In Good Company: Chapter 12

I step out of my home office to the smell of lemon filling the house. It smells incredible, and I’m not even that close to the kitchen. The faint sound of music travels down the hallway. With each step I take toward the kitchen, the smell of lemon and herbs gets stronger, and the music gets louder.

It’s Lucy’s third day on the job, and I’m already wishing she could come back to Manhattan with me after the summer ends to continue working for me. Her cooking is that good. She prepares meals that feel like home-cooked comfort food but with unique flavor combinations and fresh ingredients that make my mouth water. Never have I cared about when I’d be eating my next meal. If we’re being honest, meals were more of a social affair for me most of the time.

Now, I find myself counting down the minutes until I get to taste whatever she’s thought up.

Today was a busy day. I’d been out all day golfing with seven other guys, and we did all eighteen holes, leading to a long day. It was both a mix of business and pleasure. I’m always with Jude, so spending the day with him was nothing new. And talking with Thomas, Ryker, Beck, Preston, and Archer is always a mix of business and pleasure. I actually like the men and would call them friends, but we’re all about finding ways to work together for financial gain. Lucy had been out gathering dinner supplies when I finally returned from golfing, so I haven’t seen her since breakfast early this morning.

I can’t help but smile as I round the corner and find her at the stove. Music from the record player in the living room filters into the kitchen, masking the sound of my footsteps. It gives me the opportunity to watch her for a moment without being caught.

I lean against the wall, crossing my arms over my chest and taking in the sight in front of me.

Lucy’s back is to me. She sways slightly on her feet to the sound of the music as she bends over and stirs something on the stove. It hasn’t even been a week since she started working for me, and I’m already getting used to her company. It’s refreshing to be around someone who doesn’t want to talk business or use me for gain. In fact, she’s been so quiet I wonder if maybe she’s only tolerating being around me.

I don’t move, fascinated by watching her as she reaches into the apron tied around her hips. She pulls out her phone and sets it on the counter in front of her, using the backsplash to keep it propped up. Her shoulders rise and fall as she appears to take a deep breath.

I watch closely as she opens up her camera and sets it to record. She takes three more deep breaths before she begins to talk. “Now that my lobster tails are off the grill and wrapped in foil until I’m ready to start plating, I’m going to finish my lemon butter sauce and toss the noodles in it, and then I will…” She pauses for a moment, shifting her weight on her feet. She’s quiet for a few seconds before she talks again. “I’ll just edit that part out,” she mutters. “So once I’ve got my lobster tails and fresh asparagus grilled, I focus on finishing the pasta and sauce. The sauce has been simm…ugh.” She hurriedly reaches in front of her and grabs the phone from the counter before angrily shoving it back into her apron.

For another minute or two, I stand there silently, watching curiously as she continues to prepare dinner—this time not talking to her phone. She takes out her phone once again and seems to take photos of whatever she’s doing, but she doesn’t ever attempt to record again.

I fight the urge to make my presence known. I want to ask her why she was recording herself. More than that, I want to ask her why she seemed to clam up the moment she started talking to the camera. I sat at the table yesterday as she explained to Jude in perfect detail how she made the teriyaki salmon dish we had for dinner. Jude knows nothing about cooking, but he’d spoken out of his ass and said the dinner was so good he’d have to make it sometime. Lucy was so excited and told him all about the recipe, so he just pretended to be interested.

I’m too swept up in wondering why she got nervous the moment she started recording herself that I can’t even pretend to play it cool when she turns around and her eyes immediately land on me.

She gasps. “Cal!” Her voice comes out strangled as she places a hand on her chest. “How long have you been standing there?”

I push off the wall and close the distance between us. The delicious smell of whatever she’s making is so strong it makes my stomach growl in anticipation of the incredible meal she’s prepared. “Not long,” I answer, stopping when I reach the island.

Her brown eyes quickly scan my face. I wonder if she’s trying to figure out if I saw her record herself, and I don’t know if I should be honest with her that I did. The polite thing would be to pretend I didn’t. It was clear she was frustrated with herself after being unable to get her thoughts out correctly. The problem is…I might not have the best manners. I know if I don’t ask her, I’ll wonder all night about it.

