Turning Up the Heat: A Sizzling Modern Romance Novel

7. Oskar

On Tuesday morningI woke up with the smell of Kelsey Rankin in my face and a raging case of morning wood. Since I wasn’t an eighteen-year-old kid, I assumed one had to do with the other. I rolled quickly out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. There were long blond hairs in the sink and an extra toothbrush sitting on the edge of the counter.

The woman had been here one night, and my eyes were already attuned to the small traces of her left scattered over my house. I’d stayed late at the restaurant the night before, working on this week’s menu and some of the bookkeeping, avoiding coming home to an empty bed.

I knew that when I went out to the kitchen, I would see the coffee cup she had carefully rinsed and set on the edge of the sink. Two sets of dishes would be in the drying rack, and the kitchen towels would be uncharacteristically folded neatly on the counter.

I wasn’t meeting anyone but Josh today, so I skipped shaving and rinsed my face before walking out to make coffee. As I ground the beans, I let the sharp smell of the coffee wake me and thought about my schedule for the day.

Josh for lunch and then maybe going to the vineyard to look at the pinot vines.

The restaurant would open for dinner, but I didn’t need to be there until around three since we hadn’t added anything new to the menu.

I had cleaned the kitchen thoroughly yesterday, wiping away every trace of Kelsey’s and my explosive night together. My sous-chef, Victor, could do most of the prep for a Tuesday-night dinner service.

I needed to look at those sugar readings Josh had sent over. I didn’t think he’d be too understanding if I told him I had skipped them to spend the morning making sure his sister wasn’t able to keep her clothes on.

I tried not to think about her short text message last night. I was glad she had texted me, and an evil part of me hoped she hadn’t gotten a very good night’s sleep after the text I sent her back.

God knows it took me forever to get to sleep with her scent teasing me all night.

By the time the coffee was ready, I was immersed in sugar levels, pH readings, and all the other minutia Josh sifted through to decide when to pick the grapes. The complexity of the whole process fascinated me. Though I had been familiar with wine for most of my adult life, I’d had no idea how much work went into a single bottle.

The fog had burned off by the time I left the house, so I grabbed my sunglasses before jumping in my truck to head into Arroyo Grande Village. One of my indulgences when I moved to the States was buying a perfectly restored 1968 Corvette coupe, but that was parked in my nice clean garage. I quickly learned when I moved to the Central Coast that a pickup truck was necessary.

I didn’t want to get my baby dirty visiting farms and wineries; plus I couldn’t fit very much in the back end. A pickup truck fit the bill and had the added bonus of pissing off my younger sister. Hanna hated when I parked it in her driveway when I visited.

Thinking of my sister in Marin County made me think of Kelsey. Maybe I needed to drop in on Hanna. There had to be some house project she wanted free labor for, and unlike her kitchen remodel the year before, she might not have to work as hard to convince me to help.

I had a sudden flash of Kelsey laughing and spilling coffee on my couch yesterday morning. I closed my eyes, shook my head, and started my truck before backing out of the driveway and heading into town.

Arroyo Grande Village was a well-developed downtown area with businesses ranging from antique shops to feed stores. The Village Grill, where I was meeting Josh, served hamburgers in many variations and that was about it. You had to admire a place that did one thing and did it very well. It was the best burger in town.

Josh was sucking on a beer with an order of onion rings sitting on the table when I walked in. He was talking with someone on the phone, so I went up to the counter and put in my order for a green-chile burger before grabbing a bottle of water and sitting down across from him. I was taking a long drink when I realized who he was talking to and had to refrain from spitting across the table.

“Hell, it couldn’t have been that late when you got home—you could have called.” He was glaring at his phone. “No, you live alone. If you had gotten in a fiery car crash, no one would have noticed until your editor reported you missing.”

I very studiously did not have an expression of any kind on my face.

“Shut it. I realize you’re an adult. It’s called politeness.” He paused. “Fine. No, I’m not mad at you. I just worry, you know.” Josh snorted. “No, I don’t think that’s necessary, you little brat.” He listened to something with a smile on his face. “Have a good one. … No, just having lunch with Oskar.”

I sat up straight.

“Okay.” Josh nodded. “Yeah, okay. Love you too. Bye.”

Josh shut his phone off and took another drink of beer. After wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he leaned back in his chair and ate an onion ring.

