Bachelor's Special (9 page)

“We thought we’d drop in on our way to dinner and see how the new living arrangements were working out.” Mel’s smile deepened as she took in Jill’s blush. When Mel turned toward Chet, she winked.

“It’s all going great. I lost a bet, so today I’m grilling steaks and teaching Chet some valuable cooking skills in the process.” Jill pulled a knife from the block and sliced through an onion with skill and precision.

“A bet?” Jared’s brow quirked as he looked from Jill to Chet.

“Yes, do tell. A bet sounds interesting.” Mel disengaged from Jared’s arm and leaned against the counter where Jill worked.

“Don’t get excited, Mel. I’m sure it’s nothing like what you’re thinking,” Chet teased.

“I was just wondering if our matchmaking scheme was paying off. Maybe you both were realizing how right Jared and I were and that you are made for each other.”

Jill’s knife hit the counter with a thud. “Mel, what the hell are you—”

“Oh, come on, don’t tell me that you two are living under the same roof and there’s nothing happening.” Mel fluttered her eyelashes innocently. Jared smirked, positioning himself on the nearest barstool to take in the show.

“Mel, sometimes you don’t know when to shut up.” Jill’s face reddened as she glared at her friend.

Definitely time to step up and save Jill from Mel’s teasing. “Jill and I have discovered we are great friends. Nothing more.” Chet met Mel’s playful grin with his own. Good ol’ Mel. She has a wonderful heart, but no clue when to let the dust settle.

“Hmm, not sure I buy it, but your roomie status is still new. I’ll go easy on you both today and not grill you.”

“Good, because they probably have enough grilling going on with their steaks,” Jared teased.

“Babe, it’s a good thing you’re cute, because you could never make it on the road as a comedian.” Mel kissed Jared noisily on the lips, then turned her attention back toward Jill.

“So you guys are cooking in? I was hoping we’d get here early enough that you might consider dining out with us. We’re going to hit that new restaurant downtown. I thought you’d like to check it out?”

Jill resumed cutting the remaining vegetables. Her annoyance with her friend was obvious by the rigid way she held the knife and her inability to look her in the eye. “Are you talking about Bar None?”

“The one and only. I hear they have some amazing pasta dishes. And you know I love pasta.” Mel licked her lips.

“We’re good. We’re only minutes away from putting on the steaks.”

“Sure?” Jared asked.

“Positive, bro, but thanks. Maybe next time.”

“Next time? I like that you’re thinking in the future, Chet.” A look of triumph crossed Mel’s perfectly made up features.

“Mel, if you hadn’t been my friend for so long, I’d defriend you.”

“Oh, you know I love you.” Mel crossed the room, folding Jill in a tight hug. “And you love me, too.”

“I do, but sometimes you need to have your mouth sewn shut, or maybe you need to lose your voice.”

They both chuckled. Mel followed her friend out the side door onto the deck, leaving the guys in the kitchen. Chet watched through the opened door as Jill turned the foiled vegetables, then focused her attention on the marinating steaks. She flipped them over in the sauce one final time.

“You’ve got quite the girl there, Jared. I hope you can handle her.” Chet punched his brother in the arm.

“I can. And if you’d open your eyes, you’d see that Jill is quite a girl, too.”

“Friends and nothing more. Tell your girlfriend to drop it. As a matter of fact, why don’t you tell her on your way out to the restaurant? I don’t want any more interference with my cooking lesson.”

“Yeah, sure. Cooking lesson. Whatever.” Jared shook his head as he yelled out the side door. “Come on, babe. Reservations are in less than an hour. We better get moving.”

“Coming.” Mel grabbed Jared’s hand as she entered the kitchen. “And, Chet, make sure you treat my friend right. I’m very protective.”

“No worries. I’ll treat her so good I’ll probably end up being a better friend to her than you.”

“That’s how I planned it.” She led Jared from the room, her teasing laughter tightening Chet’s back muscles with unease.

As the front door closed, Jill motioned him to the deck. “You want to put the steaks on before or after I apologize for my crazy friend?”

“Don’t worry about Mel. She’s been with my brother long enough that I know she means well, she just doesn’t know when to stay quiet.” He pulled a steak from the marinade with the stainless-steel tongs and laid it on the grill amid sizzles and jumping flames.

“I’m glad you know how to take her. It’s a special person that can handle Mel. And I mean that with all the love in the world.” Jill grinned.

