Threes Company (13 page)

Dee called out the other staff there that she was taking a break, and she sat across the booth from me. She smiled. "It's not really my story to tell, sugar."

I nodded. "Well, it's just every time the word

'family' is mentioned, he clams up. You mentioned before his family wasn't like Simon's, so it doesn't take rocket science to work it out."

Dee frowned and was quiet for a moment while she chose her words carefully. She shook her head. "It's something I'll never understand." Her island accent was

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thicker when she spoke passionately. "How a mother can carry a child, give him life and love him, only to disown him at seventeen because of who he fell in love with. A parent's love is supposed to be
un
conditional. It's not selective."

Dee took a breath to calm down. This was

obviously a subject she didn't take lightly. "Adam came from New York originally. He was an A student and champion swimmer apparently."

Ah well, that explained his love for swimming.

"His parents were conservatives and when they caught him kissing a boy, well… well, it didn't go down very well. And he found himself here."

She'd told me enough. I didn't need to hear any more. Adam was disowned at seventeen.
Fuck.

It made my heart hurt for Adam just that little bit more.

It explained a lot though. The way Adam seemed like he could handle any crowd, like he'd seen it all before, and how a simple smile could get him what he wanted. He was street-smart. But it also explained why Simon was protective of him and grounded him.

It explained a lot.

"What about your family, Wil?" Dee asked. "What's your story?"

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"My parents died just over two years ago. I was an only child."

"Oh, sugar, I'm sorry," Dee said, genuinely concerned.

"It's okay." I smiled softly at her. "It was a car accident. One day they're there, and the next they're not."

Dee frowned, but I just shrugged. "I set up my own restaurant not long after that. It was kind of the push I needed to do something for myself…"

"Got a boyfriend back home?"

I snorted. "In
my
hometown? Not likely. Had a secret lover, I guess you'd call it. Not a boyfriend in the likes of Simon and Adam, more of a sex-when-he-wanted-it kind of thing." I shook my head at how ludicrous it sounded, even to me. "Very, very much in the closet. But he dumped me when I was outed."

Dee's eyes widened. "Really?"

I snorted again. "That's only the half of it." I gave her a brief rundown of how the entire town, all but my best friend Callie, refused to eat at my restaurant because I was gay, well, at least while I was there. Callie seemed to be doing okay with it on her own.

I think I shocked poor Dee into silence.

After she blinked and opened and closed her mouth a few times, she finally exhaled slowly. "Just what exactly

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are you going home to?"

I thought about it for a moment, and unable to give a straight answer, I shrugged. "I don't know."

She shook her head and sighed. "Oh, Wil. You certainly went from the pan into the fire down here, didn't you?"

I huffed. "I guess I did."

Dee smiled and shook her head at me. "I better get back to work."

"Don't you want to know my answer?"

"Answer to what, sugar?"

"Your question. Earlier. You asked if I wanted what Simon and Adam have."

Dee smiled knowingly. "That wasn't what I really asked. What I asked was do you want what they have, not with someone else, but
with them
? Do you want to be
with
them?"

"Oh."

"And, sugar, the answer to that is written all over your face."

* * * *

I got back to the hotel late in the afternoon, not long before the dinner shift was supposed to start. I intended to

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head straight for my room, but walking through the foyer, I heard Simon's voice.

The other guests seemed oblivious. Maybe it was just Simon's voice and I couldn't
not
hear him. He sounded less than pleased. Actually, he sounded livid.

I walked a bit farther around and I could see him then. He was pacing in the kitchen with his cell phone to his ear. And he was furious. He was keeping his voice down, but there was no mistaking the tone.

"Who the hell am I going to get on this short notice, Miguel? I've got the owners of the hotel due here in half-a-fucking-hour for a meeting to decide if they're selling to Hartley! You knew this dinner meeting was on! You know how important this is!"

I walked up beside Adam, who was watching.

"What's up?"

Adam looked over at me and smiled. Almost. He

kept his voice low while Simon was on the phone. "Miguel, the asshole, phoned in just now saying he couldn't make it in tonight. He was supposed to be here already. He's doing it get back at Sy. He knows how important tonight is, and after Simon reprimanded him about his attitude this week, he's a no-show. What he's really doing is just proving what an asshole he is. We even called in poor Syd, but it's just with this meeting…"

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I turned and left them in the kitchen, dumped my shopping bags on the bed in my room, changed out of my cargos and into jeans and my lace-up leather shoes. It wasn't exactly work attire, but it was better than nothing.

And then I went back into the kitchen. Simon was off the phone, now mumbling to himself in the cool storage room.

Ignoring him, I walked into kitchen prep area. A rather flustered Sydney looked at me. "Syd, where can I get a chef's shirt?"

She smiled. "Uniforms are in the back storeroom."

I grabbed one and returned to the kitchen, buttoning up the second row of buttons. Simon was now in the prep area, rifling through one of the drawers and looking for God only knows what. He looked up and stared at me.

"What are you doing?"

I ignored him and asked Sydney, "Where's the menu? Recipe cards?"

She pointed to a folder on the far wall filled with standard recipe cards. All restaurants that had changing staff used systems like this, so when the staff changed with each shift, the recipes didn't. "It's the one on top," Syd called out, and I pulled it out and started to read. I could feel Simon's eyes boring into the side of my head.

His voice was eerily calm. "Wil, I said, 'what are

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you doing?'"

I looked at him then. That was the first thing he'd said to me in two days. "Oh, you're talking to me now?"

He gritted his teeth and walked right up to me.

"Wil…"

God, he had
no
right to be angry at me. I'd done nothing wrong. And he wanted to know what I was doing?

