but was turned on at the same time. I lived for those laughs.

After we’d both finished our plates and set our trays aside, we got down to the business of her doing me. And then we followed it with the business of me returning the favor. Her mostly sleep mussed hair became all mussed by my fingers raking through it, gripping tight as she moved on me, pressing kisses to my lips and chin and jaw. I bucked up, rolling us to take over. We continued to give up and then take back control until eventually, our energetic morning had to end.

We showered—which took us a little longer than usual because I wasn’t quite ready to let the morning festivities end—and dressed for the day. While she fixed her makeup, I quickly cleaned up the breakfast dishes.

“You know Lena is awesome,” I said. “She’ll do great training as the assistant manager. And bringing Serena up as head server can only benefit the restaurant. Everyone likes her. She has that sweet personality and a calm demeanor. She doesn’t freak out when accidents happen; she just tries to take care of them.”

“Yeah,” Marilee responded slowly, eyeing me suspiciously, as if to say ‘what are youup to?’. “She does.”

I laughed at her reaction… if she only knew.

Marilee

So much had changed in the last month. Like the fact that we were heading to work together, in his truck. When we’d first started dating, I insisted we keep it on the downlow.

Could anyone say ridiculous? I shook my head, silently laughing at myself. Girard was the best person I knew. Smart, sexy, fun, funny, and incredibly talented in the kitchen as well as the bedroom. I might have internally sighed when I thought about this morning when he’d brought me breakfast in bed. Those smoky bourbon-colored eyes twinkling at me, matching the smile on his face as he presented me the tray.

Of course, the morning ended rather oddly. The way he’d piled on the praise for Serena, one of my servers, the one I’d recently promoted to lead server. With the promotion of my best friend, Lena, who previously held the title of lead server, to a brand-new position, one I’d never pictured myself creating, that of assistant general manager, finding a new lead server became paramount.

Girard and I spent hours considering the options. Yes, it was my bistro, which meant the final decision came down to me, but I respected his opinions. He knew the staff, worked with the servers even more than I did. Though, it still seemed… I don’t know, curious, maybe, that he got so excited over starting their training. I mean, he ran the kitchen. It wasn’t like either of them would be working in the kitchen for hours on end along with him.

In the end, it came down to Polk and Serena. Both proved themselves every day, though Polk had slightly more seniority than Serena. I went to him with the offer first. His wife was expecting their first child and he didn’t want to miss any of the appointments. With the added responsibilities that came along with becoming our lead server, he feared missing out on those pregnancy milestones. I got it. If he was that excited about a pregnancy, I could only imagine how it’d be once his little princess arrived.

Girard glanced over at me. His glances still made my stomach dip in the most delicious ways. One of the numerous self-doubts that kept me awake at night, that after a month together, we’d grow tired of each other, it hadn’t happened—at least not yet. Those intense bourbon-colored eyes still got to me every time he turned them my way. And god help me when he smiled following one of his looks. It made me want to strip him naked and ride him like a prize-winning stallion. Not because, well not only because, his face and body deserved to be in movies or on television where he could be worshipped by women and probably some men en masse, but because I knew what it felt like to have those arms wrapped tightly around me, holding me when I needed a shoulder to cry on or when we got to celebrate some accomplishment. Beautiful people could become ugly the more you got to know them. Just the same, homely people could turn beautiful for the same reason. The world didn’t prepare me for a beautiful man with a beautiful heart. How did I get so lucky? I laughed at myself. We were so good together and that first day we’d shown up to work together— “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“I was just thinking about that first morning I spent with you. We drove in to work together and—”

“You made me walk in after you so people didn’t know you’d showed with me.”

“Yes.” We both laughed, then. “Then I told Lena that I had to take the Jeep in for work and you were the only one who worked the same schedule. I put you through the wringer, didn’t I?”

He slid his hand over to squeeze my knee. “Nothing that I couldn’t handle—not when the end result was this, right here. You and me riding into work together after spending an incredible night—and even better morning—together.”

I blinked. My voice came out in a harsh whisper from the emotion I suddenly found myself experiencing. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“To deserve me, Lee, would mean that I was better than you. And since we both know that’s not true. There was nothing to be done. You just had to be you, sweetheart.”

“If you make me ruin my makeup, Girard Eaton…” I let the empty threat hang between us, giving him his cue to change the subject. And Girard being Girard, he did.

I’d never had this with someone else. Unsurprisingly, seeing as I’d spent my formative years raising my younger brother and sister after my dad abandoned us and my mom had mentally checked out. Was there even time in my day to find a high school boyfriend? No. Then, once I went away to college, the habit of being alone, concentrating on work and school, just seemed to follow me. Give me a break, it wasn’t until last month, when Girard and I started spending time together, that I’d realized how lonely I’d been. How stupid was that?

The movies always made love seem soeverything. I’d found the whole idea burdensome. Heart skipping a beat from simply thinking aboutthe one. Writing in a notebook a hundred timesMrs. So-and-so. Now I got it. Not that I was doing those things now, seeing as I found myself closer to thirty than sixteen. And as for marriage, I was Marilee Bell. I’d always be Marilee Bell. But the man at my side made me realize I had love to give so long as it was given to him. And apparently it’d turned me into a sap.

When we reached the restaurant, we had to go our separate ways. Girard and I needed this separation during the day, but I just wished there was a way to give us more time together. We only got one day off a week.

“I’m on inventory today,” he said, yet he didn’t move from the service station where I waited for Lena and Serena to show up.

“Don’t you need to get changed?” I asked.

“Absolutely.” Again, he made no move to leave. Behavior completely out-of-character for the sexy chef.

When Lena, petite, golden hair thrown back in an artfully messy bun Lena showed, I greeted her the way I usually did, friendly—more friendly than with my other employees. Girard greeted her with a side hug and cheek kiss. The three of us had hung out a few times since he and I started seeing each other. His friendliness effervesced in more demonstrative ways than mine. I chalked it up to his grandmother giving him lots of hugs and kisses throughout his life, whereas I couldn’t remember a single one from my childhood.

“Looking forward to starting?” he asked her.

“Totally. Lee does so much. I’m excited to learn the ropes.”

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