23. Hannah Jane
23
HANNAH JANE
I lived for the rush of a well-planned and flawlessly executed event. Months ago, Luca had asked me to lend a hand to the front-of-house manager at his new steakhouse for the grand opening. The new manager had a type-A personality—sharp and organized. But there was something to be said for years of experience terrifying the shit out of people.
It was also easier for me to whip the staff into shape, knowing I wouldn’t have to see them again. We tag-teamed good cop, bad cop like a well-timed one-two punch.
“Serve from the left, clear from the right,” I quietly reminded a server as we passed by. Jessica, the front-of-house manager, gave the server a thumbs up and offered a hushed “ good job.”
“The place settings look so elegant,” Jessica gushed. We skirted the edge of the dining room, discreetly ensuring that all the guests were being cared for.
I smiled softly, breathing in time with the click of my heels against the smooth stone tile floor.
I advised Luca to err on the side of elegance for the place settings to contrast the masculine ambiance. Crisp linens, smooth silverware, fresh flowers, and tea lights adorned each table.
Heavy beams crisscrossed the ceiling, and massive windows separated rough stone walls. Patrons had an unbeatable view of an orange and pink sunset over the rolling plains.
Soft music played overhead as servers danced around each other. “Serve from the right, clear from the left,” I heard Jessica chide quietly.
I smiled. My little baby bird was almost ready to leave the nest.
“Let’s check-in upstairs,” I said, pleased that things were going well in the main dining room.
Things were not going well upstairs.
The open-air balcony space had more tables waiting to be bussed than tables with diners, all while there was a line of hungry guests waiting to be seated.
Jessica nearly had a panic attack right there. I looked around and found two busboys flirting it up with a server by the ice machine. I shot Jessica my watch this look and cleared my throat.
“Excuse me, gentlemen,” I began, tapping the busboys on the shoulders. “I just need a minute of your time.”
They turned and stood nervously. The server at least had the good sense to run back to work with her tail between her legs.
My smile was filled with sugar, spice, and rattlesnake venom. “Unless you won the lottery and no longer need this job, you two need to start clearing those tables with the rest of the team. If you don’t, I swear to God, I’ll pull you outside by your ears and have you walking behind Mickey with a pooper-scooper."
The color drained from their faces.
“Any questions?” I smiled sweetly.
They shook their heads in synchronization. “No, ma’am.”
“Great!” I clapped my hands together cheerily. “Don’t hesitate to find Miss Jessica or me if you need direction. ”
They scurried off and went to work, turning over the soiled tables at remarkable speed.
I let out a breath and smoothed down my hair. “I would rather go skinny dipping in a tsunami than deal with lazy children.”
She laughed under her breath. “I pity your future kids.”
We shared smiles and headed into the kitchen. Maddie was acting as Luca’s eyes and ears in the kitchen so that he could spend the evening schmoozing patrons.
I found her double-checking each plate as the servers flew out the swinging doors. My stomach rumbled. Luca promised me the biggest steak he could grill when the night was over. I motivated myself with the thought of my mashed potatoes turning pink from the juices of my medium-rare T-bone.
Maddie’s blonde hair was piled high on top of her head. Her chef coat was spotless. She kept looking over her shoulder to the pastry kitchen, gritting her teeth.
“Let me guess,” I said, snagging a plastic cup, filling it with water, and snapping a lid on top. I poked the straw through and took a long sip. “Luca won’t let you near the desserts.”
“I made the fucking menu. I should get to oversee it tonight.”
“You’ve also been down here for a week training the staff. Time to let them compete what they practiced.”
“You sound like Luca,” she muttered, examining the plate that was about to go out. She gave the sous chef an approving nod. “How are things in the front?”
“Running smoothly.”
Maddie looked skeptical.
I grabbed the permanent marker from the sleeve pocket of her chef’s coat and scribbled my name on the cup of water. “Hey, I may not work in restaurants, but I can kick a catering staff’s ass. Jess and I have this on lock.”
Maddie took my cup and set it beside hers on the shelf underneath the stainless-steel prep table .
There was chatter in my earpiece, and I shooed Jessica upstairs. Maddie gave me a curious look. “VIPs are being seated upstairs,” I said. “The Griffith family and some big names Luca invited.”
