“Honey, I think you should go without me,” his mom said about two hours before their Jade West reservation. “I’m feeling a little under the weather.”

Despite the fact that when she’d first arrived in town he thought she might be terminally ill, Cole didn’t for a minute believe she was sick tonight, but he didn’t say a word. Truth was he wanted Fedora all to himself. That way he could focus all his attention on her without distractions.

“I’m sorry, Mom. You want me to make you some wonton soup?”

“Oh, you needn’t bother. Just enjoy dinner with Fedora. When you get there, tell Anson I was sorry to have missed him. He and I grew up together on the same street.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Yes. It was a long time ago. Our mothers were best friends, used to play mah jong together every week. Anyway, give him my regards, please.”

“Will do.”

When he picked up Fedora, she looked flat out amazing again. This time her dress hugged every bit of her shapely body. Holy shit, she was one hell of a sexy, curvaceous woman. He still couldn’t quite believe she hid that every day at work.

“You look like a goddess,” he said.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Fedora said. “Jade West just isn’t somewhere you wear jeans to.”

“Why, thank you for the compliment, Cole. You look very handsome too.”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, blah blah blah. I didn’t realize you were such an attention whore. Let’s get going. I don’t want to be late for our reservation.”

As they approached his car, she stopped. “Where’s Ruth?”

“She had to bow out,” he said. “The reservation was always for two anyway.”

Fedora got into the car as he walked around to the driver’s side. “Really? Is she sick?”

“She’s fine, believe me. She just wanted to give us some alone time. In fact, you may as well know the jig is up.” He turned over the ignition and started down her street. “She knows we’re not dating, but she wants us to.”

“Really?” She got into the car. “Heh heh. I guess I impressed her.”

Cole hesitated just a moment before just laying it out there and telling the truth. “You impressed the hell out of her. She’s made up her mind we should be married.”

Fedora barked out a laugh. “Married? You and me?”

“She’ll tell you that to your face if you want.”

“No, no that won’t be necessary. I believe you, but I…” She shook her head. “Your mom’s a decisive woman.”

“Yes. Definitely.”

She nudged his thigh as he made a right out of her neighborhood. “Did you get into trouble?”

“I got a tongue-lashing, that’s for sure, and a pretty hefty guilt trip that resulted in me agreeing to do the auction.”

“You know what? I’m beginning to be a little afraid of your mom.”

“If we’re not careful, we will end up married, I guarantee it.”

“Cole, come on.” She looked at him uneasily. “We’re adults. We have free will.”

He spared her a glance as he drove onto the freeway. “That’s what you think. Are you telling me your mother doesn’t have some kind of crazy ability to get things done without anyone understanding how she did it?”

“No, my mom is a magician too. Do you think that’s a mom thing across the board?”

“I think it’s a good possibility.”

“You and me married. That’s hilarious,” she said, laughing. “Can you imagine? What a disaster that would be.”

He didn’t like how enthusiastic her laughter was. “It wouldn’t be that bad,” he said with a frown.

She scoffed.

“It wouldn’t,” he argued. “We’re pretty good friends. We like each other, have fun together.”

“Yes, but—”

“And you can be damned sure we’d enjoy ourselves in bed.” They were at a stoplight so he caught her gaze and held it. “I’d make sure.”

Her eyes widened slightly before she dropped her gaze. “Cole, stop it.”

“Why? Are you telling me that kiss the other night was nothing special for you? Because I don’t mind admitting it blew my socks off. It’s all I’ve thought about for days. No. Wait a second. That’s a lie. I’ve also thought about when and how I can kiss you again. If there’s an award to be given out for the world’s most blind idiot, I think I’m a pretty good candidate. I think we’d be great together, Chevy. I really do. The marriage thing—that’s my mom. But I’m game to try something less permanent if you are.”

“Cole, I…wow. This is out of left field.” She adjusted her seat belt. “I need some time to think about this. There’s a lot on the line here. I’m not really doubting that the sex would be great—”

Damned straight it would, he thought.

“But I’m worried about what will happen afterward. I’ve been down this road before and it didn’t end well.”

“What do you mean?”

She sighed. “It’s a long story and we’re almost to the restaurant. How about I tell you after dinner?”

“After? Why not during?” he asked.

“Because I want to enjoy this meal.”

Jade West was a swanky place—two huge stone lions flanked the doors and even in the parking lot mouthwatering aromas beckoned. Cole preferred hole-in-the-wall places with questionable, faded and worn-out decor but phenomenal food, like someone’s grandmother was in back, manning the wok. Frou-frou Chinese food seemed like a contradiction in terms. To him, Chinese was comfort food, something meant to be shared family-style, not arranged to within an inch of its life with more visual appeal than flavor. And yet his stomach started growling before they were even through the door.