“Okay,” she whispers, her voice a little shaky as she turns and opens the cabinets behind her. “Will anyone be joining you tonight for dinner?”

I sigh, dropping the questions running through my mind—for now. “You’re the only one joining me tonight.”

She grabs two plates from the cabinet and sets them on the counter. “If you’d rather eat alone, I don’t mind. I don’t expect to eat with you when you have guests…I definitely don’t have to when you don’t have any.”

I grip the edge of the countertop, watching her closely as she plates the food. She doesn’t look at me. I wonder if it’s because she caught me watching her or if it’s because she’s nervous about dinner alone with me. “Would you rather eat alone?” I ask, curious to know her answer. If I didn’t want to eat dinner with her, I wouldn’t have said it.

She looks up from unwrapping a lobster tail from its foil. A piece of hair falls into her eyes, but she doesn’t try to move it. Instead, she just stares at me with a look of indifference. “I’m used to eating alone.”

I swallow, letting her answer sink in. As much as I prefer to have alone time, I rarely eat alone. There’s always some kind of function, event, or business meeting to go to. If I do have a meal to myself, it’s typically while working or on a call. For some reason, the mental picture of her eating alone doesn’t sit right with me.

“Tonight, you won’t be eating alone.” I run my hand along the countertop to keep busy. “You’ll eat with me.”

“You really don’t have to do that,” she whispers.

I rub at my temples with my fingertips. “Are we going to keep arguing, or can you accept that I’m well aware I don’t have to do anything? Maybe I just want some company tonight.”

Her lips twitch with the bloom of a smile. “It seems you always want company. I’m just throwing it out there that you don’t have to settle for my company tonight.”

I cock my head to the side. “Who said anything about settling?”

The lights of the kitchen are dim, but not dim enough to hide the blush that spreads across her cheeks. I probably find too much pleasure in making her blush, but I don’t care. It’s just so easy to make her skin turn the perfect shade of pink. Of course, I can’t help myself.

She watches me closely for a moment before looking down. “Okay, well…” Her eyes scan the food she has laid out across the countertop. “I’m just going to finish plating the food, and then we’ll eat.”

I smile even though she doesn’t even look at me to see it. “Perfect.”

“You can go take a seat, and I’ll bring the food over when it’s ready.”

I lean in a little closer to her. “Do you not like me standing here?”

Her eyes find mine. She gives me an apologetic smile. “You’re my boss, so I probably shouldn’t say this because you can do whatever you want, but…it does make me a little nervous to have you…hovering.”

I hold my hands up in surrender. “Not trying to hover. I’ll do as I’m told, for once.” I mutter the last part under my breath.

This makes her laugh as I back away from the counter. I take a seat at the small table and pull out my phone. There’s a comfortable silence between us as she finishes plating the food and I go through the emails I’ve received since leaving my office.

It isn’t long before she’s setting a plate in front of me.

“As always, this looks incredible,” I tell her. As she said when she was recording, she’s made a lobster tail, homemade pasta, and asparagus. Everything smells so good I don’t even know what I want to take a bite of first.

She sets her own plate down and slides into the chair across from me. “Hopefully it’s good. Just a simple lemon butter sauce with the noodles and grilled lobster tail and a vegetable. Nothing too hard.”

I twirl a noodle around my fork and take a bite. My eyes fall shut with the flavor overload. I’m not the best cook and I can still tell this sauce is bursting with ingredients that aren’t just butter or lemon.

I hold my hand over my mouth as I finish chewing. “These might be the best noodles I’ve ever had.”

She rolls her eyes. “You seem like the type to have had fresh noodles in Italy. Don’t lie to me in an attempt to flatter me.”

I finish the bite of lobster tail I’d taken as a chuckle rolls through me. She’s so sweet sometimes and sassy at others. “As I’m sure Oliver mentioned, my mother’s family is Italian. We visit Italy often. It’s one of my favorite places to travel. But that doesn’t take away from this pasta…it’s like I’m there again, eating on a terrace with the Italian breeze blowing around me. My nonna would be very impressed if she were still here.” I smile, thinking of all the memories with Nonna. I wish she was still with us. Something tells me she’d adore Lucy.

