Page 109 of The Problem with Him
Isaid goodbye to my parents, my sisters, my friends, and the staff at Lilou. Iwould cook tonight with Vera so she could show me the ropes and help me getfamiliar with the menu. Ezra wanted me cooking on my own by the weekend. Thatmeant I had a lot of work to do over the next few days.
Iwalked Wyatt to his car while my new staff trickled into the kitchen and beganquickly prepping for tonight’s service.
“Howlong have you known?” I demanded when we were all alone.
Heglanced at me out of the corner of his eye, a smile already dancing across hismouth. “Three weeks or so. Give or take.”
“Threeweeks!” I gasped. “You knew right away?”
Heshrugged. “I mean, if we’re honest, I knew you’d get the job as soon as I foundout you wanted it. Come on, Kaya, was there even a question?”
“Yes!Yes, there were many questions! Starting with if you knew three weeks ago, whydid it take so long for me to find out?”
“Well,we had to plan a party,” he explained evenly, like it wasn’t the most insane reasonever. “And that took time.” He sensed my annoyance and quickly added. “And Ezrareally did interview other candidates, but obviously you were the front-runner.Ezra felt the same way.” Before I could launch into another round of arguments,he pulled me into a hug and said, “I’m so goddamn proud of you, Kaya. You’regoing to kick ass at this job.”
Iwrapped my arms around his neck and held on tight. “I’m scared,” I told himhonestly. “I don’t want to mess this up.”
Helaughed and squeezed me tighter. “Then don’t. Don’t mess up. Just do what youalways do, and everything will be fine.”
Hewas right. Ezra wasn’t looking for reasons to fire me. He wanted every reasonin the world to keep me. I needed to do what I always did—cook amazing food—andeverything would be fine. I smiled again, and my cheeks ached with exhaustion.“I love you, Wyatt. Thank you for all of this and for believing in me.”
“Ilove you too.” He pressed the sweetest kiss to the corner of my mouth. “Morethan I ever knew was possible.”
Westood like that for a very long time, but eventually he pulled back. He had arestaurant to run. And so did I.
“Thisfeels weird,” I told him. We stood next to his driver’s side door, holdinghands. I didn’t want to let go. It felt oddly permanent. Not in a bad way, butlike the beginning of a new chapter. I wasn’t sure I was ready for it yet.
“Itwill feel good soon enough,” he countered. “As soon as you step into yourkitchen, you’ll get over the weirdness.”
Myheart kicked, knowing he was right. My kitchen. Mine.
Justlike this man was mine.
“Ithink I might miss you though. Maybe a little bit.”
Hesmiled at me, his mouth full of joy and wicked secrets and everything I lovedso dearly. “I think I might miss you too. But more than you’ll miss me.”
“Obviously.”
Hechuckled and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Come over tonight,” hesuggested. “I want to hear all about your first day.”
Ihad been nibbling on his ear, but I perked up at the prospect of a night withhim. “Liar,” I teased him. “You don’t want to talk.”
“I’lltalk for a little bit,” he laughed. “Then we’ll get to the good stuff.”
Pullingback, I met his warm, wonderful gaze. “I thought this was the good stuff.”
Hisbrown eyes were all promised heat and bright, beautiful future. “Oh, it is,chef. This is the very best stuff.”
Thenhe kissed me into oblivion and I couldn’t have agreed with him more.