“I just read people well. But, you have to admit, she is good for a laugh.”

Jill chuckled. “Of that you can be certain. And it doesn’t always show, but she truly has a huge heart. If she pegs you as a friend, it’s for life.”

“You’re lucky to have her.” Chet placed the second steak on the grill.

“But there are days I don’t feel so lucky.” Jill closed the lid. “Enough about them. Let’s get on with this cooking lesson. Now that the steaks are on, let’s toss the salad and pick out our dressings. By then the steaks should be ready to turn, and we can set the table.”

Chapter Eleven

Talk about a third wheel. Or in this case a room full of third wheels. The sexual heat glowing from this Gina woman toward Chet couldn’t only be obvious to Jill. How sick. The woman sat next to her husband, but she openly flirted with Chet like they were the only two people in the room.

Jill studied Howard, Gina’s husband, who was a good fifteen to twenty years older than his wife. He reeked of old-time money. If their marriage started out as a love match, it didn’t appear to be what kept them together now. Since their arrival at the dinner party, neither of them had addressed the other. How sad. If she were ever to find someone she loved enough to marry, she prayed things between them never broke down to the point where they couldn’t even communicate.

Howard caught her eye. “This is delicious, Jill.”

“Thank you.” She felt a rush of color that most likely matched the jewel-tone red of her dress. Another great find at Melba’s Vintage Closet. She smoothed her fingers over the full box-pleated skirt beneath the table.

Tonight had turned out better than expected. Although Chet’s guests were a bit formal, they’d included her in their conversations. Not once did she feel like the hired cook. Well, with one exception. Of course there had to be one in every crowd.

“Chet has done nothing but rave about your talents. I’ve never eaten such a tender piece of meat,” the mustached man across from her said.

“And the potatoes, I don’t know what you did to them, but they burst with flavor, then melt in your mouth,” said the lady seated next to her, dabbing at the corner of her mouth with a linen napkin. Collette, Jill thought her name was. Wife to the president of the university. She’d already asked Jill for a business card, claiming she could use her services at an upcoming event.

Chet winked at her, and she matched his grin. Collette would be the start to Jill’s new business.

The only person at the table to keep quiet was Gina. The statuesque, peroxide blonde only looked in Jill’s direction when Chet addressed her or joined the others in a compliment. And the looks she shot Jill could have dented reinforced steel.

She wouldn’t let the woman get to her. You couldn’t win over everybody, and for some reason this woman had taken an instant dislike to her.

Shivers twisted down her spine as she met Gina’s ice-cold stare. Jill gave her a hesitant smile, but the blonde’s eyes narrowed. Gina turned toward Chet and said something. They both looked in her direction and laughed, while Gina brushed her fingertips up and down the forearm of Chet’s suit.

Gina could sure suck the party atmosphere from a room. At least for Jill.

Forget her! Enjoy the others. You have no claim on Chet. No right to be jealous.

She coughed.
Jealous?

“Congrats, Jill. To another perfect meal.” Chet lifted his wine glass, and everyone else joined in to give her a toast.

“Thank you.” Could her skin stand any more heat without bursting into flames?

Jill smiled at his guests around the table as they drank from their glasses, but noticed Gina didn’t join in on the toast. Too busy dragging her fingers over Chet’s arm to lift a glass?

“How about coffee and dessert on the terrace?” Chet stood, dislocating Gina’s grip. The others around the table followed.

“I’ll bring everything out in a few minutes.” Jill smiled and rose, straightening the slim belt at her waist against the flared skirt of her dress.

Chet moved to her side and laid his arm over her shoulders, giving her a quick squeeze. Gina’s eyes hardened as he moved his fingers along the bare skin of Jill’s shoulders.

“You did excellent tonight. I see Collette has plans for your catering services.” Chet’s tenor sent scorching rockets through Jill’s veins. She couldn’t manage more than a smile and nod.

“Want some help cleaning up?” Chet asked.

She licked her lips and found her voice. “No, you have your guests to—”

“I’ll help Jill. It’ll give us some time for lady talk. We haven’t chatted all evening.” Gina smiled at her, but the tense lines around her lips didn’t disappear. “I might have to pick her brain for a ladies’ brunch I’m hosting in a few months.”

