One More Taste (15 page)

Carina eyed her like she was crazy. Which she was. Clearly.

“I'm sure there are plenty of men at the gym who would help you scratch that itch,” Carina said.

Gross
. “Not at Murph's. Haven't you heard the term don't fuck where you sleep?”

“The phrase is ‘don't shit where you eat.'”

“Same difference,” Emily said.

Carina braced her hands on Emily's shoulders. “Emily. Sweetie. You're going off the deep end. This challenge from Knox is messing with your mind.”

“Tell me about it. Hence, why I need a man.”

“Okay, if you could just stop for one second and look at me.” She waited until Emily met her gaze. “Thank you. Now tell me, what's really going on?”

Nope. Carina was her best friend, but she was also Knox's cousin, and so the last person Emily wanted to confess her lustful thoughts to. “I'm a little stressed out at the moment.”

“Clearly. You don't have to cook for me, if that's contributing. I can—”

“No, geez. That's not it. I love cooking for you. I love feeling like I'm helping to nourish your baby, in my own Auntie Emily way. It makes me feel closer to you than ever and I love it. I've told you that from the beginning.”

“I know. I love it, too.” She took Emily's hands and moved them to her belly. “He's moving a lot right now. Feel that?”

Beneath Emily's palm, Carina's belly undulated like a massage chair. “I feel it.” To Carina's belly, she added, “Hi, Baby Decker. It's Auntie Emily again. You sure are making your mommy eat weird foods.”

Feeling the baby move was all it took to put Emily's life and future back into perspective. She couldn't imagine not being near Carina and her new baby when it was born. She needed this job at the restaurant to work out. It had to. She couldn't resign herself to being some hotshot chef's line cook and she couldn't move to a big city in search of work. Briscoe Ranch was her home. After so many years fighting for a foothold in the world, she was loath to endure being adrift and poor again, away from the people she loved and who loved her back.

She rested her ear against Carina's belly and listened to the baby move, the reminder she needed to keep her eye on the prize. Getting laid and lusting over Knox and all other manners of self-sabotage were off the menu. From here on out, Emily was all business, all the time. To test herself, she thought the word
X-rated
again, and when an imagined vision of Knox's bare chest popped into her mind, she smashed it down like a Whac-A-Mole.

“So what gives? Why aren't you working today?” Emily asked. Carina's wedding gown design business had been booming since she'd opened it two years earlier, and with Briscoe Ranch's winter wedding season about to kick off, Emily was surprised to see Carina lolling about. Carina had never been a loller.

Carina shrugged. “Didn't feel like it, and I didn't have any pressing matters to attend to, so I gave myself the day off.”

Good for her. “You and I were always workaholic twinsies, and now look at you.”

Carina's eyes found Decker in the arena. Warmth and love radiated from her every cell. “I know. Look at me.”

As though he felt his wife's eyes on him, Decker turned the horse around and cantered it across the arena to where Emily and Carina were.

As long-time employees at the resort, Emily had known James Decker, who went by his last name as a tribute to his late father, as long as she'd known Carina. He was the proverbial tall, dark, and handsome cowboy—who also took the prize for most reformed incorrigible bachelor at the resort. Back in his heyday, his reputation for hard drinking and partying was legendary in hill country. Emily had been a firsthand witness to his transformation to a family man who only had eyes for Carina, whom he doted on as though it were his life's work. “Hey, Decker.”

“Hey, Em. What's new? You look tired. My wife running you ragged with her weird food cravings?”

“Emily has a new man to cook for,” Carina said.

“Shut your pie hole,” Emily said, giving Carina's ribs the gentlest of nudges.

“That would be your cousin Knox, right?” Decker asked. “Seems like a decent guy. He told me point blank that he doesn't plan on messing with my equestrian center in his expansion plan for the resort, so that's a good start.”

“Definitely, and speaking of him,” Emily said. “You know how to fish, right?”

“‘Course I do. I don't get to go as often as I like, but sure. Why?”

