Chapter 2

The bins of fresh vegetables were delivered. Karen always came in the back door without much pomp and barely an announcement of her presence. Of course he was anxious for his order of edible flowers, especially the lavender. Last delivery, expecting to see Penny, he was pleasantly surprised to meet Tori again. Watching that girl eating cheesecake had crossed the line of family-friendly and into sinful. As the chef who’d made that happen, he was all kinds of smug. With a flush and a giggle Tori had reintroduced herself as his flower girl and promised she would have something for him at the end of the week.

A loud “uhf,” followed by, “Oh no, oh no, oh no, crap,” dragged his attention away from his prep.

Tori deposited the low crate of summer squash on the trestle table by the door with a “Whoosh.”

“I thought you were my flower girl. What are you doing with those?”

“She’s too big for a flower girl.” Stevens’ snide voice rang in from the other side of the kitchen.

“Karen needed some help, so I got to handle the tray of green phallic veggies.”

Les closed his eyes momentarily to stop laughter from bursting out. She had an evil sense of humor on her. She sorted thru the selection, lifting one bulbous zucchini from the lot. She eyed it with horror and distaste.

“Oh no, take that foul beast away from me!”

Les shook his head and laughed.

“This one isn’t too bad.” The meaning of her commentary was anything but virtuous.

“You wouldn’t know what to do with a dick that large if you ever saw one,” Stevens quipped.

“Neither would you Josh,” Tori replied.

She returned it and found another vegetable. From her lascivious expression, Les knew he was in for a raunchy comedy act.

“Now this one is a bit more manageable.” She slowly lifted the long green vegetable, mimicking erect male anatomy.

“You should know all about handling vegetables for personal pleasure. Huh, Tori? Not like you’ve had a real man.”

“Stevens,” Les said with exasperation. The level of inappropriateness for a work discussion had veered well into the red zone with the penis jokes, but everyone was participating with good humor. Trust Stevens to turn it into some kind of personal insult.

The zucchini in her hand lowered, still mimicking male anatomy, only now she pretended it was flaccid, swinging it back and forth.

“Same could be said for you,” Tori bit back, not missing a beat.

“Not exactly the innocence one expects from a flower girl,” O’Connell laughed as she collected a bushel of tomatoes and hauled them toward the sinks.

“Jenny, I lost my innocence carrying this crate of suggestive zucchini,” Tori responded. She held the zucchini as if it had regained its erect status. As Les watched, Tori lifted the zucchini and opened her mouth. She paused studying how to best fit it in, repositioning it and her head several times. She gave up and pretended to lick it up the side.

Les chuckled.

Tori wiggled her eyebrows at him. He lost his composure and roared with laughter. “You are wicked, woman.”

“Gah, drop a house on her already.” Stevens continued to contribute his kill-joy commentary.

Tori air kissed the tip of the zucchini and tossed it back in with the rest of them. “Don’t make me sic my flying monkeys on you.”

“They gonna fly out your fat ass?”

“Stevens, enough,” Les barked. “I’m sorry. He ruined the fun.”

“He always does. Come.” Tori beckoned Les to follow her. “I have something for you.”

Les wiped his hands on a small towel and followed her to the loading dock. His gaze fell to her ass and hips as they swayed in front of him. Larger than what he was used to, but damn if the junk in her trunk didn’t demand his attention. He cleared his throat and shook his head to clear his mind.

Tori stood next to the open van, posed like some TV spokesmodel, and swept her hands into a “tah-dah” presentation.

His face split with a grin.

Tori was his flower girl, all right, and she more than delivered. Flats of assorted flowers filled the back of the van. He ignored her as she took a few pictures of the flowers in the van.

Purple and white pansies and princess flowers, fuchsia and purple bachelor buttons, sky blue borage, and a selection of bright marigolds sat happily in tiny pots.

“I wasn’t sure how many you wanted or if you had a specific kind you were in need of, so I cornered the market on what my guy had.”

“I’ll take the lot.” Les grinned. He began searching for the much needed lavender. “Something is missing.”

“I’m still working on your lavender. That’s proving to be harder than I expected.”

“What do you mean you can’t get lavender. This is Napa Valley,” Les complained.

“My sources just don’t have anything available yet. Most are telling me it’s too early in their season or they are sold out. It’s that or they don’t have food-grade flowers.” Tori shrugged. “I’m working on it. You said fresh. I can get all kinds of dried lavender. It’s the fresh that’s being troublesome.”

“These are gorgeous. I guess I’ll just have to wait. I mean, you know it’s for that cheesecake I promised you?” Les teased. Maybe if he reminded her, she would work a little harder on getting him that stock.

“Oh, I haven’t forgotten. Trust me.” Tori leaned into the van and lifted out a flat of the flowers. “Karen, he’s going to take the flowers. Can you help me lug these in?” Tori called out to the other woman, who had been sitting quietly behind the steering wheel while Tori showed off the flowers. Karen grumbled but got out of the van and picked up another tray of flowers. Without a word, she cut in front of Les off and trudged back into the kitchen.

Les caught up with Tori so he could whisper in her ear. “Hey, I didn’t want to ask Penny, being her sister and all, but is Karen okay? She never really talks unless she has to.”

Tori nodded. “She’s quiet and not particularly social, but she knows her stuff and is super strong from carrying all the veggies around.”

Les didn’t think anti-social was all that was going on with her, but what did it matter? He never really talked to her anyway.

“Did I see you at Carnita Joe’s the other night?” he asked as Tori placed her burden on the trellis table along the back wall.

“Probably. They have good margaritas. I’m meeting my girlfriends there tonight, unless they decide on heading into Napa or something. You gonna be there?”

Les shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Maybe I’ll see you there. Either way, see you later.” Tori gave him a little wave. “Bye, Jenny,” she called before she bounced out the door. It was not lost on him that she did not say anything to Stevens. Les knew some people could mistake their trading of insults as flirtatious banter, but he did not miss the tone in either one’s voice. There was a strong dislike between the two of them.