“Kelsey says hi. Little brat always forgets to call me when she gets home from a trip down here.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m a pain in the ass? Takes one to know one. So damn sarcastic. She asked me if she ought to write her name and phone number in the back of her underwear in case of emergency. Can you believe that?” He grabbed another onion ring. “So what’s up with you?”

I had possibly the best sex of my life with your sister two nights ago.

You should really never mention her underwear in front of me ever again.

I may very well have ruined my ability to concentrate in my kitchen.

I keep seeing her in every corner of my too-small house.

I knew she got home fine because she texted me last night.

I swallowed another drink of water. “Not much. You?”

“Eh, this weather’s kicking my ass. We better not get any rain for the next two weeks.”

I hmm’ed vaguely and prayed that my burger would be finished soon. I had ordered it medium-rare, right?

“Yeah, I was telling Kelsey yesterday that those pinot grapes looked about ready to pick. She stopped by the ranch on her way up north. Said she had a nice time eating at the restaurant Sunday night, by the way.”

My carefully blank expression was firmly fixed in place. “Yeah? I’m glad she liked it. She really knows her stuff. About food, you know.”

“Yeah. She does, doesn’t she? So you didn’t see much of the harvest last season, right? Do you want me to call you when I get a crew together?”

“That sounds great.” My head was nodding mechanically. She wouldn’t have told her brother about the weekend, but Josh had the uncanny ability to see a lot more than he let on most of the time.

“Do you want to drive up this afternoon and pick what you want for this weekend, or do you want to wait until after Thursday’s market?”

“Sure.”

Josh was still talking about food, which normally I was pretty interested in. I was still nodding mechanically.

“Oskar?”

“Yeah?”

“You been drinking, man?”

I looked up with a frown. “Of course not. It’s barely noon.”

“You want to tell me what happened between you and my sister then?”

And still I fucking nodded. “Not really, no.”

He didn’t look mad, but he did look sort of amused, which pissed me off enough that I stopped nodding like a robot.

Josh grabbed another onion ring and took a long drink of his Pacifico. “Well, since I’m not an idiot, I know something happened. Luckily, I like you too much to give you a lot of crap. Plus I have absolute confidence in my sister’s complete lack of poker face.”

Yeah, Josh, I like that too. And I like the way her blush spreads down her neck and onto her tits when she gets really excited.

I chose to remain silent as Josh continued to eye me in wry amusement. Finally I coughed and said, “Josh, I’m not going to lie. I like your sister, and I’m not going to say I’m not interested in her. I really hope you don’t mind, but even if you do, that’s not really going to stop me trying to get to know her better.” I shrugged. “I don’t really know what else to say.”

Josh just looked at me, the same sardonic expression on his face, until the cook called his order number. He rose and went to get his burger. Once back at our small table, he took one big bite, chewed, swallowed and proceeded to lick the ketchup off his fingers before speaking again.

“Damn, that’s a good burger. Got the bacon cheeseburger with cheddar. What’d you get?”

He was asking about my hamburger order?

“The green-chile burger with the pepper jack and that chipotle mayonnaise they make.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a good one.” He took another bite and then continued talking with his mouth full. “Kelsey’s last boyfriend was a complete douche. Boring as fuck and had horrible taste in wine. I can’t imagine why she would stay with him for eight days, much less eight months. But then, it wasn’t really any of my business, you know. At least you have better taste in wine.”

They called my number, and I went up to claim my burger. I grabbed a Pacifico while I was up, figuring that a beer was appropriate at the moment. I went to sit down, still wondering where the fuck Josh was going with this. I opened my beer, took a drink, and proceeded to stuff my mouth. Whatever strange man-to-man talk I might be having with Josh, I was really hungry and the roasted green chile on the burger smelled great.

“Now, despite what Kelsey thinks,” Josh continued, “I do know she’s an adult, and as much as I love her, this shit is absolutely not any of my business, you get me? Whatever happens, happens. I want to see her happy, but she’s a grown-up and I don’t really have any control over that. Mostly…” He leveled his gaze at me. “I do not want to hear shit about my baby sister. Understand where I’m coming from?”

I should really stop thinking I knew Josh Rankin because the man never stopped surprising me.

“You aren’t going to hear me say anything about your sister.”

“Good, because I will kick your ass. I wouldn’t like it, and I might have to have someone hold you down for me ’cause you’re like, fuckin’ bigger than Thor, but it would happen.”

We both looked at each other for a minute and then started smiling.

“Got it. I’ll watch my mouth. I wouldn’t want to chance your wrath.”