“I need you to teach Knox. Lake Bandit has all these huge, aggressive fish in it, and at dinner on Tuesday, Granny June told Knox and me about how Clint and his buddy used to fish the lake all the time. Knox said he's never learned how to fish, so I suggested you as a teacher. I need him to catch a fish because I got this burst of inspiration about taking farm-to-table to the next level for Knox. I figure, if I can target his sentimentality by cooking with the same type of fish his father probably caught and ate a million times, then—”

Carina's smile turned knowing, so Emily clammed up. She
was
rambling, but that was nothing new. “What?”

“I love it when one of your clients bring out your passion. Yeah, it turns you a little crazy sometimes, but that's the price you pay for being a culinary artist. Who would've guessed my long-lost cousin would end up being your muse?”

Her muse?
Damn it all to hell, Carina was right. Emily couldn't remember the last time she'd been so inspired. But admitting the truth wasn't going to help her keep that professional distance she so desperately needed. “I don't need a muse. My muse comes from within. I'm an island.”

“Sure, you are,” Decker said.

Emily ignored his ribbing and Carina's knowing smile. “Give me a break. My future's riding on this challenge, so I'd be worried if I wasn't inspired, given the circumstances.”

Carina looped her arm around Emily's. “Maybe that's all it is. Maybe your muse is the challenge, not the client.”

That was it. Had to be. Carina was a genius. All the horrible, confusing feelings Emily was experiencing had a logical reason. While it had been a while since she'd felt such a high level of passion for her cooking, it'd been even longer since she'd experienced anything akin to passion toward a man. No wonder her brain was confusing the two, especially since the challenge involved wowing a powerful, attractive man with her cooking in the privacy of his home, which demanded an intimacy she seldom experienced these days.

Carina shook Emily's arm. “Uh-oh. Look. Your muse is headed this way.”

Emily bolted upright and followed Carina's line of sight. Sure enough, Knox was striding over the resort grounds in their direction with Haylie in tow and Granny June pacing them on her motorized scooter.

As always, every inch of Knox oozed with millionaire cowboy sensuality, from his perfectly tailored suit and confident stride to his ink-black Stetson and the lightly stubbled cheeks that gave him just the perfect amount of rakish charm. He was looking right at Emily, and when she returned his gaze, one side of his lips kicked up in a grin. Then a lock of his hair slipped from beneath his hat and fell over his forehead like he was friggin' Clark Kent.

Emily's body shimmered with heat and need.

Nope. That's not misplaced passion for cooking. That's lust, girl. Plain and simple.

She tore her gaze away from him. “Son of a bitch.”

Carina's faint chuckle let Emily know she'd done a piss-poor job masking her true feelings from her best friend.

“Enjoying yourself?” Emily said through gritted teeth.

“Immensely, thank you.”

“Oh, good.”

“Haylie's with him,” Carina said. “Has he said anything about how she's doing as his secretary? She hasn't been returning my texts lately, so I have no idea.”

An unexpected tug of loyalty to Haylie had Emily holding her tongue about Haylie's shaky first day. “I'm sure she's doing fine. She's a lot more capable than she looks.”

“Agreed. But not very many people see her potential other than you and me.”

Haylie had only been seventeen when Emily came to work at the resort. At the time, Haylie and Carina didn't get along. Though Emily would never admit it outright, she resented Haylie's lack of ambition. Here she was, with the world handed to her on a silver platter, with a loving family and every possible opportunity, and all she'd done was squander her gifts while Emily had been scraping her way through life with no money or support system. In truth, it'd taken Emily a long time to grow into loving Haylie as part of her honorary family. But she had, and now Emily's life was all the richer for having Haylie in it.

Emily took another look at Haylie as she got nearer to the arena. Her collarbones were visible, her arms thin, her face showing the strains of her home life. Emily ground her molars together, swallowing her outrage lest it trigger memories of her own screwed up childhood. She had to believe that Haylie's job working for Knox was the first step to getting her confidence up to leave Wendell. From now on, Emily was going to bring Haylie breakfast when she brought Knox his. Not just Knox's leftovers, as she'd done today, but dishes tailor-made for her. What kind of food helped a woman find her power? What would nourish Haylie the most?

Chocolate. Definitely.

