She made me want to create again.
And she reminded me that it was all about the art.
I wanted to make fucking art again.
I took one final look at the cabin that sat in front of the lake with a sunrise in the back, and I went into my bedroom and en suite, opening the glass shower door to say goodbye to Alivia. She was rinsing the shampoo out of her hair, her beautiful, curvy body covered in bubbles.
“You’re off?”
I nodded.
“Should I say good luck? I’m proud of you?” She smiled. “Or try not to tear any of your siblings apart when they attempt to fight you on this decision?”
“How about you just tell me you love me?”
She hadn’t said it yet. Neither of us had.
I didn’t know if her skin flushed from the temperature of the water or the steam that was building within the shower, but there was a redness in her cheeks, and it was so fucking gorgeous.
“Walker, I love you so much.”
Her eyes backed up that statement.
So did her cheeks.
Her now-closed lips.
Even her body movement as she came over to me.
But before she’d said it, I had felt it.
And I felt it inside me, that feeling growing the longer we were together. “I love you, Alivia.”
She set her wet arms on my shoulders once I leaned down and kissed her, my hand holding her slick face. I took her lips gently at first and then a little rougher, giving her my tongue.
When she pulled back, her eyes gradually opened, and there was that smile again. The one that lit a fucking fire in my chest. “See you when you get home.”
I adjusted my dick, my hard-on throbbing as I closed the glass door and headed for the garage. Once I was in my car and through my gate, I weaved through the traffic on my way to our corporate headquarters. As soon as I parked, I took the elevator to the executive-level floor and gave the receptionist a nod before I waved my credentials in front of the locked hallway door. As I stepped into the conference room, meeting every gaze that was in here, I took a seat at the head of the table.
They were all here.
Eden to my right, Colson to my left. Beck and Hart next to them.
As I was rolling up the sleeves of my button-down, Hart said, “You know, this is the first time in years that you’re not wearing your chef’s whites in this room.”
I finished cuffing the other side and placed my arms on the table. “That’s because those are getting hung up.”
Hart’s face looked startled, and he grabbed the edge of the desk and leaned forward. “You’re quitting cooking?”
“I’m quitting Charred.” I looked at each of their faces. “That’s why I called this meeting. I’ll continue working there until I’m replaced, but I no longer want to be the executive chef of Charred LA.”
“Shit,” Beck groaned, two of his fingers taped from an injury he’d probably gotten during practice, and he spread the others across the table. “I knew you were unhappy, but I didn’t see this coming.”
Eden and Colson wouldn’t say the same.
I was sure they had seen this coming and they were just waiting for me to announce it.
I held the back of my neck. “Listen, I’ve thought about this for months, and ultimately, I’ve put off my departure for too long. If I’m being honest, if Alivia didn’t work there, I would have already been gone. But it’s time I move on. There are things I want to do, and being the chef there isn’t one.”
