“Yeah, that first step’s a doozy, huh?” Charles approached me, tentative. Then when I didn’t scurry away, he wrapped his arms around me to rub the goosebumps away, bringing me against his firm, slick chest. “Getting warmer, right?”
“Uh-huh,” I muttered, nuzzling into him just a little. Because he was warm. Not because I really liked the way he smelled. “Yeah.”
Charles chuckled softly against my face. “Beats hanging around your cottage all afternoon.”
“Honestly, yeah,” I said, pulling away when I started to feel silly letting him keep holding me like an injured bird. “I wasn’t in a great headspace this morning, so thanks for coming to cheer me up.”
His face knitted with concern as we both came to sit along a natural rock ledge in the water. “Any time. I know my family can be a lot. Promise you’ll give me a chance to fix it before you think about running for the hills?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“I mean it,” he insisted at my noncommittal answer. “You can talk to me about anything.”
I dragged my arms through the water, making little swirls between us with the motion while I told myself not to gawk at the distorted view of his naked body beneath the water. “It probably wouldn’t even get to me so much, except that my whole future is riding on not getting fired from this job.”
“Because of London?” he said.
“I already have a diploma in pastry, but this program atACEwill give me the broader education I need to work anywhere I want. I need this job to pay for it.”
“And what’s your dream job?” Water dripped down his shoulders, traveling the smooth ridges of his muscles. It was more than a little distracting. “If you could do anything at all?”
“I’ve got a whole plan that starts withACE. That will open doors to working in the best restaurants in the world. Training under Michelin star chefs. Really learning how to run a top-notch kitchen. But the ultimate dream is to have my own restaurant. Once I’ve established a brand. Sort of a chef’s table, prix fixe situation. Or like a traveling supper club doing pop-ups. I’m just not sure I could be content with cooking the same menu every night for the rest of my life. I need variety. A little adventure. I hate standing still, you know?”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
I suppose that was partly why I spent the night with Charles in the first place. My whole life to date had been schedules and responsibility. Predictable. Stable. And every now and then, I got the irresistible urge to break out of that mold. Shatter the status quo and damn the consequences. If just for a night. Or a season.
Charles slid closer. “For me, it’s like I appreciate having a role in the family business, sort of bouncing around behind the scenes wherever I can be useful, but I think about the next thirty years of my life and I’m not sure if I want to be sitting in the big chair.”
“Right, your mom hinted at a big announcement soon.”
He sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. He suddenly looked tired, overwhelmed. “I’ve been raised my whole life to take over for my dad one day. And for a long time there, I was excited about it. I’m sure it makes me a miserable bore, but I did enjoy business school. That stuff just makes sense to me. It’s in the genes, I suppose. Only now that I’m in touching distance, I worry that I’ve never really considered doing anything else. What if I wake up and realize my heart’s not in it? I let my family down. I let the company down. That’s people’s livelihoods, you know? It just feels like maybe I’ve wasted the chance to figure out if I would’ve been happier doing something else.”
“What about your sister?” I said. “Has Amelia ever wanted the big chair?”
He paused, thinking about that a moment. “Amelia’s chief ambition has always been pleasing our mom. She wants her approval more than anything.”
I laughed gently. “I can relate.”
“But I’m not sure business is her first love, you know? She’s more into the public side of things. Marketing,PR. She’s got a great head for that stuff. She’s good at making people like her.”
“Well, take it from me,” I said, absently touching his arm. “You’re not so bad at that either.”
A bright toothy grin overtook his face, those dimples forming on both cheeks. “Yeah?”
I rolled my eyes, smothering a smile. “Try not to let it go to your head.”
“Nope. Too late. You like me.”
“Barely.”
“No, you really like me. I’m basically your favorite person.”
“Oh, please.”
He reached out to grab me off the ledge and instead I splashed an armful of water in his face. Charles sputtered, wiping his eyes.
“Seriously?” he grimaced playfully. “That’s how it’s going to be?”
