25. Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Five
J ess feels disappointment when Kade pulls back from their make-out session. It's been a while since she got frisky in a vehicle, and she likes feeling like a kid again.
"As much as I would love to kiss you all night long, your stomach growled four times, and we both have to work in the morning. We should probably get something to eat," Kade says.
Staring into his eyes, she wishes they'd ordered in. With how she feels right now, that sixty-day timeframe won't last another two hours. "I suppose we should."
"Stop it."
"Stop what?"
"Looking at me with your bedroom eyes. I'm on probation, and the look you're giving me is the one that says you want to order in a pizza and see whether we can both get off before it arrives. Bad girl."
She hops off his lap and sits in her seat. "You used to like when I was a bad girl."
"Oh, I love it," he says and starts the pickup. "But I haven't earned it yet."
But he has. "Where are we going?"
"We should have probably figured that out before I started driving," he says. "But it's safest to be in a moving vehicle, otherwise you might ravage me. And I do not want to break your convictions."
"Have you eaten at Carrie's?" Jess asks, suddenly craving something unexpected.
Kade's eyebrows shoot up as they stop at a stoplight. "I'd love to eat there, but the waitlist is about four months long."
"I know the owner who also happens to be the executive chef," she says. "I can make a call."
"Look at you being all fancy. You're famous now that you've gotten the Historical Society to agree to four businesses in the old downtown district. I'm not sure you want to be seen with a lowly peasant like me."
Pulling out her phone, she slides over and sucks on his earlobe. "I'll always want to be seen with you."
His body shivers. "God, I wish I would've let you convince me to order in pizza instead."
"But I thought you didn't want me to break my convictions," she says and holds the phone up to her ear.
"Certain parts of me want you to," he says, adjusting his jeans.
She smirks, happy he's as uncomfortable as she is, when the hostess answers. "Carrie's, this is Melinda. How can I help you?"
"Hi, Melinda. This is Jessica Massey, and a friend of Carrie's. Is she available to speak with?"
"It's the middle of our dinner rush, Ms. Massey."
"I understand. She said to ask for her when I call."
Melinda sighs, annoyed. "Please hold."
"Even I can hear how unhappy that girl is," Kade says.
"Maybe I'm not as famous as I thought I was."
The hold music stops. "I apologize Ms. Massey. Carrie's unable to come to the phone, but she asked me to ask you when you'd like to stop in."
"Is there any availability tonight? I know it's last minute, but-"
"We'll have a table ready whenever you get here. Just ask for me, and I'll make sure you get seated."
"Thank you, Melinda."
Hanging up, her eyes widen as Kade's jaw drops. "My girl's got connections!"
My girl. She likes the sound of that. "Watch yourself now."
His hand reaches over to take hers, and he quickly drives to the restaurant. The way he rubs his thumb along her knuckles as he pays attention to the traffic makes her heart flutter. There is no doubt about it: she's still madly in love with Kade Finely.
He makes quick work of parking, and they hop out. Jess takes his hand in hers and stops him. "This is my treat tonight."
"You don't have to do that," he says, pulling her close and walking her towards the building.
"You bought me groceries and did laundry while I was sick. It's the least I can do. Besides, you've had a pretty emotionally heavy night."
Kade moves them to the side of the building and presses her up against it before kissing her. His hands rub along her sides and grace her chest slightly before pulling back. His kisses always seem to leave her lightheaded, and she looks up into his eyes.
"What was that for?"
"For being you."
Her hand reaches up to pull his face down to kiss her again. "Thank you for finally letting me in, Kade. You have no idea how much it means to me."
"If we don't get inside, we're not going to get a table to eat," he murmurs against her ear. "And for the record, I really do want you to keep your convictions. Parts of me don't, but my heart does. Just know I have always and will always want you."
Hearing him say those words makes her tremble, and she wishes they'd stayed home and ordered pizza once again. "We should get inside."
He smirks and opens the door. A redheaded woman stands at the hostess stand with a nametag that reads Melinda.
"Welcome to Carrie's. Do you have a reservation?"
"Hi Melinda, I'm Jessica. We spoke a little while ago."
"Ms. Massey, of course. It's a pleasure to see you. Please, follow me right this way," she says with a fake smile plastered on her face.
Kade leans forward and whispers, "At least she's pretending to be friendly."
Jess laughs and lets her seat them at a table towards the back off of the bar. "I think working with the Historical Society has a similar effect around here as being a movie star."
A woman walks up behind Kade and catches Jess's eye as a man hesitantly walks behind her. She stops right behind Kade and feigns surprise. "Kade? Kade Finely?"
Kade immediately stiffens, and Jess knows this has to be Sam. And the man lurking behind her must be Zach. Oh, crap .
"Hello, Sam," Kade says and avoids turning to look at her.
The woman has to be around five foot eleven with long, lean legs, a small waist, chocolate brown eyes, and professionally styled chestnut hair. She's gorgeous. Stunning, actually.
"It's good to see you. God, I don't think I've seen you since..."
"The night I was arrested for kicking your now-husband's ass," he finishes.
"We missed you at the wedding," Sam says as the man Jess assumes is Zach wraps an arm around Sam's waist when she flinches at Kade's response.
Kade snorts. "Yeah, I couldn't figure out if the invite was a sick joke or not."
"You look good, Kade," the man says.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Play nice. We're not friends, Zach, and it's not a secret."
Zach looks to be only an inch or two taller than Sam, and he clenches his jaw. "We were once, weren't we?"
Jess watches the scene play before her like a movie. Zach is handsome, but he looks pretentious. Like he believes he's above the average man.
"I thought we were, but a friend doesn't do what you did."
