Deliciously Sinful (22 page)

P
hoebe. It’s pouring outside. We don’t need quail eggs that badly.”

Phoebe swung her bag over her shoulder and pulled out the keys to the Toyota. “It’s on the menu.”

Jesse stared at her. “So. What. That doesn’t mean you need to go out driving in a freak rainstorm to get them!”

“It’s not raining that badly. Really, Jesse. It’s just a drive. I don’t understand why you’re freaking out.”

“Well, maybe because my aunt has gone off her rocker and is driving to some tiny farm out in the middle of nowhere when it’s pouring rain? For quail eggs?”

“Pshaw. I’ll be fine. You know I can drive my Land Cruiser through anything.”

“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”

Phoebe narrowed her gaze at her niece. “I’m not so sure I like this grown-up side of you.”

“Too bad. It’s here to stay.”

“I don’t know if hiring you as my head chef was such a good idea. It’s gone to your head.”

“Well, at least I’m using my head! Unlike some people I know.
Auntie.
”

“It’s Saturday. Remember? Nick made the tradition of having poached quail-egg salad with watercress and tarragon sauce?”

“Yes. So?”

“So. Some people come in now just for that salad. I’m not going to say we don’t have it just because Nick left.”

“We won’t have it because we can’t get the eggs!”

“Same difference.”

“Phoebe. You’re acting crazy. You can’t do everything. When are you going to learn that?”

Never.
“I’ll be fine. Seriously. It’s just a little rain.”

Jesse inhaled a breath, and Phoebe was taken with how much, at that moment, her niece looked like Phoebe’s sister when she’d been about to give a lecture.

“You get everything ready for tonight. I’ll be back with those eggs before you know it.”

“What if something happens out there? You know there’s no cell service in the hills!”

“Jesse. I’m going.”

“Fine. But I don’t like it.”

“I’m still your boss.”

Jesse grunted but said, “Just be careful.”

“I will. Back in a jiffy.”

Phoebe pulled out of the lot and headed toward the winding, two-lane road that led to the small farm where she got most of her eggs. The rain had caused a small mudslide in the farm’s driveway, which was keeping their deliveries from being executed. But they’d agreed to meet Phoebe at the end of the driveway so she could pick up supplies for the restaurant.

Ah, the joys of living in the backwoods. Mudslides, falling trees, bad cell phone service. No wonder Nick had hated it there so much.

Damn it. She punched the steering wheel. She was trying really, really hard not to think about that bastard. Because when she did, her heart hurt and that really sucked.

And she got really pissed off at herself for allowing him to get to her. He didn’t deserve an ounce of her energy. He was all the things she’d pegged him as from the start. He’d driven that point home like a samurai drives a sword into a person’s chest.

She wouldn’t think about it. Instead she concentrated on driving. It really was raining hard, much harder than she’d predicted. Even with her windshield wipers on high, she still had a hard time seeing the road.

As she drove deeper into the forest, the road became littered with broken tree limbs and rocks. She had to slow to a crawl. Maybe Jesse had been right. Perhaps driving out here in this weather hadn’t been the brightest of ideas.

But she really hadn’t been able to think right since Nick left. She’d go from being incredibly sad to blindingly angry. It was affecting her judgment, and it had to stop.

She would stop.

She needed a distraction. Distraction was good. She’d kept busy with the farm and the café, but it was still hard when she was alone. In her own head.

It was too quiet in the car.

Reaching down, she turned on the radio, but there were barely any stations that transmitted out here, so she had to fuss with the dial before she found anything decent.

She found a station that was playing an old Crosby, Stills, and Nash song. And that was when the three-hundred-foot redwood tree fell to the ground, landing on the road directly in front of her.

Nick skidded to a stop in front of the café. The rain had become downright torrential the closer he’d got to Redbolt, and now he sprinted from his Hummer to the door of the Green Leaf. He’d left last night, right after he’d walked out on his dream job. And even just breathing the Northern California air seemed refreshing and welcoming.

Inside the café was a different story.

Dinner was just getting started, and the place was filling up. Except the minute he walked in, the place went silent.

