‘Well, you have to do that too,’ she said amicably.
‘I reckon our steak still beats what they’re using here,’ Nick mused as he studied the piece of meat on his fork. ‘The marbling in this is nothing compared to our cuts. What do you think?’
‘I agree. I think you win in the steak department.’
He flashed her a brief grin.
‘So how does that all work? I know you mentioned you do all your processing in house—hence the bandsaw incident,’ she reminded him.
‘We’re in partnership with a local farmer—we sourced the breed of beef we prefer and he raises them. We get control ofthe whole process from breeding to feed and everything in between. The complete paddock-to-plate experience.’
‘So that’s a big deal? How the beef’s raised?’ she asked curiously.
‘Absolutely. Choosing the right breed is vital for the marbling effect and the quality of feed—pasture versus feed lot and what they’re fed—and the environment they’re raised in all plays a role as well. Our cattle are kept quiet and happy and the lack of stress is really important. Especially compared to large feed lot–bred cattle, where they’re under more pressure with greater numbers of cattle kept in smaller areas. Even the abattoir experience can affect the meat quality—since we have smaller numbers, don’t need to transport them as far and keep the whole process as calm as possible, our quality is unsurpassed.’ He said it without any hint of ego and Jenny smiled at the passion she heard in his voice.
‘Have you always been interested in cattle breeding?’ He certainly didn’t give off a farmer vibe.
‘Nope. Didn’t know a thing about it until I began researching for the restaurant. If you want to make a business stand out, you need an edge,’ he told her. ‘Something that makes your place different from anything else around. People want to support food that’s been sourced responsibly. They also want to know where their food’s coming from. What better way is there to support the town than to grow your food locally?’
‘I think it’s amazing,’ she said honestly.
‘It started out as a purely business-based choice,’ he admitted, ‘but once I got involved, met the people I workwith and saw what went into raising these cattle, it was hard not to get inspired. Best decision I ever made … other than buying the pub,’ he said with a smile.
As beautiful as this place was, it really didn’t hold a candle to the Coach House. It had class and sophistication, but it lacked the warmth and hospitality of the pub. The staff here were more aloof, elegant, the waitresses dressed in slim black dresses and the waiters in white shirts and black trousers, completely at odds with the jeans and coloured work shirts the servers wore in Nick’s place. The music was classical and delicate—but only background atmosphere. Exactly the kind of place Derrick would frequent, unlike the Coach House, where the music was often live and the patrons interacted with it.
She knew which one she preferred.
Jenny eyed the dessert menu the waiter brought over and shook her head. ‘I don’t think I can fit dessert in,’ she said, a little regretfully.
‘Can I tempt you with dessert from the Coach House? Give dinner time to settle so you can make some room?’ Nick suggested.
She really did feel like something sweet, and she knew what was on the menu back there. ‘Depends,’ she said slowly. ‘Is the lemon meringue going to be on tonight?’
He grinned. ‘I believe it is.’
‘Deal,’ Jenny said, closing the menu and placing it on the table.
‘Right.’ He nodded. ‘The way to Jenny’s heart is through lemon meringue. Noted.’
‘I’m not that complicated, really.’
‘I wouldn’t say that. There’s plenty about you I’ve been trying to figure out.’
The conversation had somehow gone from light-hearted to something else in a matter of seconds and she wasn’t sure what to do with it. Luckily, Nick stood up to go and pay.
The air smelled fresh and cool as they crossed the carpark and the moon cast a silvery shine through the darkness. They came to a stop beside the car and Nick stepped closer, placing Jenny between him and the vehicle.
‘Thank you for dinner,’ she said nervously, and a shot of desire raced through him as she caught her bottom lip with her teeth.
All night he’d been battling the urge to kiss her. Watching her lips close around the end of the fork as she ate had almost been his undoing. He liked to think he was mature enough to control his urges—he wasn’t some volatile hormone-induced teenager after all—but everything Jenny did seemed to send him flying backwards to that era when all it took to make him hard was a smile from a cute girl.
Ever since spontaneously making the date with her the other day, he’d been giving himself a lecture about taking things slow and not spooking her but, hell, everything the woman did turned him on. He was going to blow it if he didn’t calmthe hell down. She was already skittish about the whole age thing, not to mention the fact she was slightly paranoid about gossip … If he didn’t take things slow, he was going to scare her off and he’d never get a second chance.
But right now, his gaze locked on that bottom lip as she stared up at him with those wide eyes, he realised he was fighting a losing battle.
He let out a harsh breath and stepped back a little. He didn’t want to ruin this. She’d agreed to come out on a date and that was momentous enough—he couldn’t risk moving too fast now.
‘Jenny, I know you have your reservations about all this,’ Nick said, forcing himself to take the mature higher ground. He had to prove to her he could be trusted—show her that he wasn’t just thinking of her as some casual one-night stand. He wanted more than that.