So I told him. "I'm trying to read the fucking recipe so I know what to cook for your meeting, that's what I'm doing!"

We stood, barely inches apart, chests heaving. He was suited up for this meeting. His black hair was styled and spiked. His nostrils flared, and his eyes were a steely blue.

He was beautiful.

But I was so fucking angry with him. The last two days' worth of angry, but this was neither the place nor the time.

"Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do, so get out of the kitchen."

He stood and stared at me for a long moment before turning on his heel and walking out. He was pissed off.

Fucking angry would be a more apt description. And so was I.

I looked up to see Adam standing in the doorway to

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the kitchen as Simon stalked past him. Adam was a little shocked, but when his eyes landed on me, he smiled.

"Jesus," Sydney whispered beside me.

"I'm sorry," I apologized quickly, putting the papers in my hand down to look at her. "That wasn't very professional. I'm not normally so… angry."

Sydney snorted as she stirred the pot of sauce on the stove. "Neither is he," she said with a pointed nod in the direction Simon went. "But something's been bothering him for the last two days. He's been a cranky shit."

I huffed sarcastically. "Tell me about it."

Sydney looked up at me from the stove. "I don't suppose him being cranky has anything to do with you and Adam both being so out of sorts?"

I looked at her, and for a long moment I wondered how I should answer. She just rolled her eyes and went back to stirring the sauce. "What the hell is it with men?

You get stressed and get skinny. Women get stressed, eat ice cream, and put on ten pounds."

I laughed, despite my mood. "Yes, I suppose I should thank you for bringing me lunch and coffee yesterday and ordering me to eat."

She snorted. "Yeah, like I
suppose
I should thank you for helping me tonight."

I chuckled, sincerely this time. "Well, if you did

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thank me, I'd say you were most welcome."

Sydney looked at me and grinned. "Likewise, Wil.

Likewise."

I walked into the cool storage to get the salmon, and when I came back out, Adam was walking in. He looked so tired, and now agitated.

"They're here," he said, looking back out to the tabled area. "There're four of them: the two owners, an accountant, and a lawyer. Simon's with them." Adam shook his head. "I hope he'll be okay."

I put the salmon steaks down on the counter.

"Adam, he'll be just fine."

"I couldn't do that," he said with a shake of his head. "Sit out there with the bigwigs talking business like he does."

I said, "Adam, if you sat out there in that meeting, you'd win them over with your smile alone."

He smiled a slow smile. "Maybe I should sit at the bar and give the lawyer fuck-me eyes from across the floor.

He seemed the type."

Sydney and I both laughed, and Adam chuckled.

Then he sighed. "Can I hang out in here with you guys?" he asked. "I'm not working, it's too quiet upstairs, and Simon's down here, well, out there," he said, looking out to the tables. Then he looked at me, "And you're in here…"

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Sydney spoke first. "Can you wash up?"

Adam mock pouted. "I'm a man of many talents."

He was soon up to his elbows in suds, but seemed the happiest he'd been in two days. Syd and I worked well together. We just gelled.

And for the next two hours, I made the best three-course meal of my life for the four VIPs—five including Simon. I helped Syd push out appetizers, entrées, and desserts when I could, and we still managed to have a laugh.

And by the time it was all over and we'd cleaned up, the hotel was quiet. There were still a few guys out near the pool, some were even dancing. Adam collected three beers from the bar, and not wanting the owners to see staff sitting around after their shifts had finished, we pulled up stools and sat in the kitchen.

We talked and laughed. It felt so good to laugh. It seemed Adam had even forgotten his troubles and told Syd and me funny stories til our sides hurt from laughing.

And then Simon came into where we were sitting with a tray of the empty dessert plates in his hands, and our laughter died. He stopped awkwardly and looked at us three, but his eyes lingered on me and Adam.

Before any one of us could speak, he put the tray down on the counter. "I don't know what you put in that

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dessert crème, Wil, but it was… um, it was something special. They're still out there talking about it."

He offered me a small smile, and announced to no one in particular, "We're just wrapping up now."

We all watched him walk back out to where the

meeting was almost done. Adam said, "I think he just complimented your cooking."

Syd laughed. "What was that white crème,

anyway?"

I smiled at her. "Wanna try it? There's some left over." I didn't wait for an answer. I just went into the fridge and came out with the remaining desserts, while Adam grabbed three plates and three spoons.

"I make this for Callie back home," I told them. "If I ever need to apologize for something, it's usually with a batch of this." I put some fresh raspberries on a plate, scooped a dollop of the white chocolate and vanilla bean crème on top, and handed it to Syd. "Try that."

Adam and I both watched her, and the second the flavors hit her tongue, she moaned.

I laughed and told Adam, "That's exactly what Callie says."

Adam laughed, and I served up the same for him, and then me. Adam hummed and nodded." This is good,"

he said, with a mouthful.

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Watching him eat the dessert was both wonderful—

and complete and utter torture. The way he hummed, watching the spoon go into his mouth, how he licked his lips, how there were traces of white crème on his tongue made my cock stir.

I think I groaned.

I was so transfixed on Adam, I didn't realize Simon had walked in and was watching us. Adam just looked at him and smiled. "See what you mean, Sy. This is delicious."

Sydney stood up and shook her head, telling Simon,

"It sure was. But watching Wil watching Adam eat it is worse than watching porn."

I choked on a raspberry, and Syd just laughed. She put her plate in the sink, threw her empty beer bottle in the trash can and clapped her hand on my shoulder. "Wil, my friend, you can cook with me anytime." Then as she walked out, she added, "As long as you make that dessert." And she was gone.