Jill hadn’t noticed Gina leap over the table, but there was no other explanation for how quickly she crossed the room. Again the woman stroked Chet’s sleeve, and when she turned her smile toward him, it dazzled. Her gaze sank into Chet like he was a lone fish in a tank full of sharks. And she was queen shark.

“Please, I’m able to clean up on my own. Join the others.” Jill had no desire to be alone with the woman. And even less desire to organize a brunch for her.

“No, I insist.” Gina glared at Jill. “This is a lot of cleanup for one person.”

Jill doubted Gina would offer much help. From the looks of her perfect manicure she’d probably never been in a kitchen, unless she’d stumbled into one by accident.

Chet’s brow furrowed. Had Gina’s offer surprised him as well?

The other guests disappeared through the arch, walking down the hall and into the sitting room that led to the back patio overlooking the pool. Jill would deliver their dessert and coffee from the side entrance through the kitchen.

“Coffee and cake in twenty. Good?” Jill smiled, begging Chet with her eyes to take his guest with him.

Come on psychic powers, don’t fail him now.

“Perfect. I’ll leave you ladies to it then.”

As he walked out of the room, part of her wanted to run after him. She didn’t look forward to trying to make small talk with this woman.

Jill hiked up her big girl pants, squared her shoulders, and began clearing the table. There was no need to talk, just get the job done. If Gina really stayed behind to help, then she would.

On her third trip into the kitchen from the dining room, Jill tossed Gina an annoyed glare.

Gina had followed Jill into the kitchen, empty-handed, on the first trip and leaned her hip against the counter. From there she hadn’t moved. Each time Jill came back into the kitchen, laden down with an armful of dishes, the other woman studied the kitchen as if she visited a foreign land and didn’t speak the language.

Enough of her nonexistent help. Jill grabbed a storage container and turned to Gina. “If you want to help, how about you spoon the leftover potatoes into this container and put it in the fridge.”

Gina puckered her lips, thinning her cheeks even more than they already were. “Do you really think I stayed behind to help?”

“That’s what you told Chet, wasn’t it?”

“I think you and I both know why I stayed.”

“Sorry, I have no clue and no time to figure it out.” She opened the container herself and went to work.

“What’s your game?”

Jill couldn’t believe this. Were all rich people so paranoid? This echoed her first conversation with Chet, but she doubted at the end of this conversation Gina would be offering her any type of job, help, or friendship. If anything, she seemed to want to ban Jill from the universe. Chet’s universe.

“Listen, Mrs.—”

“Gina.”

“Listen, Gina. I don’t have time to play twenty questions. Get to the point. I obviously rub you the wrong way. I can see that.”

“I don’t know how you got your foot in the door as Chet’s personal
live-in
cook, but I don’t want you to end up getting hurt.”

“How kind.” Pigs would fly over a frozen Hell before this woman would be concerned for anyone else’s well-being.

“I see how you look at him. How your eyes go all soft and you melt whenever he throws you a look or a compliment.”

“Hmmm.” Not much else to say. Gina must be able to translate and decipher googly eyes. Jill hadn’t meant to let her emotions show so easily. So not good. Not good that Gina could see it, and not good that Jill had shown it.

“I’m being nice, Jill.” The barracuda’s voice softened. “I don’t want to see anyone get hurt. I’ve seen too many of Chet’s…women walk out of his life with their hearts in their hands.”

Jill could only imagine. Was this lady
the
Gina
—
the one from Chet’s past? If so, that’d explain her familiarity with him and the fact that she seemed to know so much about his personal life.

“Who exactly are you? And why do you care?”

“Let’s just say Chet and I have a past.”

Aha, question answered.
Jill bit her lip to stop from laughing.

“You’re married, aren’t you?” Jill turned to open the fridge.

“I am, but it’s been over for years. Chet and I have a long history, one that links us for life.”

“Yeah, really?” Jill held the fridge door open with her hip as she organized the leftovers inside.

“Yes, really. Years ago Chet and I were engaged.”

Whoa, a load of bricks settled in Jill’s stomach. To admit who this woman was to herself was one thing, but to hear Gina say it aloud made all their knowing glances and intimate touches replay in her mind. What it didn’t explain was the ache filling Jill’s chest.

“What happened?” Not sure if she really wanted to know, she couldn’t stop the question.

“I’ll give you the short version. Chet had some issues with my past. He broke it off. Shortly afterward, I met Howard and we married. It was then Chet realized his mistake and that he still loved me. He forgave me my past and we have plans to reunite.”

