31. Oskar
I kickedback in my office chair at Mesa while I caught up with Kelsey before dinner service.
About midway through the conversation, she said, “Did I tell you I got an e-vite to Austin and Sunflower’s wedding yesterday? Apparently they’re not sending invitations in the mail because it’s environmentally wasteful.”
“We should definitely go.”
“It’s for me, you, and Felipe. Pretty sure he thinks we’re a throuple.”
“He can think whatever he wants about us as long as he and Sunbeam?—”
“Sunflower.”
“—name their first child Oskar. Or Oskarina would be okay too. That sounds cool.”
Kelsey snorted on the other end of the line. “I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one, Chef. I foresee a Moonbeam Smith in the future.”
Hmm. How was Asshole—but not really Asshole—Austin getting married before me and Kelsey? I didn’t care that it had only been six months. I knew I wanted to marry the woman.
Kelsey was still laughing a little. “I still can’t believe you did that. No… Actually, I can.”
“Austin found love, Kelsey. Felipe and I are practically matchmakers.”
“Who knew that could be your side gig, Chef? I just don’t want you to give up cooking. That may have to be your day job for a while.”
“Are you saying I might not get rich and famous being a matchmaker?”
“I don’t want to offend you. According to your sister, you’re quite delicate.”
I dropped my voice and growled a little like I knew she loved. “You should come down here for a week and I’ll show you just exactly how delicate I am.”
She cleared her throat a little. “Why don’t I do that? How does next week sound?”
I smiled at the phone. I had my first week of full-time Kelsey next week. She was coming down south to cover some of the restaurants in the area for the Journal, and she was also doing a full profile on me, which was both flattering and baffling.
“I’m counting on it.”
“Me too.” Then she giggled. “Maybe we can go shopping for an environmentally responsible gift for Austin and Sunflower while I’m there.”
I smiled and said goodbye. I could hear Victor calling the staff for dinner.
The fallout from the Austin revelation was minimal. Kelsey brought it up occasionally, but she couldn’t get too mad at me because through my monthslong practical joke, I’d helped Asshole Austin find true love.
It was deliciously ironic.
I stood and walked out of the office to find Josh had joined the staff table for dinner. He was over to talk about some wine pairings for the spring menu.
I sat down and waited for Leslie to serve the stuffed artichokes and risotto she’d made that night, trying out a new recipe Victor had recommended for the menu.
“Let’s eat.”
“Yes, Chef.”
After that, the table was a chaotic mess of joking, compliments and suggestions, and general catching up.
I had gotten better about taking time off from work since Kelsey’s and my big fight at Christmas. I’d been stupid and I knew it.
For most of January, we were bitching at each other on a fairly regular basis, but I decided that it was better for my mental health and our relationship if I dropped the idea of Kelsey moving for now, took more time off work, and tried to be in Marin County more.
I had known that I wanted her forever from the moment a seagull shit on me in Fisherman’s Wharf.
Kelsey was more cautious, but for the past month she had talked more freely about a future together without putting qualifications on it.
It had switched from “if I can move back home” to “when I move back home,” which made a huge difference. We were fighting less, and while I was still impatient to have her with me, I felt like our future together was more certain.
“Hey, Oskar.”
Josh and I were walking out to his truck after dinner service. He’d stayed at the chef’s table all night while I made food for him and he opened bottles of wine. We had two tables of regulars at the restaurant that night, so we’d been sending pairings out to them and asking for feedback. Josh wandered out a few times and charmed them so I could stay in the kitchen.
We’d gotten some great input. The spring menu was going to rock.
“What’s up?” I was exhausted and cold. The switch from steaming kitchen to chilly night air was never my favorite.
“Do you remember that old place that Marshall Reilly’s grandparents had up on the mesa?”
“Fuck yeah, of course I do.” I looked up in interest. Marshall had hosted a party at his grandparents’ house on the mesa two summers ago.
It was an amazing two-story place that had been built along the edge of the mesa and overlooked the Oceano Dunes and the Pacific Ocean. Almost the entire back of the A-frame house was made up of huge windows and french doors that flowed onto a redwood deck and showed off the completely unobstructed view of the dunes and the ocean.
“They’re not tearing it down, are they?” It was beat up from salt air and neglect, but it was basically my dream house. Set off by itself and surrounded by Monterey cypress trees, it combined the isolation of the mesa with close proximity to town. It had been in one family for years, but no one had lived in it for at least ten.
Josh grinned at me. “Marshall’s family is getting ready to sell it.”
“What?” My heart raced.