Yeah. So he probably should have expected a reception like this.

Ignoring the angry glares of his previous customers, he stalked to the kitchen.

Jessie stared at him. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Where’s Phoebe?”

“Why?”

“Jesse. Just tell me where she is. Is she at home?”

Jesse stared at him a moment before pulling him into a corner. She spoke in a hushed voice. “She insisted on going out for eggs at this farm about twenty miles into the mountains. I told her it was a bad idea. She should have been back over an hour ago. I’m getting really worried.”

“Have you called her?”

“No cell service out there.”

His blood went cold. “Give me the address and directions.”

“What are you going to do?”

“What do you think I’m going to do? I’m going to go find her.”

“Any word from Phoebe?”

Nick turned to see his very best friend, Bear, standing a few feet away.

Jesse shook her head. “No. Nick’s going to go look for her.”

It was then that Bear’s gaze landed on him. He scowled. “Is he now? What, did you get fired again and want Phoebe to give you your old job back? I really don’t think that’s gonna happen, not the way you treated her.”

Nick tensed but tried to keep his cool. “Just get out of my way. I’m going out to look for Phoebe.”

Bear stepped in front of him. “That’s ridiculous. If anyone goes out looking for her, it’s not going to be some unreliable flake who probably can barely even drive his big expensive car.”

“Move aside.”

“Go back to L.A. We don’t need you here.”

Nick’s blood went from ice cold to boiling hot in one second. He got right up in Bear’s face. “Listen, you dickwad. Step the fuck back.”

“Phoebe doesn’t want anything to do with you. She’s seeing me now.”

Nick didn’t plan on punching the guy; he really didn’t. His fist just shot out and punched Bear in the nose. Big Bear reeled back, trying to stop the blood streaming from his nostrils.

“Boys! This is totally not cool. We’re in a restaurant, for God’s sake,” Jesse said. Then she turned to Bear. “And you are full of shit. You’re not dating Phoebe.”

“I know. I just said that to keep this dog off her tail.”

“Right,” Nick said, shaking his throbbing hand. “I’ll see you later. I’m going to get Phoebe.” And with that he walked out the door, jogged through the pouring rain, and hopped into his Hummer. Bear was dead wrong. Nick knew how to drive his car incredibly well. And now he was going to use it to go find Phoebe.

She could have crashed her car.

She could be hurt, lying in a ditch.

She could be unconscious.

He didn’t need directions. He realized he knew exactly what farm Phoebe had been headed to. He’d gone there himself on several occasions.

The road was winding, narrow, and treacherous in the best of conditions.

Damn it, Phoebe—what were you thinking?

She’d better be okay. She
would
be okay. She had to be. Nick realized he needed her like a good roux needs flour. He just hoped that she’d give him a second chance.

Now Phoebe was getting really cold. The rain hadn’t stopped, and heavy streams of water were rushing down the side of the mountain in muddy torrents. Her head was pounding, and her neck was sore.

So stupid. Such a stupid thing to prove she could do.

Surely Jesse would have sent out a search party by now. But if she had, could they even reach her?

The rain was pounding so hard on her car she thought it might dent the metal. She could barely see the mountain she currently faced. No one was going to find her. Not anytime soon, anyway.

Yup. You’ve really done it now.

She’d been staring out the window for more than an hour. It was gray. Wet and gray. She could barely see more than five feet beyond her window.

Except…What was that? Something huge…and yellow…was crawling toward her.

No effing way.

She knew only one person with a car like that. One person who would be stupid enough to come get her. One person who would be stupid and arrogant enough to even think about coming back to town.

Nick Avalon. Yup. He pulled to a stop near her, jumped out of his Hummer, and ran through the mud to her car. He yanked open the door and assessed her in one fell swoop.

“Are you okay, baby?”

She just glared at him. “Yes, I am. And don’t call me baby.”

He smiled at her. “Oh, bloody hell. I fucking love you.”

“Did you crash? Do you have a concussion, too?”

“No.”

“You came for me,” she said.

He just nodded.

“But you left.”

“I know. It was stupid…I was stupid. I was so stupid I want to shoot myself.”

