Winter's Heart (9 page)

Flynn agreed one hundred percent. “Well, since we’re supposed to be planning his party, what are your thoughts for food? Do you want it to be kid friendly or are you hoping for something a little more… upscale, like lobsters and caviar?”

“Storm loves caviar,” Melissa protested, her eyes twinkling with laughter. Shaking her head, her hair floating in the water, she grinned, “We’ll want caviar for the adults, as well as other fare for more discerning palates, but for the kids… what do you think?”

“Burgers and hot dogs,” she said automatically. “Grilled with all of the fixings on the side.”

“You’re very….”

“Boring, I know,” Flynn agreed with a smile. “But burgers and dogs are the foods of the gods. I know I’ll be able to find a caterer for the fancier food but for the burgers, there is this small diner that serves the best food I have ever eaten and I’m sure I could get them to agree to grilling at the party.”

“Is this another one of your quirks from back home?”

“No.” Flynn shook her head. “It’s this little hole-in-the-wall diner that I discovered when we first moved out here. It’s simply called Harry’s and, my God, Harry is a genius. Storm will love the food.”

“We’ll try it first before we make any decision,” Melissa said with skepticism, as if burgers from anywhere other than a chic restaurant were suspect. “I’d like you to get Xai or Neptune for the catering.”

Flynn nodded, taking a mental note to price out
Xai and Neptune and see if they were available for a child’s party out in the country. “Of course. Do you want to work with them on building a menu?”

“I’m sure whatever you decide will be fine.” Melissa closed her eyes and floated beneath the sun, leaving Flynn to worry about the food. How the hell was she going to come up with a menu when her suggestion was obviously unacceptable? “Now, what about invitations? I want them engraved with gold.”

Flynn was thinking of making a treasure map and putting them in bottles, since that would go with the pirate theme. Maybe she could incorporate the two. “How about a treasure map with the location marked with a gold
X
?”

Though she didn’t open her eyes, Melissa smiled, “Draw up a few options and we’ll see.”

Great, more homework. As soon as she got out of the pool, she’d write all of this down, making sure to make a note to price the food and design the invites. It was important to please the client but in this case, wasn’t it just as important to make sure Storm enjoyed his party? Of course, having grown up surrounded by wealth, his palate was probably far, far more discriminating than hers. If she didn’t feel sorry that the poor boy was potentially missing out on some of the best foods out there, she’d be embarrassed that she had such simple taste in foods.

Ooh, while she was out with Fallon, they could stop at Harry’s and have a burger.

♥~♥~♥

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Flynn admitted, wiping her mouth with a napkin after polishing off half of the gigantic burger. She was almost positive that the food got better every time she ate there. Pulling out her tablet, she swiped her finger across the screen to unlock it before she tapped on an icon. “I mean, look at this. This is the menu at
Xai’s. They don’t even list their prices because if you have to ask, you can’t afford to eat there.”

Fallon smirked, “How did you get the menu?”

“Simple,” Flynn grinned, glancing at the unpronounceable food items. While the food was presented as minor works of art and it might be delicious, Flynn struggled with the idea of needing to take out a loan just to have a meal there. She shuddered to think about how much it would cost to cater a party, even a birthday party for a six year old. “I told them I was from Gilded Dreams and my client was thinking about using them for her party and could I please have a menu.”

“So they emailed you their menu?”

“More or less.” They emailed their menu to Diane, who in turn forwarded it to Flynn on the promise that she wouldn’t send it anywhere else. “But look at the choices, caviar and truffles and some strange mushroom and Steak Tartare. Fish eggs, two fungi, and raw hamburger. Gross.”

“You have such an unrefined palate, Flynn,” Fallon teased, picking at her mostly whole burger.

“I’m just saying if I had more money than I knew what to do with I wouldn’t be spending it on food that has questionable origins.” Taking a drink of her pop, she continued, “It doesn’t matter if they have aphrodisiacal properties or not. I’m not swallowing something slimy to get horny.”

