Chapter 38
CHAPTER
THIRTY-EIGHT
Kyle wanted to drag Madison into his arms and never let her go. But he recognized that determined glint in her eye. She was going to meet him toe-to-toe now.
Her hand clenched around the brick. “I’m afraid I won’t be anything unless I win the star. Whenever anyone has said I am nothing, I’ve always told myself, well, I’ll show them. One day I’ll be a Michelin-starred chef. Until you—and our friends—I didn’t want anything else out of life.”
She hesitated, but he could tell she wasn’t done. She was about to share another important facet of her life with him, and he was going to listen.
“You told me something hard, so I’m going to do the same.” She sucked in a huge breath. “I fell in love when I was seventeen. He was in college, and he treated me like I was special. I was crazy about him.”
Her angry shake of the brick had him struggling to leash his own ferocity since he suspected he knew what she’d say next.
“God, I was so stupid. When he finally invited me over to his apartment, I baked a dulce de leche cake and had my first time with him. But it wasn’t this great romantic moment I’d hoped for, and after that, it was like that girl inside me had dried up.
I’d grown up tough, and after falling for that asshole, I got tougher.
I hated the na?ve girl I’d been. I can tell you, but I got to thinking about who I was back then.
I saw her looking at me in the mirror after we kissed on New Year’s Eve. ”
He let his finger graze her cheek, his heart pulsing with hurt.
“She wasn’t gone.” She tugged on his suit jacket, as if needing an anchor. “Falling in love with you brought her back… That’s been the biggest shock of all, because I’d told myself I didn’t do love.”
“I’m glad she wasn’t gone—because I really love how you look at me,” he said huskily. “With your whole heart.”
“I know, and it’s pathetic.” She gave a strangled laugh.
“Kyle, you’ve made me want every mushy thing out there, although I still don’t always want to admit it.
But I love our Romance Shrine and our Dirty Dancing club.
I love your bed—something I found out last night when I slept on the cot in the kitchen—and I even love a parrot and now a dog. ”
Her hand cupped his jaw, and he finally drew her against him with a sigh of relief. “I like where this is headed.”
“You should.” She laid her hand over his heart, her golden eyes turning warm and soft, like they did when she let her feelings show.
“But most of all, I love you. I hate this brick, and I hate the thought of losing you and messing up our family, and I hate being afraid of another bully who’s trying to keep me from having what I want.
So look out. I’m gonna break it into a million pieces and show you how it’s done. ”
She stepped away, lifted her arm, and slammed the brick into the ground, cracking it successfully into little, uneven rocks.
The door flew open, and Nanine’s chandelier gave a spicy jingle. Rico stopped short, gesturing grandly to the floor. “Mon dieu! What are you two doing back here? Destroying the restaurant? I know things are dire, but surely we must hold the line at outright demolition.”
Kyle cracked his neck. Of all the people to interrupt them…
“Oh shit!” Madison lurched forward. “I forgot you were coming.”
“It’s no wonder,” the other chef exclaimed with a pointed inflection in the air.
“Surely you have lost your mind if you are throwing bricks around. I suppose I should be relieved you did not fatally wound yourself like the French celebrity chef Bernard Loiseau after he received a private note from the Michelin Guide’s chief that his three-star establishment might lose a star if he didn’t step up his cooking game. ”
“We haven’t lost our minds,” Madison protested, stepping over the pile of rubble. “We’ve been deciding things. In our own way.”
Kyle took a deep breath. He thought he knew, but some things were worth confirming. “Mad, can I ask why Rico is here?”
The chef only gave a smirk, striking a pose. “Because I am magnificence personified. Why else?”
Madison swatted him. “Shut up, will you? Kyle, Rico heard what happened and was swinging by. Rico, make it quick. Kyle and I need to get home.”
Home.
There, she’d said it. He stepped behind her and felt his heart explode when she reached back for his hand. She’d always shied away from public displays, and here she was, doing it in front of a colleague. He grinned. When she broke something, she broke it for good. God, he was feeling terrific now.
“I will make it quick, then.” Rico reached into his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper.
“An anonymous person left this message addressed to me at the restaurant on an empty table after lunch service. You’re going to want to read what’s inside.
I assume they knew I would give it to you even though your name was not specifically mentioned.
I feel like I’ve stepped into a cloak-and-dagger film. ”
Madison took the paper and opened the note. Kyle peered over her shoulder, his mouth dropping open as he read.