Maddie smiled knowingly, and I wondered just what it was that she was up to. “Be nice,” she sing-songed.
Weirdo.
I loved Maddie to death, but the girl was one French-fry short of a Happy Meal.
Jessica and I split up. She took the main dining room, and I oversaw the second-floor balcony.
The entire Griffith family had been seated together at a long row of tables. Luca sat toward the head of the table, in between two of the brothers, Chris and Nathan Griffith.
I dipped behind the servers’ station and pressed my hands against the countertop, rolling one ankle and then the other to ease the ache. My feet throbbed after working events all day at the inn and immediately driving to Raleigh for my flight to Texas. I had to sprint through the airport in my heels just to make it to the gate.
I would have slipped into something more comfortable, but something about a woman in a pair of high heels had the ability to strike fear into every man in the vicinity.
I could deal with the pain.
The red soles of my black heels complemented my red sheath dress. I fully embraced the Cruella vibes.
A young blonde hostess with a bright smile hurried up the stairs and showed a last-minute guest to the empty seat at the Griffith family table.
I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my dress and stood out of sight. Various food critics and influencers dined all around the family table, but Luca had asked me to snap a few candid pictures of the Griffith family’s first time sitting down for a meal in the new restaurant.
Luca stood up and raised his wine glass to begin his toast. I tapped the screen of my phone and captured everyone’s faces. Luca and Maddie, who had come upstairs to support her husband. Becks and Griff and their adorable daughter, Charlie. Chris Griffith and his girls, Bree and Gracie. Ray and Carson Griffith and their respective families. And?—
Him.
Isaac was sitting at the end of the table. Maddie walked over and hugged him. He kissed her cheek and grinned as they chatted. What the hell?
Maddie had a conspiratorial look in her eye. She leaned up from the hug and zeroed in on me in a laser focus. “HJ! There you are!” she squealed.
Isaac’s head snapped so hard I thought it was going to fly off of his neck and roll across the floor. No amount of intimidation could get the busboys to clean that up. His eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he quickly steeled his reaction.
Everyone seated at the table stopped what they were doing to see what Maddie was shrieking about.
I pocketed my phone and slipped out from behind the servers’ station. “Something you need a hand with? Maybe downstairs?” Please let it be something downstairs.
Just seeing Isaac’s face had my body ramping up, desperate with need. His fingers were curled around the tumbler of bourbon in his hand, strangling the glass. My heart ached. I had gone longer than I wanted without seeing him, and now here we were—together again.
It was like the universe was dead set on throwing us together at the most inopportune times.
I had a boyfriend I was crazy about, but I was too chickenshit to tell my best friends. I wanted to strut over there and plant a salacious kiss on his mouth. I wanted to sit in his damn lap and let him feed me dinner.
I wanted to be so grossly in love that we annoyed the hell out of everyone else in the room.
Isaac cleared his throat and flashed me a smile so potent that it made my knees wobble. “Miss Hayes.” His words were full of rough sex, unspoken promises, and the thrill of no one in the room knowing our secret.
“Mr. Lawson,” I replied demurely.
Isaac turned away without another word to me and made polite conversation with the table.
“Well,” Maddie said with a satisfied smile. “I should really head back to the kitchen.” She gave Isaac’s arm a squeeze. “If you need anything, just ask HJ.”
Well, fuck.
I avoided him completely, and that was not an easy feat, given the obscene things he texted me from underneath the table.
Miraculously, I made it through the evening without Isaac demanding I hand him my panties between dinner and dessert.
I hugged Jessica and congratulated her on a great opening night, then poked my head into the kitchen, grabbed my dinner to-go, and saluted Maddie and Luca. They were busy cleaning the kitchen and preparing for the next day’s service with the staff.
I hopped into the golf cart and peeled my heels off. Blisters dotted my feet, but I was happy. A good day’s work was in the bag. I may not have been arguing in front of judges and juries, but I helped people make memories. I was content working behind the scenes, being the puppet master.
“Night, Mickey,” I called out to the longhorn cow wandering around the property.
The first cabin in the row had lights on, but the curtains were drawn shut. Maddie and Luca’s cabin was dark. It would probably be another hour before they finished up at the restaurant. I parked the golf cart in front of mine and hopped out. My bare feet hit the dirt path as I fished around in my pockets for the key.
