Sugar Rush (17 page)
It was odd. They’d worked for long hours, days on end, physically closer than they were now, seated on either side of a small console. But that had been in the far larger kitchen space at Gateau. This, on the other hand, felt very ... confined. Between that, the distracting images of plump, chocolate-covered cherries, Leilani’s lips, and the sudden lack of air to breathe ... he found himself having a hard time getting his thoughts in order. And he really needed to be back on his game tonight. He was running out of time, and she’d long since been running out of patience.
“Baxter?” She broke into his scattered thoughts. “Is everything okay?”
He realized he’d been sitting in his seat, hands gripping the wheel, staring out the windshield, but seeing nothing. Except those damn cherries. “Fine, fine. Everything is ... fine. All buckled in, yes?” He glanced at her as he put the car into DRIVE. Even in the dark, he could see the amused slant to the set of her mouth.
“Yes, I’m all safely strapped in for our wild ride around the island. Top speed here, even on the relatively straight eastern stretch, is about, oh, thirty-five. Of course, given my connections, I don’t think we’re in danger of getting any tickets. Unless my dad is in an overprotective mood, which is pretty much always where I’m concerned. Then he might decide to have one of his deputies mess with you a bit because ... well, because he can.”
Baxter frowned. “Would he do that? Bernard said he’s been blue chip at working with our production team to get all the permits pushed through.”
“This has nothing to do with your television show shooting here. While it might be a headache for him, work-wise, he knows it’s good for the island economy and general morale, and that’s the kind of goodwill you don’t get handed to you everyday. He’s willing to put up with the hassle for the reward, though it won’t keep him from grumbling about it.”
“So, the deputy harassment then would be ... ?”
“Oh, that would be entirely personal.” Her smile widened. “You made his daughter unhappy. So, it’s more of a dad thing. It’s just that, in my case, my dad happens to be the sheriff.”
Baxter smiled, though he wasn’t entirely at ease with the scenario she was painting, personally or professionally. “Duly noted.”
“So,” she said as the moment stretched out, when he continued to smile at her. “Shall we go?”
“Right. Right.” He pulled away from the curb, then glanced back at her. “It’s just nice to see you smile. You seem more ... relaxed. And I mean that in a positive way. It’s—it’s good on you.”
“You can thank Charlotte for that.”
“I’ll do that.” He smiled. “You know, I wasn’t at all surprised that her initial greeting earlier was only slightly less frozen than the dessert she’s presently enjoying—cookie dough, uncooked, really?”
Lani nodded.
He shook his head. “Anyway, I am surprised she didn’t make an effort to thwart this evening’s meeting.”
“I’m smiling and relaxed because having Charlotte here makes me happy, not because she told me to let my guard down with you.”
“Ah.”
“And yes, it’s good to have someone in my corner, to have the support, but mostly it’s just plain good to see her. We talk all the time, but I haven’t seen her since I left New York. And I’ve missed her. A lot. You are right, however, in that she doesn’t want to cause friction between us. She knows the show will go on, regardless. And, well, to be perfectly honest, she isn’t exactly against anything else going on either.”
Baxter slowed the car. “Really?”
Lani smiled. “Really. But just because Charlotte thinks some things are worth a little more effort and damn the consequences, doesn’t mean I concur. She’s not exactly the go-to person when it comes to relationships, but rather the poster girl for what not to do.”
“Charlotte?”
“I’m talking out of school here, but she’d be the first one to say it, anyway. Let’s just say she can be ... impulsive.”
“Really,” he repeated, with considerably more emphasis.
Lani arched a brow. “Would you like to turn back and see if perhaps she’d be more willing to co-host the program with you?”
“What?” He glanced over at her. One brow was quite singularly arched, but with a definite amused smile curving her lips. He grinned at that. “No, no, I’m not interested in Charlotte. Not like that. I’m just surprised. She strikes me as being a great deal more ... restrained.”
“She was raised by parents who give new meaning to the phrase
old school
. Quite often, her views are diametrically opposed to theirs. In this case, I would say almost virulently so.”
old school
. Quite often, her views are diametrically opposed to theirs. In this case, I would say almost virulently so.”
“Ah.”
“She also doesn’t understand why I decided to stay here and open my own shop. So, there also might be some less-than-fully altruistic advice being given.”
“I see,” he repeated, still smiling. Anything that made Leilani more receptive to him in any capacity was a welcome thing. “I am sorry.”
She sent him a considering look, but there was good humor still clear in her voice. “About?”
“All of this. I know, I’ve said it before. But I have heard everything you’ve said to me. I have. I’ve given it a lot of thought. And you’re right, you know. Shooting here does appear rather ridiculous and over the top now, even to me.” His smile turned rather self-deprecating. “It seemed like such a good idea at the time.” He caught her gaze, held it for a moment, both of them smiling, before turning his attention back to the road. “I should have thought it through better, all the way through.”
“I appreciate that you get that.” She sounded sincere, and without the irritation that had threaded her words so often up to now. “For my part, I do understand that you didn’t mean any harm, that you thought it was a good thing for all. I know you tend to get focused to the point of being somewhat oblivious to other things, but I also have realized you wouldn’t be half the chef you are, if you weren’t that way. That kind of focus and, at times, blind determination, is what works for you. It’s how you thrive.”
He glanced quickly at her, the words coming before he could think better of them. “I thought you were what worked for me.”
“Oh, Baxter.”
He caught her shoulders slumping a little in his peripheral vision as he looked back to the road. “I didn’t say that to get the pity vote. But I’ve thought a lot about all the things you said, and not just the part about what this intrusion does to the life you want for yourself here. You said I don’t know you, that I have been infatuated with the woman who worked for me, but not the actual woman herself.”
“Infatuated?”