“Marshall said his folks are tired of paying the upkeep on a house that’s only lived in once a month or so.”
My hopes lifted, then died. There was no way I would be able to afford that place. “If I win the lottery tomorrow, I’ll put in an offer.”
Fuck my life. My dream house came on the market about five years too early.
“Just something for you to think about, man. I know you like that place. You might call Marshall and go take a look.” He shrugged. “It might need a lot of work or something.”
“Right.” Even if the place was about to fall down, it would likely be out of my price range when I had an outstanding note on the restaurant.
“Good night, Josh.”
“Night, Oskar.”
I was doinglaundry on Saturday afternoon and trying to pick up the house. Kelsey would be here tomorrow afternoon before dinner, and I didn’t want the house to be a disaster area the way it was usually when she wasn’t here.
Normally I hated clutter, but as much as I had been working lately, my tiny house had gotten pretty chaotic.
I’d just moved a load of towels from the washer to the dryer and stripped the sheets off the bed when I heard a knock at the door. I wasn’t expecting anyone this afternoon, and I had to go into work in a few hours. Probably a kid in the neighborhood asking if I wanted help in the yard. It might be a good idea to hire them.
“Just a minute.” I walked barefoot to the door and opened it. “Kelsey?”
She smiled and bit her lip. “I’m early.”
I reached down, lifted her up, and planted a kiss on her mouth. “I’m glad you are.” I kissed her again, drawing the kiss out a little longer as I turned to shut the door and take her inside.
She broke away from my mouth, looking slightly nervous. “Oskar? Can we get my stuff out of the car real quick? I’d just rather get it done with so I don’t have to worry about it.”
“Why are you looking like that? You didn’t adopt a puppy or something, did you?” I loved dogs, but I was never home and I couldn’t bring a dog to work.
“No!” She laughed. “I didn’t get a dog.”
It was a cat. I shrugged. I liked cats.
I followed Kelsey to her car as she fiddled with her keys.
“Why did you knock? Did you lose your key?”
She looked over her shoulder, a little flustered. “I guess I forgot.” She toyed with the button on her key chain as she popped the trunk of her car.
I lifted up the trunk and frowned. “Is there something I forgot about this week? You never bring three suitcases.” Maybe Octavia wanted her to stay longer. I smiled. “How long are you staying?”
She cleared her throat. “Uh… how about forever?”
I turned around, my eyes going wide. “What?”
Kelsey was still standing, fidgeting with her keys. “Forever? If you want?”
“Seriously?” She wasn’t serious.
Was she serious?
She narrowed her eyes. “I realized on the way down that we hadn’t agreed on my living here.” She bit her lip. “I can always stay at Josh’s if you don’t want?—”
“You’re not joking?” I interrupted her, still stuck on her saying forever to me.
She nodded slowly. “Yes, Oskar. I’m here. I’m home. For good. I quit the Journal.”
“You quit?” I walked to her. “You quit. Your choice, not theirs?”
“I quit.” Her eyes were shining. “Oskar, I need to know?—”
I grabbed her, picking her up as my lips crashed into hers, and she squeaked slightly before it turned into a moan.
She said forever.
She wanted forever.
I lifted her in my arms, slamming the trunk shut with one hand and striding to my front door with Kelsey in my arms. I walked into the house, breaking away quickly to shut and lock the door before walking back to the bedroom.
There were no sheets on the bed.
“Fuck!”
She giggled. “So does this impatience mean you want me to stay?”
“Stay?” I tossed her on the bed. “Forget ever leaving the house again. I’ll get the sheets later.” I crawled up to her on the bed, my hands digging into the slightly scratchy mattress cover. “Sorry about the sheets.”
I kissed up her body, licking her ankle, nibbling at her soft waist where her shirt had pulled up, before finally settling over her and kissing her delicious mouth.
She shrugged. “It’s no stainless steel worktable, but I guess it’ll do.”
I grinned at the memory of our first time together. “Forever?”
Her hands reached up to my cheeks, which were rough with stubble from not shaving this morning. “Forever, Chef. I’m yours.”
“No,” I choked out, surprised at the heat in my eyes. I cleared my throat. “No, I’m yours.”
Kelsey pulled my face down to hers, then and kissed me long and slow as her hands reached to my back to pull me closer. “Make love to me.”
“Kelsey.” My lips caressed hers before working down her jaw, throat, and collarbone. I kissed lightly over her covered torso before teasing her shirt up to nip around her navel. I breathed deeply, wanting to memorize her scent again as she lay in my bed.