Inside, marble, dark wood, green and gold accents dominated. In the foyer, they stood on a floor made of glass through which he could see brightly colored koi fish swimming. There were lush stalks of bamboo everywhere and a beautiful water fountain that looked like a miniature mountain village with a river running through it.

Cole cleared his throat. “Reservation for Ruth Ripley, party of two.”

“Ruth Ripley? One moment, sir,” the hostess said as she picked up the phone.

“This is amazing,” Fedora said, turning in a circle and taking it all in. “It’s so beautiful and chic.”

“Yeah. It does look pretty nice,” he said. “This fountain is a lot fancier than the fountain we have at Hat—”

“Where is little Roo-Roo?” a voice said. “Where is she?”

Roo-Roo?

Cole turned to see a man, presumably Anson Lau, approaching. Dressed in all black, he was of average height—so a few inches shorter than Cole. He had closely cropped black hair with silver at the temples and a broad welcoming smile.

“Mr. Lau? I’m Cole, Ruth’s son, and this is Fedora.”

Lau took his hand and shook it heartily. “Good to meet you. Good to meet you.”

“My mom couldn’t make it tonight. She was feeling a little under the weather.”

Lau’s brow furrowed. “Nothing serious, I hope.”

“No, she’ll be fine after a little rest.”

“I’ll send some soup home with you for her. Soup and our special tea.” He nodded, as if making a mental note to himself. “Now come, come. I have a special meal planned for you.”

He brought them to a secluded booth where they were treated like royalty. The meal began with an appetizer of fried tofu with jalapeno and a special seasoned salt. Despite his earlier expectation of disappointment, Cole loved it. He loved spicy food. So did Fedora. Next came some crispy pork belly sliders that were just as good. All in all they enjoyed eight astoundingly delicious dishes, each better than the last and by the time dessert came, Cole wasn’t sure he could eat another bite. But he did because the sugared egg puffs with the whipped cream and two dipping sauces looked too good to pass up.

“This last puff has your name on it,” he said, pushing the plate toward Fedora.

“Oh my gosh, I don’t think I can eat it. I’m stuffed. I’m going to explode.” She slumped down in the booth a little. “But it was so good.”

“You haven’t stopped moaning since we started eating.”

“I couldn’t help myself.”

When he finally got her into bed, she wouldn’t be able to help herself then either.

Anson Lau pulled up a chair. “So, did you enjoy the meal?”

“I have no words,” Fedora said. “I only just met you and yet after eating your food, I feel as if…as if we’re friends now. That’s the only way I can describe it. Your personality shines in the food and that’s something I want to be able to do too.”

“You already do,” Cole said.

She patted him on the arm. “No, I don’t. Not really. I have limitations.”

“What limitations?” he asked. “We give you pretty much free reign.”

“You’re a chef?” Lau asked.

“I am, I work for Cole and his two partners at the Hat Trick Tasting Room.”

Lau gasped. “How long have you been there?”

“Thirteen, fourteen months. Something like that.”

“I will come taste your food. I am a big beer fan and I love the beer, but I’m sorry, Cole, the food wasn’t that good when I was there a couple of years ago.”

“No apologies necessary. That’s why we made the change. Fedora’s food is excellent. People are starting to come now for more than just beer. You won’t be disappointed.”

She kicked him under the table. “Cole, don’t raise his expectations. I’m already getting palpitations thinking about Mr. Lau coming to Hat Trick.”

“Call me Anson. Please don’t worry. I’m sure it will be delicious.”

Back at her apartment, they sat in her living room. It wasn’t anything near as nice as Cole’s place in Coronado, but she liked it. Her place was small and more cozy than showy. On a scale of one to ten—one being fraternity house and ten being Architectural Digest—she and Kiefer’s apartment was probably a three. It was something she always intended to do something about, but always managed to put off.

“So,” she said, facing him on the couch. She’d changed into some sweat pants and a T-shirt. “Time for my depressing life story.”

“Do I need alcohol?” he asked.

“No. You don’t, but I probably do.”

“It can’t be that bad. Just tell me what happened. I promise I won’t judge you.”

“Okay, here we go,” she said, taking a deep breath and tucking one leg beneath her. “When I graduated from culinary school, valedictorian of my class, I might add, I got a job right off the bat as a line cook in a nice restaurant up in LA. The chef was respected in the business and made amazing food, so I was excited. I had a lot to learn still, but I was determined to get promoted to sous chef as soon as possible.