“Good.” He was still laughing a little. “Oh, and Oskar?”

“Yeah?” I set my burger down and wiped my hands.

“I know you recognized the name Rankin the first time I met you, and I have no delusions it was because of my tiny-ass winery. Want to tell me what that was about?”

What. The. Fuck.

I almost choked on my beer.

“You know what?” Josh waved a hand. “Never mind. I’m pretty sure you’re not a stalker, so I figure there’s a story there. But that sounds like something you might want to talk about with another Rankin first.” He was wearing a shit-eating grin.

“Josh—”

“Nope. Like I said, I don’t want to know. Let’s talk about dirt.” He proceeded to launch into a discussion about soil amendments at the winery.

And I finished my beer.

After that, we talked a little more about the grapes and the menu for the week. Josh knew practically everyone who farmed on the Central Coast, and he always had good leads on which farmers had the best produce. If there was something in particular I wanted on the menu, I often asked him where to get it first.

After we went over the sugar readings, we walked out to the parking lot. Josh had an almost identical version of my white truck, and we leaned against our respective vehicles, digesting our burgers and bullshitting about the weather with two old men who were walking by.

I was turning to leave when I heard him.

“Hey, Oskar.”

“Yeah?” I put my sunglasses on and turned around.

“Did my sister call you when she got home last night?”

I stuck my hands in my pockets. “Uh…”

Well, shit. Stammering sort of answered the question for him, didn’t it?

Josh gave a hoot of laughter and turned to get into his truck. I heard him muttering under his breath before he started the car. “Damn, this is gonna be funny.”

He waved at me as he pulled out, a smile plastered over his face. I saw him take out his phone and start punching the keypad.

“Are you texting Kurt or Kelsey?” I raised an eyebrow when he nearly ran his truck into a tree before he made it to the end of the road. “Probably Kurt. You two gossip like old farmers.”

I got back in my truck and grabbed my phone. I figured it was only fair to give Kelsey a heads-up. I wanted to call her, but I didn’t know what her schedule was and I didn’t want to interrupt her at work, so I decided to send her a text.

I think Josh might know we’re…

What were we? Dating? Not really. We lived hours apart. Seeing each other? Huh, I wish. I tried to think of an appropriate word.

…involved.

That was vague enough. We were definitely involved. We had involved ourselves several times yesterday. I pushed the Send button.

I got a text back almost immediately.

Did you say something???

Three question marks meant she was concerned.

No. Did you?

See, Kelsey. Only one question mark. No concern here.

I didn’t, but he tends to know things. Is he being an asshole??

So were two question marks out of concern for me now? I didn’t mind that.

No, we’re fine. How is your day going?

There was a short pause. I guessed she was trying to decide whether to let the Josh topic go, but frankly, I didn’t really want to talk about her brother. I texted her again.

Did you get a good night’s sleep?

Slept like a baby, thanks. ;) You?

I smiled and texted back.

Yes. I had this great dream about you. You were naked.

Too forward?

Wow, what a coincidence. I slept naked last night.

Apparently not too forward. I silently cursed at the mental image.

Tease. I have to go cook in my desecrated kitchen now.

Have fun. I know I did the last time I was there.

She was going to kill me with this.

I may lose a finger during dinner prep, and it will be your fault.

That’s too bad. I’m quite fond of those fingers. You should take care of them.

Retaliation was necessary at this point.

Kelsey?

Oskar?

Are you at your desk right now?

As a matter of fact, I am.

You might want to clear it of breakables.

Is that so?

Just thinking ahead.

My phone was silent for what seemed like forever.

So. Fucking. Cocky.

I laughed out loud. She had no clue.

Are you blushing right now?

Wouldn’t you like to know?

You have no idea how much.

Ha ha. I’d better get back to the restaurant.

I’ll talk to you later.

Bye.

I put my phone down, started the truck, and headed back toward Mesa. When I pulled into the restaurant, I spotted Victor’s car in the parking lot. I walked in, put on my apron, and began the prep for the night’s dinner service. We had gotten some young turnips in that morning, and we were doing two new sides with them.

As I peeled and sliced the turnips for the dish, Victor chopped and soaked the greens.

He was working at the table. The worktable. I was somewhat possessive of that worktable. Maybe I would have to replace it if I couldn’t even watch my sous work there without wanting to do a caveman impression. I shook my head to clear the ridiculous thoughts filling it and tried to think about turnips.