I pushed the door open with my hip and felt around the wall for the light switch. My shoes clattered as I dropped them on the stiff mat that read, Y’all Come Back Now, Ya Hear?
The light in the small kitchen was on, though I distinctly remembered turning it off before I ran to the restaurant after dropping my bags. An ice bucket with a bottle of champagne rested on top of the two-seater kitchen table. I didn’t even have to look at the label to know what it was.
“Honey, I’m home,” I called out into the quiet cabin with a smile on my face. I found a pair of wine glasses in the cabinet, grabbed the champagne, and headed to the bedroom, where light leaked from beneath the door.
Isaac sat on the edge of the bed. He was still in his suit, but his jacket was unbuttoned, and his tie was loosened.
He looked up with weary eyes and took me in. “Goddamn,” he rasped. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
He took the glasses and champagne out of my hands, discarding them on top of the bed. Isaac opened his arms, and I felt my body pull to his like a magnet. He wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his head in my breasts.
“Missed you like hell, Princess,” he mumbled.
I tangled my fingers in his sandy hair and buried my nose against his head. “Did you miss me, or are you saying that to my tits?”
He grinned. I felt the vibrations of his laugh buzzing through my body. “Is both an option? You know how I feel about your tits.” He breathed me in and sighed. “It feels like it’s been a fucking lifetime since I’ve touched you.”
“It’s barely been two weeks,” I said, stroking my fingers along the back of his neck.
“Too fucking long.”
“Isaac?” I mumbled into his scalp. “Can I ask you something?”
“Hm?”
“Am I your first girlfriend? ”
He leaned back and smiled sheepishly. “Maybe.”
“Isaac…”
“Yes, okay? Yes. You’re my first girlfriend, and I have no fucking clue what I’m doing.” He skated his hands down my back and squeezed my ass. “I’m trying to be good to you, but you took away my superpower.”
I giggled and arched my back, shoving my ass deeper into his hands. “And that superpower is?”
He slid his hand up my thigh but stopped short of where I craved him most. “Spoiling you and making you come,” he said in a low, husky voice.
I closed my eyes and whimpered. My pandora’s box of sex toys was no match for the real thing. “What are you doing here?” I said with a jagged breath.
“Being a pretty face for the grand opening. Supporting my best friend. You?”
“Helping out. Maddie and Luca thought the front-of-house manager could use a hand for the first night, and Carole couldn’t get away from Revanche.”
He laid back on the mattress, pulling me down with him. “You’re something else, Miss Hayes.”
His nose bumped against mine, and I felt the warm caress of his lips. I sighed contentedly into his mouth, and my eyelids fluttered shut.
Isaac pushed the bottom of my dress up and pulled my legs apart until I was straddling him. His tongue breached my lips, and I lost myself in the tangle. I loved the scrape of his jaw against my cheek. The way his hands manipulated my body, placing me just how he wanted me. The cocky smirk that tugged at the corner of his mouth every time an involuntary whimper escaped my lips.
I seriously debated whether I had undergone a lobotomy when I said we needed to abstain from sex while we got to know each other .
Were my critical faculties in working order?
My brain wasn’t busted. I was just orgasm starved.
A knock at the door interrupted our make-out session. I froze on top of him and tried to catch my breath. “It’s probably Maddie.”
“Get rid of her,” he growled against the delicate skin at the base of my throat.
Reluctantly, I slid off Isaac and closed the bedroom door behind me as I walked to the front door.
To my surprise, it wasn’t Maddie. It was Luca.
“Hey.” He grinned, holding a white envelope in his hand. “Did I wake you?”
“No, no,” I shook my head and smoothed my dress. “I, uh, I just got in a few minutes ago. What’s up?”
He held out the envelope. “I know you came out here as a favor, and you’re not on the payroll, but I just wanted to say thank you. I know Jess appreciated having you there tonight. I hope we didn’t work you too hard.”
I opened the envelope and nearly toppled over. “Luca, this is too much.”
“Nah,” he said, shirking it off. He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “Maddie said to put it toward your shoe addiction.”
