It's in His Kiss Holiday Romance Collection (2 page)

“Just about everyone I ever came in contact with.” The excitement immediately changed to annoyance.

He laughed, one of those deep baritone laughs that came from somewhere in his past. “I see you never lost your searing sense of humor.”

“I see you never lost your ability to call me by a nickname I’ve always hated.”

“Wow, I haven’t seen you in ten years and you’re still carrying a grudge.”

Rose crossed her arms under her chest. “Getting stood up for your senior prom will do that to a girl.”

He blew out a sigh. “We’ve been over this, and I didn’t stand you up, exactly. I sent you an email.”

“Who blows off prom night in an email?”

“Rosie, I mean, Rose, I had no choice if I was ever going to get the chance to meet the Dalai Lama. I had to leave when I did or he would’ve been on tour and I might have missed an incredible opportunity.”

“As it was, you had the tour dates wrong, or so I heard, and he was in Dharmsala, India for two entire weeks after you arrived. You could have waited one more day.”

“Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.”

“And a promise is a promise.”

Just then Jasmine walked into the bar and squealed with delight at the sight of her ever traveling cousin. They hugged, a nice tight hug, one that Rose would have appreciated.

The red glow around Max diminished to a faint sparkle.

“When did you get in?” Jasmine asked.

“About an hour ago. This city has done some major changing since I’ve been home. And you.” He quickly looked her over. “You, my fair cousin, look incredible. You’re positively beautiful.”

“Thanks,” Jasmine said, soaking in the compliment. “So tell me everything. Your Facebook page is good, but I’m sure there’s so much more to your travels. I want to hear all about where you’ve been, what you learned, everything!”

They took seats at the bar, and Rose knew this was her time to bow out.

“Well, I’ve got a lot to do to get ready for lunch. Nice to see you again, Max.” Then she turned to Jasmine. “If you need anything, you know where to find me.”

“Whatever you have to do can wait for an hour. Come on and sit down with us. I know you want to hear this.”

Jasmine had always played matchmaker with Max and Rose, but Rose was in no mood for it this morning. No way could she sit and listen to all the places he’d gone and everything he’d learned without wishing she’d been with him. Of course, she knew she’d never have gone with him even if he had asked, which he most certainly did not. Still, the fantasy of their traveling together had lingered despite her logic.

“You two have a lot of catching up to do. I’m sure Max will be around for a few days. We’ll talk later.”

“Are you sure?” Jasmine coaxed, but Max seemed to have already forgotten that Rose was in the room. His full attention was on his favorite cousin.

Rose walked away thinking the crystal had to be wrong. That it was simply wishful thinking on her part, there was no way rambling Max could ever love stick-in-the-mud Rosie. But when she turned back for one last look before she turned the corner to the kitchen, the red glow surrounding Max was even brighter than ever.

Damn gypsy!

Chapter Two

“He’s the one,” Jasmine chided as she sat at her desk in her office inside
With a Twist.
The lunch crowd had gone and the girls had a couple hours until dinner prep had to begin. “I always knew you two would end up together. It’s sweet.”

“It’s not sweet,” Rose protested while standing in the open doorway “It’s a train wreck and you two know it.”

“He has to settle down one day, if only from pure exhaustion,” Daisy said as she perched herself up on the edge of Jasmine’s desk looking completely fabulous with her long dark hair draped over a shoulder. She wore her latest pair of trendy knee-high boots with a tight short skirt and a blue top that brought out the sapphire of her amazing eyes.

The three women had been friends since elementary school when other kids would make fun of their ‘silly’ flower names. All the razzing and bullying only brought them closer, as close as sisters. Their friendship had gotten them through the tough times of their lives, along with all the good, and this was just another phase.

Albeit a great phase in many respects, but also, at the moment, clearly a confusing one for Rose. “Max has been traveling around the world ever since he turned eighteen. He didn’t even wait to pick up his diploma before he was on a plane bound for India. He stood me up for Prom, left me without a groomsman when his best friend got married, and couldn’t make it back when his own mother remarried.”

“In all fairness, that was her third marriage,” Jasmine countered.

“Your point being?”

