Finishing up in the bathroom, I joined Amara and Quinn behind the bar. “Need any help?”
Quinn nodded, and I pressed a kiss to her temple, then grabbed bottles out of the opened boxes on the floor, putting them on the shelves.
Looking out over the restaurant, Quinn put her hands on her hips. “I can’t believe we’re almost done.”
Amara huffed. “Don’t get too excited. There’s still plenty left to do.”
Waving her aunt off, Quinn continued putting glasses in cupboards. “As long as we have somewhere for our guests to sit and a place to cook their food, we’re all set.”
We were almost finished when the scent of lasagna wafted out of the kitchen. Amara brought our lunch with her every day. For today she’d made lasagna that we were planning on eating cold. But it seemed liked we’d get a warm meal instead.
“Does that mean the oven is ready?” Quinn squealed and skipped to the kitchen, Amara following.
I took care of the last box, breaking it down and adding it to the others on the huge pile we’d amassed.
“Liam, lunch is ready,” Quinn called, her voice vibrating with excitement.
Amara was busy putting food on plates, while Quinn hovered next to Vlad, admiring the new stove. Grinning at him, she put an arm around his shoulders. “This is amazing. I can’t believe you did this yourself.”
“He had no choice since he pissed off the plumber,” I coughed under my breath.
Vlad sent me a scathing glare, and I suppressed the grin threatening to escape. “Well done, bud,” I said, nodding at the stove.
“Be right back,” Quinn said. “I forgot my phone on the bar. We need a photo.”
As soon as she’d left the kitchen, Vlad faced me, making a cutting motion across his throat. “If you so much as make her break a nail, you can kiss your pretty face good-bye.”
There was no question about his intimidating size or angry scowl. But it was hard to take a man seriously when he had apink apron strapped around him that said “Natural Born Griller” on it. The warning was one he’d given me many times over the last few weeks.
Saluting him, I leaned against the kitchen island. “I have no intention of hurting her. Not that it’s any of your business, but she’s my world. I want her to move in with me. And once she’s ready, she’s going to marry me. So you can either accept this for what it is, because I’m not going away, or you can be a stubborn brute and fight me until you turn blue. But you’re not getting rid of me.”
Fixing me with one of his signature glares that bore an eerie resemblance to his brother Aleksándr’s, he nodded and turned his attention back to the pot on the stove.
That was probably as much of an acceptance as I’d get. My attention was quickly diverted to Quinn, who came back into the kitchen, looking at her phone.
“Everyone stand in front of the new stove so we can take a photo,” she instructed, holding the phone out in front of us.
Once we were all closer than both Vlad and I were comfortable with, she snapped a few pictures.
Amara grabbed a plate filled with lasagna and nodded at the others still on the counter. “Grab a plate and come to the dining room.”
Vlad followed her, plate in one hand, glass of water in the other. Quinn was leaning against me, flipping through the pictures she’d taken. “Liam, you’re not looking at the camera at all,” she complained, her nose wrinkling.
Glancing over her shoulder, I grinned at the photos. I was staring at her in every single one.
Taking our plates, we joined Vlad and Amara at one of the tables. The food I’d eaten at the restaurant the last few weeks was the best I’d ever had. And there was no way I’d ever admitto even thinking it around Mom. Her cooking was amazing, but Vlad, Amara, and Quinn had a gift.
25
QUINN
Runninga hand over Liam’s bare chest, I watched the play of his muscles, thinking I could get addicted to waking up in his arms. Today was the first day we’d had off in weeks.
The restaurant opened last weekend and was booked out for the next six weeks. The unplanned makeover had meant we could make it look exactly like we’d always envisioned. And it turned out the customers loved it.
“When are you flying back to Chicago?” I asked, my voice still heavy from sleep. I couldn’t leave the restaurant at the moment but had been planning ways on how best to talk Vlad into becoming the manager so I’d have more flexibility.
Making him manager would also mean I could go ahead with a plan I’d made over the last few days.
