The Christmas Wedding Swap. Allyson Charles

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СКАЧАТЬ then. Not only with Luke. He leaned forward. “You must not have had this restaurant for very long.” The woman was obviously in over her head, poor thing. Probably half crazy from planning her wedding. “If I could give you a piece of advice…”

      Her gaze cut back to him, sharp as a razor. “Listen, buddy, there’s nothing you have to offer that I could possibly want, least of all your advice.” She tapped her pen on her pad. “Now, what are you hungry for?”

      “Allison!” a harried voice called.

      His blonde straightened and looked over his shoulder. “Hi, Sadie. What’s up?”

      A pretty woman stepped next to him, looking as panicked as a stray mutt cornered by the dogcatcher. “When can you take a break? I really need to go over my list for the wedding. I’m so behind, but I know you’re busy. Do you have five minutes?”

      Cute Bag Lady, aka Allison, nodded and pointed to a stool at the end of the counter, two customers away from Luke. “Have a seat and get out your list.”

      Sadie bit her lip, looking at Luke. “It can wait until you finish with your customer.”

      A snort. “He can’t decide. I’ll get back to him later.” She moved away and leaned over the counter in front of Sadie. She turned to the side to look at the notebook Sadie placed on the counter, giving Luke a superb view of her curvy backside. It almost made up for her dismissal.

      He shucked his jacket and hung it on the back of his seat. He’d obviously struck a nerve when he’d reminded her of her wipe-out. Although he didn’t understand why women got so embarrassed about shit like that. As long as you didn’t turf it with a butcher knife in your hand and wind up shish kebabbed, it was all good.

      Another waitress came by with a pot of steaming coffee, and Luke flipped his mug over. And almost wished he hadn’t. He grimaced. The coffee tasted like diesel. But the mug was warm, so he wrapped his hands around it and settled in, trying not to make his perusal of Allison too obvious. With a view like that, he was content to wait for his food. And he had nothing but time on his hands.

      What was he going to do with himself for a week in Pineville? The two-month road trip he’d hastily planned two days ago was going to be bad enough. The thought of all that time out of the kitchen was enough to give him hives. But at least he’d be on the move, seeing something new every day, keeping busy.

      Allison shifted, and Luke could see the wear on the seat of her stone-washed jeans. Not that he’d been eyeballing her ass. “That’s done, that’s done, and that will be done by the end of today,” she said, taking a pen from her friend’s hand and checking off items.

      Sadie leaned back in her seat. “Oh my God. You’re a lifesaver. I really should be paying you. You’ve planned my wedding more than I have.”

      “As maid of honor, that’s my job.” She reached behind the counter and grabbed a coffee pot and a couple of mugs. “Besides, you’re paying me for the cost of the food.”

      “Yes, but not for your catering services,” Sadie said, exasperation in every word. “You deserve to be compensated.”

      “It’s my wedding gift.” She lifted her platinum hair off her neck and flapped her hand, blowing air on her nape. “And speaking of catering, I want you to try the appetizers. Ramon has some baking in the oven, but they should be close enough to being ready for you to get an idea. I’ll be right back.”

      She sashayed into the kitchen. Okay, it was probably a normal walk, not a sashay, but pretty much any way she moved in those jeans was going to look sexy. And she wasn’t engaged. There was no way a woman with her own wedding to plan would agree to cater someone else’s, no matter how good a friend.

      Luke drummed his feet against the floor. That opened up a whole bonanza of possibilities. He had a week to turn bag lady’s snark into something a lot sweeter. Pineville was suddenly looking anything but boring.

      A shriek and a slew of heated Spanish came from the kitchen. An angry man yelled that he quit. A pan crashed into a sink, and a door slammed before the kitchen quieted. Aside from Sadie, who was chewing her lip like it was made out of chocolate, no one else seemed to take notice of the shouting in the kitchen. As kitchen fights went, it had been tame.

      Allison stepped through the swing door, a towel wrapped tightly between her two hands. She shuffled over to her friend. “Uh, Sadie?” She cleared her throat. “We may have hit a little snag. Nothing that I can’t fix.” She was quick to add, “But a temporary problem.”

      Rubbing her temples, Sadie closed her eyes and took deep breaths. After a couple of moments she clasped her hands in front of her and said, “Okay. What’s the problem?”

      “Ramon just quit. He wasn’t going to be doing most of the cooking for your wedding reception—I am—but…”

      “But without your head cook here, you’ll have to take over and won’t have time to cater my wedding.” Sadie nodded her head twice, as if answering a question only she could hear. “I should have listened to Colt. He wanted to fly to the Bahamas, get married on the beach, and have our honeymoon all together. One easy package. But I had to plan and organize this—”

      Allison grabbed Sadie’s hands. “Everything will be fine. I promise. I’ll figure it out.” Her eyes told a different story. She was worried.

      Luke glanced through the order window into the kitchen, pursing his lips. An idea formed. He had at least a week with nothing to do…

      “Why’d he quit? Can you get him back?” A thread of desperation wound through Sadie’s words.

      “No.” Allison’s mouth pressed into a flat line. “He got another job, and I guess decided to wait until the most inconvenient moment to walk out. He and I have had some fights before about his smoking. And it wasn’t cigarettes. He wasn’t a fan of my meddling.”

      Luke stood. “I can help.” Both women turned to look at him, twin expressions of surprise crossing their faces. “I’ve got nothing to do for a couple days, so I can help in the kitchen, at least until you find a new cook.”

      Allison rolled her eyes. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve got it covered.” She turned her back on him, dismissive.

      His back tensed. Little Miss Bag Lady didn’t think he was good enough for a diner? “I can cook.” He put his hands on his hips. He didn’t know why he felt the need to defend his culinary chops or why he was determined to see that smile from the blonde again, the one she’d given him yesterday, the one that had been tentative, resolute, and hopeful, all at once. But he wanted it. And he did have a week with nothing else to do.

      Actually, he had two months to waste, two months until the statute of limitations ran out on the breach-of-contract lawsuit a vendor was trying to nail him with. When he’d heard a process server was looking for him two days ago, he’d taken off on his motorcycle, determined to avoid the summons that had his name stamped across it. Two months was a long time to be away from his restaurant, but he had great managers and sous chefs who could follow his recipes to the last teaspoon. The drop off in business that might occur with his absence was a necessary gamble. If he got served and lost the lawsuit, his restaurant would be gone.

      Maybe a road trip across America wasn’t the way to go. As a hideout, Pineville, Michigan, would be close to perfect. Who the hell would think to look for him here? The charm factor of the СКАЧАТЬ