Jasmine stared at her for a moment. “It wasn’t important for him to attend and he knew it. Besides, he was studying Tango in Barcelona at the time. He couldn’t just pick up and leave for one of his mother’s weddings. I’m sure she understood.”

“Well I don’t. He’s a leavin’ kind of man. What makes you think that’s ever going to change? And especially for me? He doesn’t even like me, not really.”

Jasmine turned to face Rose. Her green eyes sparkling, and her long cinnamon colored hair looked amazing as always. Jas had a flair for high-end designer fashion and preferred wearing cream or ecru, her two favorite colors. Rose was more into the business of cooking, so her chocolate colored hair was kept short, extra short sometimes, depending on her culinary experiments. She couldn’t take the chance that a stray hair would end up in someone’s dinner, and she hated wearing a hat of any kind. Her style was efficient, with a flash of whimsy in her earring selection. Rose loved big bright earrings. They gave her pixy face just the right touch of sassy that she liked.

“He’s always liked you. Why do you think he called you Rosie when you were kids? True love.”

“I hate that nickname and he knows it.”

“A term of endearment,” Daisy added.

“More like a term of aggravation.”

“A little aggravation can be good. Keeps you on your toes,” Daisy said.

“I don’t want to be on my toes, I want a love that lasts, and from a lover who won’t disappear just because some famous musician in Japan is available to teach him how to play the
koto.”

“Wouldn’t that be fun? We could wear silk kimonos and have big hair.”

Rose rolled her eyes.

“But didn’t the crystal cast a glow on him this morning?” Jasmine asked, looking all excited over the potential love affair. Rose suddenly regretted ever having told them about the damn crystal.

“So he glowed. An accident, I’m sure. He couldn’t possibly be the
one.
He’s never stuck around for more than a few months anywhere he’s landed … always said he didn’t like the grass to grow under his feet. A man like that needs a woman who has the same philosophy, not someone who has recently opened a restaurant and works twenty-four-seven. It just can’t be him. It can’t.”

Daisy said, “Maybe that’s how this thing works. Maybe we’ve been so rigid about who we
should
love, and who
should
love us back that we’ve lost sight of what love is all about. The gypsy was trying to show us that we can’t choose love. It chooses us.”

“Go on, girlfriend. You sound so heady,” Jasmine chided.

Daisy looked a bit embarrassed. “But what do I know? The heart hasn’t even twinkled around me, let alone lit up on Mr. Right.”

“Well, if you’re right about how love chooses us, we have a real problem ‘cause I don’t see how this thing between Max and me will ever come together. Remember her warning that all three of us have be in love and must have that love returned? Max hardly knows I’m in the same room.”

“We’ll just have to change that,” Daisy teased while staring at Jasmine.

Jasmine threw her a sly look, one that Rose knew all too well. Some kind of scheme was brewing and Rose would be the target.

“Oh no you don’t. I will not participate in any conniving, sneaky, devious game you two come up with. I absolutely refuse.”

* * *

“I really want to thank you for putting me up, Rosie … I mean, Rose,” Max said as he followed her down the hallway to her condo off Market Street. He’d stayed with Jasmine for a couple days, but then was shuffled off to Rosie’s place while his cousin’s condo was being painted, not that it looked like it needed painting.

He lagged behind, noticing her long, lovely neck and the gentle sway of her hips. Max liked a girl with short hair, liked the way it made her neck look so kissable. And he so appreciated a girl with a sexy walk. As if she was asking for it with each step. Not that Rosie was the type to ask for anything, much less sex, but she sure had nailed down the walk.

“You’re welcome. We wouldn’t want you having to stay in a hotel. Besides, it’s only for a few days.”

She said it so quickly Max thought she might want him out before he even stepped inside.

“Are you sure this is okay? It’s not a problem for me to get a room.”

Rose stopped at the end of the long carpeted hallway and unlocked a door to her right.

“Don’t be silly. You’re like family.”

As the door swung open, he caught a glimpse of the view through the two-story, floor to ceiling windows directly in front of him. Late afternoon sunlight flooded the room, causing everything in it to glow. Between the spectacular view of the water, and the inviting furnishings, he felt as if he was walking into a high-end hotel rather than a private home. “Holy shit, Rosie. How’d you score this place?”