“I explained about that.” His smile twitched wider. “I believe I even demonstrated. Perhaps it wasn’t as memorable for you as it was for me.”
She raised her fingers to touch her lips, seemed to realize what she was doing, and dropped her hand back to her lap. A moment passed. “I didn’t forget.”
There went that clutch at his heart. He wondered how long it would take before she no longer had that effect on him. He suspected he already knew it would pretty much be never.
“So ... what are you saying?” she asked. “You realize I’m right, and now that you’ve been around the not-as-delightfully-sweet part of me, you’re not infatuated with the real woman?”
“No,” he said without hesitation. “I didn’t say that. But it is true that there’s a lot of you I don’t know, Lei. Certainly not as much as perhaps I should have before I turned countless lives upside down just to pursue the part of you I do know.”
“Like I said, your single-minded bullheadedness is what makes you the successful chef you are.”
He smiled again, more dryly this time. “Thanks. I think.”
“Anytime,” she said blithely.
His smile grew. “Honestly though, I would like to think I’m not so impetuous that I just barge into a person’s life as if I alone know what’s best for all, or use whatever advantage celebrity has given me, and excuse my actions by telling myself I’m helping people in return.”
“But you do help them in return. To Sugarberry, to the people who live here, you’re a celebrity, sure, but also something of a hero. They’re all excited, bordering on delirium, that you chose to come here, that you’re taping your show on our little island. I’m surprised there’s not talk of a parade, perhaps a tasteful statue in the town square.”
“Oh, go on, now,” he chided, but was laughing with her.
“Okay, but I’m serious about the rest. The chamber of commerce and all the merchants around the square are thrilled that their revenues will most certainly go up. Or will when the trucks leave and customers can actually park anywhere near their shops,” she teased, but waved away his attempted explanation. “I’m truly the only one who wasn’t thrilled by this.”
He slowed as he looked at her again. “You realize, I’m trying to apologize for being an inconsiderate arse, and you’re arguing my side.”
She batted her eyelashes at him. “I’m perverse like that. Chalk it up to yet another part of me that, had you known, might have saved countless dollars.”
He laughed at that, even as he shook his head. There were so many more facets to her, than he’d previously known. Even the irritation she’d exhibited toward him, and the heartfelt, emotional confessions she’d made on how his choices were going to adversely affect the new life she’d chosen for herself, called to some deeper place inside him. He was finding himself as captivated by each new thing he learned as by what he’d already known. There was a broader range to her, but greater depths as well. The real Leilani—or should he say, complete Leilani—was definitely more challenging than the soothing, perpetually optimistic, intellectually driven woman he’d come to desire, and whose presence in his life he’d so sorely missed.
These new discoveries weren’t pushing him away at all. He would miss her more when he left Sugarberry than he had when she’d left Gateau. He wanted to learn every facet, plumb every depth. The more he learned, the more he saw, the more he felt.
“I’ve done a lot of thinking, too,” she said, breaking into his thoughts. “I know I was a bit short with you behind the shop earlier, but I honestly have tried to be on better terms with all this. At that moment, I’d just finished with Bernard crawling all over my kitchen, while Dre and Alva were packing up the secret weapon cakes for tonight’s poker Armageddon, my father was stomping around trying to be overprotective, and Charlotte popped up, which is great, but was a complete shock. Then we headed out and smacked right into wall-to-wall trailers I didn’t even hear pull in. I want to be a team player. I know that’s for the best. I do. But, to do that, I need to feel like I know what’s going on, so I can be prepared for what’s coming next.” She looked at him and her smile was sincere. “I’m a little blindsided-out, that’s all.”
“I understand that,” he said, every bit as sincere. “I’m sorry about Bernard, and not having a full brief for you sooner. That was my plan, but we were just figuring out the scheduling ourselves and it proved to be more complex than we’d thought. If I hadn’t gotten tied up in that string of production meetings, I’d have been there to explain everything before Bernard ever stepped through the door.”
“I appreciate that. I have been listening to everyone on the island wax rhapsodic about the big event since the word got out last week. Plus, Charlotte hasn’t been shy about giving me her opinion on how you mean well and surely didn’t intend all this fallout for me, which you’ve said as well. I guess I’ve always known that. It’s just taken some ... adjustment. If you’d keep me in the loop more, and no more surprises, that’s all I ask.”
A quick glance showed there wasn’t anyone on the single lane road behind him. Baxter braked the car to a full stop so he could turn and look directly at her. “Lei, I realize nothing else has changed for you, or will, in the aftermath of hurricane Hot Cake. I appreciate that you’re being so generous. It’s far more than I’d hoped for. Or deserve.”
Her smile turned wry. “I know.”
He smiled back. “I do plan on keeping you ‘in the loop’ as you say. You know, as much as I like the sweet, even-keel-atall-costs you, I must say, this perverse side is growing on me.”
“Good,” she replied, then smiled fully, which made her eyes twinkle a bit devilishly by the dashboard light. “Remember you said that.”
He grinned. “I’m sure you’ll remind me. And Charlotte isn’t wrong, you know.”
“Charlotte? About what?”
“I am a well-meaning bloke. One who has hopefully learned something from all this and will do better the next time he’s tempted by an impulsive idea.”
She laughed at that. Outright.
“I’d be insulted”—he smiled ruefully—“but I suppose I earned that.”
She patted his arm. “Well, at least you’re charismatic with your impulsivity.”
“Don’t forget well-meaning.”
“Right. Which is why I’m just as sure you’ll continue to get away with it.”
Still smiling, he covered her hand before she could pull it away. “Except with you.”
She glanced at his hand covering hers. “Someone has to keep you humble.” She lifted her gaze to his.
“I’m very thankful for all I have. I’ve worked hard for it, but I know it’s been a blessing.”
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