"I wish we could all move on from the past," Sam says with a sigh. "We were all such good friends once upon a time."
"But you and Zach were much better friends than anyone thought, weren't you?" Jess says before she can stop herself. “I mean, I have close friends. And best friends. But I’ve never messed around for years with them. I guess we just aren’t that close, huh?”
Kade looks at her with wide eyes, and she's just as surprised as he is by her comment. For a moment, she worries he's upset with her, but the smirk he gives her tells her he's not in the least.
"And who are you?" Sam asks.
"His date."
Carrie walks out of the kitchen and over to the table. "Jess! Babe, how are you?"
"I'm good, Carrie. How are you?" Jess asks the short, plump woman with bright pink hair and three piercings on her right eyebrow. They match the nose piercing and lip ring. Her ears, however, have never been pierced.
"Busy!" she says and looks at Sam and Zach. "Do you need two more place settings?"
"That would be great!" Sam says with a wide smile.
Jess shakes her head. "No, we’re not inviting them to join us. They interrupted, and I think this woman might be a little on the crazy side."
"Oh, really?" Carrie asks and gives her a knowing look.
The two women got to know each other very well as they navigated through the pains of working with the most difficult group of people known to man. Jess barely pulled off a miracle getting them squared away and able to open three weeks ago. Carrie has become a good friend of hers.
"I'm not crazy. Jess is just playing a little game," Sam says. "You silly girl, you. Zach and I were headed to the bar to wait for a table, and we ran into our old friends here. It was quite a pleasant surprise."
"If you have a reservation, you don't need to sit with us," Jess says with a sweet smile.
Sam shifts uncomfortably as she looks between Carrie and Jess, and Kade barely glances at her. "Well, no, we don't technically have reservations. We were going to sit in the bar and hope for a cancelation. We're on the list, but then we were lucky enough to see these two old friends. You must've called before they opened to book a reservation."
"When we called, there wasn't a table available for six months," Zach says. "I'm not sure if you've heard of my family, but we're the Rasmussen's. With the Rasmussen Hedge Fund Corp."
Kade chokes on the water he drinks, and Jess can tell he's annoyed with the family name drop. Looking at Zach, she just smiles. "No, I called while we were on the way here."
Carrie stiffens beside Jess, and her body language surprises her. "Is your father Jack Rasmussen?"
The man smiles brightly. "Yes, yes, he is. I've taken over as President of the company. I'm Zach."
"And I'm his wife, Sam. It's really great to meet you, Carrie."
She stares at Sam's outstretched hand before shooting Jess a glance. "Jack Rasmussen took and lost all of my father's money. He lost his entire retirement with your father."
Kade coughs and decides to finally set his water down, and Jess hides her slacked jaw behind her own glass. This doesn't seem real.
Carrie signals for someone and turns her back to the married couple, focusing on Jess and Kade. "The special tonight is swordfish with a champagne glaze, sweet potato puree, and the most delicate, lightly roasted vegetables. Dessert consists of a deconstructed tiramisu."
"Oh, I'll have that," Jess says. "Kade's more of a red meat type of guy."
"I have Wagyu ribeye with roasted baby potatoes, grilled caulini, and a bordelaise sauce."
Kade looks at Jess, and she nods. "You'll love it."
"Oh, that does sound good," Sam says, still too close to Kade for Jess's comfort.
Two men in black suits walk up to the table. "Chef?" one asks.
Carrie turns to them. "Can you please escort Mr. and Mrs. Rasmussen out of the building? And make sure to add them to the black list."
"Excuse me?" Sam gasps, but the two men have already started ushering them to the front door. "This is absurd. Don't you know who we are?"
Carrie turns back. "I have to get back to the kitchen, but when I get back, I need the story on those two. Promise?"
Jess looks to Kade, who nods, and she smiles. "Promise. But did your father really lose his retirement to Zach's father?"
"No, he made a fortune. But they don't need to know that. I didn't like the way he tried to shove his family at me to get special treatment. Screw him."
Jess bursts out laughing as Carrie returns to the kitchen, and Kade takes her hand. "Wagyu? That's expensive."
"I got it," she says and plays with his fingers. "Have you had it before?"
"No."
"You'll love it," she says and sighs. "Are you okay?"
His eyes look down at their hands. "That was so damn funny. Sam is not used to not getting her way, which is part of why Zach appealed to her. Their name got them a lot of things. And to see someone not give a shit about them was one of the greatest spectacles I've ever seen."
"I can't believe she had the audacity to try and sit with us. Like what happened with you never happened because it was in the past."
"You were amazing. No one calls her out like that. No one, and you did it without even flinching."
Leaning forward, she chuckles. "I don't even know where that came from. It just kind of happened."
"You looked as shocked as I felt. And they were your words."
"I know! But the way she made it sound like you should be over everything happened just because it happened a long time ago made me mad. Like what you two had wasn't that serious, even though you were five months from walking down the aisle. God, I don't like her. I don't like her at all."
Kade smirks. "Okay, I have a confession. I almost wish she would have sat with us. That would have been the most awkward conversation in the history of time, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have had to say a damn thing. You, my girl, would have made her regret that."
"I wonder what they would have tried to talk about?"
"Oh, I know. They would have told us how great they are, how amazing business is, where their newest luxury house is, and how perfect their children are. "
"Perfectly bratty, entitled brats for children."
He raises his eyebrows. "Bratty, entitled brats?"
"Okay, it's not eloquent, and I don't want to speak too poorly about someone's kids, but come on. You know they're just like their parents. It’s not their fault they got the short end of the stick to have inherited the DNA of terrible human beings."