The view was about as good as he’d ever seen. Coronado and its light blue bridge sat across the bay, to his right an amazing marina, and to his left were docked military ships. The water reflected the perfectly blue sky as several sail boats floated along the harbor.

He had landed in heaven.

“Luck, I suppose. I picked it up from a friend when the economy took a dump. Pretty nice, huh?”

“More than nice.”

The place was decorated in warm earthy colors, and of course, it was spotlessly neat. Rose kept her condo like her kitchen at the bistro, pristine.

“You can sleep in my office. The sofa converts, and there’s a private bathroom next to the closet.”

She showed him the way to what would be his room on the same floor with the same spectacular view and told him that her bedroom took up the entire second floor. As he dropped his backpack on the cream colored sofa he suddenly felt awkward, as if he shouldn’t be there, shouldn’t be in Rosie’s private world. She was essentially a stranger to him.

Rosie had transformed herself into someone he didn’t know at all. Gone was that scrawny teenager he’d occasionally hung out with because of his cousin, and probably why he was able to stand her up for Prom. He’d never even given her a second thought

Until now!

He didn’t quite understand his emotions, but ever since he’d first seen her in the bar that morning, he wanted to get to know her better, much better. She had a smile that sent his heart into race mode, and a laugh, when he could get her to laugh, that gave him a thrill he couldn’t explain.

“This is great. Thanks so much. Hey, can I make you something to eat? You look beat. I’m a pretty good cook.”

“Thanks, but I have to get back to the restaurant. We’re shorthanded in the kitchen tonight, so I have to do some extra prepping to compensate.”

“I can help. I ran a restaurant for awhile in Paris.”

She stuck a hand to her hip. “In Paris. You were a chef in Paris.”

He didn’t want to come off like he was bragging, so moments like this always made him a little uncomfortable. “I learned to cook at Cordon Bleu and when I graduated I started working at a tiny bistro just off the western end of Champs-Elysées. The head chef opened another bistro so I took over his spot. Not a big deal. But let me help. It’s the least I can do for your hospitality.”

“Sure. Let’s see what you’ve got, Mr. Cordon Bleu.”

Then she chuckled and he had an insane urge to take her in his arms and kiss her.

But he knew better. Getting Rosie or Rose as she preferred, into his arms would take some patience and the one thing he’d learned with all his travels was how to be patient.

* * *

The restaurant part of
With a Twist
served Italian Fusion, a dream come true for Rose. She’d been combining exotic, ethnic flavors with Italian cuisine for years, but she never honestly thought she would someday be able to serve her inspired creations in her own restaurant until Jasmine shored up the finances and made the dream a reality. Of course, it helped that the gypsy had prophesied it. Still it took a lot of elbow grease to make their dreams a reality.

Ever since the tiny bistro and martini bar had opened, they served to a full house every night. It seemed almost like a miracle to Rose who had imagined these days ever since she’d combined mint chutney, spinach and ginger with her mother’s pasta sauce for Sunday dinner when Rose was all of nine years old. The sauce needed a bit more finessing, but the vision had begun.

There were only fifteen tables in the entire bistro. If those fifteen tables turned over three times in one night, they more than paid to keep the lights on. Most of the time, they turned over four and five times, leaving all three girls in awe of their success.

Daisy and Jasmine gave most of the credit to Rose’s cooking, but Rose wasn’t the type to take that kind praise. She knew it was a collaborative effort and the success was the sum total of all three of them. Without each other, the dream would have never happened.

The place was hopping throughout the night. They were busier than ever and incredibly, Max did a much better job than Rose had expected. She stationed him right across from her so she could monitor everything he prepared, and to her surprise he more than kept up, he improvised on several dishes and they turned out extraordinarily well. Truth be told, his Béchamel tasted better than her own.

“What did you put in that Béchamel sauce to give it that heavenly sweet flavor?” Rose asked as they were finishing the last of the cleanup for the night. Max was busy wiping down his station.

“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you.”