Fallon sputtered as her drink went down the wrong pipe and her face turned red but she held her hand up when Flynn tried to pat her on the back. “I’m okay but, Flynn, you shouldn’t say things like that out loud.” Leaning forward, she lowered her voice as she grinned, “And swallowing isn’t so bad, not if you love the man you’re with. Besides, guys really get off on it.”

Flynn opened her mouth to reply but then thought better of it as she wondered if Winter got off on it and then slammed a door on those thoughts before she could think any further. Grabbing the burger and sinking her teeth into it despite the fact that she was full, she mumbled something in the hopes that her sister would let the matter drop. She did not want to discuss blow jobs while thinking about Winter. “You mean Dylan got off on it.”

“I’m so over Dylan,” Fallon said with a gleam in her eyes. Leaning forward, she asked, “Do you know he went and slept with Tiffany two nights ago? It’s not that I care because we broke up ages ago but Tiffany? She’s such a skank and he could do so much better.”

“You know, I always thought the two of you would get back together,” Flynn admitted, stirring her straw in her pop, a little sad to see the utter end of Fallon and Dylan even though it meant Fallon was available to date a certain chef.

“Yeah, but even before we left I knew that we weren’t meant to be together,” Fallon murmured, studying the barely touched burger still sitting on her plate. “He was my security blanket, my fall back guy, and that wasn’t fair to him.”

“Because he loved you so much?” Treacherously, her thoughts drifted to the proprietor of Harry’s. The gorgeous man would be perfect for her sister and since Dylan was definitely out of the picture…. Was it too soon to be setting her sister up with someone new? It had been months and Harry
was
gorgeous….

“Because we had different goals and ambitions and because we hadn’t had sex for a long time before we broke up,” Fallon admitted softly. “And the sex we had been having was… mechanical. Neither of us felt it.”

So, not too soon and she was in luck because Harry was working. She could see him in the kitchen looking ridiculously hot in the greasy apron. Had Fallon ever paid attention when they went out, she would have noticed the gorgeous Harry but Fallon was always running lines or thinking about a million other things. Whereas Flynn loved talking to people and Harry had been the first man she met when they moved here. Plotting, Flynn mumbled, “I see.”

“You do not,” Fallon snorted, a smile curving her lips as she leaned back in her chair and laughed. “But I appreciate the sentiment.”

“So you’re really over him?” Her eyes flicked to Harry as he worked diligently in the kitchen creating delicious food orgasms for the mouth.

“Yeah.” Fallon nodded, a faraway smile on her lips. “And I wish him all the best. I just wish he had chosen someone other than Tiffany.”

“Good to know.” Her mind worked furiously as she devised a plan to get Fallon and Harry together. Once that happened, the rest was up to them, whether they connected or not, but she had high hopes. Plus, if they did get married, Harry would be able to cook all of their meals and they’d never have to suffer another box of mac and cheese again.

“Did you honestly think I was going to get back with Dylan?” Fallon asked, interrupting her scheming. Blinking her eyes, Flynn stared at her sister and the incredulous grin she wore. “You know what your problem is, Flynn? I mean, other than being a complete and utter spaz? You’re a hopeless romantic. I think you’re holding off for some Prince Charming to sweep you off your feet.”

“Maybe,” she drawled out.

“Flynn.” Fallon shook her head in mock sorrow. “Don’t you know that Prince Charming only exists in story books? You’re waiting for a fictional character. You’re waiting for something that doesn’t exist.”

“There’s nothing wrong with waiting,” Flynn said mulishly, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms beneath her breasts defensively. “And I know that no one’s perfect but I want the one that’s perfect for me.”

“There are billions of men out there.” Fallon swung her arms out, encompassing the entire world with a simple gesture. “Even taking into consideration age, orientation and marital status, that still leaves a lot of possibilities.”

