I didn’t want Bianca.
And I didn’t want Foodie unlessKillian was involved.
I wanted this man. I wanted him morethan I had even wanted culinary school or my own kitchen or the food truck thatsaved my life. I wanted him and a future with him and to work side by side withhim for as long as I was able.
He cradled my face in his hands,calloused palms scratching against my jawline. “I love you,” he whispered. Hedidn’t ask if I was okay. He didn’t ask me how I felt. He told me the words Ineeded to heal, to move on, to remember the life I wanted and the future I waswilling to work so hard for.
“Yes.”
One side of his mouth lifted in thatarrogant smile and his green eyes twinkled knowingly. “Yes to what?”
“Yes to everything.”
His smirk became a smile. “And whatelse?”
I laughed, because seriously. Thisman. “And I love you.”
His eyes warmed, and he looked downat me with so much adoration and awe that I felt it all the way to my bones.“Yes, to everything.” His thumb slid over my cheekbone. “And I love you.” Whenhe kissed me, it wasn’t gentle or sweet, it was demanding and desperate. Hekissed me with the promise of a future in front of us. He kissed me with thetruth of who he was, the man he would always be, but also the man he would becomebecause of me. And I kissed him back, promising those same things.
When he pulled back, I missed himimmediately. A secret smile still danced in the corners of his mouth, hidden byhis beard unless you knew where to look. He held me close and said, “Now can weplease go file that damn restraining order.”
Laughing because I couldn’t contain myhappiness, I looked across the street. “What aboutLilou?”
“They’re going to have to learn howto survive without me. They might as well start tonight.”
“But there’s no chef!” Even throughmy happiness, I knew that Ezra Baptiste was not someone you made an enemy.
“Eh,” Killian shrugged, knowing,confident, cocky as hell, “I was planning on recommending Wyatt for theposition anyway. Ezra won’t notice.”
“Ezra’s going to notice,” Iprotested.
Killian gave me a mischievous sideeye, “But what can he do about it?” While I sputtered for an answer, Killiangrabbed my hand and pulled me toward Foodie. “Now let’s lock up and get to thepolice station. I have other plans tonight, so we’re going to need to wrap thisup as quickly as possible.”
“What other plans?”
Vann stepped away, reminding us bothhe was still there. Covering his ears, he said, “I don’t want to know. For thelove of God, wait until I’m gone.”
Turning to my brother, I said,“Thanks for everything, Vann.”
He grinned at me. “Looks like youfinally hired some help, yeah?”
Killian squeezed my hand. “It’sabout time.”
“I think I’ll make him work thewindow,” I told Vann, ignoring Killian’s smug satisfaction. “He might just bepretty enough to bring in some extra cash.”
“As long as I get to control thesalt, I don’t care where you put me,” Killian countered.
I slapped his chest with the back ofmy hand, which he then caught and pressed against his heart. The message wasthere in that sweet, subtle gesture. I was in him, and he was in me. We werecomplete opposites, but we’d been made for each other.
We said goodbye to Vann and lockedup Foodie. Then together we went to the closest police station. Filing arestraining order wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. It took work and alot of standing up for myself, which was hard since it was practically a newconcept for me.
But I had Killian there with me,supporting me when I needed it and stepping in for me when I needed that too.
At the end of this journey, I sowanted to be the tough girl. I wanted to kick ass and take names every damnday. But some things, I was learning, were personality based. Conflict wasn’tmy thing. Making people do exactly what I wanted them to do was hard for me.And if I never got myself into a Derrek situation again, I could be okay withthat.
By the time we left the station, thesun had been down for a while. It was Saturday night, and we were both supposedto be working. This was the busiest night of the week. We had kitchens to run,food to cook, money to make.
Instead, we climbed onto Killian’smotorcycle and ignored everything but each other.
