Chapter 13
13
Things settled into a rhythm again in the days that followed. Sharon was happy that Amber hadn’t fallen back into Bradley’s arms and Amber didn’t miss Sloane one bit. The longer she was away from him, the less she thought about him. Well, other than wondering if voodoo dolls actually worked. She could probably knit a realistic enough looking douchebag to test the theory if she put her mind and her needles to it. Thoughts of murder and maiming aside, he didn’t take up space in her head any more. The feeling of dread and unease she felt when she was with him had disappeared, leaving space for nicer things. Now, she was excited about her own plans again. She was starting to feel like the old Amber again.
When she woke that morning, she felt happy. Settled. She had a day shift to run, and then the night off. For once, she was looking forward to it. She didn’t need a date for the evening; she was just looking forward to life again. The only sticking point being that she couldn’t quite stop thinking about her best friend. Naked. Dressed. Saying those nice things to her. The way he’d folded her into his huge body as if he would gladly shield her from the world with his bare arms. But that was fine, right? She just needed to shut the little ‘doesn’t want a family’ box in her head. Once she’d managed to shove him into it for good. Still, she had work to do.
Putting her game face on, she headed out of her flat.
Tyler was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.
‘Morning, Cherry.’ He grinned, waggling a wad of papers at her.
She lifted a brow. Why does he have to look so good? ‘Morning. We’re nowhere near opening time. What are you doing here so early?’
‘Couldn’t sleep.’ He was looking at her like he’d won the lottery.
‘What’s got you so happy?’ Then, she saw her business plan in his hand. ‘What are you doing with that?’
‘Well, I haven’t stopped thinking about it since you showed it to me. I figured you had time to give it another tweak before you had your first meeting with the bank.’ He was like a toddler, vibrating with energy. ‘Come with me.’
Leading her through to the kitchen, she gasped.
‘What the— what did you do, come in at dawn?’
‘Pretty much. I went to the fish market first.’
‘Hebblestone has a fish market that opens at dawn?’
‘Ah, young Padawan, much to learn have you.’ He reached for her, pulling her to the crammed counter. There were dishes on there that looked like they belonged in a Michelin restaurant.
‘Holy pollock, it smells gorgeous in here.’
Tyler was preening like a proud peacock, his laugh huffing out in one amused breath. ‘So, we know that pubs on their own don’t cut it on the viability front these days. I know in your plan, you planned to do the basic pub grub, but I decided that we could do better. Really smash the eatery bullshit out of the water.’
She pushed her lips together. ‘We?’
He shrugged those huge shoulders of his, flashing her an adorable little grin. ‘Yeah. Any decent chef can follow my menu. I mean,’ he bumped his body against hers, ‘it won’t be as good, but I’m amazing.’
She huffed out a laugh. ‘And modest.’
‘You forgot sexy.’ They locked eyes for a moment. I didn’t forget that. That’s half the problem.
‘So.’ She focused her attentions on the dishes, willing her cheeks to stop combusting with heat. ‘What do we have?’
He passed her one of the menu sheets. He’d written Cherry’s on the top. She felt a warm feeling in her stomach, seeing his nickname for her. Ran her fingers along the scrawl, till she saw him watching and dropped her hand.
‘For starters, we have the usual – prawn cocktail, mini appetisers like quiche and salad, fresh-made soups with crusty bread.’ His hand landed on the small of her back, as he moved her along. The box in her mind popped open a little more. Down, girl. ‘Mains, we have a fish dish with traditional chunky chips, a kick-ass chilli, and?—’
‘This is amazing,’ Amber cut in. It really was. Every single dish looked like it was perfectly made, riots of colour on each plate. ‘It also makes the Slug’s food look it came from a rat-burger van.’
‘Hey! That’s still my food, cheeky!’
She giggled.
‘You know what I meant. This stuff is great.’ There it was again: that cute little smirk of his. ‘You’re great,’ she blurted out. ‘At this I mean.’
She heard him swallow audibly before he spoke again.
‘So, dig in.’
She picked the chilli, spooning in a mouthful. The second it hit her lips, she moaned. Tyler, who had been watching her, turned away.
‘Good?’ he asked. His voice was thicker than usual.
‘Amazing,’ she said on a groan. ‘I can’t believe you did all this. You really think the Arms could pull this off? To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled with the thought of just doing pie and chips and the like.’
‘Well, now you don’t have to.’ He reached for the business plan he’d left on the side. ‘You know, this plan is pretty amazing. You should be really proud of yourself.’
‘Yeah, turns out my drunk drafting is pretty solid. Although I think it’s a good thing I only had to tweak a few bits. Thanks for this, really. It’s great. More than great, but what are you going to do with it all?’
He shrugged. ‘I have the dog shelter coming to get it before we open. I figured those guys could make use of it. I send them leftovers from here from time to time.’ When he caught her surprised look, his shoulders lifted. ‘What? You feed the dogs; the humans need a treat now and then too.’
His eyes locked with hers, and time shuddered to a stop.
‘You should let more people see this side of you.’
‘What side?’ he asked softly.
‘This side,’ her fingers reached up to touch his chest, but she stilled them before making contact. ‘Everyone thinks you’re this grumpy, scowling, quiet lumberjack, but you’re an absolute softie underneath it all. You care, Tyler Williams. More than you let people see.’
He covered the back of her hand, placing it on his chest for a moment before letting it go.
‘If you tell anyone,’ he whispered theatrically, ‘I might have to put you in a pie.’
She laughed, using the hand that still tingled from his touch to tap him on the chest. ‘Well, thanks. I’d better start opening up.’
She got to the door of the kitchen before he called her name.
‘Yeah?’ she asked.
‘You’re off tonight, right? Any plans?’
‘Nope. Well, I was going to look at some baby stuff on the ’net. ’
He nodded, his eyes narrowing before his face dropped into an easy smile.
‘Why?’
‘I’m off too. Leaving Ben to run things solo for once, and I’ve had another idea, if you fancy it?’
‘Oh yeah?’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘It’s not a fish market, is it?’
His laugh filled the kitchen. ‘No, definitely not.’
‘Then I’m in. It’s nice this: us talking again. I like it.’
He grinned, and it was positively infectious, seeing him like that before her. Maybe if she still got little pieces of him, like this – she could cope without the rest. No-one ever got everything they wanted in life, right? Two out of three was still pretty good.
‘Good, me too. It’s a date then.’
When she got to the bar, she played the words over in her head. It’s a date. She’d never corrected him. She could have, but something in her didn’t want to. Stop it, she told herself. You have sperm ordered. Actual baby-making schedules to start. The thing was, the only thing that wasn’t ruddy frozen was her heart.