Our bed.
She combed her fingers through my hair before I pulled her shirt up higher. Within seconds, all our clothes were on the floor.
I took my time, stroking my hands over every inch of her body. I wanted to remember this forever.
She whispered, “I love you.”
I kissed the dip between her collarbones; my lips traced the warm crease under her left breast; my fingers circled her navel before my tongue dipped in to taste her.
“Watch me.” I breathed out when my mouth reached between her thighs. I bit at her inner thigh before looking up. Our eyes met, and I leaned down to taste her.
Her gasp urged me on, but her eyes never left my own as I nipped and tasted her.
Piquant, like the sharp bite of wine on my tongue. I gripped her thighs as she cried my name, feasting on the woman who loved me, who owned me.
And now she was mine.
“Forever,” I whispered against her delicate skin right before she came.
Kelsey moaned my name over and over again as her fingers clutched my hair. I eased her down from her climax, but her heart was still racing when she pulled me up to kiss her mouth.
I leaned my weight to the side and felt her reach down to guide me inside her. When we were joined, I looked into her eyes. I memorized the play of light on her hair and the way the glow from the afternoon sun hit the tiny flecks of gold in her eyes. She had a tiny crack in her lower lip where it was chapped from the winter cold.
I leaned down and kissed it slowly, pulling her lower lip into my mouth.
Kelsey had tears in the corner of her eyes. I kissed them, tasting the salt on my tongue before I leaned down to nuzzle her neck as we picked up speed. Our rhythm became more frantic until her legs wrapped around my waist.
“Come,” she whispered. “Come, Oskar.”
The new angle hit every nerve in my body, and I felt my climax build until my back was bowed up and pleasure blasted through every cell.
Kelsey let out a long, slow breath, and I rolled us on our sides, hugging her to my chest. I drifted as I held her, satisfied and content as her small hands ran up and down my back, scratching lightly with her fingernails.
“Oskar?”
“Hmmm?”
“Do you have a blanket or something? I’m cold.”
I reached to the side of the bed where the bedspread was lying from when I’d stripped the bed earlier. I grabbed it, thankful for my freakishly long arms, and pulled it over us. Her head was pillowed on my arm, and she snuggled into my chest.
“Sorry. I’m washing the sheets right now.”
“You only have one set of sheets?” she asked curiously.
“Yeah, I usually just wash them and throw them back on the bed right away.”
“We might need to get more. My old ones are queen-sized.”
I smiled. “Yep. We should get some sheets for our bed.”
She caught the look in my eye. “Well, don’t you look like the happiest caveman on earth, Chef.”
“Ug.” I propped my head up on a bent arm. “Do you want to fill me in now? Did you get a different job? Yesterday you were all excited to do this profile of me for the Journal. Not that I really care about that, but what’s going on?”
“Oh, I’m still doing a profile of you for the Journal.” She smiled. “I’m also writing the restaurant reviews and articles about three or four winemakers of my choosing. It’s all of my choosing now. The Journal has already bought the articles from me, but I get to choose what I write about.”
I smiled. “You’re a free agent.”
“I’m working freelance, Chef.” She rolled to her back. “I’ve already reached out to papers in LA and Sacramento. And I’ve had two chefs contact me about possibly collaborating on a cookbook.”
I thought my cheeks might get stuck I was smiling so wide. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”
“I’m pretty proud of me too.” She looked like a light had turned on inside her.
“You’re going to be brilliant,” I whispered as I kissed her ear.
“And possibly completely broke,” she whispered. “Just warning you.”
I shook my head. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Thanks.” She took a deep breath. “There’s a lot to talk about still, but?—”
“Details.” I played with a piece of her hair. “What made you decide to go this direction? It’s perfect.”
She looked at me with a slightly guilty look. “Stan suggested it a few months ago, right after the meeting with Octavia. Before you ask, I didn’t tell you because I was worried that it wasn’t going to be feasible and you would just get disappointed again. And I really didn’t want to disappoint you. Or myself.”
“You’ve been thinking about this for months?”
“I’m sorry if you feel like I left you out of the loop, but I just felt like I needed to figure it out on my own. I hope you understand.”
I frowned. “No, I get it. I feel like a dick for thinking you weren’t doing anything about it for all these months though.”
“Eh.” She shrugged. “That’s what I get for not telling you.” She rolled toward me and pulled me down for a kiss. “But we can fight about it later because we have all the time in the world.”
I rolled her over to lie on my chest and played with the hair that fell forward around her face. “Forever?”
“Forever, Chef.”