The Michelin people will make their announcement on Nanine’s. Please tell your friend.
Kyle clutched her shoulders as she let out a shriek.
“Oh my God!” she yelled, turning and flinging herself into his arms. “Everything was shit, and now we get a note like this?”
“Sometimes life is that way,” Rico mused. “It’s like making beurre blanc sauce. You seem to be stirring forever and nothing is happening, and then suddenly everything comes together perfectly.”
They both stared at him. “Really, Rico? Beurre blanc?” She turned to Kyle and grabbed his jacket. “Kyle, do you know what this means?”
“We’re not blackballed.” Clutching her to him, he pressed his face into her neck. “We’re being considered.”
She leaned back and shook him playfully. “It means that a-hole didn’t win.”
He cupped her face and kissed her hard on the mouth before holding out his hand to Rico. “Thank you for bringing the note, Rico.”
His slight shrug was so very French. “After you came to me for help, Kyle, it seems I am now deeply involved.”
Shock rippled over Madison’s face. “You went to Rico? When?”
Because the man was smirking, he only kissed her softly on the mouth. “All hands on deck, remember?”
“But Rico!” she only repeated.
“Do not say it like that, Madison,” Rico implored, hand to heart. “You will hurt my sensitive soul.”
Kyle almost snorted. “We’ll both be sure to be careful with you from now on. Any idea who might have left it?”
Shaking his head, Rico walked to the kitchen doorway, extracting a cigarette but not making a move to light it. “No, I’m afraid the Michelin mystique continues. This story is going to join other legendary ones should you win your star, Madison.”
Personally, Kyle could do with a little less mystique.
“I will be most excited for their decision,” Rico continued, stroking the cigarette in his hand.
“Something you should know…unlike the restaurant where we worked in Miami, you’ll hear closer to the ceremony whether you have won the star since travel is easier from Paris to the award site.
From my friend’s past experience and my own, the Michelin people will call a week to three days in advance to let you know if you should come to the ceremony. ”
“Meaning you’ve won.” Madison rocked on her heels, sharing his wired energy. “Good to know.”
“I’m hoping my restaurant will go from one to two this year.” He smirked. “If so, we can travel together.”
“I hope you get it,” Madison told him.
“Me as well, since it seems I will not be getting all I want.”
Kyle knew a pointed reference to Madison when he heard it. “Better luck next time, Rico.”
The chef snorted. “Alas, that is life. Now, I will let you go back to your brick throwing or whatever it is you are doing. Bonne nuit.”
Madison jerked out of Kyle’s arms and ran to her friend, punching him lightly in the air. “Thank you, Rico.”
“What else can a man do?” They shared a smile before he inclined his chin to Kyle. “Take good care of her.”
He put a hand to his heart, smiling as Madison gazed back at him, love shining in her eyes. “With everything I am.”
“Ah, l’amour, seeing you two makes me long for it in my Basque soul.” He sighed. “Madison, if you need someone to walk you down the aisle, I will do so.”
She blinked before shoving him toward the door. “Would you stuff rice into those little wedding sachets if I ask?”
“I’d rather cut my throat with your cleaver,” Rico responded with a laugh before leaving the kitchen.
Once they were alone together again, Madison turned to Kyle. “I’m in shock.”
He walked toward her slowly, snagging her to him when she was within reach. “Me too. Part of me wonders what worked, but the rest of me doesn’t care. I’m only glad it did.”
She laid her hand over his heart. “You know this note doesn’t mean we won a star. Only that we’re being seriously considered. No longer blackballed.”
The cautious edge was back in her voice, and for good reason. They’d been through the wringer. “Thankfully it won’t be too much longer before we hear.”
“No.” She fingered the buttons on his shirt before raising her face and looking up at him.
“Earlier, all I’d planned to do for the rest of the night was chop that entire sack of onions in the corner.
Now, I want to go home with you, play with our dog, eat ice cream, drink mezcal until we’re silly, and dance until dawn. ”
He smoothed the curly black locks behind her ears before framing her beautiful face in his hands. God, to think how close they’d come to losing each other. He never wanted to get that close to the edge of the abyss. “Sounds like a plan—so long as you end up in my bed.”
She raised one single brow and clucked her tongue. “Kyle, it’s our bed. How did you forget?”
Our bed.
Their eyes met. Her unrestrained smile held all the love and humor he’d come to count on in a friend and lover.
He lowered his mouth to hers and let their whole world expand once again. This time, he vowed to himself, it would be forever.