Lucy shakes her head with a wide smile. “Don’t lie to me like that. And I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been to Italy, but I’d love to someday.”

“You should.”

“It’s a dream of mine, actually, to take cooking lessons there.” There’s so much excitement in her voice I can’t help but smile. “I know there’s so much technique I could learn firsthand. Maybe even new recipes that have been passed down from family to family that’d be shared with me.” She waves her fork in the air dismissively as she turns her attention down to her plate. “Sorry, I probably got a little too passionate there.”

I shake my head as I set my fork down, wanting to give her my full attention. “Don’t ever apologize for being excited about something, Lucy.”

She rubs her lips together as she bashfully fights a smile. “Sorry. Oliver just hated it when I talked about cooking. He said it wasn’t refined enough.”

I laugh at the way she mockingly imitates my brother. She’s not too bad at it. “Then he’s stupid and jealous because the man has never been passionate about anything in his life.”

“He was about Sophia.” Lucy’s eyes widen the moment the words leave her mouth. She places her fingertips to her lips, as if she’s in shock she even said the words in the first place.

I lift an eyebrow. This dinner is already getting more interesting than I was expecting.

“Sorry,” she mutters, shoving a bite of food into her mouth to buy more time for her to think. “I don’t know why I said that.”

“What he did was shitty,” I point out, keeping my voice as composed as possible. Anger pulses through my veins at the thought of my brother and what he did to Lucy. I’m still getting to know her, but she’s a good person. It’s hard to come by people who are actually genuine to their core anymore. It’s obvious she cares about others, and I still don’t understand how my brother chose Sophia over the woman sitting in front of me.

Lucy finishes chewing and lets out a sigh. “I know. And hopefully that didn’t come out wrong. Sometimes, I just say things before thinking. I’m happy for them. Really. He didn’t deserve me, and the moment we were over, it was obvious I deserved a love that was…” She looks away from me and instead looks around the kitchen for a moment before returning her gaze to mine once again. “Well, I deserve a love that’s actually love.”

I nod, hanging on her every word. I hate hearing her talk about my brother, but something inside me loosens at hearing her say that she didn’t actually love him.

My thumb traces over my bottom lip as I try to think of what to say to her. Finally, I come up with something. “Did you know he’s terrible with money? He keeps trying to get into crypto and has terrible intuition when it comes to investments. One of these days, Dad’s going to stop throwing money at him to bail him out, and he’ll be fucked. Sophia too. You dodged a bullet.”

She shrugs before stabbing a piece of her asparagus. “Sucks for them.” She lifts it to her mouth and takes a bite.

I chuckle, relieved it’s obvious that she no longer harbors feelings for my brother. He’s too immature for her. She deserves far better.

It’s quiet between us for a bit. The only sounds are the clink of our utensils hitting the plate and the music pouring out from the record player. Many different things fly through my mind. None of them have anything to do with work or the things I typically think about. Instead, it’s all questions about her.

One more than others.

I push my empty plate away from me slightly and sit back. “Can I ask you a question?”

She repeats the motion, both of us done eating. Part of me wants to ask for more food just to keep her here with me. I won’t say it out loud, but I’m enjoying spending the quiet time with her.

“Callahan Hastings, you surprise me. You don’t seem like the kind of man who asks if he can ask a question. You seem like the type to just ask.”

A corner of my lip lifts at her comment. She’s not wrong. “Maybe I’m trying something new.”

Lucy sighs before lifting her arms and waving them in the air. “Ask away.”

I stare into her brown eyes for a few seconds, wondering if I have any right to pry. I already know I don’t, but I still want to ask her anyway. Call me curious. “Earlier, why were you recording yourself making the meal? And why’d you stop?”

Her shoulders sag a little with my question. She sucks in a breath and looks at her lap for a moment. “Before I answer that, I think a glass of wine to finish off dinner would be great. What do you think?”

Without waiting for my answer, she’s sliding out of her chair and beelining for the wine room.

I sit back and wait for her to return. If she needs wine to answer my question, so be it. At least she didn’t totally disregard what I asked.