“Exactly.” Flynn nodded her head once with conviction but her thoughts trailed to Winter, who was awfully close to being Prince Charming, except for the whole being in a fake relationship that the entire world believed to be true. “I can take my time and find someone that gives me butterflies and makes me laugh.”

“Oh, God,” Fallon groaned, rolling her eyes and pressing her hand against her face. “I swear you were born in the wrong century.”

“That is quite possibly true,” Flynn easily agreed with a wide smile. “But it’s not like you’ve had a lot of partners either, Fal.”

Fallon shrugged her slender shoulders and nodded her head in agreement, “Touché. But I wasn’t holding off for Prince Charming.”

Glancing behind Fallon at the behemoth in the kitchen, she asked, “How do you feel about big, burly dragons?”

“I don’t even want to know what you’re talking about.” Resting her hands on her flat stomach, Fallon grinned, “Shall we go spend some of that cash Diane gave you?”

“Fine.” Pulling out two twenties, Flynn slid out of the booth and headed up to the register to pay as Fallon put the leftovers in some boxes. A smile split her face when she saw Harry coming out from the kitchen to ring her up, making it that much easier to set her plan in motion.

“Flynn,” he rumbled in the deep, sexy voice that Flynn knew was going to drive Fallon mad.

“Hey, Harry.” Leaning across the counter, she smiled at the man who owned and operated the business, the man who was perfect for her sister. “The burgers were to die for tonight. Tell me your secret?”

He smiled at her, his dark eyes twinkling almost as much as the jewelry in his ears and eyebrows, nose and mouth. She wasn’t sure what color his hair was naturally, but currently, he sported a deep purple two-inch Mohawk. Tattoos covered nearly all of the skin she could see, and probably most of the skin she couldn’t see, and his tattooed skin covered massive amounts of muscles. Harry was a beast of a man, at least in appearance. In reality, he was a freaking genius in the kitchen. His low, gravelly voice crooned, “Love, sugar, my secret ingredient is love.”

“Fine, if you’re going to be that way,” she feigned a pout before her lips curved into a brilliant smile as she figured out a way to take care of two problems at once. “How do you feel about catering a party?”

He looked at her, arching the eyebrow with the two rings in it and looking intimidating as hell. “I don’t do parties.”

“Not even if I could make it worth your while?”

He leaned against the counter, mirroring her position, and smiled at her, “What do you have in mind?”

Licking her lower lip, she glanced at her sister and leaned closer as she lowered her voice, “A date with Fallon?”

He looked pas
t her to where her sister was finishing packing up the unfinished food. Letting out a hum of approval, Harry turned back to Flynn with a lazy grin, “It’d be like going out with you and I already told you that you’re too sweet for my taste.”

“I was teasing when I asked you to marry me,” she grinned, enjoying the playful, completely platonic banter with the tattooed man. From the first day they met, when she had taken a bite of the heavenly food and told him she’d marry him on the spot, they had been friends. He regarded her as an annoying, pesky younger sister and she liked annoying him. At least, she hoped he thought of her as a sister, which meant he’d have to like her, at least a little bit. “Besides, Fallon may be sweet but it’s mixed with a whole lot of spice and I think the two of you would get along magnificently.”

“She’s never expressed an interest in me before.” Looking up, he met and held her gaze with a steady one of his own. “And the two of you have been coming in at least once a week for nearly three months….”

“So you’ve been paying attention.”

“It’s kind of hard not to when the two of you step through the door,” he grumbled, his eyes going back to Fallon and giving her another appraising look. “Only she never notices me and you’ve never mentioned anything before.”

“I thought she was still getting over her ex,” she admitted sheepishly. “But she’s not and you’re sexy as sin and I want to see the two of you together.”

Eying her with amused shrewdness, he said, “You’re only doing this for my food, aren’t you?”

“Maybe.” Matching his expression, she continued to negotiate, “But you have to admit you’re intrigued.”

“Maybe. Does she have a tattoo?” he asked with a slight grin on his face, ringing up the bill on his old fashioned till.