“Vann is my brother,” Vera argued. “I should probably stick with family on this one.”
“Hey!” Molly planted her hands on her hips. “That sounds like an insult.”
Vera and I shared a guilty look.
Vann ticked his chin toward me. “It’s okay, Vere, you don’t have to spare my feelings. I know you want to be with Molly.”
Vera’s jaw unhinged, not expecting her brother to throw her under the bus. “Oh, uh, that’s sweet of you. Er, thanks.”
Molly shook her head. “I still feel no love here, people!”
Kaya tried to hide her snicker in Wyatt’s shoulder, while the rest of us avoided Molly’s gaze completely.
“You can help me,” Ezra told her, his voice holding all the affection he felt for her. “I want you on my team.”
Molly walked toward him, her shoulders still slumped. “Aren’t you supposed to tell them how much better I’ve gotten? Last week I made that toast. Remember? I didn’t even burn it.”
“You didn’t,” Ezra agreed patiently. “You didn’t even burn the toast.”
That led the rest of us to dissolve into fits of laughter. Shortly after, Killian broke up the shenanigans and we got to work.
Even though this was a totally informal afternoon of cooking together, I still drank in every second of Killian’s leadership and how he led so effortlessly. I needed these tools in my pocket. I needed to be able to command a kitchen—any kitchen—flawlessly.
I needed to inspire greatness just by walking in the room.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Vann admitted to me after I’d pulled our ingredients over to our station.
I turned my head to look at him, drinking in his casual attire all over again. There was chemistry between us today, a gentle pop and sizzle that sparked all around us. “What’s that?”
He leaned even closer, our cheeks briefly brushing as he moved toward my ear. “My kitchen experience basically involves making coffee and pouring a bowl of cereal. You might have been better off with Molly.”
It was then, at that moment, in that sweet, secret smile and those sizzling gray eyes, that I realized I had a crush on Vann Delane.
An actual crush.
What was I fourteen?
Maybe. Because all I wanted to do was pull Kaya into the pantry and tell her all about it. I felt giddy and giggly just thinking about him. And standing this close was pure torture.
Okay, I wasn’t fourteen. I didn’t have the imagination I do now when I was fourteen.
When I had a crush back then, it stopped there. Maybe I pictured handholding. Maybe a kiss. Today, with Vann standing so close and smelling so good, all I could picture was pushing him down on the counter top and throwing my body on top of his. Or jumping him in the walk-in freezer and heating things up… if you know what I mean.
Oh, brother… now I was punning.
Clearing my throat, I stepped forward and tugged on his sleeve, my fingers brushing over his bicep. “Don’t try to talk me out of this now. Hell or high water, we’re in this together.”
His gray eyes sparked with something electric, like flashes of lightning before a downpour. “All right then, Baptiste. Let’s show ‘em what we got.”
Twelve
Sixteen hours later,I woke up with a start—this was not my bed.
I opened my eyes. This was not my apartment. It took me a few groggy moments to remember where I was and what had happened.
A warm arm was wrapped around my waist, the body attached to it puffing soft snores into my tangled hair.
I carefully, quietly, gently slapped a hand over my eyes as I shame spiraled into an eternal abyss of broken memories.