“It so happened that this chef, who shall remain nameless, was very good looking and charming too, so when he directed that charm at me, I stupidly gave in.”

“I’m finding it really hard not to hate this guy,” Cole said. “Did you feel pressured to give in? Did you think he’d retaliate if you didn’t?”

She shook her head slowly. “No. I didn’t get that creepy vibe from him at all.”

“Well, that’s something.”

“Anyway, I knew it was probably a bad idea and I should have gone with my gut, but we ended up dating for a month or so. It was good, for the most part. I made it a point not to take advantage. I made him swear to treat me like everyone else in the kitchen.”

“Of course you did. That’s one of the reasons I respect you—your sense of fairness. Everybody at Hat Trick knows you shoot straight with them. There’s no favoritism.”

She shrugged that off.

“So what happened?”

“I started noticing that when we argued, he took it out on me at work. It was never anything huge because, like I said, I insisted that he not give me any slack just because we were an item, but I eventually caught on that I got the shitty prep jobs when he was mad at me.”

She noticed Cole’s lips had thinned. It was a good thing she didn’t mention Mason’s name. Hockey players had a tendency to even things up and it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that Cole would want to take up the gauntlet on her behalf and avenge her honor, like a knight of old.

“It wasn’t enough to make a fuss about. Things seemed to balance out for the most part. But one day we had a heated conversation and I called him on it. I asked him if he’d noticed that when he was mad, he retaliated at work.”

“Let me guess. He denied it.”

“He not only denied it, he fired me.”

Cole sat up abruptly. “He what?”

“He fired me on the spot. He told me we were over and that I shouldn’t bother showing up to work the next day.”

“That fucking bastard.”

If Fedora thought Cole had been angry before, he was livid now.

“Someone ought to string that asshole up by his balls and I volunteer. Just give me his fucking name and it’s done.”

“No, Cole. Don’t get yourself so worked up. It’s water under the bridge. Honestly. But that’s…that’s why I’m wary. I love being the executive chef at Hat Trick. I don’t want to leave. I don’t want anything to mess that up.”

Cole nodded. “Okay, but don’t put me in the same category as the asshole. You have to know I’d never fire you over something petty like that. I can’t imagine any scenario ending with me firing you in a fit of anger. Do you really think I’d take it out on you if things went south between us? Do you think that little of me?”

That took her aback. “No. I…I don’t think that for a minute. You have integrity, unlike my ex.”

“Great. So problem solved.” He reached for her, but she stuck a hand out and stopped him.

“Hold on there, Mr. Eager Pants. There’s more than one reason I’m hesitant to take things to the next level.”

“Okay, let’s hear it.”

“If you and I started seeing each other, the staff would lose respect for me.”

He scoffed. “No they wouldn’t. I told you your reputation at Hat Trick is spotless. But even if they did, who cares?”

“Aren’t you afraid of what they’ll think?”

“No. It’s frankly none of their business who I’m involved with. When you’re in a leadership position, not everyone is going to like you, no matter how much integrity you have or how fair you are in the workplace. You could be the most fair person on the planet and I guarantee you someone will think you’re unfair.”

She thought immediately of Avery, one of the servers. She was constantly requesting days off for this or that and then complaining that she wasn’t getting enough hours. It was maddening. Fedora was convinced that even if she gave Avery the cushiest schedule ever, she’d find something to complain about.

It also proved Cole’s point.

“So,” he said, “I think we could manage a friends with benefits thing, no problem. We’re not characters on a reality show. We’re mature adults. As long as we go into it with the understanding that what happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom, we’ll be fine.” He stood up and walked to the door.

Surprised that he wasn’t making a move, she got up and followed him.

“I don’t expect an answer right now, so take a couple days and think about it, okay?”

She looked at him then, which might have been a mistake. He caught her gaze and wouldn’t let go. Her body hummed with a banked excitement, probably remembering the last time they’d kissed, on the other side of this door. Because he was going to kiss her again. A man didn’t curl his hand around the back of a woman’s neck without kissing her. It was against the code.

Cole didn’t disappoint. He bent his head and brushed his lips against hers causing her heartbeat to race as warm desire spread throughout her body. It felt so good she forgot why she was resisting. He kissed with a gentle confidence that made her knees weak, but when she licked at the seam of his lips, wanting more from him, he smiled and drew back. Before she knew it, he was reaching for the doorknob.

What the heck?

“Think about it,” he said again and left.