I thought about the pair of Jimmy Choos that I bookmarked while I was waiting for my flight to Texas to take off. It’s like he was reading my mind.
“Thank you,” I said sincerely, clutching the envelope to my chest.
Luca lingered in the doorway.
“So, um, my flight leaves tomorrow,” I said, desperately praying Isaac would stay in the bedroom.
Was it unladylike to tell Luca to go bang his wife or something?
“I, uh, guess I’ll see y’all back in Beaufort.”
“Yep,” he clipped, looking over my shoulder .
I knew damn well there was no one there. I would have heard the click of the door if Isaac opened it.
Luca’s scrutiny turned to me. He studied my face with an unrelenting gaze. The tension was palpable.
“Yo, Lawson!” he shouted.
I gave him a quizzical look and a borderline manic smile, hoping that my poker face was as good as his.
It wasn’t.
After the longest ten seconds of my life, Isaac shouted back. “Night, DeRossi.”
I cringed.
Luca had a shit-eating grin on his face. He crossed his tattooed arms over his chest. “Finally caught you two.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How much do I have to pay you to keep this to yourself?”
Luca stroked the dark beard on his jaw. “Depends. Is the sneaking around his idea or yours?”
“Mine,” I hissed. “And we’ve done a pretty good job of not getting caught, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Luca snorted. “Be straight with me. Is he treating you right?”
I gave him a curious look. “Y’all strike me as the bros before hoes type. Shouldn’t you be siding with him?”
“I love the guy, but I’ve known him for a long time, which means I also know a lot more shit about him than you do. Is he treating you right?”
“Yes,” I snapped. I was just about done with this conversation. “Look, I’m going to tell everyone,” I said, pleading with him. “I just want to make sure this is real before I do.”
Something warm bumped into my back, and I realized that Isaac had walked up behind me. He put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed gently. It was a comforting gesture, and the realization of just how much I craved his touch slammed into me like a freight train .
Luca looked over my head and gave him a warning look.
“If you fuck this up, I’m not the one you should worry about.”
I knew he was talking about the rest of the poker club. Part of me was really fucking nervous at the thought of asking if he could join poker night.
Isaac reached around me, extending his hand to Luca. It seemed awfully formal for two guys who had known each other for nearly twenty years. Luca’s jaw was set, but he reached out and shook Isaac’s hand. No words passed between them, but there was an understanding that I wasn’t privy to.
I shut the front door and let out a breath. “What the hell just happened?” I said, collapsing against the door.
Isaac caged me in, his corded forearms bracing on either side of my head. “Let’s get something straight,” he said in a rumble. “ This is real. Whatever you want. However you want this to look, I’ll give it to you.”
I trapped my lip between my teeth. “I’m scared to ask for what I want.”
He scoffed. “Why? You’re Hell Yes Ma’am . You had me wrapped around your finger the minute I saw you. That woman had no goddamn problem demanding what she wanted. Why the hell are you scared of asking for it now?”
“I’ve gone on dates with pretty much every eligible bachelor in eastern North Carolina.” I sniffed, and then laughed in quiet irony. “All that dating experience, and you swoop in here and make me feel things I’ve never felt before.”
He grazed the pad of his thumb along my lower lip. His gaze was intense. There was no escaping the immeasurable depths of his blue eyes. They froze and burned at the same time.
“Then that makes two of us.” He tipped my chin up and drew me in for a kiss. “Tell me what you want.”
I lost myself in the kiss, but the bite he left on my bottom lip told me he wasn’t letting me out of answering .
“I want to dance with you at Jokers,” I said quietly. “I want to wake up beside you on Christmas morning. I want to sit in bed with you and eat cereal and watch TV. I want your time, but it’s a cruel ask because I know you can’t give it to me. Not as much as I want, anyway. You have to be you, and that happens everywhere except where I am. I don’t want to need you this way, but I do.”
“Ask me,” he said again. I closed my eyes when he pressed his forehead to mine. “Ask for it.”
“I want you.”
“That’s wanting, not asking. Demand it. Be the woman I fell for. Trust me to give it to you.”
I clenched the lapels of his suit jacket in my hands. “Just be with me,” I pleaded. “For all the moments I want you and all the times I need you. Be mine, Isaac Lawson.”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Yes, ma’am.”