“Destroying the kitchen by trying to bake?”
He chuckles again. “No. You can keep creating positive attention about our relationship. The more we’re seen together, and the bigger the headlines are, the more ammo we’ll haveagainst the board. You let me and my brothers take on the Antonovs, and you take on the media.”
“Asher,” I say in a groan. “There has to be something I can do.”
“Just be you. That’s all I need.”
“That’s very sweet of you to say, but I’m serious.”
“And so am I.”
“I can do something that doesn’t involve risk.”
“Absolutely not. I won’t take that chance.”
“Fine,” I huff, knowing I’m not going to win this argument today. I know Asher well enough to know that if I were to put myself in harm’s way, he would lose his ever-loving shit. And after what went down with Kyle, I’m in no hurry to put myself at physical risk, so I’m happy to respect that boundary. But I’m not about to sit back and do nothing. I’ll just have to find a way to help without alerting Asher.
An acrid, burning smell hits me, and I startle. “Oh, shit! The cookies!”
I drop my phone and race across the kitchen where Pierre is taking a smoking tray of cookies out of the oven.
“I’m sorry, Pierre! Let me help.”
He sets the tray down and waves a hand to disperse the smoke in the air.
“No, no. Please, Miss Ella, just let me do the baking for you. You don’t need to be in the kitchen. That is what Mr. Langford pays me for.”
“Are they ruined?” I don’t know why I ask that; they’re clearly burnt.
“Miss Ella, these are not cookies. These are rocks. Go, go. Out of the kitchen, please.”
“I can clean it up.”
“No, Miss Ella. I will clean. I just need you out.”
I flush scarlet. “Okay. I’m so sorry I made such a mess.”
He waves me off, and I pick up my phone and head into the living room.
“Sorry, I dropped my phone,” I say as I get back on the line with Asher.
He barks out a laugh. “It seems like the baking was a success.”
“Pierre just kicked me out of the kitchen. But if you hadn’t been distracting me, I would have remembered to set the timer on the oven, and then the cookies wouldn’t be burnt right now.”
Asher snorts. “Somehow I don’t think my distractions were the problem.”
“Okay, so I’m no domestic goddess. But I don’t give up easily. One day I’ll bake some delicious cookies.”
“You do that, baby. But in the meantime, let’s leave the kitchen duties to Pierre and focus on the board.”
I can do that. For now.
“You got it, Mr. Langford.”
12
ELLA