“Then what’s the holdup? Divorce your husband and get on with it.” She said the words like she didn’t care, but that know-it-all inner voice of hers screamed liar.

“There is more involved than just getting a quickie divorce, like you say.”

Jill could only imagine. But why drag it out for so long? More than likely it had something to do with Howard’s bank balance. A sick feeling filled her. Bad rolled off this woman in waves, and it broke Jill’s heart that Chet might still care for her. After all, he hadn’t stopped her advances. Had he left them alone together so Barracuda could clue Jill in and cement that their day in the pool was nothing more than a leisure-time swim, even though he’d have agreed to a few more dips? Was this his way of telling her that he still cared for Gina?

“I’ve never expected Chet to curb his sexual urges. After all, I still have to suffer through Howard’s.” Her tinny laughter was poignant. “So, I’ve turned the other cheek all these years while he indulges his lust.”

“But when things start looking too cozy, you step in to set the record straight? Kind of like a guardian of broken hearts?” Jill choked down her disgust. Who was this lady trying to fool? She was interested in looking out for number one. And that number was stitched across her chest, accented with a laser light show.

Gina smiled the first real smile Jill’d seen. “Exactly.”

Jill’s heart cracked. Chet wouldn’t do that, would he? No way could he sit in a room with Howard and hold a conversation with him, all the while having an affair with his wife. She might not know him well, but she knew him well enough not to believe this. Right?

With a quick mental shake, she refocused. This wasn’t her concern. She was here to get business contacts. Nothing more. One sexual escapade in the pool didn’t make a relationship or give her the right to judge Chet, Gina, or anyone else. She’d better remember that.

“You have no worries on my account.” Or did she? “Now that I’m in on the secret, I’ll make sure to keep my distance.” And she meant it. They were all grown-ups, and though she found it hard to believe what Gina told her, she didn’t want to get mixed up in their twisted game. Better to play dumb and blind.
Keep your eye on the prize.
The prize being contacts for her catering business, not her boss.

“Good. I knew you’d be a smart girl.”

Wow, was that Barracuda’s failed attempt at a compliment?

“You should reconsider your…job here. Things are coming to a head with my husband, and I might move in with Chet sooner than expected. And when I do, the only cooking under this roof will be in the bedroom.” She leveled a glance at Jill as if she were a bucket of trash in a back alley.

“So, you’ll be eating out then?”

“I said you’re smart, I don’t need to know you have a sense of humor.” Gina straightened from the counter and fluffed her blond tresses.

Maybe this would be the opening Jill needed with Chet. She could suggest moving out—maybe she could hole up with Mel and Jared for a few weeks—so she could distance herself from her attractive boss, but still work for him on a day-to-day basis, driving in when needed.

Instead, so as not to give Gina the upper hand she desired, she replied, “You’ll have to take up my departure with Chet then. We have an agreement, an eight-week agreement. I’m not jeopardizing our deal by leaving unless he tells me to.”

The woman’s face fell, but she recovered quickly. “What type of deal?”

Odd. If they were as close as Gina suggested, she should know all about their deal. “Not my place to tell. Talk with Chet.” She’d leave it at that. “Now, excuse me. If we’re finished, I need to get dessert and coffee to the guests.”

“Fine. Now that we’re clear, I’ll join them.” Gina exited the room, taking the stench of her designer boutique cologne with her. Her heels hammered into the wooden floor. Jill waited until she was out of sight before she steadied herself by gripping the edge of the counter with one hand.

Jill sucked in a lungful of air. She felt like she’d just fought an alligator with nothing but a toothpick. To mess with Gina would be a scary thing. Jill had no desire to irritate this woman any more than she already had. If she could block her out of tonight’s dinner, she would.

As for Chet, she didn’t know what to think. Jill found his boyish charms disarming. Like her, he’d grown up middle class; unlike her he’d become wealthy. She’d felt a kinship. She liked and respected him. Was he having an affair with a woman married to one of his associates? Could she have gotten him all wrong?

Sex sure confused things. Jealousy, green-eyed and strong, gripped her heart, even though she told herself she had no right to feel this way.

Jill shook her head to clear her jumbled thoughts. Good to know she could still get all hot and bothered. If only she could crush her Chet-appetite and hone her senses on a man who’d be right for her, because Chet Castle wasn’t that man, no matter what Mel said.