Emily caught herself holding her breath as Knox and his entourage drew closer, and so she stood, shaking off her sudden bout of nerves.

“Is this your first time seeing your man—I mean, your muse—today?” Carina teased.

Emily refused to acknowledge the ridiculous question as anything beyond the literal. “I stopped by his office earlier with breakfast, but he wasn't interested. He never eats breakfast beyond a protein shake, but that's only because he doesn't yet understand how determined I am to change his mindset. I was here at the crack of dawn stuffing sausage casings, so sooner or later, he's getting my sausages.”

“Wait, what?” Decker said.

Carina hammed it up with a wink. “Just like you gave him your peaches?”

“
Tried
to give him my peaches. Also, FYI, you're driving me crazy turning everything I say into a double entendre.”

“I can't help it! You're the master of them,” Carina said. “Food and sex have so much in common. Both are decadent, when done right. A feast for the senses. People hunger for both on an elemental level.”

“You tell her, babe.”

Carina had no idea how close to home that observation hit. But there was just one problem. “You keep attempting to elevate sex to the level of fine cuisine, when the reality is that they're totally incomparable.” That was her story and she was sticking to it.

“Have to agree with you on that. Totally incomparable.” Carina hoisted herself up and leaned over the rail to plant a big ol' kiss on Decker.

Decker tugged her shirt collar, pulling her to him for a second kiss. “You're a sex-crazed pregnant woman, Mrs. Decker. And I love it.”

Emily mustered a groan, though she secretly loved seeing Carina so happy. Her dating history was just as fraught with losers and disaster dates as Emily's, if not worse.

Granny June raced ahead of the group on her scooter, horn blaring as she hollered, “Slap my ass and call me Sally! Lookie here, it's three of my favorite people in one place!”

“Have I ever told you how much I love your grandma?” Decker said. “Little scared of her, too, but that's okay.”

“Same here,” Carina said. Emily helped her find her step down from the bleachers just as Knox and Haylie arrived behind Granny June's scooter.

Granny June snagged Knox's arm and stood, five-foot-nothing of proud, beaming grandma. “Haylie and I were just giving Knox a tour of the place and introducing him around.”

“He and Wendell are going to play golf together next week,” Haylie said.

“Ah,” Carina said. “Lucky you,” she added to Knox, without even a hint of the derision toward Wendell that Emily knew Carina was feeling, as she always did when his name came up.

After the requisite hugs, kisses, and handshakes all around, Decker caught Knox's attention. “Rumor is you want to learn to fish.”

Knox gave Emily a pointed look. “That was fast.”

What did he expect? “The clock's ticking. No time to waste, since you only gave me a month.”

“Yeah, a month as my personal chef, not my activities coordinator.”

He'd said it with light eyes, but still she couldn't help but wonder if she'd overstepped her bounds with that one. Too late now. “I can't cook Phantom for you if you don't catch him.”

“Phantom?” Carina asked. “Is that a kind of fish?”

“It's complicated,” Knox and Emily said in unison.

Right on cue, Carina's knowing smile made an appearance as she glanced between Knox and Emily. “So I'm gathering.”

“Of course, Decker'll teach you to fish, Knox,” Granny June said with a wave. “That's what family's for. And speaking of activities we can all do together as a family, Haylie, you took Knox to see the amphitheater, but did you tell him about movie night?”

Judging by Haylie's sheepish grin, she had not. “I forgot. On the first and last Wednesday of every month, we hold a movie night for the guests in the amphitheater.”

Granny June looped her arm around Knox's. “We're showing
Miracle on 34
th
Street
at the end of this month.”

“Isn't it a little early for Christmas movies?” Knox asked.

Granny June waved away the critique. “Not at Briscoe Ranch. We kick off the holiday cheer in October and keep it going for three months. The more I think about movie night, the more I must insist you join us for it. It's the best way for you to see what we're all about here at Briscoe Ranch, and the guests love it when members of the Briscoe family put in an appearance. We're like celebrities around here. It's so fun! Sometimes, families from Dulcet come to watch the movies or participate in our activities along with the guests. It's great community outreach and it makes our guests happy, so it's a win for everyone.”