“I want to shoot you, too. And you’re soaking wet and now so am I.”

With the door open, rain was pouring onto both of them and drenching the car inside. “I’m sorry.” He leaned in to pick her up. “Are you hurt?”

“No, not really.”

Gently, he lifted her out of the car and shut the door with the heel of his boot. Then he walked to his Hummer and opened the passenger door. After he’d placed her on the seat, he shut the door and got in on the other side.

He turned to face her.

“You’re bleeding.” With the hem of his jacket he wiped the rain and blood off her face.

“I’m fine. Nick?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you here?”

“I told you. I love you.”

“And what do you want me to do with this information?”

“Give me another chance? Please, Phoebe. Listen. I’ve just left everything I’ve ever worked for behind: my job, my life in Hollywood, recognition. None of it matters anymore. Because I’d take a day in the forest, or collecting oysters on the coast, or anything that involved a moment with you, over anything else in the world.”

Her heart was beating like a jungle drum. “What are you saying? That you want to move here? Permanently?”

His voice sounded gravelly and hoarse. “Yes, but only if you want to be with me.”

“Nick. Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“You’re saying you just left Hollywood and want to move here and be with me? For good?”

He nodded. “I know you don’t trust me, and that you think I tried to one-up you with the whole brownie thing, but—”

She held up her hand. “Nick, I’m the one who needs to apologize about that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I jumped to the wrong conclusions. I didn’t trust you. But I know you had good intentions, and I’m sorry I didn’t recognize them right away.”

For just one second, she actually thought she saw his eyes go just a tad watery at her words.

She stared at him. “Goddamn you, Nick.”

He slanted one of those grins at her, the kind that made her heart skip a beat. He took her head in his hands and kissed the wound on her forehead. “Thank you, Phoebe. Your words mean a lot to me.”

“It still doesn’t negate the fact you up and ditched us!”

“I know, baby. I behaved horribly. I promise to never do it again.”

“How can I trust you?”

“Would it help if I told you that on the way here, I got a phone call with an offer to host my own show, and I turned it down?”

She jerked back. “You did? Why didn’t you take it?”

“Because I want to be here. In the middle of freakin’ nowhere. With you. That’s what makes me happy.”

“How can I believe you? Trust you? How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“I’ll do anything to make you believe me. To trust me. To understand that deep down”—he pounded his chest—“this is what I want. You. The café. The forest, the beach. And did I say you?”

He held her to his chest. He was so warm, her shivering body soaked up his heat. She buried her nose in his shoulder. That scent. She couldn’t help it. It got her every time; it was home and sex and connection and earth. And Nick.

She paused. “Cardamom.”

He glanced down at her. “Um, pardon me? I kinda thought we were having a moment.”

“We are. Have I told you I love the way you smell?”

“No, you haven’t.”

“But there’s something about your scent I never could quite identify. Some spice.”

“I take it it’s cardamom?”

Inhaling again, she nodded. “I like it.”

“I use it every morning to make chai tea.”

“I like chai tea.”

He tilted her head up. “Good. Can I make it for you tomorrow morning?”

Slowly, and biting back a goofy smile, she nodded.

He kissed her nose. “And the morning after that?”

“Yes, Nick. And if you’re lucky, the morning after that.”

His blue eyes sparkled with that thing called happiness he seemed to have developed. “I’m a pretty lucky guy,” he said.

She tried to look serious. “Well, since you’re going to have me as your girlfriend, you are a pretty lucky guy.”

He kissed her then. It was a slow kiss, a kiss of promises. Of forests and beaches and redwood trees and chocolate and oysters. It was a kiss of hope. Of trust. Of security.

Then the kiss deepened, and her body responded. Her breasts ached for his touch, and between her legs a pulse began to beat.

He held her face to his, and as he explored more of her mouth, as he tasted her and licked her, she wanted to fall into him. Become one.

When they pulled apart, she was panting.

“I love you, Phoebe.”

“You must,” she said, looking around. “After all, we’re here, stranded
in the middle of nowhere
, and I think I just heard another tree fall. That might keep us from getting back, even in your Hummer.”